You'll Always Have Paris...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/re...e/23paris.html

June 23, 2006
Havens | Paris

You'll Always Have Paris

By DEBORAH BALDWIN

"PARIS does funny things to people. Imagine, for example, crawling off an
airplane, making your way across the city with a bad case of jet lag and
waking up the next day to find that you are the new owner of some stranger's
apartment in the 17th Arrondissement.

That would be where, exactly? And how much did it cost again?

"It happened so fast," said Deviyani Nautiyal, sounding surprised even
several months later as she recounted a hunt that began at home, in front of
a computer. "I can't believe we bought an apartment within four hours of
landing."

She was on the phone in Rochester, Minn., where she and her husband, Sanjeev
Sethi, a pathologist at the Mayo Clinic, normally live, an inconvenient 12
hours and two subway rides from their new second home.

It's hard to get figures on how many Americans leave Paris with a souvenir
in the form of a French mortgage. But the number is "mushrooming," according
to Cecil Jones, president of Just France Sales, a property finders' service
for those who speak English. (Incidentally, the number of agencies like his
is mushrooming, too.)

Lured by such services, low interest rates and hopes that investing in
French real estate is a smart way to diversify - if the euro continues to
strengthen - Americans are scouring parts of Paris they barely knew five
years ago. Consider the 17th, where Ms. Nautiyal, a lawyer, and Dr. Sethi
found their 635-square-foot, one-bedroom, 375,000-euro (about $480,000)
pied-à-terre in January. Indeed, you might consider it now, before the next
wave of buyers spills over from the heavily touristed Fourth, Fifth and
Sixth Arrondissements.

The 17th may have its funky stretches and seem a bit removed on the far
Right Bank, but that's one reason it still has deals, making it the latest
destination for Americans who long for a well-priced piece of Paris.

Not long ago some of the same people might have focused on Left Bank
addresses like the Rue Cler, a lively market street in the Seventh
Arrondissement not far from the Eiffel Tower. Today there are so many
Americans shopping on Rue Cler for their bread and French butter - and their
second homes - that half the voices you hear have a familiar accent.

Ms. Nautiyal says that she sees the 17th as an antidote to "Leftitis," and
financially, anyway, she is right: according to Paris Real Estate Finders, a
search-and-buy service, which helped steer her and her husband across the
Seine, the average asking price per square foot in the Rue Cler neighborhood
topped $1,050 in May, in contrast to an average asking price in the 17th of
$773. And the highly diverse 17th, at least for the moment, has far fewer
people from back home.

It also has patches that are not so wonderful - the Avenue de Clichy comes
to mind - and some that are elegant indeed. C. Randolph Fishburn, a lawyer
in New York who frequently works in Paris, paid 1.1 million euros last year
for a central-casting two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on the stately
Avenue de Wagram: 1,400 renovated square feet in a 19th-century building
"across from the only 24-hour flower shop in Paris," he said. He added that
the florist also stocks Champagne - presumably in case of emergencies. Mr.
Fishburn said he "realized the market is undervalued and I could do this as
investment and a euro hedge."

Closing costs were high but carrying costs - property taxes and maintenance
fees - are not, and his mortgage rate is below 4 percent. That's lower than
this season's high heels.

The 17th sits on the Right Bank like a big crooked wedge of pizza, its nose
under the Arc de Triomphe and its crust overlapping the beltway that rims
the western edge of the city. In the late 19th century, when Paris was
expanding like a soufflé, the far-flung 17th was a getaway for the
world-weary. Zola retreated there to write (and gave his heroine Nana, an
actress turned rich-man's mistress, a 17th Arrondissement address).
Impressionists lived and worked there too, recording the train stations
rising to the east, their tracks strewn in fistfuls in the 17th. As
developers piled in, large apartments rose up to accommodate bourgeois
families and well-kept Nanas.

Today the arrondissement is a patchwork of neighborhoods plain, fancy and
iffy. Grand avenues like Wagram emanate from the Place d'Étoile like spokes
in a wheel, and just below the 17th's southern border, in the fashionable
Eighth, sits the seductive Parc Monceau. At the eastern edge is the mildly
gamy Place de Clichy, to the north the villagelike area called Batignolles.
Hidden throughout are quiet streets, green spaces and bargains.


The Scene

An infusion of young families is adding street life to some areas, and
there's a pleasant hum around the Place des Ternes, said François Thomazeau,
co-author of "The Authentic Bistros of Paris" (The Little Bookroom). "It's -
well, not trendy," he said of the 17th, "but interesting."

Think of it as the French equivalent of Murray Hill. But with more places to
pause: the Square des Batignolles, for its benches, and bakeries like
Laurent Connan (38, rue des Batignolles) and Franck Perotti (11, rue
Flaubert), for their baguettes.

"It is a very community-oriented place," said Janet Rotner, who lives with
her husband, Philip, a lawyer, in Chicago and found their 17th
Arrondissement apartment in a classified ad in Le Figaro six years ago.
During visits, "we go to the markets, we do some cooking, we bring home food
from the traiteur," she said, evoking a common fantasy among those who hole
up in tiny hotel rooms and are forced to eat out three times a day.

One sign of the arrondissement's health is its concentration of baby
carriages and renovation construction cranes, said Darrell Halverson, who
runs Paris Real Estate Finders with his wife, Stephanie Freedman. Favorite
hunting grounds include the area around the Square des Batignolles, "where
the streets are narrower and you have the feeling of being in a village,
anchored by the park," Mr. Halverson said.


Pros

The 17th is calmer and less expensive than tourist-filled areas like the
Marais and the fashionable Eighth. The Villiers Métro stop is served by two
major lines, a big plus. Lively outdoor markets spring up at the Place de
Lévis and on the Rue Poncelet and the Boulevard des Batignolles.

Parisian co-ops generally do not subject buyers to time-consuming scrutiny,
and they generally tolerate the comings and goings of strangers, should one
decide to make an apartment available to friends or to renters.


Cons

It's easy to fall under the sway of the city and its boosters, some of whom
flog Parisian properties as if they were a no-risk investment. The market is
cooling off slightly and the euro, now trading at $1.29, could get
stronger - or weaker. Despite the assurances of some property agents, not
all absentee owners have luck finding tourists to rent their apartments by
the week, especially in the 17th. Carrying costs can be reasonable but
inheritance taxes are high: some Americans arrange to have an heir's name on
the deed.

The French do not have multiple listings, and many apartments are sold by
owners, often through classified ads. Bargains go quickly. Sellers often
take their kitchen appliances with them, a French custom, and long-distance
renovations can be awkward.

The Batignolles area is a hike from stations served by a single line. Taxis
can be hard to flag after midnight.


The Real Estate Market

Parisians, like New Yorkers, are enjoying a boom (or bulle, as some French
economists say), zealously tracking prices with the help of a trade group,
the Society of Notaires, which gives square-meter sales prices in dozens of
neighborhoods in racing-form style. For the 12 months ending in December
2005, prices were up 11.4 percent over 2004 around the Place des Ternes, and
16.7 percent around Batignolles.

Americans often turn to bilingual services like Paris Real Estate Finders
(www.parisrealestatefinders.com), which not only sift through the offerings
but also help buyers find the requisite notaire, or lawyer, line up a
mortgage and survive a French closing. Paris Real Estate Finders scours the
classifieds and other sources to find listings placed by owners and real
estate agents and charges its clients a percentage of the purchase price.

Just France (www.justfrancesales.com), based in Berwyn, Pa., does this
without charging a fee (it collects from the listing agent), and it also
helps buyers rent out their apartments to tourists. French-owned services
include My Home in Paris (www.myhomeinparis.com), and My Flat in Paris
(www.myflatinparis.com), which sells apartments as investments and leases
them back for three years for use as corporate rentals.

Paris Real Estate Finders's advantage is its constantly updated database,
which is cross-indexed in multiple ways and has hundreds of listings
throughout the city, many in the 17th. Clients fill out a short
questionnaire (walk-up or elevator? what price range?) and while still in
the United States receive listings that meet their criteria. The system
saves time for all involved: clients like Mr. Fishburn and Ms. Nautiyal snap
up the first apartments they see.

Mr. Halverson, who helpfully translates square meters and euros into terms
Americans can understand, has calculated that in 2005 buyers paid an average
of $726 a square foot in the 17th, in contrast to $976 in the Sixth.

The most expensive arrondissement in 2005 was the Seventh, at $992 a square
foot, he said, and this spring the average asking price in the Seventh's
select Gros Caillou quartier is, as noted around Rue Cler, even higher.

Once you get above $1,000, he said, you may as well buy in New York.

Ms. Nautiyal, in Minnesota, said she and her husband had visited Paris
together only once before they made the leap. They bought their apartment on
his second trip to Paris (she had been there several times before).

"It was a big risk and a crazy decision," she acknowledged. But it was in
Paris, she explained, away from their busy everyday lives, that they
realized how much "we enjoy walking and talking, which we don't have a
chance to do most of the time."

"We couldn't bear to leave the place," she said. And so if all goes as
planned, she said, they will be back again in Paris in August."

/

Following up to Gregory Morrow

"It is a very community-oriented place," said Janet Rotner, who lives with
her husband, Philip, a lawyer, in Chicago and found their 17th
Arrondissement apartment in a classified ad in Le Figaro

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?
--
Mike Reid
Shetland, Yell and Unst
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/skyepics.htm#shetland"

The Reid writes:

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city. Eventually the whole city
may be owned by foreigners. It's already a problem in some suburbs,
and in some parts of France (although it's usually the English who buy
everything in site, not Americans).

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Following up to Mxsmanic

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city.

I think there is some of that in London too.
--
Mike Reid
Shetland, Yell and Unst
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/skyepics.htm#shetland"

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
The Reid writes:

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city. Eventually the whole city
may be owned by foreigners. It's already a problem in some suburbs,
and in some parts of France (although it's usually the English who buy
everything in site, not Americans).

Thats only because the Kuwaities have bought most of London.

Personally I think Europe should buy India and retire on the profits.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
The Reid writes:

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city. Eventually the whole city
may be owned by foreigners. It's already a problem in some suburbs,
and in some parts of France (although it's usually the English who buy
everything in site, not Americans).

Yup - there is this myth in Britain that owning as much property as you can afford is
a good idea financially, that you can't go wrong with property, etc. This does lead
to British people with more money than sense buying second homes in the UK and abroad
which they leave empty 90% of the time. In recent years it has been a self fulfilling
prophesy, but historically owning more property than you need, unless you rent it
out, is a good way of losing money.

--
Andy

The Reid wrote:
Following up to Gregory Morrow

"It is a very community-oriented place," said Janet Rotner, who lives with
her husband, Philip, a lawyer, in Chicago and found their 17th
Arrondissement apartment in a classified ad in Le Figaro

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

In France the problem from a landlord's point if view is that tenants
have a lot of protection, so it's not 100% straightforward to take back
the property when you want.

Mr B;

Andy Pandy wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
The Reid writes:

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city. Eventually the whole city
may be owned by foreigners. It's already a problem in some suburbs,
and in some parts of France (although it's usually the English who buy
everything in site, not Americans).

Yup - there is this myth in Britain that owning as much property as you can afford is
a good idea financially, that you can't go wrong with property, etc. This does lead
to British people with more money than sense buying second homes in the UK and abroad
which they leave empty 90% of the time. In recent years it has been a self fulfilling
prophesy, but historically owning more property than you need, unless you rent it
out, is a good way of losing money.

I'd be interested to see the statistics that support that conclusion.
As Mark Twain said, the thing with land is that they're not making it
any more, so the supply is finite, whereas the demand keeps going up.
It's true that property prices fall from time to time, but at least you
can live in your investment while waiting for things to improve.

Mr B$

wrote in message
oups.com...

Andy Pandy wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
The Reid writes:

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city. Eventually the whole city
may be owned by foreigners. It's already a problem in some suburbs,
and in some parts of France (although it's usually the English who buy
everything in site, not Americans).

Yup - there is this myth in Britain that owning as much property as you
can afford is
a good idea financially, that you can't go wrong with property, etc.
This does lead
to British people with more money than sense buying second homes in the
UK and abroad
which they leave empty 90% of the time. In recent years it has been a
self fulfilling
prophesy, but historically owning more property than you need, unless
you rent it
out, is a good way of losing money.

I'd be interested to see the statistics that support that conclusion.
As Mark Twain said, the thing with land is that they're not making it
any more, so the supply is finite, whereas the demand keeps going up.

The demand will only go up as the population goes up.

And the discussion was property, for which there is a lot of available land
for future building, not land.

It's true that property prices fall from time to time, but at least you
can live in your investment while waiting for things to improve.


Not if it is a second property.

Miss L. Toe wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Andy Pandy wrote:
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
The Reid writes:

not for long if a load of second homers move in and turn it into
a ghost town. Why cant people be satisfied with one home, or if
they want investments, buy and rent out?

They are also pricing out the locals, who are much more poorly paid
and cannot afford apartments in the city. Eventually the whole city
may be owned by foreigners. It's already a problem in some suburbs,
and in some parts of France (although it's usually the English who buy
everything in site, not Americans).

Yup - there is this myth in Britain that owning as much property as you
can afford is
a good idea financially, that you can't go wrong with property, etc.
This does lead
to British people with more money than sense buying second homes in the
UK and abroad
which they leave empty 90% of the time. In recent years it has been a
self fulfilling
prophesy, but historically owning more property than you need, unless
you rent it
out, is a good way of losing money.

I'd be interested to see the statistics that support that conclusion.
As Mark Twain said, the thing with land is that they're not making it
any more, so the supply is finite, whereas the demand keeps going up.

The demand will only go up as the population goes up.

Which it is doing, both in absolute terms, and in terms of the numbers
of people gravitating to centres of employment such as capital cities.

And the discussion was property, for which there is a lot of available land
for future building, not land.

OK - perhaps you can point out where this land is located. At least in
the vicinity of places where people can find work (e.g. SE England)
there seems to be quite a shortage.

It's true that property prices fall from time to time, but at least you
can live in your investment while waiting for things to improve.

Not if it is a second property.

My mistake - I forgot to add a smiley. However, for the pedantically
inclined I will observe that you can live at least *part* of the time
in your investment.

Mr B;