After having made the huge, scary, glorious decision to quit my plum entertainment job of 14 years to move to Paris, all I could picture was drinking rosé in fabulous cafes in St. Germain and strolling with my soon-to-be-named French lover along the Seine.  It was going to be all storybook romance and Parisian perfection, right?  What could possibly go wrong?

Finding an Apartment

The first big task on moving to Paris was finding an apartment.  I felt like a Parisian kid in a confiserie as I set out to look through all the online listings.  I was picturing my new, highbrow, literary friends meeting in my salon and debating whether Anna Karenina was due society’s scorn or the victim of a double standard.  And then there would be the lavish, multi-course creations that would appear out of my kitchen and people would say, are you sure she’s not French-trained or a descendant of Julia Child?

Mollie C.; Chris Waits

As I dug into the apartment search further and started to learn the meter to square feet conversion, a rosé hangover started to kick in.  How was I supposed to entertain the French literati in a space the size of a parking spot? Would my culinary creations have to come from a hot plate in my Betty Crocker play kitchen?  Oh, no, this wouldn’t do.  I decided an in-person visit would be best because I was sure there were some things that weren’t translating on the web page.

While I looked at thousands of apartments online, I was able to see exactly two in person.  I was told that they do such an excellent job with their pictures and descriptions that there should be no need to see anything in person.  I will say, if I ever need to sell an outhouse in the back woods of a swamp, I’d hire one of these rental groups to make it read like a genuine, rustic cabin with ocean views.

Sara Ko

In addition to being mighty with the pen, they also must have scored some sort of spy cameras with anti-dark, anti-it’s-really-not-that-small lenses.  The first apartment I saw looked like a little dungeon, and I was sure someone was chained up under the floor boards.  At least I had an honest agent who told me after we entered the dreary cellar that yeah, I don’t like this one because it’s really dark.  Perhaps this small note could have been conveyed during one of our 18 e-mail exchanges, instead of after a 12-hour flight.

When I walked into the other place, I stood mouth open for about 5 minutes before being able to speak.  All I could think was how do they DO that with their camera.  I could spin around and touch all sides of the apartment.  While lying in bed, I could wash my face or make toast.  I couldn’t breathe in this place, let alone entertain a thought.

Lindsey Tramuta (Lost in Cheeseland)

My last, and really only, hope was a friend of a friend’s acquaintance’s neighbor (basically one step away from being random stranger I met on the street, but I too was going to be on the street if I didn’t find a place in my final 24 hours of apartment shopping in Paris).

Related Links:

• Are you looking to buy an apartment in Paris? We can help.
• For interior decor inspiration, we love The City Sage
• For more tips on buying an apartment in France, check out architect & HiP Paris fave Michael Hermann’s guide

To find out whether Kelly finally finds her dream apartment, check back here for the next chapter in this series. Written by Kelly Page for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.

Karigee; Piglicker

When my mom found herself suddenly single at 45, she nearly took a year away from her medical practice in Boston to move to Paris with my little sister. She wanted to sip coffees in the late morning sun and read French poetry and eat confit de canard for dinner and take French classes and learn Serge Gainsbourg songs on the guitar… Her dream revolved around a small top-floor apartment on the Ile Saint Louis with a tiny balcony overlooking the Seine – the kind of balcony you see in a Sempé drawing of Paris. Life got in the way and she never made that trip – we have often wondered how all of our lives would have been different if she had.

Haven in Paris

Almost anyone with a long love for Paris can tell you as much about the apartment they would live in as they can about the life they would lead if they could live here. The sweeping views from Montmartre, beamed ceilings in the Marais, herringbone wood floors and crown moldings in a classic Haussmannian building, maybe a péniche on the Seine: there is a different Paris home for everyone. And thankfully for that, since when you are looking for a property in Paris it already feels like there are a million people looking for the same place you are. But then, there is nothing like the moment when you finally find your place.

Karigee

If you can’t live in Paris, the next best thing is to own that dream apartment as a pied à terre. But it’s not hard to imagine what happens once the dream collides head on with battle of the search : surly real estate agents answer your queries in rapid-fire French, if they answer at all. You arrive to a showing, only to find that it is already sold after you’ve trekked across town to see it.  The apartments you do manage to see are drastically different from the photos you saw online (how did they make that closet look like a bedroom???). You found a place with great bones but it needs a serious face-lift… How do you get from here to there? The key is to stay focused and determined – with a sprinkling of perseverance and nerves of steel.  Or maybe you’ll just get lucky.

Henrik Berger Jørgensen

Twenty years later, almost to the day, my mom became a part owner of a newly redone fractional apartment in the Marais: a two-bed, two-bath in a 150 year old building, with a terrace on a quiet, private courtyard shared with the oldest synagogue in the city.  She spends 5 weeks of every year in Paris.  The shared ownership helps make it affordable.  When the dream meets reality, two decades and a little creative thinking can go a long way to almost having it all.

Haven in Paris

Related Links:

• Miranda’s company, Paris Property Finders.  Let her know you found her on HiP Paris!
• Erica Berman shares her experience with the Paris Apartment Blog
• Can’t afford to buy but looking for a place to stay? Haven in Paris has some great special offers for this summer right now…

Written by Miranda Bothe for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.

Breakfast in a Saint Germain 2 bedroom apartment  (St. Germain Luxe)

Buying a little piece of the City of Light is a rite of passage in and of itself. Before becoming the owner of a beautiful 19^th century apartment in the heart of Paris with original oak floors and marble fireplaces, or converting a floor of maids’ rooms into a penthouse haven, you must first begin with an apartment hunt and all of its uniquely Parisian idiosyncrasies.

The first thing to understand is that like few other cities in the world, there is always intense competition to buy an apartment in Paris. At the worst of the recent financial crisis, Parisian real estate prices didn’t even make a small dip.  The crisis actually increased the demand for apartments as people took their money out of bank accounts with nose-diving interest rates and invested in the ever-reliable Paris housing market. Another good thing to know is that the average cost of real estate in Paris is still below the average price in London, Rome and numerous other European cities, making Paris an even more attractive place to invest.

Saint Germain 2 bedroom apartment, with balcony and view of Notre Dame (Ecoles)

What this means for your apartment hunt is that good properties are sold within a few days and the best ones within just a few hours.  Apartments advertised at 9:00am may have an offer accepted by lunchtime …

Once the hunt is on, the first obstacle is finding an honest, reliable real estate agent. Although this may hold true internationally, fanciful exaggerations are especially commonplace in Paris. After finding the perfect apartment, for example you might be worried about the fact that it is on the 7^th floor with no elevator. Your agent may reassure you that an elevator is going to be installed next year, guaranteed. This, however, may have been in the works for over 10 years and it may be another 10 until it actually happens.

I once visited a former warehouse in the heart of the Marais being divided up and sold as enormous apartments. The agent claimed it was an incredibly rare opportunity. However, upon visiting the space one major fault became clear: there were no windows. The agent claimed it wasn’t a problem because one could ask the city for permission to create as many windows as desired. However, they failed to mention that the Marais is a protected historic district where ever since 1963 – when the famous Malraux preservation laws went into effect – it is forbidden to change any façade in the neighborhood…

Rooftop Saint Germain 2 bedroom close to La Sorbonne (Champollion)

Despite the competitiveness, exhaustion and potential disappointments of the hunt, somehow there always comes a moment when you find yourself standing in an incredible apartment, on the perfect street, in the heart of the city, in a beautifully maintained building… Whether it is the 200-year-old limestone wall, wooden beams, the postcard-like views on to the city or into the garden of an adjacent palace, or the fact that you are a few meters away from the best restaurants or galleries in Paris, you realize that you have just fallen in love with your little piece of the City of Light. Apartments are actually advertised as “coup de coeur”  (love at first sight) and I can testify that it really does happen.

1 bedroom steps from Notre Dame and the Seine (Lagrange)

However, the most incredible part about the moment you find the perfect apartment is that skipping breakfast, running across town in your most elegant overcoat thrown over your pajamas, pushing through a busload of tourists on the sidewalk finally paid off because you are the first person to visit this apartment and you are about to make sure you are the last…

Stay tuned for Michael’s next installment, The Find: from an informal offer to signing the “promesse de vente”, securing a hold on that ideal apartment is the next step in the adventure…

Related Links:

• Check out Haven in Paris’ specials for a place to stay while you are searching for your piece of the City of Light
• Architect Michael Herrman’s website
• Jordan from O Happy Day blog shares her insights into finding an apartment in Paris
• The Escape Artist on buying an apartment in Paris
  

Written by Michael Herrman for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris. If you want to get in touch with Michael, you can reach him here: michael@michaelherrmanstudio.com

The living room of the Elzevir Apartment.

by Bill O’Such, Elzevir.net

While some websites might lead you to believe that buying an apartment in Paris is as easy as buying a good bottle of wine, the truth is: it’s a lot of work! Unless money is of no object, the process is incredibly hands-on and requires both creativity and perseverance. As I learned by buying and renovating my “Elzevir Apartment,” the process is challenging… but worth it.

Finding an Apartment

In the U.S. (and other countries), you can wander into any real estate office and immediately see all the apartments that are currently on the market, along with historical prices. In Paris, you might be surprised to learn that there is no multiple listing service.  Each agency has its own list and they don’t share with each other! So in beginning your search,  you need to visit all the agencies in the neighborhoods that interest you, establish a relationship with them (so you’ll hear about the best properties), and make regular contact with them. And while you can obtain some historical “average” information, it is very hard to do direct comparisons to assess current market value. You need to trust the combination of your experience, your agent and the notary (notaire in French). For us, it took 4 months of looking, and 50 apartments later, we found a place we liked.

When looking at apartments, you’ll find that many have wacky layouts, as many French buildings are old and spaces have been reconfigured to serve different purposes over the years. You will find long “railroad”-like spaces or bathrooms in odd locations. If you find a good layout, do not take it for granted! Equally important is the quality of common areas and the associated homeowner’s association.  If you find a great apartment but the common areas are poorly maintained, think about looking elsewhere. You can tell pretty quickly if there are issues by glancing around the entrance area and reading the minutes of the HOA meetings.

The apartment’s bedroom.

Buying the Apartment

There are lots of websites that explain the purchase process. The biggest factor in the transaction is the role of the notaire, who not only draws up all the legal paperwork but actually helps advise on the transaction. Pay attention to what he or she says in order to avoid any surprises in this part of the process.

In France, most mortgages are for 15 years and require, for foreigners, a 20% down payment.  Don’t expect to see 30 year mortgages like you might in the U.S.  Also, when you obtain the mortgage, you might have to take blood tests (for insurance) and other things that would certainly seem odd in other countries.

The bathroom with walk-in shower.

Renovating the Apartment

Renovating is the step that often entails the most “surprises.” When we started our renovation, we picked an architect but didn’t do as much research as we should have.  Our first mistake was to let the architect manage the project. As a result, it took nine months instead of the expected three. In hindsight, we would have spent more time and money finding a true project manager, added incentives to complete the work early, and made sure that all the workers were true French artisans. If my wife hadn’t overseen most of the work, I’m not sure what would have happened.  Moral of the story: don’t skimp on good artisans and good management.

The living room before the renovation.

Apartment Care & Maintenance

In our case, when we moved back to the United States, we decided to rent the apartment to tourists. Of course this sounds simple… just find an agency, close your eyes and it will be taken care of. Wrong! If you really want your apartment to shine and be well maintained, it is important that you spend time working on the little things that separate your apartment from all the others on the market. Also, it is important to interview many apartment managers to ensure this very critical long-term relationship is a good fit.

With rentals, be prepared for more frequent upgrading, replacing worn furniture, and repainting sooner than you might if you lived there. You will need great pictures and even a nice website along with trustworthy agents. In the end, it is really a part-time job. We take annual trips to tune up the apartment, ensuring that it remains in top condition so guests are ultra-satisfied when they stay there.

Kitchen (before).

Kitchen (after).

The Rewards

After reading all this, you might wonder if the effort is worth the pay off. My answer would be — absolutely. First, it gives you a great reason to return to Paris regularly (as if you really needed a reason).  When you arrive, you step into a comfortable, familiar place where everything is the way you like it, and where you are familiar with the neighborhood. If you rent the apartment out like we do, you get to meet some very nice people with the same passion about Paris that you have.   In fact, we met our best friends in San Francisco through our apartment. And of course, Paris will always be a sought after destination, so you can be confident that you’re making a wise investment.

In conclusion, this article is meant to help you understand what goes into the making of a pied-à-terre. It isn’t simple but, luckily, the rewards outweigh the challenges. Would we do it again? Tout a fait!

To see the completely finished product, and maybe even rent it for your next Paris sojourn: elzevir.net

To contact Bill O’Such, click here.

Edited by Tory Hoen for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.