Will be our home AGAIN???

After the previous experience of impulsive buying,
husband told me that we should not be so rush again and made an offer only after 1 visit
Husband's family and friend also tell us to take our time to visit the appartment
and the area before offering to buy
At least, now we have become an expert in the process of buying appartment, hahah

Just a summary of how it works (direct owner sale)
- Visit the appartment
- Offer the owner with a email (with conditions, eg this offer will be cancelled if you dont send us the reports)
- The owner can receive many oral and email offers but the owner must definitely sell to the first person that offered the advertised price, and not wait for higher price or other offers, is like they must honor the stated price
- If the email offer is accepted, most owners will stop house visiting for others 
- Thereafter about a week, you sign the presign contract at the notaire office and the contract will be mailed to you
- the next day you are to transfer the deposit (5-10% of price) to the trust account of notaire
- After you received the contract, you have 7 days to cancel the deal without penalty
- You go to the bank to formalise your mortage
- Some time later (normally 3months), you sign the final sales  contract and collect keys

So, i was sure that im going to be rational
Although i think is fine too repeat what we have done previously
To email and offer to reserve the appartment since we can still pull out anytime
but husband say we must be rational and patient
(ahem you will read what happens next)

Actually, while searching for the past months,
I have always been interested in a particular area but price is a little steep
That is, Saint maur des fosses.
It has been rated as one of the best suburbs with average 7/10 points in all aspects eg security, commerce
So husband's friend and father also mentioned to us to explore the place
One day after we decided to reject the previous appartment,
we started to research this area and husband managed to get interested 
and we made appointment to visit 2 appartments in the area yesterday
Unlike the previous appartment, we research the town before visiting
And all seems too good to be true for our budget!

It is a nice town surrounded by the river that it seems to be on an island
the area is served by 4 train stations and the further station will only take hsuband 1hr to work
while the first 2 stations will only take husband 50min max to work
The town is full of rich people that the mayor rejected offers to build social building (HDB)
There are plenty of commerces and schools around
It is well known for its security in france!
While we got a little excited that it may be the perfect town, we managed to calm ourselves down
Husband reminded me that we must be rational

The train ride to the area was more crowded than our previous ride
but still managable and was nearer
Husband and i loved the town when we arrived at the station
It really looks like an expensive town compared to what we visited so far
or simply, like a normal place of paris
Walking around felt really safe
but as in Paris, people are not really friendly

The first appartment was located at 2mins walk from the second station
located in a quiet street with a bakery beside the building
but less than 2mins walk to the main streets of commerce
definitely, commerce makes the street much more lively
The appartment is on the ground floor of 35m2 butcomes with a terrace and a storage cave

I will not say that the design of the appartment blew me away
but i do appreciate the design of the rough industrial look
I always tell husband that i will love an appartment with interior bricks wall
and i really like there are a little of that in this appartment
The living room is quite small but we have a bigger bedroom
although husband is going to complain again that if we partition the bedroom into 2
the kid's room will have no windows
I dont know whats with french and windows
To me, the kid should be thankful to have a room with or without windows
but even husband sis has the same concern oh well.
We are not a great fan of ground level
For me, im worried for the safety and cold floors
For husband, he often comment that ground floor has no view and the windows with grills feels like prison
But husband love the terrace and immediately forget all about his ground floor hatred

We seems to have the strange luck to always visit a better appartment before a bad one
The second appartment was located 12 mins walk from the same station
but in an area without commerce and opposite the train tracks
The building is old but badly maintained
that husband foresee that a site will be required soon (means we need pay)
Although bigger than the first, the appartment felt more like an illegally build extension on the ground level
The room was really small but the kitchen and living room are bigger
But husband say the main problem is the roof contain a toxic 
that you cant do any fixing or frilling without professional seal-off construction
So, it was a straight no for us

After visiting both appartment, husband was so sure of the appartment that he wants to offer the advertised price
Ehhh who was the one who keeps remind me to be patient and rational?!
In the end, i suggested that we speak to the owner again
and sound her out at 163k (yes it is very expenive for a small appartment at ground floor at 168500k)
And to say that we will make a formal offer as soon as she email us the reports
Till the last minute before meeting the owner, husband was still trying to persuade me 
that we should sound out at 164/165k
errrrrrr i managed to force him to say 163k at the end
from what i observed, the owner doesnt seems keen at 163k so we went home

On the way home and at home,
 husband keep trying to convince me that it would be sad if we lose the appartment
just because we offered 1/2k less than others
and that we should really reserved the appartment at the advertised 165000k
Please remind me again who was the one that say we must be rational and not offer after 1 visit?

Husband then call his sister
and at the end of the call, the sister say we should offer 155k for ground level
haha, as expected husband was not agreeable, he already thinks im crazy to say 163k
The owner emailed us most of the papers and husband think its really good appartment
Well, it is definitely a popular appartment since is advertised 2 days ago
and we are not the first visiter interested in offering it
But i do have my concerns that we will need spend money on fixing some wear and tear
and being too hasty about the decision

After a long night and way past my bedtime,
I finally give in and agreed that we will offer at 168500k
But husband has to promise that he will not say: 
- Maybe the owner would accept a lower offer
- The house is too small, we should have bought a bigger one
- I think we overpaid for it (especially when his friends or family comment on the price)
Im writing it here so that i can show it to him what he promised
although i think he should tattoo this 3 sentences on him

Despite all, maybe im a little unrational too to offer after a first visit and a really high price,
all i can say to myself is that its still within our budget
I am paying for the security, nice town, reduced traveling time to work....
The owner's new home will be ready in 1-2months
so maybe, we can still meet my deadline to shift in August (Summer holidays)
I hope all will be well...

Not going to be our home

Since we had a long week last week, 
we took adventage of it and went to visit the appartment 2x
We would like to take the transport to gauge the crowd and timing
Sadly, our visit was on the holiday eve evening that it was obvious the trains were less crowded

So, the main points of the visit were to check the following:

- Sound proof / neighbours
We managed to speak to 2 neighbours
But is definitely not what we expect
neighbours do not know each other and definitely not hanging out at the shared courtyard that we hoped for
The next door neighbour was not really friendly 
but at least, the sound proof was not a concern
In addition, the main reason for the low monthly charges is there is no organisation in charge of the building
for the past few year, the previous owner has take charge of it
Preparing the papers, holding meetings with neighbours on the building maintainence
As written in the reports, the other neighbours are not interested to take up the role
Since husband is a building engineer and we taking over the appartment,
I think there is a high possibility that we will be voted to take over the role
and husband is definitely not keen for voluntary work

- Boring town
It is still a boring town, period.
On Saturday, we forced ourselves to go to the forest nearby and enjoyed the walk
The forest is really nice and husband really loved it to be near home
but as expected, we can still hear the planes.
Definitely the frequency is lesser than wednesday but we think maybe there is airport strikes / is saturday.
We explored more of the other side of the station
and it definitely felt more safe compared to evenings
but still, i dont think we will go much to this side of town

- Airplane noise
I dont know is it because it was a holiday eve
The frequency of flights were much more compared to our previous visit
About 2 flights every 5 minutes during 6ish to 8pm
I think this was the main point why we rejected the appartment
because husband expressed his concern (complaints) like 20x in the 3hrs

- Travelling time
Well, as i expected, this is my biggest concern
whether husband can really handle the 1hr10min travel to office
and true to my expectations, husband expressed his concern (complained again) for xyz times
that i think it is not wise to take the appartment

- Is it a scam?
Again, we are worried about the sales
because we were suppose to sign a presale contract with the owner (the week after)
and normally this takes place in front of a notaire (lawyer)
but the lady indicated that it can be done at home and she will get the notaire to sign beforehand
i am really uncomfortable with this
especially when we are expected to transfer a deposit to a bank account
(by right is the notaire trust account) without seeing the notaire.
My sister in law signed hers in the notaire office 
but her friend did not
I will definitely want to sign it at the notaire office

So, 3 days before we are supposed to sign the presales contract,
we pulled out of the deal
its sad that we will not be able to shift out by end july that we hoped
and we started worry about how we may not be able to find a home as good as this
within our budget and husband's 101 criterias...
But i think is a good decision, if we have so much hesitations, it probably is not the right one
So, the search restart...

Additional update:
In addition to appartment visit,
we finally went down to the banks for the mortage stimulation
For our current bank, the interests rate is really high at 2.60%
For another bank, the interests rate is more normal at 2.20%
The good news is, we definitely can take a mortage loan with just 1 income
and we can afford the next appartment with our mortage

All is well...

Will it be our home?

Last weekend, husband and i visited 2 appartments in the same area, Boissy Saint Leger
It is a suburb of Paris (it claims to be the last city and the start of countryside) 
Its located at the last train station and will take 30min train to central Paris
The downside is the 2 sides of the train station is like a total opposite
1 side is like for the average income (the centre)

While the other side like HDB area for the lower income (seems unsafe)

Appartment 1 (Centre)
Actually as advertised, the appartment is less then 10mins of walk to the train station
Except that is a huge slope that kinda feels longer to walk up
It is located in a small building along the central street
basically, the centre is just a long old street of shops
I dont understand why they have about 5 hairdressers / salon in this small street

It is a small duplex at 40m2 on the 2nd and 3rd storey of the building

On level 1, there is the living room, kitchen, bedroom and toilet

On level 2, there is a small office area and the shower room

Initially, we were worried that the toilet will be at level 2

but to our surprise, the owner converted the area under the stairs into a toilet!

We loved the appartment when we looked at the photos 

and was shocked that the appartment looked exactly as the photos

The building only has 6 units and a shared courtyard for planting stuff

Normally, monthly charges (water, mise fees, building maintainence..) will be about 150-280+eur

but in this building, it was only 50eur!! 

I guess partly because the neighbours take turns to take out the garbage bins or care for the building

and reduce the need to pay for additional costs

Although the owner accepted our offer, we still have some concerns:

- Sound proof

All the walls are solid, except for the one in the bedroom

So, we are really worried at the neighbours can hear us or vice versa

Hopefully, in the next visit, the neighbour will be home for us to test it out

- is it a scam?

I think we are being paranoid about finding a great appartment

But our only contact has been a friend of the owner

We have not speak or met the owner as she claims that the owner is a policeman and not in town

Apart from the unbelivable monthly charges, the taxes is half of what we pay for our 27m2 appartment,

and the appartment look so perfect that it seems to be a showroom 

okay, i did see clothes and stuffs in the cupboards

But compared to others that we visited, the flowers and cleaniness, really feel unreal.

Well, hopefully we will feel better after looking through the housing documents to be provided

and speaking to the neighbours

- A boring town

Apart being known as the city of orchids in France (Husband claims its a sign that we must stay here),

There is really nothing much in this city

The central is just a street with not many shops (bakery, grocery, vet, pharmacy..)

There is a big shopping mall at the train station, with a big supermarket

Problem is the shopping mall is so rundown that we are afraid that it will close down

It doesnt help that the cinema, cultural centre and shopping mall 

are located towards the other side of the train station that i dont think i will hang out there much

The only saving grace is that we have a forest less than 5mins walk away!

Although we googled about it and realised there are wild animals in the forest,

and a bit afraid that we will meet a wild boar or accidently get shot during hunting season,

It is still nice to have a forest near home to feel being away from the city.

In the forest there is a small chateau (castle) similar to our wedding venue,

and a horse riding area for me to finally try out horse riding.

In addition, there is a farm near, that have weekly market for fresh groceries.

- Aeroplanes

The town is located near the secondary airport of Paris

So, there have been some comments of the landing and departure of planes

When we visited, we heard about 3times while on the street

but heard nothing while in the appartment.

Although the airport has not flights from 2330 - 0600, things may change in the future

and affect the appartments prices in the area

Maybe, im so used to the noise while living in Singapore and Paris,

that i dont really notice the noise from the planes

But husband thinks that if the town is really quiet at night, we probably hear it clearly

I guess next visit we are going to hear the frequency of it and whether it affects us 

- bad internet coverage

Husband: "No more running man when we live there"

Me: "What??? Okay we dont buy"

I guess internet coverage is definitely worse in small town

and we may have problem streaming movies or running man like how we do it now

I cant imagine a life with difficulties streaming stuff to watch

But the good side is, we will finally register for the france TV channels 

i think im going to ask Suzi to help me get the china box (to watch all channels in the world for free)

- Husband

yes, the biggest concern for me is the husband

although im really happy to have convinced him to shift to suburbs

that we can have a home and not paying rent

Im really afraid that he will not be able to take the 1hr traveling to and fro work

I guess im more used to traveling for work in singapore

since it took me about 45min to my previous work place

not forgetting days that i need even 2hrs to go for meeting (in ulu places like prison)

But husband has never travelled more than 40min on a daily basis for his worklife

I just hope he will be able to survive it

Although there are still many concerns to be addressed,

i do hope that all will be fine and we will be happy with our choice

Thereafter will be the battle with banks for low interest rates,

how to convince the landlord to return us the rental deposits

and how to pack the amount of stuff for shifting..

Hope all is good...

Special report on appartment 2

I did not want to write about the 2nd appartment because we are really not interested

I think we stayed less than 15mins in the appartment

When i first saw the photos, i was not interested because it looked so old

but husband took the appointment since it was in the same area (the opposite side of train)

The good thing is 1.5x bigger at the same price

But with higher monthly charges and is located in the HDB areas.

The first appartment made us felt so zen with its design

and this appartment is a zen disaster with zen stuff all over the place that doesnt make sense

The appartment has a sad and old vibes (didnt smell good)

Although the owner said that his wife is working in another city 

and he wants to sell the appartment to shift with her

I felt that the wife left the owner and the appartment belongs to his parents

maybe im wrong, but the sad vibes of the owner and appartment were really obvious

Husband was happy when the owner said that he knows nothing much of the centre

because it meant that people from this area dont really go to the centre

For me, i was just interested to leave the appartment asap

however, the owner was telling us about the cinema nearby

the funny thing is he said is not really a good cinema

and that we should take a train to Paris

and go cour saint emilion (which is 10min walk from our current place) to watch movie

Oh well, thanks for the advice... 

The appartment search

Husband has been living in our 28m2 appartment for about 6years
before my arrival in paris
and it means he had spent a lot of money on rent
considering that rent in paris is really expensive, 
we will be better off to use the money to pay mortage than into our owner's pocket

As we only have 1 fixed salary, we will not be able to get much mortage,
in addition, we need to give 7-10% in cash for the nortary etcs fees
we really cant afford to buy an appartment in paris
so, we started to look for cheaper appartment around paris but within 30mins train to central paris.
Sadly, we do not have much luck in finding THE APPARTMENT
because its either too far, too unsafe neighbourhood, too small, too expensive....
Anyway, we managed to visit 2 appartments..

Appartment A: Alfortville

Pros:

- 2 bedrooms

- with a cave and store (underground storerooms)

- 10mins walk to the train station 

- 30 min to central paris

- Cheap monthly charges for water, electricity...

- Near to a river with park

- has a lift

Cons:

- De-Humidifier in bathroom dont seems to be working

- walk from RER at night may not be safe

- low level on a HDB-similar block, overlook the roof of a building 

- some wear and tear to be fixed

- Asking price of 159000eur

We had mixed feeling about this place, is not exactly woo-hoo

and we will prefer to be in building than flats.

it definitely did not have enough greens around for our liking (it is like 3 big blocks of flat in the area)

We were thinking to offer about 145000eur

but by the time we call them back, they inform that they sold the appartment for 155000eur

Appartment B: L'hay-les-roses

Pros:

- 2 bedrooms

- 1 cave

- small 4 storey HDB flat building

- 1 cave

- immediate movable condition

- clean neat design

- schools nearby

- very beautiful town centre that doesnt feels like paris

- nice gardens and greenery around

- cheap monthly charges

- friendly sellers (I think it added brownie points to our positivity of the appartment)

Cons:

- Far from train station, it stated 10mins walk but took us 20mins!

- No shops around to buy grocery, need to drive or take a bus

- town centre is another 20mins walk

- possible upcoming building constructions that we will need to pay

- Is supposedly a nice town that appartment is located nearer to the bad part of the town

- asking price is 169000eur

- Sellers can only shift out in october (which may affect our financies to pay for current rent and mortage)

- no lift (on the 4th level!)

Husband really love this appartment, and i do like the design of it

but i think he always like any appartment he visit, always full of praise of them when we leave the place

till i drill in all the cons into his mind, haha

The problem is the distance to the train station is too far,

and that we dont have commerces around is very bad since we have no car.

If the appartment is cheap, eg 140000eur, i think we will have less concerns

since we will probably buy a car then

but with 169000eur, it is impossible for us to buy a car 

In addition, there is a community meeting to discuss upcoming construction in the building in june

husband told me that it can be very expensive site that each household to pay 15000eur

im not exactly keen to shift in and in a few months to pay addition money for the site

oh, not forgetting the administration and financial woes that sellers to stay in october..

I guess we still need to look around more...

Rotting at home

Time flies when you are doing nothing
Since 18/4 to 4/5 is the school's holidays, with the girls at their grandparents' home,
Im also on holiday from work for 2 weeks
And sadly, almost half the holiday is gone with me doing nothing
I was supposed to take the time to practice my french
but I guess motivation is not my best friend
The only achievement will be collecting my carte de sejour!

So basically, I was given a 1 year family visa in March 2014
which is a sticker in my passport that no one ever checks it
even when i took flight or train
In 1 of my older post, I wrote about how we went to renew my visa 
before we went to Singapore
Basically, I needed to ask for an appointment 4/5months before the visa expired
Then the appointment to give all the documents, get a temp visa,
and to collect the visa after 2 months

Finally, the day arrived that my visa was ready for collection
Unlike previous visa, it will be in form of an ID card
Since we think that it will be a simple collection process,
husband did not go with me for the collection.
The letter indicated that my card will be ready for collection from the friday 17/4,
so the blur us thought it was only to be collected on Fridays
haha

Anyway, i did went to collect last Friday, as the coming Friday is a public holiday,
I was little unwell and didnt managed to get out of the house as planned (like 830am)
Only managed to drag myself out at 10am.
Based on previous experience, where the queue to enter is long, even at 8.30am
I was sure I will be stuck in a long queue to enter and collection 
That it will end up be the lunch time where I will need to wait till the afternoon

Surprisingly, there was no queue to enter when i arrived at 1035am
However, there was a lot of people standing, sitting, squating area the area of collection
I went to the ticket machince to get my number, 168... sounds lucky?
But the current number was 98!
So, i decided to sit at the stairs like many others around

While painfully waiting for the number, 
Okay, its quite fast, less than 5min for a number.
A lady came out of the collection room, and spoke to everyone
well, in french and so soft that i have no idea what she was saying
but everyone started to pass her their numbers and collection letter
i assumed that she was collecting the papers to look for the cards first
so that the queue will be faster.
Before I could cut through the crowd to pass her my document,
She went back to the room.

About 30mins later, she reappeared and repeated the process
So, I managed to pass mine to her.
But i realised it didnt really matter, because some people still hold on to theirs,
and bring in when their number arrived.
Oh well, Im just being kiasu

At 11.45am, the number was 140+
Husband was sure that i was to leave the building during the lunch time
and return after lunch time to continue my queue
while im still hoping that i need not waste 1hour of lunch time loitering
and i do think if it will be close for lunch, they will stop the number taking etc
as lunch time is really like IMPORTANT here in france, opps
At 12.10pm, the number was 150+
Maybe because lunch time was near, or the effect of the earlier collection,
the number started to move faster and it was finally 168 at 12.20pm!

So, i went in to the collection room,
gave the necessary stamps (which is representative of 106eur cash)
sign the acknowledgement slip
and walk out of the room with my card proudly 
like everyone else did previously

The crazy thing is,
the issue date of the card is February 2015, the date of our appointment,
its valid for 1 year, means at the end of the year, i will need to repeat the whole process
So, the real validity of the card is only about 7 months???

Oh well, I am just happy to have my card,
although is no different from the visa sticker in my passport,
I just feel better to have a card that at least indicate my marriage name.

Till now, im still wondering whether the collection office closes at lunch..

Making spectacles in Paris

Husband has been complaining of headaches due to his spectacles for the longest time.

4 months ago, he finally went to get an appointment at the optometrist's clinic to get his eyes tested

and received his eyes's prescriptions and to go for eyes 'physiotherapy' (which he didnt go)

Apparently, the prescription is of 6 months validity, 

after dragging for 5months, we finally went to spectacle store to make his new spectacles.

Spectacles stores are really common in Paris that we can easily find 5/6 of them just in our street

Husband decided to return to his old spectacles store, which i feel was really expensive 

Their spectacles frames are branded and costs average 350eur!

In the end, husband chose a 390eur frame and total cost was 600+eur for a pair of  spectacles!

I mean there were the lower range of 50eur frames, but husband sure has expensive taste..

Thankfully, the social security covered 30eur and our mutual (insurance) covered 80percent

that we only need to pay 30eur for the spectacles or else i will definitely not allowed him to buy it

Previously, he didnt had mutual and paid 300+eur cash for his spectatcles!

Husband asked me how the poor people can buy spectacles if they are so expensive?

Well, i guess they will not choose a high-end store with expensive frames

The spectacles will be ready in a week,

and i do hope he will not complain about headaches again...

hmmm, i dont think mutual can cover for sunglasses for people like me with perfect sight??

Mental block

Dont really have anything to blog recently
Maybe due to the fact nothing much has been happening,
nothing has changed for better or worse
and im simply going through day by day...

Job
Im still continuously sending applications for full time job
But is either no response or rejection emails,
I have yet to score even one interview.
Seems like my goal to get a full time job by July/Sept is impossible
Good news is my boss's husband asked me whether ill like to continue another year
as babysitter with them from September.
Which means i wont be unemployed if i take it up.
Yet, it will mean another year of commitment to part time babysitting,
and i will find it hard to quit even if i find a full time job.
So, shall see what is going to happen in next few months,
before i take the offer.

Finances
Husband received a 5percent increment and a small bonus in Apil
which is not a lot but at least better than nothing.

Appartment
When i first arrived at Paris, I was happy to have a place to be our home
even though it is rented
As time passes, my negativity towards the appartment grew,
and i think the appartment sensed it and trying to make me feel worse
It started with 1 leaking pipe next to the toilet bowl,
to 2 leaking pipes, to broken tap and constant mould growing
Since it is not our appartment, we really dont want to spend money fixing stuff
yet, more and more breakdowns seems to be starting...

Buying an apprtment
Since the euro fall and interest rates hits low this year,
people around us are starting to buy appartments.
We really want to buy an appartment too
but prices in paris is really crazy like 400,000eur for 40m2 appartment
I really dont mind moving to suburbs of Paris as prices are more affordable eg 250,000eur for 40m2
and i do prefer the quieter suburbs,
Yet, it will take husband 1.5hrs to travel to work
which, he strongly rejects the idea 
Shifting to a smaller city, eg Lille, will be even more affordable eg 100,000eur for 40m2
but with the bad economy in france, Paris seems to be where the jobs are...
In any case, we are still saving for the required 10percent cash required for deposit and fees.
It doesnt help that i dont have a full time job so that we can get a better bank loan
Apart from location and price,
We also need to consider the size and environment since we hope to start a family soon
Oh well....

French
My motivation for french is dying... because it is so difficult!!!
I have stopped my classes in December 2014 and has not signed on for any new classes.
Initially, i wanted to sign up for the cheap french classes at the townhall (90-150eur/semester)
although its classes are in the evenings or crazily strange hours.
I missed the registration and test deadline in February due to our trip to Singapore
and that was for the class to start in April/ September
In any case, the class hours will clash with my working hours and i can only wait till September 
To register for 2016 classes.
I do have a few schools to call and asked about their classes,
which i gave this responsibility to husband to call them and he has not do so.
So, im blogging it here so that he will remember to do so.

To be considered
Thinking should I take up the TEFL (Teach English as Foreign Language) certificate
Which means I may be able to find some English teaching jobs after
but is an uncertainty, without French, there is still a limit 
and most schools prefer to teachers to have degree related to education and TEFL
The thing is I dont even know my English theories (eg past participant and verbs) 
I really have no confidence in doing this at all

I want to strike lotto (Toto) soon...

Oh, Im a fan of Peppa pig now! Out of all the french / french dubbed cartoons, eg OuiOui, Tchoupi...
I think the french dubbed Peppa pig is the most enjoyable, at least its not talking about how to be a good kid
Yes, is for preschoolers, well, at least i need not struggle to understand them in French...