Saturday, February 04 2012
About Claire De Circourt
Founded in 1987 by Claire de CIRCOURT, its actual Director, DE CIRCOURT ASSOCIATES is the very first real estate agency in Paris to have specialized in
furnished housing for expatriates. Drawing upon her fifteen year working experience in the United States, Claire wished to provide service, as known in the US, advice and presence to the international crowd of business executives, artists, university professors, diplomats and all lovers of Paris.

Archive for the ‘La France by Claire de Circourt’ Category

New Rules for Paris Apartments: Wasted energy

Posted on February 7th, 2011
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La France by Claire de Circourt, Real estate in France

Yet another constraint!!

In France, all properties put on the market either for rent or for sale must have a diagnostic assessment of its energy consumption performed by a designated professional, but as of January 1, 2011 this assessment must be included in any and all real estate advertising.  Why?

Since July 2007, it had already been mandatory for the owner of real estate properties to provide the buyer (in the case of a sale) or the tenant (in the case of a rental) the DPE (Diagnostic Performance Energetique), a diagnostic that most people don’t know how to read or don’t give a hoot about. When you are desperately looking for a place to live – especially in a city – all you care about is the location, the size and the monthly rent!

New Rules for apartment energy use

The redundancy of this new obligation is therefore perceived as a new strain. For the owner, the cost of the diagnostic (about 450 € for 100 square meters) adds up to the seven diagnostics created since 1997 (legal square footage, termites, asbestos, lead, risk appraisal for natural catastrophes, gas and electricity installation), but the cost of the ad’s additional lines is absurd and unfair, for – would you believe? – the legislator has devised the size of the notice! For a print ad, « the title ‘class energy’ must be in capitals and its font size must be at least equal to that of other words ». Placed in a real estate agency, the ad « must be in color and occupy at least 5% of the total advertisement ». Appearing on internet « the size must be 180 pixels x 180 pixels ».

While trying to make sense out of these dictatorship-like instructions, time and money are being wasted. What’s more, most proprietors don’t know who to go to for this DPE, as they constantly hear that many crooks have opened shop since the flood of diagnostic requirements. Where to go, whom to trust, especially when, as thousands of owners, you are over eighty years old and an easy target?

As far as the real estate agencies are concerned, this new obligation is equally costly.  After accommodating the computer programming to include this new information, it is now necessary to call each and every owner who, so far, have been satisfied with waiting until a buyer or tenant made a serious offer for their property before getting involved in this headache-inducing task.  A thousand calls will be necessary in order to bring the agencies’ listings up to par.  These calls will be lengthened by the questions of uninformed proprietors asking equally uninformed agents to explain to them how exactly one obtains the greenhouse emissions en KgCO2/m2/year?

While everyone is trying to make do with this incongruous way of getting people involved in the Grenelle environment act, no one is actually working on or investing in the problem!  Moreover, all tax rebates on environmental renovations have been eliminated this year. And, of course, while fighting to survive the red tape and the numerous inspectors who won’t miss this new occasion to verbalize and penalize, people are not creating riches. Ordering the citizens to pay for diagnostics, expanded ads, VAT at 19.6%, and other miscellaneous charges, is not what’s going to keep France afloat.

« God forbid that French people are left to work in peace! »  I tell myself while drinking a beer on one of the well-heated outdoor sidewalk cafés on the Champs Elysées, and calculating, for the third time, the contribution of these gas parasol-like heaters to the environment: 20 terrasses x average surface x number of apparels per square meter x KW consumption x average daily use x CO2/KWh = ….?!!!

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Planting seeds

Posted on September 10th, 2010
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La France by Claire de Circourt

A child’s life can be changed by one experience, usually an exposure to something outside the home.

However, to come out of the house is expensive, and one wonders how the underprivileged children – the inhabitants of the feared and underdeveloped suburbs – and the large families can expose their children’s minds to anything.

Having been entrusted with the care of my seven-year old Goddaughter for a week this summer, I had the immense duty and privilege of trying to expand her horizon.  The first day, we went to the « Trocadero Aquarium ».  While waiting in line, I prepared a twenty-euro bill and almost gulped when, my turn having arrived, I was told “28 € please!” My first thought was: How do large families do it? They don’t!  The place was filled with single-child (occasionally two-children) families.  That being said, the place is fantastic and one can easily spend the day there – for parents, the wonderful films showed in the auditorium; for kids, the « caress reservoir » where they are allowed to pet the fish that, in turn, seem to take great pleasure at avoiding being patted.  On our way out, Rosalie begged for a coloured fish souvenir which, for 4€50, I could not refuse.

The next day, we went to the « Jardin des Plantes » where the « Ménagerie » attracts children like flies on honey. “16 €, please!” Again, no large families in sight.  Although the ticket specifies its validity for the day, it does not allow one to exit for a break (lunch for example) and to return later.  This makes the visit tedious after awhile, for there is a lot to see and Rosalie, although complaining of fatigue, insisted on not missing any of the 3,000 residents of the zoological garden.  In the end, we were both so tired that the fun was spoiled.

On the third day, we went to the « Planetarium » in the « Palais de la Découverte ».  Although we only intended to visit the planetarium, for Rosalie’s little legs were reluctant to more discovery, we had to pay “11,50 € please” to enter the Palais plus 9 € extra to enter the planetarium.  The experience is worth it, even if at first one feels cheated.  Do sit on the North side of the room if you wish to see the moon and sun rising without being inconvenienced by the huge « sky projector ».  Upon leaving, we had to stop at the shop where I had to buy a dinosaur’s drawing book for 12,90 €.

On the fourth day, we took a « Bateau-Mouche » on the Seine.  “15 €, please” plus a bag of popcorn at 4,50 € in the near-by shop, and we were on our way!  Except for the continuous flow of unintelligible words from the loud-speakers offending the peace of gliding on water, the trip was fun and the bridges of Paris, seen from underneath, were awesome.

On the fifth day, we went to the movies to see « Cats And Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore » in 3D.  “16 € please” for the tickets plus 2 € for the loaned 3D glasses.  I had to stuff Rosalie’s ears and mine with Kleenexes in order not to irreversibly damage our eardrums.  I suppose this was the reason why, staggering out of the movie room, we hardly talked about the show and were glad it was over with.

All in all, just to get out of the house five days in a row, cost over 120 €, for one child only and her chaperone.  Add to this cost the transportation fares and the unavoidable ice-cream cone and you reach 140 €.  Quite a budget!  No wonder that, even in socialist France, there are so many children whose minds are never exposed to neither culture nor fun expeditions.  That makes for violence and frustration later on, and that is where the seed of rebellion starts.

Restaurants in France

Posted on July 11th, 2010
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La France by Claire de Circourt

Restaurant owners are one of the many targets which the French government wishes to punish for their own mismanagement of the country’s finances.

In July 2009, a step needed for the business – and good for President Sarkozy who had the guts to do what was promised by his predecessor for seven years – was taken.  After a long-fought battle, restaurants obtained a reduction of the VAT applied to food from 19.6% to 5.5%, which gave them a bit of oxygen, so to speak.  In return, it was implied that the restaurants would lower their prices (so that people would frequent restaurants more often), and that they would create jobs.

After only one year – the French government having a tendency to react impulsively – this very smart decision is becoming an issue again.  Yet, if we look at the just-born advantages of this stepping stone, we see that in one year’s time:

-       Restaurant bankruptcies have decreased by 17%

-       More than 23,000 jobs have been created.

The trend is definitely catching on!

Yet, restaurant owners are being targeted because some have not cut prices enough (meanwhile food costs rise every month for them), and others have decided to use this extra « oxygen » to better remunerate their personnel (so hard to find these days) or to hire.  And some did not follow the trend because they were already near strangulation.  In other words, the French government wishes to go back on a good decision simply because restaurant owners have not saved the restaurant business!  This over-simplified rationale proves that there is no reasoning at all.

Food is not where the gains lie.  Once you have paid the « chef », the waiter(s), the dish washer, the owner, the social charges on these people (52% above their salary), the food, the cutlery and dishes, the rent and affiliated overhead and upkeep, and all taxes, what the restaurant makes on an 18 € average dish is next to nothing and can even be a loss.  We all know that the profit is made on drinks whether it is bottled water, sodas, beer and wine – items which have remained taxed at 19.6%.

At the same time, food is what makes people go to “eating places”!  Restaurants play a very important social role in society.  It is where people gather, where lovers reunite, where couples talk away from their cramped apartment, where large screens reunite sports aficionados, and last but not least, where people do business!  Moreover, let’s salute all the restaurant owners who have the gift for creating a warm, care-free zone where one can relax – an added value we all crave.

Therefore, if people don’t go to the restaurants much anymore, it is simple mathematical logic:  they are broke!  After all, aren’t we in the middle of a serious economic crisis?

Of course, ministers and other high-ranked civil servants of France cannot easily appreciate the difficulties restaurants encounter since their nearby canteens, the « Laurents » and « Arpèges » are always full.  But for us, the French consumers, cafés, brasseries and « on the corner » restaurants must go on.  They are our oxygen.

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Paris on the week-end

Posted on June 29th, 2010
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La France by Claire de Circourt

I like Paris on the weekend! It is calm – it seems that the police are taking a break along with the terrorists, for the sirens have stopped polluting the beautiful streets and sights of Paris and the lovely sensations that one can feel just walking here. The doctors must also be off as there are no ambulances speeding through the traffic bringing back to them bodies to repair or hearts to restart. Fire does not roar through the windows of Haussmanian buildings, so there are no fire engines loudly wailing their urgent task and foretelling doom. Sirens are asleep, and Parisians can start enjoying Paris.
As I suffer from the tirade of sirens every day of the week, I recall the sirens of New York which had something charming about them. They brought a sort of energy that blended itself into the vibrant city. I never found them aggressive. Yet their role is the same as it is in Paris. Sirens in New York shriek and howl day and night, but they have a way of reminding the inhabitants that things are going on out there, that life is pulsating. The vibrato of the sirens is a reminder that things can go wrong and that it is necessary to live now!
My hands covering my ears to protect my eardrums, I feel assaulted and life is pulled out of me till the screaming stops. While I am immobilized on a sidewalk in the Latin quarter waiting for the oppressive sound to wane, I wonder how the decibel level of Parisian sirens compares to that of sirens in New York. As I resume my walk, I dream of the day when all police cars, ambulances, and fire engines will be ordered to have their screeching cries altered to a tolerable decibel for the human ear. Who will ultimately care and issue the order?

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Paris Riches

Posted on June 2nd, 2010
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La France by Claire de Circourt

A country without rich people becomes a country without riches. I am dumbfounded by the French hatred for those who “have” or “do” or “are” – as if being mediocre was appropriate in order to give oneself a sense of belonging, a sense of being an ordinary citizen, and, therefore, a good person.

Yet, when one hears the arguments justifying this abhorrence for the rich, nothing is said about the individuals or families who began with nothing and built a small (or large) empire, often within two generations. No recognition is given to these people who have contributed to the well-being of France in terms of providing jobs and paying taxes. Why? Because these industrious men and women are much too busy working to be in the newspapers!

So then who is the object of such resentment? The politicians are.

When a former Minister of Culture thinks he is above the laws and walks his dog in the Palais Royal Park (an action totally forbidden to the French citizens), soreness sizzles. When past Prime and other Ministers and past Presidents of the Assemblée Nationale or of the Senate (though perhaps long forgotten) continue having two republican vigils in front of their door until they die, grudges harbor. When anyone who gets a new post in government is immediately propelled to a way of life worthy of ancient royalty yet without having proven any capacities in the job, resentment boils.

When these men and women, most of whom have never earned their living, boast an attitude of “Don’t you know who I am?” with the people who are paying for their privileges, rage flurries. The most expensive restaurants are full of these parasites while the general crowd restrains itself year after year. Politicians flaunt themselves with their big cars, forcing other drivers to yield to them too often to seem justifiable, relishing their unearned comfort while doing nothing for the millions who are held hostage in subways and RER trains, crushed like passengers on their way to the camps, exhausted and resigned except for their rage which eats away at them like a cancer.

Too tired to differentiate between those who have earned their riches and those who have taken those riches from them (without offering contributions in exchange to improve the public’s quality of life), French people hate the rich altogether. Even more pernicious, the politicians themselves point their fingers at the CEO’s earnings or at the tax deductions allowed to investors, as if to deem those contributions or initiatives a sin while simultaneously preserving their own incongruous wealth.

As it is, the economically well-to-do leave France and spend their money elsewhere while the remainder of the French population is stuck with the politicians living the high life and squandering France’s assets!

A little humility and modesty from politicians in view of their exceptional standard of living during these hard times would probably calm the unrest of the population to some extent. But most of all, modeling the example instead of being the exception to all the rules and laws of France would be a good start to reconcile the people with the political “class”.

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