Hi all,

A friend is thinking of buying a small studio or 1 bed apartment in Paris. Any ideas where to start. He does not want to go through a British or Irish agent as he feels there are extra fees and wants to buy direct. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

S

You might steer him toward the De Particulier à Particulier website for starters: http://www.pap.fr/

Easy. Go to yahoo.com or google.com and type in "paris apartments for sale". I got these hits:

http://www.homehunter-paris.com/

http://www.demeures-parisiennes.com/

I believe the first one has information on fees etc..

ttt

I don't have any experience with the company and post it simply for your information:

http://www.frenchpropertyinsider.com...sultation.html

http://www.parlerparis.com

If your friend doesn't want to deal with British agents, I'd steer clear of those last two recommendations.
Actually, I'd steer clear of them anyway. The International Living people are more interested in taking your money for "seminars" on buying real estate, tours for people interested in buying property, and teaching you to be a travel writer than anything else. I get their newsletter all the time and have written for them in the past. I would never consider using their real estate services.

Thanks St Cirq. He is not interested in info seminars etc. Basically he does not want an agent that pads the fee for expats. Just a notmal transaction without the "extras" for helping.

Siobhan:

He might just want to contact a reputable notaire. He'll need one to buy property anyway, and often notaires know about upcoming property sales before they are even listed. If he speaks French well, that's what I'd do, because property in Paris is hard to come by, expensive, and when you find something 200 other people have either already found it or are right behind you.

Siobhan, as far as I know there is no multiple listing service in Paris as there is in the US (don't know about the UK). Real estate agents tend to have individual listings, usual in their own neighborhood. If your friend has an idea of where he wants to buy, it would be best for him to contact agents in that 'quartier' directly, either by going over there or looking at the pages jaunes.

I wish him luck; I'll always regret not buying when the dollar was stong and property prices lower. Oh well...

If the friend is thinking of buying property in Paris, I would think he had been there a lot, knows where he wants to buy (or several possibilities) and speaks French fairly well. At least the former. It is quite easy to go to Paris and go into a local Parisian real estate office to view listings in the neighborhood you want. YOu see those offices all over the place with photos in the windows and prices. I always look at them when I travel to Paris just out of curiosity as to what is available and at what rates. You should go to one in the area you want to buy, though. For example, my last visit in July I was staying four days in the 9th arrondisement near St Georges metro and place Toudouze. There was a real estate agent's office just a few doors from my hotel there and virtually all of their posted listings were for the 9th arrondisement.

Shellio (and SiobhanP),

Go to:
http://www.avendrealouer.fr/

It has listings from many agents. You fill in the form...how many rooms, what arrond., preferred size (for example, 2 room apartment in 75005 [the 5th] between 40 and 70 square meters) and dozens of listings will appear from various agents with property info.
The site can also be used for rentals, mostly long term.

Thanks BTilke-
Although I'm not in the market to buy, just for fun I looked at what I might be able to afford and now I KNOW I'm not in the market to buy!

Check the real estate association for registered brokers: www.fnaim.fr. Make sure you get the right advice, there's a lot of "smoth operators" out there. I'm from Paris and have worked in RE, so I know the types...