Paris Apartment websites
 

Ok, I've selected our apartment for trip in March. But while doing all my own research, I compiled a list of websites. Some of the sites are better than others in terms of being user friendly, quick to load photos and find information. This is a pretty comprehensive list but I don't claim that it has every website available. Anyway, I thought that the list could be useful when people ask about where to look for Paris apartments. They are in no particular order. I've grouped them according to their overall pricing and offerings. If you know of others, please tag on.

Most expensive properties:

Chez Vous
Just France
Guest Apartment Services
France for Rent
Haven In Paris
Parisian Flat

More moderate prices with good selections:

Parler Paris Apartments
Vacation in Paris
Paris Perfect
Perfectly Paris
Paris Vacation Apartments
Rent Paris
Owner's Direct
Home Away Holiday Rentals
Paris Attitude

Least expensive:

Paris Address
Residences-Paris
Paris Best Lodge

Good list I NEVER wire money always pay with CC

insuremytrip.com MANY indivisuals and agencies scam

in many ways like photo shopping "bait and switch".

Cheaper apartment quite dodgy no elevators usually.

It is actually illega to rent short term from individuals

so epect no help from police if scammed happens A LOT!

The number of fake rental scams on Craigslist VRBO AirBNB and other online ... on how to protect yourself from apartment scams in Paris ... Now for short and long term. ...

parishousingscamwatch.wordpress.com

As usual I have great difficulty in following any post by qwovadis, who doesn't seem to write in any fashion known to any English speaker (or any other language)

However, I dont believe there are a lot of scams on VRBO at least.

'so epect no help from police if scammed happens A LOT!' or perhaps not.

I think there are definitely scams on VRBO, though, I've read about them on Fodors and there have to be more. It is true the police won't have anything to do with it.

I would certainly not agree that Parisperfect is "moderate" in price and that it is equivalent in price to the others listed in that section. Their apartments are extremely expensive, I've looked at their prices on many of their listings.

CYESQ,
I may nominate you for a gold star:)

There have been efforts to maintain a couple of hotel threads, so that some of the common questions regarding "where to stay?" can be answered by pointing in that direction.

It would be of equal value to have a thread to people starting out to have a list of rental agencies.

This subject has been covered ALOT!

429 responses and counting

the subject of Paris apts has been done over and over and over again

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ent-thread.cfm

Monsieur Maurice Godet gave us excellent service from the beginning email to meeting us at the apt. to show us around.

http://www.servissimo-paris.com/list...98d6127ab45a64

Moderate prices

For expensive, we loved the apartments and service from Phillipe and Tom at

http://www.guestapartment.com/index.html

Which is a different site from the Guest Apartment Services listed above---no "s" at the end of service.

Despite the alarms sounded by one frequent poster to this forum, short-term rentals continue and perhaps are proliferating. The good list that opened this thread joins an even longer catalogue posted in October.
Neither, however, mentioned the service I used recently. www.clickappart.com provided satisfactory service -- a decent selection on an easy-to-use web page, quick attention to my requests, telephone follow-up to some details after arrival, and a general air of competence. My post-trip suggestion about written instructions for the high-tech equipment -- those wash-dryer combos rate as high-tech to me -- was graciously received.
One more positive note: The service takes credit cards for the reservation and deposit.
A single good episode does not prove perfection, but I was satisfied enough to consider a second go-round ( and to mention them here, without prompting.)

If you scroll down the page of this link, there are a ton of apartment agencies listed: http://www.parisnotes.com/rentals/pa...ntrentals.html

The nice part of the Paris apartment thread here is that you get first-hand experiences and recommendations. The reviews on Slowtrav are also a resource.

I too think Paris Perfect apartments belong in the higher-priced category. But it is complicated categorizing agencies by price because it doesn't consider value v. cost. A "cheap" apartment can be overpriced for what is offered.

Michel_Paris, many thanks. I appreciate that!

I realize that the subject has been covered many times before. I was just attempting to consolidate a list so that people would not necessarily have to work their way through long threads. And if it's been done before, I certainly couldn't find it.

Tripgirl, if you don't need such a list, no worries. But you really don't have to criticize my efforts. Anyone is free to use it or not. In fact, if the number of posts on this subject is so bothersome for you, I'm really not sure why you opened the post to begin with.

CYESQ

It wasn't a criticism by any means. Your list is lovely

I gave yet another link for people to search for apts that also describes people's experiences with some of the very agencies you did indeed list

The problem with the apartment superthread IS that it is 429 replies long. I like some of the other sites that either review the apartments by apartment, or at least by vendor. It is rather tedious to go thru the super thread - all 429 replies - to find any information.

I appreciate this, CYESQ; thank you for taking the time to organize1

Thanks all. I learned a lot about each of the websites by going through this exercise. At least people who need some help getting started can use it for just that.

Great list. Thanks

Here's a short list from Fodor's that should help : http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/f...ure_30057.html

If you want to avoid scams, it is best to look at agencies which are based in France and do hold a French real estate agent card (carte T). Many agencies do not have it. Otherwise, you can also use a website such as VRBO, it might be cheaper but they won't check the apartment and you can't be sure that the contact behind the apartment really is the landlord, so this is at your own risk.

I used feelslikehomeinparis.com and was very pleased. They have apartments of different sizes and at different price points.

I disagree that there are "A LOT" of scams, but there are some. The ones I've read about were obvious in retrospect; was amazed to read the NYT Frugal Traveler's account a few months ago in which this supposedly experienced traveler wired full price PLUS security in advance, only to find the apartment did not exist. I've never heard a legitimate owner or agency require this.
If you have doubts, if you don't get responses, if there's no phone number, perhaps it's time to move on. As other posters have noted, there are lots of established options. One we've used is www.likelivingthere.com.
Paying by credit card helps, but many individual owners aren't equipped to accept them. That's mostly because in Europe wire transfers are free or extremely low-cost; not like the U.S.
Another insurance comparison site is www.squaremouth.com.

http://www.parissweethome.com/

Least expensive ..and the best...

I live in Paris but always recommend http://www.private-homes.com/paris/ to my friends visiting Paris.
From studios to big apartments - good range of price