Buying a Paris Apartment

If you’ve fallen in love with Paris or some other region of France and would like to become a happy property owner, here are a few tips:

Re: Apartments in Paris.
Check into a hotel or rent an apartment in a neighborhood you like for a few weeks first. Get to know the neighborhood and decide if you like the ambience (at all times of day - including five am when the trucks make deliveries to the MacDonalds under your window for example).

Here is your check list:
Is there a convenient Metro stop? Train Station? Taxi stand?
Is there a good grocery store or open market in the neighborhood?
How long does it take you to walk to the closest park?
Is there a lot of graffiti?
What is the street activity at night?
Is there a lot of traffic or is the street quiet at night? (Parisians value a street that has less noise at night, but if you enjoy being in the midst of Paris night life, you may choose a more touristy area for that reason).

Check your neighborhoods for the following convenient shops: A specialty butcher shop. A ‘blanchisserie’ or laundry/drycleaner ‘pressing’. A shoe repair shop. A hardware store/quincaillerie. Electonics store/appliances.
Find a café where you feel comfortable.

In other words, before you start looking for the apartment of your dreams, you should first fall in love with the neighborhood.
Read as much as you can and talk to people about each neighborhood’s ‘rep’. This may or may not be important to you. Neighborhoods are always changing but the 16th, 8th, 7th remain staunchly ‘upper class’ i.e more expensive per square meter.

Read ‘Particulier á particulier’ a For Sale By Owner magazine which you can buy at most Paris newsstands. (This is how we found our apartment although we did try using real estate agents as well. Century 21 is in Paris, for example).

Advertisements list apartments by the number of ‘pieces’ or rooms. ‘Pieces’ usually refers to ‘dry’ rooms meaning kitchens and bathrooms are not included in the number. So a deux-pieces would be one bedroom and a living room (plus kitchen and bathroom). It’s important to ask about the number of square meters when an apartment is listed as a trois-pieces. What the owner thinks of as a ‘two-bedroom’ apartment might be a bedroom and a walk-in closet by your standards. WC refers to the toilet. S de B refers to Salle des Bains (NOT Sadism &Bondage). the S de B is usually separate from the WC. Do not be surprised to find out that your kitchen will consist of four walls and a sink. Kitchens do not normally come with built - in fridge, stove - and even cupboards go with the previous owner. (This is beginning to change and some of the newer apartment buildings may have appliances that remain.) All of this is normally negotiable, but you’ll probably be happier buying your own appliances. Look for my next post regarding the Notarious Notaires.

Happy apartment hunting.