Here, there is a process. There are 2 main websites with which to find apartments: pap.fr and seloger.fr. The first is listed by the owner, the second you generally have to deal with an agency. Obviously, the first is more appealing, so most people go there, which means you could be going up against dozens of other people for 1 spot, but there is no agency fee. In the second case, there may be less competition, but you generally have to pay a 1 month fee on top of the deposit and rent. Seems easy enough, but there is the dossier. You need to show up with all of your most pertinent and personal details of your life, photocopied and bound, if you're feeling fancy. In this dossier, you need proof of who you are (color copies), bank statements, paycheck stubs for at least 3 months, proof of payment of rent for your current apartment, your RIB (which is how all auto payments are done here. You get a slip from your bank with all the important details and your landlord, electric company, cell phone provider, etc can just auto deduct the payment from your account. It really makes life easier) any application required by landlord or agency and a garantor. A garantor is someone in France, who owns property and is willing to sign a paper saying that they are responsible for the rent if you decide to run off with out paying. Most French people just use their parents. That's all well and good if your parents live here. But if you are like us, you have to ask a really big favor of someone, and most people will say no. Its the same here as cosigning a house loan back home. Seriously.
Some places will even ask for more info, but that's a rough outline of the dossier. There are loads of things you can add to spruce it up. Its more serious than having a good resume/CV. You walk into a showing and hand a blank faced person all the details of your life, without so much as a smile or a thank you for your interest! There you are, reduced to a folder shoved in among so many other folders. It really makes you feel how insignificant your life can be in a big city. It can suck the life out of you. Especially the phone calls. I called dozens of numbers about places, hope rising in me about this beautiful place with a garden or a big kitchen, only to have the person on the other end flatly state "Its been rented. CLICK" After a day or two of that, you can feel the joy seeping from your soul. But I'm American, dammit!! You can't keep me down!!! I will find a f@*)ing apartment if its the last f%^*ing thing I do!!! And I will smile at you until my cheeks hurt while doing it.
And just that we did. Robbie had seen an ad during the summer and sent an email. We never really heard back. So in October, we saw the same listing still there, but the price had dropped. So this time, we called, as our French is better orally than written. We were sent an email telling us exactly what they wanted for the dossier and an application. We got right on it. Robbie also found another apartment and we got our dossier ready for them, too. THe first one was bigger (90 m2), but in an ok area. The second was smaller (60 m2), but in a great area. It came down to the wire, but we went with the bigger place. As I keep telling myself, I live inside the apartment, not outside. I am glad we chose as we did.
AS this was all going on, I had started packing. It worked out well, as I was starting to outgrow my clothes. As I retired item after item, and the seasons were changing, I packed the suitcases and readied for the move. It was fun, as I got to get rid of loads of stuff. As I am a mix of my parents, my inner hoarder (dad) usually loses to the inner cleaner (mom). So I enjoy the purging that comes along with a move. Its amazing how much shit 2 people can accumulate over 2 years.
Anyway, the word came in around the 25th of October that we would be signing the contract on the 29th and Robbie organized the move for the night of the 31st. The 1st of November is a holiday here, so he got all of his work buddies to come over after work on the 31st with 2 vans, they loaded them and hauled us away to an apartment I had yet to see!!! I had not seen it yet as there is another fun twist to apartment hunting here, pregnancy is a very delicate subject. You would think that a young, pregnant couple would be a great candidate for a tenant. We represent stability, planting roots, etc. But no, not here. You are a risk, because it is harder to kick a family out of an apartment once they are in there. Nice, huh?! So, as I was seriously showing at this point, I did not get to go along for the viewings. All in 1 night, the amazing men packed our life into 2 vans and moved us into my surprise apartment.
Also, the week before, Robbie had been offered a job managing a pub, in the same family of pubs he had worked for for years before. It was an increase in wages and a big change in schedule. He would go from working 7am to 4pm to working 5pm to 2am. He would only have to work 5 days a week, compared to the 6 or 7 he was working. Not to mention no longer having the threat of getting cancer everyday. All while doing something he loves. No brainer!
The morning of November 1st found us in a new apartment and Robbie starting a new job. That weekend, we went to his old office and picked up the car he had been given by the neighbor of a coworker. We were now the proud owners of a 1989 Peugeout 309 Chorus edition. Pretty sweet, huh? After about 30 minutes, we got the battery started, it had been sitting at the shop for a few months. But she is in good working order. She only had about 100k kilometers on her, which is amazing for a 24 year old car. (that's about 62,000 miles) She has no frills, but she's a trooper!! I needed to drive around to charge the battery, so I proceeded to drive for about the next 8 hours. I haven't stopped since. Popo, her nickname, has been great. She has her quirks, but she is a hell of an old gal.
So, without further ado, the photos of Popo and our new apartment:
Hallway
Our bedroom
(there is a closet to the right)
The baby's room with double closet and balconey
Bathroom with shower, tub and double sinks
Toilet room
Laundry room
Living and dining room
Kitchen
Our gigantic terrace
This is by far the nicest apartment I have ever lived in. Its completely brand new. The windows in our room, the baby's room and on the terrace have shutters that are all electronically controlled. They each have a control or there is a master in the hallway that controls all of them. To give an idea of the size, 90 m2 is about 900 sq ft, so roughly the size of our house in the US. When you rent an apartment here, it doesn't come with anything, except the absolute essentials: toilet, sinks, shower/tub and walls. Everything else you must provide. Yes, I mean the fridge, stove and the cabinets. So it has been a bit slow going as far as getting this place kitted out in a style in which we have become accustomed, i.e. big fridge, fancy stove, dishwasher, etc. But, its coming along nicely. We are getting things little by little. And each night I do a bit more organizing and getting rid of things. As we are coming down the home stretch, we are pulling it all together. These pictures are from 2 weeks ago and it already looks different, as we just bought a dining room table today and I've gotten a few more things for the baby's room. I will post more pictures when its all done.
The area is ok, its very suburban, so we don't have a choice of patisseries and boucheries outside our door. But there is a brand new creche (daycare) across the street next to a new park. There is a school on the street behind the new construction, which is next to our building. They are spending a lot of time and money developing this area. It can be a bit ghetto in some spots, but its relatively quiet. We live very close to a bunch of shopping centers with big hypermarches, which are the equivalent to super Walmarts and Targets. And, there is an Ikea very close. Which we are at at least once a week, if only just for lunch! We live near an RER train, which is the regional rail for Paris. It takes us into Notre Dame in 5 stops (15 minutes) There is a bus which takes us right into our old neighborhood, or directly to the smaller airport, Orly. And, of course, we have the car.
I love it. That's all I can say.
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