From the Sublime … to the Ridiculous. Paris Apartment, Part X

(Part two of a two part blog about the buying the sublime apartment in Paris)

“It sold.” Her voice sounded so drained of its usual contagious energy, I thought she just might pass out on the phone. “It sold from under us.”

I felt like I had been hit in the stomach. I couldn’t believe my ears and I kept hoping I’d heard her wrong. Of all the exciting things I had dreamed my agent would tell me in the morning, the sublime apartment selling from under me was not one that I even considered, especially after all the assurances that it was mine for the taking. “How could this happen? “ I shrieked, “I thought we were the first?”

“We were the first with Robert,” she told me, “but another agent got the keys too. He brought an offer with him and it was accepted on the spot.

And thus we plunged from the sublime to what I think of as the ridiculous way the real estate market works in Paris.

First off, the fact that there is no multiple listing service means that realtors are all competing against each other. And therefore it behooves the seller to list their apartment with more than one agent. So you never know until it happens whether another agent will undercut you in your offer. And as a result, there is no winner here: Not the buyer, the seller or the agent.

And then the whole Parisian pricing structure has completely mystified me from the very beginning. If the market is as hot as it is, and if the good properties sell for full price before they even go on the market, why don’t they just raise the prices? Instead, they group properties by “Arrondissement” and determine that all apartments in one arrondissement will sell for 10,000 euros per square meter, while another neighboring arrondissement can fetch up to 12,000 euros. But what if, like the sublime, you’re in the 3^rd arrondissement, which is typically about 2,000 less than the 6^th or 7^th, but you’re in a great location next to the Place des Vosges, and your apartment has great bones, and is highly desirable? Wouldn’t you price it higher than the going rate, if there is more demand for that type of apartment? And what if your apartment sells to the first buyer even before it officially goes on the market, for full-price? Wouldn’t that possibly imply that it was underpriced?

I was so deflated by the loss of the sublime that I couldn’t think of anything else for days. Don’t get me wrong: I knew that this wasn’t a life sentence, or anything remotely as significant. I’ve always known that my idea of buying a pied-a-terre in Paris is a complete luxury, but it has been my dream for years, and I’ve made a lot of concessions to achieve this dream. So losing the best one that came my way was a huge loss. Nothing too serious, I realize, but still … enough hurt and sadness and loss that it has taken its toll, and a long while to recover.

And then I started wondering about the whole price thing. Perhaps I was the one who was ridiculous here, because hadn’t I agreed to pay full price for a shabby, dusty, dirty apartment that needed to be renovated from scratch and was a third floor walk up? What if, for sake of argument, I took the money I was about to throw at something sight unseen and spent it on a house that I could actually see in Atlanta? What kind of house would that buy me in Atlanta? And that led me to a very interesting comparison. Who’s being ridiculous now?

Le Sublime: Trash filled, one bedroom, needing a major facelift

And what the same dollars would buy today in Atlanta

The kitchen at Le Sublime

The kitchen at the Atlanta equivalents

The 17th century beams at Le Sublime

The beams in Atlanta

The 10 foot ceilings of Le Sublime

The 20 foot ceilings in Atlanta

The “back yard” view from Le Sublime

The backyard of Atlanta

All Atlanta photos courtesy of Atlanta Fine Homes

This house, located on one of the nicest streets in the fanciest neighborhoods of Atlanta, really spoke to me (and I’ve always had a soft spot for a pool, especially onethat you can just walk out to from the main floor). And I can hear all my French friends questioning my sanity for even considering a dusty, noisy 3rd floor walkup apartment in a creaky, 17th century Parisian building in the 3rd Arrondissement, over a pristine house in perfect condition on Valley Road in Atlanta.

Here we sit in beautiful sunny Atlanta with more houses on the market than ever before and with surplus inventory for years to come. And in Paris, I can’t even be the first bid, even when I’m ready to pounce with a fulltime offer before the apartment goes on the market. Is there something wrong with this picture? Have we indeed gone from the sublime to the ridiculous?

This whole game has not been about price but about realizing a long-time dream. So no matter how beautiful a house might be in Atlanta, or Phoenix or Dallas or Boston, it’s not what I’m going after right now. In many ways, this exercise has helped me with a dose of reality. Maybe it’s time to relax a little, and let things follow their course. Le sublime wasn’t meant to be, but maybe it was meant to slow me down. Was it really worth my getting so worked up and upset over something as basic as … an apartment? Surely, there will be others. And surely, I need to get a grip on reality. Maybe even get my priorities refocused.

I think I’ll take a break for a while, to smell the coffee, consider my priorities and be appreciative of the things in life that really matter. Like my sublime family, my friends, and my gallery.

Tata,

A.

Hunting for the Paris Apartment, part IX: From the sublime …

I got a call from my agent. “I’m on to something,” she said, “and it is sublime. As soon as it comes on the market, you’ll want to act immediately.”

I know, I know. Paris property is so hot that the good ones go even before they even come on the market. In fact, if it appears on the internet, it usually means that it’s overpriced or undesirable, because everything else sells to a long list of private buyers. I was lucky on this one, though. My agent assured me that she would be the first to see it as soon as the selling agent had the key.

The few photos she sent had me jumping with excitement, and I immediately googled the area, counting the steps from the chunky old front door to the sumptuous Place des Vosges. I flipped out over the high ceilings, the elegant 17th century building, the gorgeous beams and floors, the four-paned windows and the rustic wall beams that are the signature of so many buildings in the beautiful Marais. Through google, I ogled the view from the windows, measured the distance across the street, visited every storefront on the rue de Turenne, and eyeballed the angle of the sun. I imagined the dirty floors cleaned up and decorated sumptuously in the style of the Marais and in keeping with the building’s pedigree: Formal Louis XV mixed with some modern glam to reflect building’s the austere 17^th century elegance and its rustic complement.

We didn’t have the key in hand but this apartment already had the key to my heart. I was falling in love with the sublime. In my mind, it was mine and I was dreaming of its facelift:

Would the living room be transformed from this to the beauty, below?

Photo Haven in Paris

Would the rough hewn wall beams above morph into the elegance below?

Photo, above, Haven in Paris

And would the bedroom through the doorway (look how small the door is compared to the high ceilings!), end up like this:

Photo (above) Haven in Paris

And finally, would the sweet little kitchen gain soft sophistication, like this?

Photo Haven in Paris

“So when are you getting the keys?” I asked, barely able to contain my excitement, after decorating every imaginary room, and trying to hide my growing impatience. “Soon,” I was assured. “Don’t worry; you’ll be the first.”

When my agent called on Friday evening to say that she was getting the keys the next day, I was just about ready to burst. It’s unusual for a Parisian realtor to work on Saturdays, but mine is American and she does things a little differently. “I’ll call you from the apartment,” she said, at 11 p.m. her time. “I promise! I’ll be there when you wake up.” We agreed to a full-price offer, sight unseen, because I knew that this one was worth it, and it was the only way to secure the first bid.

When the phone rang at 8 a.m.on Saturday, I’d already been out for a walk with the dog and a workout at our clubhouse. I had eaten a full breakfast and read the entire N.Y. Times. I was starting a load of laundry and working on my taxes, just to keep myself from bursting with anticipation. One of the things that I’ve loved about my agent is that she gets it like I do. She sees the beauty in the old and knows just how to transform it. No wall is too solid and no task is too daunting for her. Every detail is important and we can spend hours on the phone discussing the door knobs, coat hooks or the shape of an oval window. I knew she’d give me a full report and I couldn’t wait for all the nitty gritty details: Were the floors all gorgeous? Were the beams aged to perfection? What about the courtyard? What were the common areas like? How high were the ceilings? Where was the bathroom? What was the angle of the sun?

And of course the question I was most anxious to have answered: When will the sublime soon be mine?

Stay tuned for next week, “From the Sublime … part deux”

Herringbone Envy – Hunting for the Paris Apartment, Part VIII

Today I’m excited because I’ve found an apartment that’s got my favorite floors. I know, that’s not much to get excited about but I really love these floors. To me, the herringbone style scream “Parisian” more than anything. In French, these floors are called “Pointes d’Hongrie” and I find them to be as yummy as Pierre Herme macaroons and as gorgeous as a Chanel tweed suit. I would be crazy enough to buy a Parisian apartment just because of these floors.

My favorite herringbone patterned floors, called “Pointes d’Hongrie”

Pointes d’Hongrie are not actually considered to be as classy in real estate terms as Pointes de Versailles, which are the 17^th century equivalent, and as the name indicates, the gorgeous parquet floors that grace the Palace of Versailles.

The Parquet de Versaille (Courtesy of Atelier des Granges)

By comparison, Pointes d’Hongrie show up in buildings that were constructed in modern times, the mid to late 1800’s. But to me they are the quintessentially Parisian floors you’d find in a gorgeous big old Haussmann style building, flanked by 200 year old plane trees on the Boulevard St. Germain. Usually, along with the herringbone floors, you’ll get nice ceiling moldings and a good ceiling height, solid oak doors with the porcelain oval shaped handles and at least one fireplace with mantel. All I really want is an apartment with these features, in a nice neighborhood, with no vis a vis, facing south! That would be perfection.

At first glance, this apartment may have it all. It’s a two bedroom, one bath, separate kitchen (immediately I think to put the kitchen in the living room and you’ve got a second bath), with the classic “parquet, moulure, cheminee” which are the trifecta of Parisian apartments. The address says, “St. Germain, near Cluny,” which means the beautiful Cluny museum in the much coveted 5^th Arrondissement. It is a little misleading because of course the St. Germain that we all covet is the area near the Eglise St. Germain, better known for the Cafe de Flore, Cafe des Magots, and the brand new Ralph Lauren boutique.

The Cluny Museum, Paris

The “Cluny” designation could be good or bad. If you’re too close to the Sorbonne, the value goes down because of al l the students in the area. If you’re too close to Boulevard St. Michel, it’s extremely touristy, and, I have it from a good source, the number one area for pickpockets in Paris. But there is a little section between Boulevard St. Germain and the Seine River that is quieter, with fewer students, fewer tourists and lots of great restaurants and hidden little squares. Plus, it is the epicenter of historic Paris, very close to Notre Dame, with charming buildings and unfortunately, skyrocketing prices.

I only have two pictures of this apartment and despite the fact that the price is more than I want to spend, I’m interested because it could be in that coveted little location and it’s a high floor, with elevator. But really, for this apartment, it’s all about the floors. I just love them!

One of two pictures of the apartment, and all I have to go by

And even though I have so little to go by, I can already imagine what these floors will look like when I’m finished with them. Sanded, with only a natural matt stain, polished to perfection, with that wonderful subtle beeswax smell. I can already fantasize about how these floors will come out, like in these gorgeous apartments from Paris Perfect’s site:

Photos courtesy of Paris Perfect

I call the agent to get more information and he is very cagy about the specific location but says it’s close to the Cluny metro stop. I urge him to tell me which way it faces, which will determine if it’s on Boulevard St. Germain (facing South but noisy) or a side street. He says it faces South East, and the bathroom and kitchen are on a courtyard. So the bedrooms face the street, I ask? Yes, but it’s a small street, he answers. Aha, that narrows it down. It’s not on the Boulevard St. Germain (nice, but noisy) or the Boulevard St. Michel (luckily!). He tells me a little more about the apartment, but nothing I don’t already expect, such as the kitchen and bathroom need to be redone. I thank him and tell him I’ll be back in touch. And then I head to Google maps for my morning exercise.

Armed with one picture that shows the building across the street, I narrow it down to two little streets that run off the Boulevard St. Germain with buildings that face Southeast. So then I get out my French site, Pages Blanches, and start looking at the buildings in 3D to figure out which one has that rounded dormer, as in the picture. After lots of straining and manipulating of my computer screen, I narrow it down to two possibilities, but then I see that to the right of the dormer, there is a wall and a new building. Aha! I’ve figured it out … it’s on the rue de la Harpe.

Rue de la Harpe strikes a familiar bell and it’s not necessarily a good one. I’m not sure why, so I revert back to google maps and start “walking” up and down the street again. It’s very touristy and there are a ton of restaurants, so I realize it’ll be noisy. Heart sinks a little. At one end of the street is the beautiful old Church of St. Severin, one of my favorites in Paris, where Francois Espinasse, the brother of our artist Jean Michel Espinasse, is the organist. That’s pretty cool but probably not a reason to buy an apartment down the street. So I turn around and head back up the street towards St. Germain, stumbling over the tourists and imagining the ruckus at midnight. And then it hits me fair and square: McDo! There is a McDonalds on the corner of Boulevard St. Germain and rue de la Harpe! This time, I put on my proverbial running shoes on and bolt down the street as fast as I can, leaving my favorite floors and my trusted google maps in the dust.

Stay tuned: Le sublime is lurking around the corner …

Hunting for the Paris Apartment VII - Hurt by the Spam Filter

Most Thursday afternoons, I get a little reminder on one of my Paris real estate websites that there are new listings “by owner” that fit my search criteria. I always feel pretty excited when this email pops up, because it’s a chance to jump on an opportunity before it is exposed to the masses. And I always feel ever so slightly smug that in this very competitive real estate jungle, I may be a half step ahead of my competitors who don’t speak French and don’t know about the “by owner” sites. I read these ads with relish and respond immediately if I see an ad that interests me.

One week, I didn’t get the ad on a Thursday, but instead it popped up on Friday evening, and was entitled, Week Ends’ Summary. I thought, “That’s odd – I don’t remember ever getting the ads yesterday,” and so I casually perused them, only to have my heart stop. There was an ad for an apartment on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais (already established earlier as one of my favorite avenues in Paris), fourth floor, elevator, with … you guessed it … a great view of the Grande Dame. As if that wasn’t enough, the four pictures in the ad confirmed my greatest suspicion: This was the perfect apartment in the perfect location. By now very familiar with this neighborhood, I could tell that exactly where it was situated, and figured out not only what it looked out over (Princess Caroline’s apartment across the street), but what building it was in.

Gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower across Avenue de la Bourdonnais

The Building that houses royalty across the street, to the left

Typically Parisian Haussmann architecture

Photos that stopped my heart, on the By Owner site

There was one problem: It was 6 p.m. in Atlanta and midnight in Paris, and I didn’t think I’d make a great impression if I called the owner at that hour, no matter how excited I was. So I sent an email, spent the evening walking up and down the avenue (courtesy of Google maps!), and when I’d exhausted myself and calmed my nerves enough, went to bed and set my alarm for 4 a.m., so I could call bright and early Paris time.

Unfortunately, I was 24 hours too late, and the apartment was already sold. Bereft, and more disappointed than I’d been in years, I tried to figure out how I’d missed this one, since I was sure I’d been one of the first. And that’s when I found the original email, stuck in my spam filter, 24 hours earlier. I should have suspected that when I didn’t get it on Thursday, it might have gone in to spam. Had I seen it earlier, I would have jumped on it immediately and just maybe, I would have been the first offer.

When you have a disappointment like this, someone will inevitably pop up with, “It wasn’t meant to be.” It’s never much consolation at the time, but I have found it to be true – at least in this case. The new owners did a wonderful renovation job and it looks like a beautiful and very happy apartment. (Interestingly, since it’s available for rent, maybe I’ll even rent it some day.) Their renovation is so wonderful in fact that it has given me lots of ideas and inspiration for my own renovation, whenever that will be.

Before: Look carefully at the before and see what the new owners did with the after

After: They replaced the radiator with a beautiful mantel

And added sumptuous decor

This is just the kind of inspiration I need for my dream apartment!

Before: And if you look carefully at the back of the apartment

You’ll see that they closed off the door to the study,

which makes the dining room feel bigger

And added a beautiful bedroom behind those doors.

Tada! The piece de resistance.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, and it wouldn’t have stopped me from buying this apartment, I have learned that probably the most important thing for me, equal to or even greater than location and view, is light. By that I mean preferably southern exposure, or in Paris, because it stays light so late in the summer, west is good too. That’s because the weather in Paris can be disappointingly dreary, but when it’s nice and sunny, it’s just gorgeous. I find myself wandering around on sunny days and looking up and coveting those western or southern exposed apartments that are bathed in sun. So although this dreamy apartment does have one beautiful window facing west (from which there is the million dollar view), the others all face north. That wouldn’t bother most people, but it would bother me. At the time that I lost this apartment, I felt hurt and deceived by my overly protective spam filter. Now I’m thinking it just wasn’t meant to be. And so the hunt -- for the perfect southwest facing apartment with gorgeous floors and killer view of the Eiffel tower, in the 7th arrondissement -- continues. Stay tuned for “Herringbone Envy.”

Tata,

A.

PS: All photos of the after shots, courtesy of Paris Perfect.