Nice News…

Please excuse my long absence from the blog. Things have been happening…on steroids!

My biggest news is that I bought a condo in the heart of Nice! Someone I met at one of the many social events that are offered in this region, in this case, a luncheon at a lovely restaurant near Cannes, highly recommended Phillip, a realtor she and her hubby had used to buy a place in Nice recently. At that point (about a month and a half ago), I was pretty sure I wanted to buy something, but had not yet decided on a realtor, so the timing was perfect. I got Phillip’s contact info and called him soon after to arrange a meeting over coffee.

We spent an hour talking, and another hour walking around Nice, so he could get a feel for what I liked. We would go down one street, and he would tell me about it, and then ask what I thought. By the end of the hour, he had an idea of my tastes, and said he would be in touch. One street I said I did not want to live on was the one depicted above. Rue Massena is a walkway, several blocks long, that sports one restaurant after another (with the occasional shoe or clothes shop thrown in). There’s a constant hustle and bustle, no matter the season or time of day. It’s fun to walk down, and great for people-watching, but for a home? Not for me.

Buying a property is quite different in France. For one thing, there is no Zillow or MLS-type site that anyone can go to for info about a place. There are many sites containing listings, so it is necessary to comb through all of them to get a feel for the totality of what is for sale. Phillip got hold of me a few days later to let me know that, after looking at over 1,000 listings, he had six or seven places he could show me.

Long story short, I was sure, initially, that I wanted to buy the first one I saw, the one with a view of the Port. But…the place was in the process of being renovated…and…it was smaller than I wanted…and… the back bedrooms were really dark. So, I started to think about another one I had seen, and when I viewed it the second time, knew that that was the one! This place, the sale of which will close at the end of December, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, is newly renovated (tastefully), and is in a fantastic location. I cannot wait to move in!

One thing to take into consideration when buying a place in France is that the price you and the seller agree upon is not the final one for the buyer. The buyer must pay an additional 7.8% for the work that the “Notaire” does on the buyer’s behalf. The Notaire is a trained attorney, and one of a limited number in France, as there is a set number allowed to set up a business. They attend to such things as digging up the last three years of condo minutes, researching whether there are any outstanding claims on the condo or the building, discovering if any assessments are coming up, and the like. The seller pays 5% of the purchase price to the realtor(s).

There have been details galore to attend to around this purchase, which I needed to get done before I started class, which made for busy times of late. 

On that note, I arrived in Villefranche-sur-Mer today, Sunday, and was shown to my accommodation (provided by the Institute), I’ll be going to the Institut de Français, just up the road, at 8:30 am tomorrow for my first day of class. Classes will run for four weeks, M-F, 8:10-4:45. Not a word of English is to be spoken during those hours. I’ve heard it’s an intense experience, which I can well believe! I will be reporting, of course, on how things go, although I can’t promise exactly when. But, know that I will fill you in on the who, what, where, and when of this experience.

As it all starts this week, I will be in class on Thanksgiving, Perhaps there will be other Americans in the class, and we’ll go out in the evening for a meal. If so, we’ll raise a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau (newly arrived in stores and restaurants) to our friends and families back home who will likely be tucking into a sumptuous, traditional meal. To all my American friends, I bid a  Happy Thanksgiving!