And I thought 'maison' sounded like mansion...!
Bathroom. Bedroom. Stove top. Heat. Or not.... The joys of house hunting in France. I have now realized that in the US we take many things for granted. We assume that an apartment or house will have a toilet and bathing facility of some kind, we assume that a furnished kitchen includes a stove top if not a complete stove top oven, we assume that the building will have central heat. Well if you assume anything about France it's not to ever assume anything.
Furnished, check. Sink, check. Floors, check. Oven, nope. Bed, nope. Fridge, nope. Washing machine, nope. Table, nope. Couch that is counted as a bed, check. TV, are you kidding? The joys of searching for and acquiring housing in France.
Let's start with the search. Why are there so many restaurants in France, you only need to look at some real estate ads to understand why. A kitchen consists of a stove top and a sink. No oven, no fridge, no counter tops, and definitely no dish washer. When I FaceTime home now I feel like we live in a Bel Aire mansion. So for about a month before I landed in France was looking at all of the ads online for apartments. Leboncoin.fr, seloger.com, avendrealouer.fr, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive (for France) housing is here in Agen. -more on Agen to come- In Agen there are real estate businesses everywhere and to understand french real estate you have to understand the jargon. French housing is categorized by how many rooms and the style. You'll find T1-3, F1-3,etc etc. T1 is a studio one room apartment. Here are some widely used terms you would need to know.
C.C./T.C.C.-charges comprises (utilities included)
Sdb-salle de Bain (bathroom)
Clic-clac-fold out bed
Residence-apartment building
Cuisine Americaine- a nice kitchen
Coin cuisine-not nice kitchen
Cuisine amenagé-"equipped" kitchen (not!)
Edf-electricity which is not included in utilities
Meuble-furnishing
Meublé-furnished
Sommelier/mattlas-box springs/mattress
Cellier/cave- basement/garage
What's also interesting about France is that there are several taxes that you will have to pay. First housing insurance which is understandable. Second inhabitation tax, yep if you are living in a building in France on January 1st you are liable to a tax of about 150€. Then there are more specific faces like a TV tax, if you have a TV you will be taxed for it. The love of taxes is proven by the French love of insurance. Everything is insured, yourself just in case you hurt someone else, your car, your house, your bike, your animals, who knows what else. I could list off probably 10 different large insurance firms in France off the top of my head.
Once you have chosen your apartment and signed your lease agreement in France you will also have something special. They will do a 'state of the apartment inspection' and the will really inspect, in my apartment there was a shelf in a cabinet in the kitchen which had worn edge near the corner; every nail hole is written down, all scuffs, all functioning or non functioning devices, and squeaky doors will be documented. Meticulous people the French. In the end you will be handed the keys and told to send them a letter 3 months before you plan on moving out and told to have a nice stay and given all kinds of numbers of the building supervisor and others utilities in order to set up.
Thank goodness in my case, although I'm renting a 'furnished' apartment I still had things like a table and bedding and cooking utensils to get, so I was off to ikea with my mom who had decided to enlist for indentured servitude for one week, helping me set up in Agen. 👍🏼. Now all is practically set up,even a new mattress, and I'm ready for visitors!
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