VINGT Paris

Sliding $$$

I have a contact in LA who is forever posing questions about what is happening in the property market here in Paris. He has a project to buy but he's not in any hurry so we have some interesting back and forth by email:

"Is the sliding dollar cooling american interest in Paris properties -- or, conversely, making it more imperative to buy as a hedge against further declines?"

Here's my reply:

"It's less of a sellers market here now and even good properties are going less quickly. Americans are significant buyers in Paris but there are also other groups so although the $ sliding has been significant it hasn't been felt strongly yet. I have noticed a shift in clientele for Bonapart with lots of Irish and UK purchasers where the economy (Ireland) and the currency (UK) is strong whereas it was at one time almost exclusively US citoyens.

The wobbly dollar has certainly affected rents of medium to long term rental - and also the short term market, mainly the crappy agencies and mom and pop operations with bad home made web pages (of which there are legion), as far as I know the people who do a good job and have nice apartments are still raking it in!

The currency situation vis a vis buying? I think in parts of Paris such as the Marais and the 6th for certain prices have topped out but they are holding steady and will continue to do so. It's safe to say wait until Spring (when good property will be back on the market) and see what happens, you might find you can get a bit more for your money.

The talk in France, at least online, is incessant about la bulle immobilière (property bubble) and Le Krach, not here so much but what's happening abroad in places such as Australia and the affect of the US on the French property market. According to the National Association of Home Builders it's a great time to buy a home, seemingly in contradiction to the endless stream of negative press about how housing is crashing.

Contrary to what some pundits here say it's really not going to carry on as it has done over the last 7 years forever and the market has calmed over the last 18 months. As for this idiotic hype I couldn't possibly join in, even if my business is about helping foreigners buy homes.

But hang on, we'll always have Paris right? And it's a great place to buy because of it's unique qualities, it's history, the fact that the Périphérique (ring road) tightly contains our 20 arrond. (too tightly some say) and it's protected to the nth degree in terms of further building and alterations to existing structures. It's a little like living in a museum at times (which can be annoying too when one yearns for the energy of a city in movement such as Berlin, despite all the ugly cranes).

People will always want to come here (currently Paris is the most visited city in the world), a little different to Montenegro or wherever the vapid Property Overseas magazines say it's currently vital to invest. Like you are really going to get a bargain after they've finally got it on their front cover. Doh.

The Gardien/Gardienne

The Gardien/Gardienne is the lady or gentleman who lives in the loge (their ground floor apartment which comes with their job and allows them to survey the comings and goings) and takes care of cleaning common parts of your building, post and delivery of parcels. Many are of Portugese origin as this was the role they adapted to and became known for as tides of immigrants arrived in France after WWII. Mine is Mme Da Silva and she is really young and friendly.

Make no mistake, the are an important person to have on your side if you are a tenant or an owner. They generally know all the important information about your building, the inhabitants and the neighbourhood. Make yourself known to them and a little present now and again will make your life 100% easier.

Don't call them the "concierge", it's not very politically correct - I'm not sure exactly why and a real French person couldn't tell me either - and it's usage has died out.

I'm determined to start documenting the faithful Gardien/ne of Paris before they disappear. Most buildings are getting rid of them because they are expensive and it means the building charges are higher for the owners. This is a project I've been thinking about over the years and I'm going to ask my friend David Mccairley for help because he's a great photographer.

Here is a great post from Rue Rude about her "treasure".