Living in Paris : Gay Paris!

Gay Paris !

Parisians are highly open to alternative lifestyles and the homosexual community is very much part of the every-day-life here, it is part of the ‘Richesse de Paris’.

There are many famous clubs like the “Queen”, the “Scorp”, and a lot of bars, mostly located in the 4th arrondissement, the Marais, where you can also find the only gay hotel in Paris, the Hôtel Central Marais.
hotelcentralmarais.monsite.wanadoo.fr

There are also several sports clubs like the first gay football club of Paris, the FC Paris Arc En Ciel www.fcparis-arcenciel.com, the Paris Foot Gay parisfootgay.free.fr, or the only gay rugby club in Paris, Les Gaillards http://www.lesgaillards.org/ all these clubs do of course also welcome heterosexuals who would like to share their passion for these sports.

There is even a real estate agency that specialises in short-term rentals for gay couples and singles and actually hands out the “Gay Guide” that helps non-Parisians find their feet in this scene. http://www.gayhouseparis.com/indexeng.html

Plenty of information on places and events can be found on the following web sites:
http://www.parisgaivillage.com/gb/index.html
http://www.paris-gay.com/indexgb.php
http://www.gaypride.fr/

Living in Paris : MESSAGE Mothers Bring and Buy sale

Bargains Galore at MESSAGE's Spring Bring & Buy Sale

Find new and gently-used baby and children's clothes, toys, books, games, equipment, maternity wear and more -- at bargain prices. Many items were purchased abroad (e.g., UK and US) and may be difficult to find in France.

Saturday, May 12, 2007
10 AM - 2 PM

Courtyard Marriott Hotel,
58, Blvd. Victor Hugo
Neuilly-sur-Seine

Metro: Les Sablons/Anatole France

Entrance fee: 2 Euros per family for members;
4 Euros per family for non-members
First 3 hours of hotel parking are free!

Organized by MESSAGE Mother Support Group
www.messageparis.org

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

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 : 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: Elegant Women

Here is a small communtiy site for international women in Paris. Some interesting news, articles and links.

www.pariswoman.com

Paris Apartments : Apartments in La Défense

La Defense is the main business district to the west of Paris. The area is surrounded by highrise office and apartment buildings that have swallowed up the original suburban towns of Puteaux, Suresnes and Courbevoie.

The area is suited to business people who wish to be in proximity to their companies and apartments are becoming more and more sought after for those who stay in Paris during the week and travel home on the weekends.

This 90m2 2 bedroom apartment was taken for such a client.

Rent 1800 euros/ month

Paris Suburbs : House in Le Vesinet

Le Vesinet is one of the most sought after suburbs of Paris. This house had been totally renovated a year ago. 350m2 with 5 bedrooms, a fabulous landscaped garden and a modernised and fully equipped kitchen.

Our client moves in next month with his family.

Rent : 6000 euros / month (gardening included)

Paris Apartments : An apartment in Passy

This is an apartment we sourced recently for one of our clients.

A fabulous 150 m2, 3 bedroom in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, overlooking the Seine.

Rent: 4000 euros/ month

Living in Paris: French Red Tape

France is known for its red tape in all aspects of life. (It must play a huge role in controlling the country's unemployment figures ;)

The following consumer site (in French) will help you with some of the many official procedures you are likely to encounter. It has a databank of letter templates for a host of everyday problems.

Ideal for those of you who's French is not quite up to scratch yet.


Help with the Red Tape

Living in Paris: Paris - A great place to live ...if you're wealthy!!

A recent report from Price Water House puts Paris as City No 1 for quality of life, but ranks it lowest for cost of living and economic initiative.

Read the full article here PWC Article (in French)

Apartments Paris : Crisis in the Market

While working with our clients last year we noted that hysteria in the French market among landlords was getting progressively worse. The current laws governing tenancy agreements in France, fueled by a media coverage that has exaggerated the problems has made finding a Parisian apartment in 2007 even more difficult.

2007 sees bank guarantees, co signatures on the lease contract from the family or the employer as commonplace, these were previously considered a last resort for only candidates in the lower income brackets. Now it seems that any expatriate who does not have a stable financial history in France with a French employment contract is being asked to provide such guarantees regardless of income.

The rule of thumb for the Ile de France Region has traditionally been that a candidate for a rental property would be happily accepted by a landlord if his net monthly income equated to 3 times the rent being asked for.

Expatriate packages would normally cover this amply, certainly when the 'extras' such as housing allowances, travel allowances and private school allowances were added to the equation.
Today it seems that the 'Expatriate status' of many new arrivals to Paris has created nervousness among landlords.

The new fear is that the Expat tenant would disappear to another country leaving rent and potentially other charges relating to the property unpaid. Rather unlikely but the media has been brimming with dramatic stories of evictions that take over a year, non paid rents, properties left in terrible condition, law suits.

The Loi Hoguet, which stipulates the terms of any unfurnished lease and is the reference for furnished leases, does not alleviate the fears as this law is designed to protect the tenant considerably.

Eviction for unpaid rent is far from easy in France and this is dissuading any would-be landlords from putting their properties on the market creating a huge shortage of quality products.

Those owners who do decide to rent out face strong demand. The fierce competition has created a sellers market and inflated rental prices which make the income/rent ratio out of reach for many would-be tenants.

This high demand means that landlords can pick and choose tenants and demand the high guarantees cited previously.

Despite a slow down of property prices if you're a buy-to-let investor this could be a great opportunity. Recent tax breaks by the French government are making this even more interesting.

Article on Paris property in the Telegraph