PARIS (Herald de Paris) - If you were properly brought up, you know that Paris is the most beautiful, sophisticated, sexy, and cool place in the world. Therefore, it is only natural that you want to own a piece of it. Besides, hotels are so expensive, and you could always rent the place out when you aren’t living there. So you decide to take the plunge. You gaily tell your friends, “I’m going to buy an apartment in Paris!” It is only when those in the know look at you with pity, that you have the first inkling that you are about to enter…. the IMMOBILIER INFERNO.Immobilier is the French word for real estate. It is analogous to the English word “immobile”.
Houses and land don’t move, unlike the mobilier, the furniture, which does. The French, accustomed as they are to revolutions in their political life, prefer to invest their money in something that appears more likely to last than the latest constitution. This is one reason why Paris real estate prices are what they are. High. Of course, if you live in London or San Francisco or Manhattan, you will think Paris is cheap. Compared to anywhere else it costs a lot. But it is not the price that makes Paris an apartment-buying hell.
It’s the people, as Sartre said.
