Real estate
Buying, borrowing, investing in bricks and mortar
Living in a home and letting one out are neither the same calculation nor the same tax treatment. We work through the loan, the fees, the tax and the renovation work without jargon — with 8 calculators so you can enter your own figures instead of trusting the ones in a listing.
Somewhere to live
Buying your main home
It is not an investment in the strict sense: no taxable income, and the capital gain is exempt. What is at stake is the financing, the acquisition costs and the timing.
Putting your money to work
Investing in buy-to-let
Here you are after a yield, and you have a tax regime to handle (revenus fonciers on unfurnished lets, LMNP on furnished ones, capital gains). The calculation that counts is net-net, after costs and tax — not on the gross rent.
The tools
8 calculators to decide with
Borrowing capacity, monthly payment, frais de notaire, yield, refinancing, renovation work, rental tax, capital gain: put in your figures and see straight away whether the project holds up. Everything is worked out in your browser — your figures are never sent anywhere.
- Borrowing capacityEstimate how much capital you could borrow at the 35 % HCSF debt-service ceiling.
- Monthly payment & cost of creditMonthly payment, total cost of interest and insurance, amortisation schedule.
- Frais de notaire (completion costs)Estimate the acquisition costs collected by the notaire — the public officer who completes every French property sale — on an older home as on a new build.
- Rental yieldGross yield, yield net of costs and net-net yield (after tax) on a rental property.
- Renegotiating / refinancing a mortgageWork out what refinancing would save you, early-repayment charges (IRA) and fees included, insurance too.
- Cost of renovation workIndicative renovation budget range per m², by level of work.
- Rental income tax: micro or réelCompare the micro and réel regimes for your let (unfurnished, or furnished under LMNP).
- Property capital gainEstimate the capital-gains tax due on resale (allowances, income tax, social levies, surtax).
The guides
6 guides to understand it all
From financing to the tax on your rent: one guide per stage, with the 2026 rules dated, their official sources and the calculators to put a figure on your decisions.
- SCPIs, companies & holding structuresPaper property with nothing to manage: what it really costs, why its rental income does not fall under the flat tax, and what holding it through a company changes.
- MortgagesGetting your loan: the process step by step, the HCSF rule, the deposit, rates and the PTZ interest-free loan.
- Optimising your mortgageSwitching your borrower’s insurance (loi Lemoine) and renegotiating your rate to bring the bill down.
- Buying your main homeFrais de notaire, the PTZ, the capital-gains exemption and the buy-or-rent trade-off for the home you actually live in.
- Investing in buy-to-letChoosing the property, working out the net-net yield and weighing unfurnished letting against furnished letting (LMNP).
- Tax on rental incomeMicro or réel, LMNP, déficit foncier and capital gains: how your rent is taxed in 2026.
- Works & renovationCost per m², energy renovation (MaPrimeRénov’, éco-PTZ), VAT and deduction under the réel regime.
Going further
Two useful leads before you buy
Financing is settled before the viewing
Rates, borrower’s insurance and salary-domiciliation conditions vary from one bank to the next, and that is where the thousands of euros in a property project are won.