How Olivings works

Homes are found the slow way

Every property on Olivings starts with a search. Not a quick one. I spend hours going through listing sites across France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, following threads on Instagram and TikTok, and chasing rabbit holes that start with a vineyard in the Douro Valley and somehow end at a converted watermill in Umbria.

I'm looking for properties with genuine merit. Stone farmhouses with good bones. Village townhouses in places people haven't fully discovered yet. Coastal properties that aren't already on every "best of" list. Hilltop ruins where the price reflects the work required, not an inflated fantasy.

Not everything makes the cut. I skip the cookie-cutter developments, the misleading photos, and the listings where something feels off. What you see on Olivings is the shortlist after the shortlist: properties I'd genuinely consider myself.

Every listing gets a data-backed Honest Review

This is the part most property sites skip entirely — and the part that takes the most work.

Every property on Olivings is cross-referenced against government databases to build a full ownership picture. The commune's actual property tax rate (taxe foncière), waste collection levy (TEOM), and residence tax come from DGFiP open data — not a national average, the rate for that specific commune. Environmental risks — flood zones, clay shrinkage, seismic classification, nearby industrial sites — are pulled from the Géorisques national risk database for the property's exact parcel.

The listing price is benchmarked against real transaction data (DVF) so you can see how it compares to the commune and département median price per square metre. We calculate the full purchase cost — notary fees, registration tax, and mortgage simulation — calibrated to your nationality and residency status, because the numbers are different for an EU buyer and a non-EU buyer.

On top of that, every property is checked against a curated database of legal signals: energy performance obligations, septic compliance requirements, local planning zone restrictions, and short-term rental rules that apply to that specific location. These aren't AI-generated opinions — they're rule-matched from verified, sourced regulations.

The result is a review that tells you what it actually costs to own a specific property in a specific commune, what legal and environmental signals to investigate, and the questions worth asking the agent before you book a viewing.

Found something elsewhere? Run a Reality Check.

Olivings is also a tool, not just a listing site.

If you find a property on Idealista, Rightmove, SeLoger, Immobiliare, or anywhere else, you can paste the URL into Olivings and get the same depth of analysis we apply to our own listings. Within minutes you'll see the full purchase cost breakdown for your nationality, the commune's actual tax rates, any environmental risk flags on the parcel, and the legal signals that apply to that property type and region.

It's the second opinion you'd want before making an offer — grounded in data, not speculation.

Everything in one place

Once a property is on the site, you don't need to look anywhere else. Each listing includes the full Honest Review, a location guide with climate data, nearest services with real distances (hospital, school, station, supermarket), and community context for the area.

Photos are grouped into a room-by-room tour so you can find the kitchen without scrolling through 47 images. There's a direct link to the selling agent or agency — no intermediary, no commission, no "request more info" form that goes to a call centre.

You can filter by country, region, price, property type, and lifestyle signals. Save properties you're watching. Set up alerts for new listings that match your criteria.