A Leap of Faith: Finding the Perfect Paris Apartment

January 10, 2012  by Kelly Page

Chris Waits; David L.

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. Continue Reading »

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The Straight Story: Buying & Renovating a flat in Paris

August 28, 2009  by Tory Hoen

After living for years in Paris, Bill O’Such and his wife Ineke relocated to the United States. In an effort to “keep one foot in France,” they bought and renovated a pied-à-terre which they rent to tourists when they can’t use it themselves. Below, Bill discusses the ins-and-outs of buying, renovating, and maintaining a home in France.

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. Continue Reading »

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