Our subject is not the property; it is the decision.
A property is viewed; a decision is documented. We act upstream, while the room for judgement is still open, before the preliminary contract, before the levers close.
The method was born of acquisition, which remains its core. It carries over, with the adjustments each case demands, to a disposal or an investment decision: the object of the reading changes, not its principle.
A background in architecture and a master’s in built-asset management inform this reading. They are instruments in the service of the decision, not a specialism we would put forward for its own sake.
The method
Five stages, one purpose: to produce a documented decision, not to accelerate a transaction.
01
01
Framing the project
Before any search begins, we define your objectives, constraints and decision criteria together: budget, intended use, time horizon, risk tolerance. For non-resident buyers or those relocating to Paris, this stage also covers the mapping of the French system: applicable tax regime, financing conditions, notarial framework, coordination of the specialists to be engaged. Without this documented brief, the analysis has no reference point.
02
02
Identification
Properties are identified on the market and within our network. A file is only instructed if it meets the criteria established at the scoping stage. We systematically request access to a visit and to available documentation before any analysis begins.
03
03
Site visit and building analysis
We visit the property. This stage is the core of the method: reading the structure, the general condition, the constructive logic and any visible pathologies. Architectural training is applied here in its most literal sense, as a tool of observation. It allows us to identify what a file does not yet mention: an undisclosed defect, a developing pathology, a construction cost that no one has yet quantified. The documents collected then serve to complete, confirm or contradict what the building analysis has established: market price benchmark, condominium records, legal points of vigilance.
04
04
Verdict
The analysis concludes with an explicit recommendation: GO, CAUTION or NO GO. No decision is left implicit. GO and CAUTION conclusions are accompanied by a recommended offer price and a negotiation ceiling. This verdict is formulated independently of any transactional outcome; the advisory mission is remunerated for its rigour, not conditioned on its result. The detail of each of these three positions is set out below.
05
05
From verdict to decision
The advisory mission concludes on the verdict and the structuring of your position: negotiation brief, conditions to set, points of vigilance before the preliminary sale agreement. It sometimes leads to walking away, which is, in those cases, its most useful outcome. If you wish Finikia to conduct the negotiation and represent your interests through to the signing of the preliminary agreement, this mission is carried out under a search mandate, entered into simultaneously with the advisory agreement and governed by French real estate brokerage law. The advisory agreement can exist without a search mandate; a search mandate cannot exist without an advisory agreement.
Where the chosen property requires works and you wish to be represented through the construction phase, an assistance to project owner service can be proposed through an associated practice: same house, distinct professional framework.
This same reading applies, with the adjustments each case demands, to a disposal or an investment decision.
The object changes; the method remains.
The verdict, unfolded
Three positions, one rule: none is left to interpretation. Here is what each one commits to.
GO
Acquisition recommended
The property supports the decision and the conditions for a sound acquisition are met. Never a mere approval: a GO sets out the defensible price, the timing and the terms of the offer, a GO with a frame, the one within which execution can begin without reservation.
CAUTION
Acquisition subject to conditions
Neither yes nor no: “not as it stands”. The property can be acquired, but named reservations must be cleared before any offer, a price to renegotiate, works to cost, a legal situation to clarify. The most demanding of the three positions, because it requires work before a decision can be reached. As long as the reservations hold, execution stays suspended.
NO GO
Reasoned withdrawal
A result, not a failure. The property should not be acquired, and the report says why, a structural reason that neither price nor works can remedy. Withdrawing on the basis of a documented reading has value in itself: a decision spared. The reasons are recorded and remain useful in guiding the cases that follow.
These three positions carry the same weight, and the same cost. Our advice is paid for the reading it produces, regardless of its conclusion: we are paid to tell you no with the same rigour as to tell you yes.
Further scope
For buyers in the process of relocating to France, a relocation advisory mission can precede the property search: profile diagnostic, selection and briefing of the specialists required for installation – international tax adviser, immigration lawyer, notary, bank account opening. For non-resident buyers who do not intend to transfer their tax residence, these dimensions are integrated from the project scoping stage. For projects requiring full coordination of specialists around a property – tax adviser, notary, lawyer, building surveyor, wealth manager – a Prime Advisory mission can be structured on a bespoke basis.
The framework
The advisory mission is remunerated independently of any transaction, this is the condition of its impartiality, written into the agreement. It is grounded in RICS standards as a methodological reference for the reading and assessment of buildings.
The framework rests on a background in architecture, master’s degree in assistance to project ownership and built asset management, and an enrollment in the RICS Building Surveying pathway, currently underway. It operates under a professional transaction license and professional indemnity insurance.
