Paris : Serviced Offices and office space

Intransit has just added a new service for its clients. We can now assist with sourcing temporary offices and serviced offices in Paris.

You can now see the availability and access servced offices all over the Paris region through our partnerships with the specialists in this field.

With many prestigious addresses as well as cost effective locations to assist your corporate move to Paris or just for a temporary base while you are setting things up.

http://www.intransit-international.com/serviced_offices_paris.html

Living in France : Pétanque Ladies and Gentlemen, will you shoot or point ?

On May 3rd 2007, We'll have a pétanque contest organised in Paris at the Invalides.
Summer is here before time and that why we assumed Horn's Club's members would be delighted to put their flips-flops on and take part in this event. With such a weather, one can almost hear the grasshoppers and smell the fragrance of olive trees.

Have you already tried Pétanque ? For those who don't know, it's a very popular game from southern France. Leave Parisian stress behind, the only effort you'll need to make on May 3rd will be to throw the pétanque ball and hold the pastis glass to your lips. For more info, please log on to http://www.horns-club.com/ and register online for the event.

As a result of my « southern mood », I started musing on the web in search for seasonal anecdotes. And I realised that some among you (at least expats) have probably never heard about even the most famous southern France traditions. So here is a couple of webpages I found about provencal traditions and folklore, from the well-known sport, la Pétanque, to regional expressions and vocabulary.

Call it a humble tribute to southern France classics...

http://www.petanqueamerica.com/game.html

http://frenchfood.about.com/cs/horsdoeuvres/a/pastis.htm

http://www.lexilogos.com/provencal_langue_dictionnaires.htm (translation of provencal words into French)


Hopefully, you'll find those links inspiring and we'll have a glimpse of you at the event.

Paris Apartments : Rental Prices and Premiums

The price per square meter which is published regularly by the Paris notaries will give you a good indication of the relative cost of each arrondissement but expect to pay a high premium if you want something extra.

This view of Paris from an apartment in the 7th arrondissement could easily inflate the apartment rental or purchase price by 10-20%.

You could also expect to pay premiums of 5-20% on Paris apartments for any of the following:

• A good balcony
• A higher floor with elevator
• High ceilings
• The level of renovation
• Quality of communal areas
• Local amenities
• Proximity to a metro stop
• Good ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms
• A designated parking spot

Paris Apartments : Renovating Project by Homestyler

Apartments in Paris come in all shapes and sizes! With a little imagination and minimum expense however even the humblest of corridors can be transformed to optimize the apartment space.



Entrance Hall Before & Entrance Hall After

The corridor of the parisian apartment was revamped by Homestyler to provide a new welcome home for our client.

http://www.homestyler.com/

Paris Apartments : Short Term Furnished Apartments

We receive a great deal of requests at Intransit for Short Term Furnished Apartments in Paris.

Finding such apartments can be cumbersome, frustrating and take hours of research. If you enter 'Paris apartments' into any search engine you will be inundated with sites competing for your business.

Some are just global marketing sites, some are international real estate agents, some are true on the ground Paris agencies (of which there are around 3500) but it is almost impossible to decipher who is the best source to find you your ideal apartment rental in Paris.

This is why we have added a new service to our site.

The form that you will find at

http://www.intransit-international.com/housing_paris_short_furnished_apartments.html

will allow you to enter the details of the apartment you require in Paris. Once submitted this is sent to Intransit's preferred specialist agencies who are able to deal with your request. They will then contact you with a selection of properties that come close to your requirements.

It couldn't be simpler.

One form sent to multiple qualified agents who will then contact you and it doesn't cost a thing, not even a phone call.

We are testing this service now with our partner agencies.

We hope this saves you time and provides you with your ideal Paris apartment.

Paris Apartments : Market Apreciation Figures

The Paris Notaires have just released the market growth figures for properties in Ile de France.

These Figures show the market price movements in the Ile de France region for the 4th quarter of 2006.


The first table shows movements in the market for 'ancien' houses in Paris region.


The second table shows movements in the market for 'ancien' apartments in Paris and the surrounding regions.


While both show an annual increase the market growth for houses has slowed in relation to 4th quarter 2005 while the market for apartments in Paris seems to be continually on the rise if somewhat slower than the 3rd quarter 2006.




The central districts of Paris 1-7 still maintain a year on year increase in growth. The notaires maintain that demand still outstrips supply for Paris apartments.

Living in Paris : French Language : Tu or vous…???

You have just arrived in France and you’re wondering how to speak “un peu français” ! In fact, it may be simpler than you think!

One of the first rules to remember is that the French will always welcome you warmly so long as you make the effort to speak a little of the French Language.
One of the first things you will come upon once in France is whether to call someone “tu” (tutoyer) or “vous” (vouvoyer).

It may even give you a real headache sometimes! Here are a few tips…

• If you are talking to a friend, a member of your family or a child, you should use “tu” which is synonymous of closeness, friendship or informality.
  
• However when you wish to express respect, distance or formality, you should use “vous”. For instance, when you speak to someone you don’t know, an older person or to 2 people or more…
  
• Sometimes, it is not easy to make the difference between “tu” and “vous” and if you are not sure which one to choose, I would advise you to go for “vous” as it is better to show someone too much respect than not enough!
  
• If a French person asks you: “On peut se tutoyer ?”, this is a sign that he/she wants to be informal. However be careful: “tu” and “vous” are not interchangeable, so it is very important to know when and why they are to be used. Otherwise, you may insult someone unwillingly by using the wrong “you”!

From Isabelle : Intransit's French Language Tutor
www.french-in-paris.com
06 65 24 64 74

Paris Apartments : Moving In & Parking Authorisations

In many cities and towns in France you must obtain an authorisation to park large trucks for any length of time. This is especially true for your removal company when you move in to Paris apartments with limited access.

Access to apartments in Paris can be quite limited especially on one way systems. An authorisation however does not automatically block the space required in the street and this is generally down to you.

Should you require an external elevator to mount large items of furniture through a window, which is often the case in old Paris apartments where stairwells and elevators are limited in space, a second authorisation will be required.

Ensure that your removal company obtains the necessary documentation from the local authorities (many leave it to their clients to organise) to avoid sleeping on a blow up bed for the first few nights!!!

Intransit offers this service for it's customers.

Paris Apartments : Prices for 'ancien' apartments are slowing down

The last seven years has seen record appreciation in the Paris real estate market but the media's coverage and speculators have been giving mixed signals to buyers and sellers over the last 6 months.

Talk of bursting bubbles, crisis and crashes have been dominating the real estate market in the Paris region for several months now. The truth is that prices are still climbing but at a somewhat reduced rate. For the first time in years market increases in some or Paris’ ‘quartiers’ have fallen below 10% while the immediate suburbs are still enjoying 14% growth and higher.

This may be due to a general market slowdown globally but has certainly been fueled by media coverage and speculation. Uncertainty about the outcome of impending presidential elections has also created a significant drop in the number of transactions taking place (3.9% drop in transactions from 2005 to 2006)

Latest figures from the Notaries say the average price per square meter for ‘ancien’ apartments remains at 5 772 euros with the highest of 8.586 euros m² being the 6th arrondissement.

While this comes as welcome news to would-be buyers it is certainly a little early to expect prices to stabalise. The current stagnation certainly gives current buyers a little more bargaining power but this may be short lived.

Speculation on a pick up after the elections and the continuing lack of offers that has helped inflate prices goes against the media’s coverage and is creating a great deal of uncertainty among buyers and sellers certainly as to the best timing for transactions.

The Notaries are however confident that the current slowdown by no means suggests that the bubble has burst.

Article in Les Echos (French)

Living in Paris: Children & Moms : MESSAGE GROUP

The MESSAGE mother support group has been active in Paris since 1984 and today boasts around 1600 members. For a benevolent organisation with a transient membership this is something to be very proud of.

As a source for information, networking and more importantly support for expatriated mothers and their children arriving in France there is none better than MESSAGE.

The group is organised into various regions in and around Paris and the mothers and volunteers regularly organise playgroups, celebrations (Easter, Christmas), outings, bring and buy sales and the all important 'moms nights out'.

For new or expectant mothers they have a team of trained specialists for antenatal, counseling, breastfeeding and parenting support.

Members share anecdotes and exchange tips (and frustrations) on the highly popular message forum and the organization has today become a reference for all expatriate families in the Paris region.

A must-buy for any newly arrived family is the message guide ‘ABC’s of Parenting in Paris’ written by those who have experienced first hand the difficulties of bringing up children in a foreign country.

Living in Paris: City of Love?

All over the world, Paris has the reputation to be "the city of love", yet over 50% (50-68% depending on the surveys!) of the people living in Paris are single, this is true particularly for people between 20-35 years but it touches all categories.

It is true that Paris is never as beautiful as when you're in love but being single here is really difficult. How come?

People here can tend to be somewhat suspicious of anyone who approaches them openly. It is true that it in a city such as Paris this happens regularly and just asking someone for the time is no longer always well received.

Understandably ladies in a city may be wary when they don’t react to a harmless approach in the street and that, of course, doesn’t help in the most humble of approaches.

Today's busy lifestyles for those who want everything in a partner (must be good looking, financially sound, intelligent, a good dresser, funny, serious…are there even people like that? ;) do not make the simplest contacts easier outside of the workplace.

Many Parisians therefore turn towards “organised dating”, and after-office events and speed-dating are becoming more and more common and readily accepted among the singles. Every evening and weekend, events such as receptions, tours and visits for singles are organised in Paris and the number of members on the dating web sites increases daily.

This situation is well reflected by the fact that over 800 000 Parisians are subscribed on Europe’s biggest dating site…and that’s just one of many.
http://www.chicandkiss.com
http://www.soireesdannie.com
http://www.netinthecity.com
http://www.parisdating.fr
http://www.cpournous.com
http://www.meetic.fr

You are not alone in being alone