Buying an Apartment in Paris

At least 4 or 5 times a year, people ask about our experience in renovating an apartment in Paris. We are glad to share our experiences either over the phone or by email. Below is some information gathered from our various email exchanges. The purchase and renovation of the apartment was quite an experience which we'd be glad to share with anyone.

Where in Paris ?

It is best to stay in the single digit arrondissments in Paris especially if you plan to rent the apartment to tourists. In terms of our neighborhood (Le Marais): Keep south of rue de Bretagne, avoid the streets just above/below rue de Rivoli due to noise. In terms of east/west - don't go past rue de Temple and rue de Turenne. The area right around rue Charlot north of rue de Bretagne is becoming a good extension of the Marais.

The Process ?

From a very high level, the process has some different aspects:

1) The biggest and most frustrating is that there are no multiple home listing service so an agent only knows their properties. This means that you need to work with multiple agents. Translation --> time consuming.

2) Buyers agents are rare if non-existent. We couldn't find one and we were looking for a place for four months. My guess is that they exist but you need to find them in the US. I believe in one of our French magazines there was mention of someone that helped americans buy places. I'd expect they get a good percentage since they are so rare.

3) I would chose your area and then choose some agents that you visit on a daily basis. If you find an agent that calls you back after the first visit, stick with him/her! We found they rarely keep in touch

4) Because of the lack of a MLS, it is hard to get accurate comparative prices. Le Figaro publishes a yearly analysis and you can probably find

5) Opposite to the US, most places are not "ready to move in" but rather the owners sell when the place is in desperate need to be remodeled. Expect some ugly places that you'll have to imagine how they'd look redone. The only places that are redone are builders who buy places/redo them and then resell them.

6) If you are looking to do what we did, we'd recommend trying to find a two bedroom. The rental market for those is quite good.

Paris Apartment Prices

Thought there is no Multiple Listing Services, there are many websites to look at:

Practical Information on Purchasing an Apartment in including prices (in French)

Another Source of Information on Paris Apartment Prices (in French)

Individuals selling to Individuals (in French)

Costs

Here is the costs we experienced:

Down payment was 10% (if you are not living in France, expect this to be 20%)

Closing costs were an additional 7.6% of the purchase price with

Notaire costs (includes fees to the government and the notaire costs) = 6.1%

Other costs (title search, etc.) = 1.5%

Improvements = 17.8% above the purchase price

New appliances = 4.1% above the purchase price

Remember that for all above costs that you can put all of them into the mortgage ! (not possible in the US)

For operating costs our expenses break down for last year to (this year will probably be more accurate):

Advertising = 1.58%
Home owner's association = 10.32%
Bank charges = 0.23%
Insurance = 0.54%
Maintenance = 0.97%
Management fees = 8.23%
Mortgage insurance = 4.83%
Mortgage interest = 63.8%
Property tax = 1.94%
Repairs = 1.30%
Supplies = 2.75%
Utilities = 2.95%

This probably doesn't add up to 100% due to some rounding errors but it gives you an idea

Agencies

Alpha Marais
45, rue de Turenne, Paris 3e
tel. 01 42 72 70 81
Contact: Jack-Antoine Deboudt

Agence Immobiliere Caractere
50, rue de Turenne, Paris 3e
tel. 01 44 61 05 00
Contact: Muriel Karpel

Groupe Jacques Azoulay
11, rue de Turenne
tel. 01 49 96 69 69
Contact: Christiane Da Silva

Matimo
13, rue de Turenne
tel. 01 42 72 33 25
Contact: Mme d'Auzar (nice)

Les Logis du Marais
15, rue de Turenne, Paris 4e
tel. 02 40 27 83 50
Contact: Lina Roger

Fnaim Etudes des Vosges
5, rue du Pas-de-la-Mule, Paris 4
tel. 01 42 78 55 55
Contact: Ingrid Ranger

FEAU Marais
32, rue de Turenne
tel. 01.44.54.15.30
(this is a new agency in the neighborhood, and is targeted at luxury properties)

Buyers Agents

Paris Real Estate Finders - Darrell and Stephanie

My Home in Paris - Sophie

At your service

Contacting Us

Currently, we live in San Francisco in Cole Valley and return to Paris at least twice a year.

You can send email to info@elzevir.net

or call us at:

Tel: +1 415-661-6780
Toll Free: 1-888-836-5666

Bill and Ineke