Lowest priced brokers...

BP Is so correct....

Phyllis, he was looking for an agent who gets him an appartement where he can move in with even the highspeed Intenet operating and can start working rightaway.

BP Chuck

Which, of course, came into my head after posting about "gay parisssss"

Well thanks for all the good advice. I wanted to do it through an agency this time because I have played the other card...

pap.fr
gumtree.fr
metroroomates.com
craiglists
appartager.com
etc... the lists go on....

The most annoying fact was when I was trying to find a new place, the amount of time involved from the first call, to seeing the place, to closing the deal. Since I was telecommuting(east coast time), my work hours were from basically 15:00 to 23:00. So that left little room to track down the good places. However, I know these things do work, they just take time. So it looks like to really be happy, I should get a rental for just a month, or two weeks(too close???) to give myself ample time to play the market. I will be arriving end of may, early june, so market should be fresh as a good pineapple!

I recently moved from a studio to a one-bedroom in Paris and found many very nice apartments in the 750-850 range. As Stacy said , You will easily find very nice studios in that range, in great neighborhoods. One bedrooms will be a bit harder because of the competition, but they certainly exist. I was looking for something unfurnished, which often means you won't even have a refridgerator.

Furnished apartments geared towards expats who will only be in Paris a short time will be more expensive.

I was pretty shocked at how unhelpful the agencies were and had a difficult time even getting someone to call me back.

In the end I lucked out and found something through PAP.

Yes indeed, you can find a decent studio or even sometimes a 1BR in that price range. They probably won't be luxurious and most likely won't have an elevator, but they definitely do exist.

Futurama, try looking through expatriates.com or Particulier à Particulier. I found several good prospects through those during my search (although ultimately I ended up finding my apartment through a friend).

Also see Parisnet (check out both short-term and long-term categories) and Sublet.com. I came across a few apartments I would have felt comfortable taking sight unseen as I had a lot of communication and very detailed information from the owners, but as Sam said, it might be better to plan a short-term accommodation for the beginning so you can find something once you're here.

Don't forget that in most cases you'll have to pay a deposit of two months' rent, which drives your initial cost up a bit more.

I think there's some confusion here. Most Paris apartments rented thru an agent involve a commission to the agent-the ones I've seen run 7-10% of the rent paid, and this amount is added to the rent and paid by the tenant. It is a big number and likely not justified by the work done. Welcome to the world of unlimited demand.

I would be very wary of committing to a Paris apartment you have not seen, which I would never do. There is just too much really junky places out there, and unless you get very, very lucky, somone will be happy to unload one of those on you. If you need to be set up when you come, I would get a vacation rental for 30 days so you can go around and find a good permanent place to live.

If you want to get an idea of what is available, you might check some websites that list properties (rent and sale) such as:

http://www.seloger.com/s_recherche/erubr.htm

or:


http://www.lesiteimmobilier.com/

OK OK, a studio....if that is an apartment.....

(and yes it can be done.)(as I have done it before)

Hmmm, an Appartement for 7-900 € a month???

BP Chuck

A bit of a chuckle, but "gay" paris...should sound more like "gay pariiiiiiii", as in, A wonderful, vibrant, and beautiful city.


So, I am looking for an agent to set this up for me before my arrival for 2 reasons. Number 1 being work, I can't really have downtime, and I need to have high speed internet wherever I am(yes I know I can get this in hotels, but its not always there when you get there, and also its just not good to have a plan to stay in a hotel for weeks waiting to find a place, I know, its been done before...) and number 2 being that finding an apartment is either really easy, and a quick process or a drawn out one. I have had so so luck with this in my times in Paris. Once, I found my new place within 6 hours of arrival, then we I was looking to move it took me over a month and a half to find a new place(even in Paris!). So when I say cheap, I mean a reasonable agency, that would charge say, 500Euro fee. All I have seen is in the 1000Euro + range, and thats just redicioulus for an apartment that rents for 700-900 euro a month(for me at least).

Any recomendations?

In "gay Paris" -- I assume that you mean le Marais? My understanding is that this is an expensive area of the city, but I think that you might try looking in the gay publications if your heart is set on living long-term in this area. Have you seen this website -- http://www.parismarais.com (general, not "gai") -- and if you truly mean "gay" (as in, gai, homosexuel), you might find some useful links at -- http://www.absoluliving.com/Shared/Annexes...asp?ville=paris

or do you mean, simply, "Gay Paree"?

Do you want the cheapest Real Esatate Agent? If this what you want, generally that what you get. Why not wait until you get there, and start looking at poster boards for available places to stay. In the mean time you can stay at a hotel.
What do you thin you would want to spend on an appartement?

BP Chuck

I am looking for the cheapest agency fee's on my apartment hunt. http://Lodgis.com charges about 1000 euros for a years stay, and thats just a redicioulus waste of money.

Well, why not put in my ploy now, I need an apartment for beginning of June, end of May, so if you know anybody that wants to rent to a good American, please contact me. Thanks!