Property prices in Bordeaux

2017 mid-year update
As of July 2017, Bordeaux will be a little over 2 hours from Paris! Right now (June 2017) trucks are on many of the streets installing fibre for ultra fast Internet. Even the slower VDSL is very fast and reliable. The newly-elected President Macron is literally asking Americans to move to France for research and other scientific-related jobs.
"To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the president of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland," Macron said. "I call on them, come and work here with us to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. I can assure you France will not give up the fight."
Many of the streets in Bordeaux are being cleaned up over the past several years and lots of new developments are under construction. I say all this because Bordeaux is getting better with each year, and the prices are rising in consequence. However, it is one of the most liveable cities in the world with a great climate, a genuinely pleasant lifestyle, and with excellent Internet and free calling to most countries, you can live here while working for the world.

2017 PRICES

You'll need to convert square meters to square feet, but it's roughly 10 to 1. 100 square meters is about 1076 square feet.
Prices vary considerably, depending on location, need for repairs, availability of garage, terrace, garden, etc.

When looking for a house in Bordeaux city limits in the past few months, we see pricing between 4000 euros to 5500 euros per square meter. For 1100 square feet (100 meters) you might expect to pay 400,000 to 550,000 euros, plus the cost of the notaire which will be around 30-40,000 euros. The notaire does not get all this sum, they only collect it for the state taxes. When you see a price listed for the property, it does not include the notaire part, which varies according to the price, but does include the agency commission if there is one. If you buy direct from a property owner, there is obviously no commission.

Important: the commission may be said to be paid by the buyer or the seller. I was shocked by this, but the reason it may be of interest for it to be paid by the buyer is that it's 3-5% and that amount is not part of the state taxes collected by the notaire.

A word about the notaires: They are more like specialized solicitors, not at all like American notary publics. The notaire writes the contract according to law. Each party, buyer and seller can have their notaires involved for maximum protection. They will take the deposit and the full payment, when taking possession will also go through them.

I hope anyone who knows more or has corrections will chime in on this thread with the latest information.  If you have questions, I can try to answer them based on my experience buying and selling my primary residences in France for the past 30 years.

As for the most desirable places to live, for us, it's Les Chartrons or around one of the parks. Living near trams and the river give you great cycling and walking, and the weather allows this most of the year. If you don't mind driving, and traffic can be just awful in this town, you can live in the more affordable outlying areas where there's often little in the way of stores.