Sunday, December 6, 2009

We find an apartment

The time after we returned from our unsuccessful trip to Paris was an intense period of hunting.  We were both pretty good at the websites by then, knew what was available and what it should cost, knew where we should look.  We would sit side by side in bed, laptops out, passing apartments back and forth, then sending them off to Christine, who would visit, write most of them off, take pictures of a few.  We were focusing more and more on the 17th and the 15th.  then, on May 15th, we received this email...

Good morning !

Yes, the night have been a little short ... but it's ok !
Yesterday two of the visits I did were really good, and worth an offer.
[snip]
The 2nd one I really liked, is the last one I saw : 3 rue d'Ouessant in the 15th, 5mns walking distance to rue du Commerce. It is a very lovely apt at the 5th and last floor, bright and quiet, giving on rue d'Ouessant on one side, and having a cute view of the top of the Eiffel tower and top of St Leon church from the kitchen + main bedroom.
It has very nice old tiles, and oakwood floor in the bedrooms. The good point is that it has 2 separate bedrooms. Of course the living room is not big, but everything is very well proportionate. Very good feeling about that one !
They have an offer, but think it's too low. She is not willing to negociate, because they put it at a very reasonable price, which is true.
I send the photos I took yesterday in a following mail ...
At what time do you want me to call you today ?? (if possible, not on a cell phone, the cost is much higher ...)

Sincerely,
C


She sent a couple of pictures we have already posted... here is another one.  We liked what we saw, and our friends Sandy and Philippe agreed to go take a look.  They liked it to, and within 24 hours we had decided to put a offer down on it.  That meant we had to go see it, needless to say, but our son had a baseball tournament and there was no way that we were both going to be able to disappear for three days on such short notice.  So that meant CAM was going to have to make the trip on her own.  Looking back over the emails from this time, there was a lot of confusion about what was going on.  The owners didn't want the offer to be considered final until one of us had flown over and seen it, they were worried that we would hold it with an offer, then just withdraw it once we had seen it.  [As an aside, this plan meant that of three major real estate purchases I have made in my life, two were sight unseen.  We bought our current house while we were on sabbatical in tucson, and I hadn't seen it.]  So we Fed Exed a signed "Promesse de Vente" which the owner then delayed signing for a few days, without explanation.  (A sign of things to come) Then, we he finally got around to signing it, he scrawled a "Clause Suspensive" across the bottom saying the deal was off if he was unable to secure financing on the place he was buying.  But wait a minute.  First of all, what made him think he could add a clause to an agreement AFTER we had signed it?  And why would we agree to such a thing, anwyay?  It meant that at any point in the process he could just pull out and leave us high and dry.  So we refused, he was offended and perplexed, but finaly agreed to remove the clause.  They wanted to delay the closing until October so they could settle their purchase, which was fine with us.

So CAM made the trip, and though she was very nervous about spending all that time by herself, conducting such important business on her own, and going away only a week before our son's Bar Mitzvah, once she got there her love of Paris took over and she had a wonderful time.  And she loved the apartment, so we moved forward.  Here is an email she sent back...

Gorgeous day.  love this city!  This affirms the decision to buy here whether it is this apartment or another.  I took a wonderful run in the Champs de Mars this morning.  There are more runners every time I come.  The running loop is shaded in the summer and clear when the leaves are gone in the winter.  I had a delicious croissant aux amandes.  I guess you've gathered that they are my new breakfast passion.  After showering went out for a cafe creme.  I'm off to walk around our potential neighborhood before I meet C.  More later. Glad you are home safely.
love and miss you,
CAM
















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