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."

Comments

[Christiana]

That is cool! You're so right...

[Amish Furniture]

You are so right. The current interiors almost always have to be overlooked. One has to do it up again. The location and other amenities should be the deciding factors.

[Percy]

We bought a new house recently and had to tear apart all the interiors. Even made some changes to the layout.
Percy
http://www.amish-furniture-home.com

[Sedulia]

Hi Susie,

Just visited this blog for the first time-- it's fun, and I will keep you in mind if I have friends from the States or UK who plan to buy in Paris.

This post reminded me of the utter awfulness of 9/10ths of the bathrooms and kitchens I saw while looking (and looking... and looking) for an apartment in Paris. I will never understand why the French put a washing machine in the kitchen, or don't have a sink in a bathroom!

[Francois]

Bonjour,

I know this is a few years old but I just discovered this blog. I am French and when I found this I had to post a comment. I know most bathrooms in Paris, even in luxury apartments, do not fit US or UK standards, but I visited a lot a lot of apartments in Paris and do not remember a bathroom without a sink...
In these videos for example you see bathrooms in apartments for sale, one in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and one in the 1st, and they seem perfectly fine to me... But of course I do understand that tastes are different from one person or even one country to another.