Testimonials

Upon request, we can put you in touch with some of our satisfied customers. They will be able to provide more details about how well Perle Rare worked for them.

Florence and Jacques are both doctors at Necker Hospital, as well as running their own doctor’s office. They were looking to find a bigger apartment so Florence could conduct consultations at home, as well as having a bedroom each for their two children.

They were looking for an apartment of between 120 and 150 m² in the 7th arrondissement, where they already lived. They wanted to remain close enough to the hospital to accommodate their respective on-call shifts and duties.

With a total budget of €2.2m, they were hoping to find an attractive apartment in a classic Haussmann-era building, complete with period mouldings, hardwood floors, chimneys and large rooms. The idea was that the proceeds from the sale of Florence and Jacques’ current apartment, valued at €1.3m, would cover part of the cost of their new home. The couple’s hectic schedules did not leave them enough time to take care of the sale of their own apartment, nor the search for a new one.

The Perle Rare consultant’s solution

Florence and Jacques’s dedicated Perle Rare consultant provided a comprehensive service every step of the way. He started by selecting trusted partners to handle the sale of their old apartment, then set about finding a new home. He also handled the mortgage application (with the option of a bridging loan, in case their old apartment could not be sold before the deal went through on their new home). Their apartment were sold within six weeks.

After visiting six apartments around Les Invalides, all found by their Perle Rare consultant, Florence and Jacques fell in love with a charming, historic property boasting high ceilings and a spacious double lounge.

Result: no need to take on a bridging loan, which saved more money for Florence and Jacques!

The challenge here was to conduct two operations – purchase and sale – in parallel, ensuring that the dates coincided in order to avoid the need for a bridging loan. This tight turnaround time meant it was more important than ever for the Perle Rare consultant to choose his real estate partners with care: rather than working with multiple mandates, he prioritised estate agents with a high level of responsiveness.

Previously a resident of the Vallée de Chevreuse, far from the shows, the shops and the bright lights of Paris, Anne spent six months looking for an apartment with four rooms, including at least two bedrooms, at about 100 m² in a traditional building somewhere near the Jardin du Luxembourg (in the Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Saint-Sulpice, Panthéon or Port-Royal areas).

She had a budget of €2 million (including search costs, stamp duty and notary fees), and was looking for somewhere quiet.

The estate agents she contacted set up ten visits, but none of the properties she saw really met her criteria: they were often too noisy, or the bedrooms were too small. The list of disappointing properties was long, and included several missed appointments.

The Perle Rare consultant’s solution

After meeting with Anne to confirm her search criteria, her Perle Rare consultant confirmed that there were plenty of properties within her budget and set about organising visits to apartments in quiet streets – in other words, locations not directly overlooking the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Anne kept her consultant abreast of her schedule from week to week, allowing him to set up appointments accordingly.

Anne visited eight properties in the space of two months via Perle Rare, and eventually had an offer accepted on an apartment after negotiating the price with our help.

Resources used by Perle Rare: We consulted 46 specialist websites (including public auctions and compulsory sales) and 17 estate agencies, whose properties are not all available online.

After a first round of calls, Perle Rare visited 14 properties in order to find apartments which matched Anne’s requirements.

Inès and Olivier are in their fifties. They met recently. They both have two children from their first marriages. These children are now grown up, and Inès and Olivier are keen to start a new life together and make their shared dream come true: As creative spirits, the couple wanted to find a home in a part of Paris which has a “village” atmosphere.

They are both big fans of the Butte aux Cailles district in the 13th arrondissement, where there are still streets of houses little gardens. They had a budget of €850,000, and were not afraid of renovation work.

The house needed to have at least two bedrooms, so their children and friends could stay over.

After meeting with Inès and Olivier to fine-tune their search criteria, their Perle Rare consultant confirmed that there were indeed properties in the area within their budget.

They decided only to visit old houses which corresponded to all of the couple’s search criteria. The consultant therefore ruled out the more modern houses which have been built in the 13th arrondissement in recent years.

The Perle Rare consultant’s solution

Inès and Olivier visited five houses in the space of six weeks thanks to Perle Rare, before having an offer accepted on their new home.

A thorough search of the Perle Rare database, which covers 80% of the Parisian property market, turned up ten houses corresponding to Inès and Olivier’s requirements.

The phone calls and preliminary visits made by their Perle Rare consultant ruled out properties which required too much renovation work, or whose charm had been ruined by previous renovations.

This meant that Inès and Olivier only visited houses which perfectly corresponded to all of their criteria.

Serge and his wife were all set to return to France. After starting his career in London, Serge was promoted to a more senior position at his firm’s Paris offices, based at La Défense. The young couple therefore decided to settle down in France, buying an apartment not too far from Serge’s office. They knew and liked the Levallois area, having both lived there as students.

They particularly appreciated the atmosphere and quality of life in this part of the city, and were also keen to look at properties in Neuilly-sur-Seine, finances permitting. Their total budget was €600,000 for an apartment of 50 m² minimum with no renovations required, preferably in a modern residence.

The Perle Rare consultant’s solution

After a meeting with Serge and his wife to discuss the different apartments pre-selected for them (complete with Perle Rare visit reports and photographs), four visits were organised over two Saturdays when the couple were in Paris.

They both fell in love with a light and airy 54 m² apartment overlooking the garden in a new complex, which was to become available very rapidly. (You often have to reserve apartments in new residences one or two years in advance).

The apartment was ready one month before their scheduled move back to France, at the price originally offered when the development was released for presale two years previously. They thus saved 10% on the market rate!

We had to work very quickly to ensure that the couple’s return to France, just three months after their first contact with Perle Rare, went off without a hitch.

In addition to our usual search channels (such as local agencies, websites and the specialist press), digging around for last-minute opportunities in new-build complexes paid off: a developer tipped us off that an apartment had become unexpectedly available, giving Serge and his wife the opportunity to buy a brand new apartment in Levallois at an attractive price and with no agency fees!

A successful return to France!

Édouard had been living in Paris for seven years, always in rented apartments. After a spell in a house share, he moved into a studio apartment near the Canal Saint Martin. The next step was to buy his own place. He was looking for an apartment or studio to buy in the Marais area.

He had an overall budget of €450,000 and was looking for an apartment with character: that meant tiled floors, wooden beams and high ceilings if possible. Classic Parisian charm, basically. Édouard was not adverse to doing a bit of renovation work, but his busy schedule did not leave him much time for house-hunting.

The Perle Rare consultant’s solution

To begin with, Edouard’s personal consultant at Perle Rare checked that his budget was consistent with the sort of property he was looking for. With market prices currently standing at over €10,000 per m² in this part of the city (for apartments in good condition but requiring some work), and taking costs and fees into account (such as notary fees, potential agency fees and Perle Rare’s fee), the consultant recommended looking for apartments of around 35-40 m².

Once this was confirmed with Edouard, the Perle Rare consultant got the ball rolling on the search. He decided to prioritise properties being sold directly by their owners, in order to avoid costly agency fees.

Édouard ended up buying an apartment in the heart of the Marais district for a total of €395,000.

Internet searches and contacts with local estate agents were not enough to find the apartment of Édouard’s dreams.

A legal auction almost turned out to be the solution, but a highly-motivated property developer snapped up the apartment by offering a price 15% above Édouard’s maximum budget. In the end, a concierge in the neighbourhood tipped us off about an apartment which met all of Édouard’s requirements, and with no agency fees!