VINGT Paris

John Agee Paris on rue Jacob

I visited friend and Bonapart client John Agee on Friday evening. Suffice to say it was a satisfying experience to see him living his dream and not least because he has a secret cache of champagne in a minute fridge hidden behind his desk.

Texan (with a smidgen of French heritage) John Agee has touched down in Paris' most exclusive shopping area, rue Jacob in St Germain des Prés. His brand new (well 17th century structurally but brand new interior) jewelbox-like premises nestles alongside world-class antiques boutiques on this discreet street for those in the know.

John is a talented jewellery designer hailing from McAllen, Texas, although he could pass as an Edwardian englishman. Design and production in the US were going swimmingly but he'd felt the lure of Paris from an early age.

Cole Porter and Billie Holiday play on the stereo, he thinks the French do in-store décor well but can't abide the silence that greets the shopper. He proudly showed me the fabulous renovation, (handled by Marc Berri architects who also did Loulou de la Falaise's boutique - contact via Olivier des Clers SO2 design based NYC/Paris).

He also showed me his brand new residence permit, grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Not for the light-hearted - he and his partner Luis Fernandez sold their home in LA, moved half-way across the world, set up a French company to complement the US base and started a renovation project on a listed building. NB: The French reputation for bureaucracy is not conducive to these types of plans.

As well as his signature jewellery line he'll be showcasing talented handbag designers as well as local artists such as sculptor Thierry Breton who is nestling amongst the necklaces right now

It's at dream location at no.11, rue Jacob and they're still coming down to earth!

Spend Spend Spend like Viv

The iconic Viv Nicholson - Heaven Knows She's Miserable Now.........

I just heard from a client today that Abbey National in the UK have recently
announced a whopping borrowing limit of 5 times your salary! Whoah.

It's quite hard for UK and American borrowers to understand the cautious approach of French banks. In fact the French have a completely different attitude to borrowing and lending than us spendthrifts. Here in France, one doesn't really live beyond one's means. If you don't have the money, you don't buy the shoes or you stay at home on a Saturday night! Very few people have credit cards. (I still have mine but I don't really use them now - I like them for emergencies, I am an entrereneur you know, we need these things. I remind myself that Michael Moore made most of his movies on cards if the going gets tough.)

In the UK most people have credit cards and store cards (Harvey Nichols and Selfridges are the good ones in London) - average household debt in the UK is £8,582 (excluding mortgages) and £50,918 including mortgages. The average owed by every UK adult is £26,747 (including mortgages). This grew by £225 last month.
Stats from Credit Action.

Here in France it's a bit tougher, you have to really prove you can afford it before you borrow, you must earn three times the monthly repayments when taking a mortgage and here are the documents required for the application (Thanks to Samina Arnoult of Samina Arnoult Global Financial Services for this list):

• Identity card, passport etc. proof of identity
• Pre-sale agreement/Promesse de Vente or details on proposed real estate project
• Marriage or divorce papers, if divorced
• Marriage contract, if there is one
• Last 2 income tax returns - or more if you are self-employed
• Last 3 full months of bank statements
• Details of other loans and statements (tableau d'amortissement)
• Proof of down payment (normally 20% of purchase price)
• Proof of notaire fees (normally 7-8% of purchase price)
• Proof of incoming rent if you have rental property
• Title deeds of all your properties
• Your rent slip, if you are renting
• Your last 3 payslips if employed
• If you are self employed or own a company, your by-laws, company registration and last 3 years of balance sheets
• If you'd like to renovate and finance this also, quotes from the builders
• If the property you are buying is for rental you need an estimation of future rent from an agency or the current lease if property is already rented
• Statements of all your assets (funds, portfolios, savings accounts etc.)

Phew. If you are not an organised person you better get yourself in order when you decide to carry out business or buy property in France.

Renovation reflections

I always like to check in with clients after they have their keys and I am very excited to see the make-over of an apartment I sourced for a US businessman last year. The objective was to find a two bedroom, two bathroom property which would then be given a high-end renovation to prepare it to be rented out with a luxury vacation company.

Photos here are not of this particular apartment but serve as an example of some kitchen and bathroom disaster areas.

Two bedroom/two bathroom properties are highly sought after in this marketplace especialy if the are equipped to "US standards" (I could add UK standards too!). Clients are often shocked to see the state of kitchens and bathrooms in Paris apartments, even those on sale by the so-called luxury agencies such as Daniel Feau. Ninety percent of the time, to achieve the required finish, everything needs to be completely ripped out.

My personal pet peeve is apartments that have been - "entirely re-done" - in bad taste with yucky materials. Many owners aspire to finding a foreign buyer (cue pupils rotating with $$$) and think if they provide a ready-to-move-in apartment someone will buy it off the shelf - sometimes they are even complete with all furniture and fittings. Suffice to say we have never had a client buy one of these "fast-food" style apartments because they usually represent terribly poor value for money and an ugly re-fit job to boot. In fact, I don't know who actually does buy them!

I was interested to read comments from the aforementioned owner of the apartment in the Marais - wise words a few months down the line:

"The only thing I would change in my search if I were to do it over again, would be to better recognize that after purchase, the apartment is going to be torn down completely inside so the current condition/layout almost doesn't matter. The only things that matters are things one can't change like view, elevator, location, square meters, interior walls protected by Syndic, etc. The all in cost is quite a lot, but I think Paris real estate values will catch up to what is invested someday, but perhaps not right away. I think the reality is that you can't just easily buy an apartment in the finished condition that this one will be in when redecorated, so pricing is hard to compare."

Pre-Sale Efficiency Report - another diagnostic

Before a house may be sold, it is obligatory as of today, 1 November 2006, to have an energy diagnosis (diagnostic de performance énergétique).

The diagnoses - to be carried out by a professional - are in order to identify the estimated consumption of energy of a building on two criteria:

The consumption of energy: usage of electricity in running the house measured by kWh/m2 of primary energy

The impact of this consumption: greenhouse gas emissions measured in Kg of CO2/m2

The efficiency report assesses energy usage and and natural risks along with noting the presence of asbestos and lead. It includes technical recommendations for improving consumption.

More info from the official government advisory site.