The Expert Property-Finding Service for Paris
'We want to move to the centre of Paris but don't have time to look
at anything'
By Ginetta Vedrickas
 Extracts from an article in The Independent, Property,
Wednesday 24 March 2004
The Problem
Lyndsay Jones writes: "For some time now we've been
thinking about buying an apartment in Paris. We've lived there before
and, despite it being a large city, it's also very relaxed and is the
ideal place to spend weekends. But the problem is that with my job I can't afford
to take time out during the day to make appointments with agents and they
are not around in the evening or at weekends. I'm not particularly fussy
about what sort of property I would like but if I had to produce a shortlist
it would include a one or two bedroomed flat which is very central and
where it's easy to walk down to the river and near a big park. I'd like
it to be easy to get to either from the airport or in particular the Gare
du Nord where the train comes in. The location is definitely
more important to me than type of property. I'm very attracted to the idea
of having someone such as a search agent do the initial legwork on my
behalf and then I can go and look at the short-listed properties and make
a decision."
The Advice
"Buyers fall into three categories - those looking for pieds-à-terre
to use a lot, those buying purely for investment or those, like Lyndsay,
who want to use the property as a family home but also hope to let it
from time to time. An important factor here is that he also knows Paris
fairly well so I pointed out to him that he had to decide between the
right and left bank as a location. The right bank is mostly Le Marais
and the left bank is the Latin Quarter and St-Germain. As he has a baby
and wants to be near gardens or a park the left bank is much better for
him. Lyndsay also wants somewhere which is peaceful and quiet and ideally
overlooking a courtyard so we narrowed down our search to the fourth,
fifth and sixth arrondissements and took Lyndsay on one visit out there
to see them all. We are a search company so we only show clients properties
which exactly fit their requirements in order not to waste time looking
at unsuitable properties. In this case the flat's location
far outweighed its condition and the one we've found for Lyndsay is in
the perfect location, in the sixth arrondissement which is one of the
smartest and most expensive areas of Paris, but it just needs a bit of
decorative work which we're happy to arrange. It is near the Luxembourg
Garden and is very quiet. It's a very good investment and, once decorated
to a high standard, local agents tell me that it could rent for £1,000
per week."
Marie-Pierre Saint-Martin is a search agent for London Paris Dream
Home. +44 (0)20 7820 1337; www.parisdreamhome.com
The Solution
Property one: 1 Rue du Roi de Sicile, fourth arrondissement. Studio or one-bedroomed flat, around 47sq m,
in Le Marais.
Property two: 2 Rue d'Assas, sixth arrondissement. One-bedroom or two-bedroom
flat, around 45sq m.
Property three: 6 rue de Fossés St Marcel, fifth arrondissement. One-bedroom flat, 50sq m, in the south of the
fifth arrondissement.
The Verdict
"Marie-Pierre came to see me one evening with a shortlist of six,
which I viewed over one weekend. I've now bought property number two!
It's an apartment in an early 20th-century building in the sixth arrondissement.
Had I done this alone I would have ended up taking around five trips to
Paris and probably looked at 25-30 properties so Marie-Pierre has saved
me a lot in time and expense. She helped me with the negotiations, found
a good lawyer and even signed for the property on my behalf. She is also
arranging decoration of the flat for me so overall this has been a very
happy experience!"
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