Apartment hunter in Paris 17th for an expatriate family

Found!Discover a search quickly conducted by Sophie Ithurbide, our apartment hunter specialized in Paris. Former Parisians expatriates in Switzerland, Romain and Isabelle are planning to return to the capital: they task Sophie with finding the apartment that will house their return!

What motivated the research?

A few years ago, Isabelle and Romain went to live in Switzerland with their children. Former Parisians, they plan to return to the capital they cherish so much.

Why was going through an apartment hunter essential?

Not being on site, they immediately looked for a real estate hunter, to help them find the apartment of their dream.

How did they select HOME SELECT?

After some research on the Internet, they chose HOME SELECT! Jean Mascla received their contact request and sent it to the care of Sophie Ithurbide.

What was the list of key criteria set out to Sophie?

Our real estate hunter immediately called Isabelle and Romain, to determine, together, how they were going to work: luckily, with tools like WhatsApp, it is easy to stay connected, and therefore responsive! In this way, they defined the criteria of the search mandate: the couple was looking for an apartment of at least 100m², imperatively located on the top floor, with elevator, of an old or new building. With a total budget of 1.4 million euros! Regarding the choice of the sector, the couple wanted to return to their previous living environment, namely the 17th arrondissement of Paris. And more precisely, one end of the 17th and one end of the 8th on the Parc Monceau side.

What was the main difficulty in this case?

The difficulty of this case did not lie so much in terms of the budget as in the scarcity of these goods available on the market. The advantage of Romain and Isabelle was that they were not too eager to complete the purchase: they had a little time to create a great opportunity! For this research, Sophie called on her network directly — hoping, in this way, to collect off-market goods. Then, thanks to the HOME SELECT application, alerts were created.

How did Sophie refine the search?

With a very open search in terms of criteria, Sophie chose to present them with several different properties, in order to better understand their tastes. With each refusal, she wanted to know why. Quickly, she discovered that despite the relevance of the selected goods, there was always an element that was not suitable: it was too expensive, it was too far away, it was not really a top floor, etc.Determined in their purchase, Isabelle and Romain knew exactly what they wanted and were good at describing what they did not want. Therefore, there is no need to do pre-visits!

How did the couple's network and Sophie's expertise make the difference?

In parallel with her research, Sophie invites them to find out about their former apartment — which meets all their current criteria: as at the time, it was rented, maybe it is for sale today? Unfortunately, that is not the case! But the couple “hears” while the apartment opposite is free. Immediately, they send the contact details of their contact to Sophie, so that she can find out more. A stroke of luck: the property is not yet for sale, but it should be soon. Our real estate hunter then succeeds in being the first to visit...

What advantages did the coveted property have?

Priced at 1.3 million euros, the apartment — located on the top floor of the building — had a surface area of 100m², with a small balcony. On the other hand, everything had to be redone — especially in terms of the layout of the rooms, since the kitchen and the bathroom had to be reversed.

Why did they decide before coming to see?

At the time when Romain and Isabelle were tenants, they had met the owner of this apartment: in fact, they knew her well. Obviously, as it was already a few years ago, they asked Sophie to make a pre-visit (photos and videos) and to retrieve the plans. Once there, our real estate hunter inquires to find out if there is a small possibility of negotiation, but already, he meets another potential buyer (living in the building). So, as soon as she leaves, she reports to the couple, who decides to make an offer at the price immediately, in order to pass before the second visitor: an initiative that pays off since it worked!

Could they move in directly?

Recognizing the extent of the work to be done, Isabelle and Romain called on an architect they knew. On the other hand, Sophie provided them with several contacts, for the other trades to be solicited.

“A great contact with the couple”

On this file, Sophie would like to highlight the very good contact she had with Romain and Isabelle: for them, it didn't matter whether it was through their network or not, whether they found the apartment of their dream! They were well aware that without it, they would not have been able to position themselves in time: in fact, our real estate hunter played a key role!