THE EXPERT PROPERTY-FINDING SERVICE FOR PARIS
Press coverage
Paris chic goes cheap
This article appeared in Evening Standard Homes & Property
Wednesday 4 December 2002
You've dreamed of living in an apartment in the centre of Paris. Jane Barry meets a woman who can help you achieve it.
A second home in Paris is an appealing idea. Particularly with pieds-à-terre going for as little as £70,000. But how do you research the market when you lack time and French? Enter property finder Marie-Pierre Saint-Martin. Describe your wish list, and she'll find the apartment to fit it, as well as explaining the legal technicalities and putting you in touch with a bilingual lawyer. If you want, she'll even help with the renovations.
The advantage of using a property finder is they can provide an overview of suitable apartments in your price range - knowledge it would take months of weekending in Paris to acquire. And, unlike estate agents, whose business is shifting properties, a property finder is commissioned by you and has no axe to grind but yours. Saint-Martin, a Parisian working out of London, hunts down properties from everywhere, not just estate agents, but private sellers and developers. "I don't want to have close contacts with particular estate agents," she says, "because I want to be free to buy exactly what I want, exactly as if I was buying it for myself."
Her first step is to take a detailed brief. What size apartment do you need, in which area? Would you prefer a modern block or something typically Parisian? And, of course, what's your budget? "I will say either I can find something like that for you, or no, I'm sorry, that does not exist in Paris. Paris is a lot cheaper than London, but sometimes people ask for something with three bedrooms for £50,000, and even in Paris that does not exist." Not that she can't find bargains, particularly if you wait longer than the three to six months her search normally takes.
Usually she'll take you around a short list of five flats but, if none fit the bill, she'll come back with others. And, in the year she's been running the business, she hasn't failed once. "When I sign the contract with the client, I sign till I find them a flat."
Saint-Martin became a property finder by accident. A former maths teacher, when she came to London six years ago she decided to train as an interior decorator. A friend asked her to design a Paris loft shell, which featured in a French magazine and earned her a second commission, only this time her client didn't have time to find the shell, so her property searches began. But interior design remains a passion. If your new apartment needs renovating, she'll happily organise the project.
Saint-Martin will not only find you an English-speaking lawyer, but she knows about rental incomes too. If you want your second home to earn its keep while you're in England she can even find you a tenant.
The best investments, she says, are studios and one-bedroom flats, which have a higher yield than larger properties: while a three-bedroom apartment will bring in £8 to £10 rent a square metre, a studio yields £10 to £13. Paris, she says, is an excellent investment. Apartment prices have risen 10 per cent annually since 1998. And, although the market is not as high as London, "when it goes down, it goes down a lot less."
Understanding her clients is as vital as market knowledge. "I think it's the main reason for this kind of business. To an estate agent, it's all square metres, prices, figures. But mine is a very tailor-made, personal service. You have to understand what the person wants."
The Moltgens: 'Marie-Pierre negotiated to get the price reduced'
Bruno and Ursula Moltgen live in Guildford, but hail from Stuttgart; he's an engineer on secondment here.
The accessibility of Paris by Eurostar prompted them to think about a second home in the city last year. A one-bedroom flat they could let out seemed the perfect idea. "We intend to move in after my retirement in seven years' time," says Bruno. They knew they would need a property finder: "For us it was essential to find someone to organise it and help with the language."
After an eight-month search, they met Marie-Pierre Saint-Martin. Last January, Saint-Martin came up with a short list of six flats and, although none of was exactly right, Bruno believes: "It was a good opportunity to get a feeling for what was on offer and go into more detail about what was important for us." A month later Saint-Martin showed them the ideal apartment, on the sixth floor of an attractive 1926 block, light, with a good view and a coveted 16th Arrondissement address. But the property was in poor condition and more than their budget of Euros 200,000 (£128,000). "But Marie-Pierre negotiated to get the price reduced," Bruno says. Saint-Martin also arranged the refurbishment, and the couple found a tenant immediately.
The Moltgens are delighted with the process. "It was clear to us that it was the only way to go".
