Advice on areas to live in Oise (or other nice areas in rail commuting distance of Paris)

[Emmis]

My husband has a work opportunity in Paris but we don't think we will be able to afford nice housing in the city itself.

We only know Paris from holidays but these were always spent in the city itself, in Montmartre. Unfortunately we do not know the outlying areas at all. Nevertheless, we've done some research and Chantilly, Pont Sainte Maxence and Senlis seem really nice from what we can see online.

Does anyone know these areas and what the daily commute by train might be like?

Also, if they are liveable areas, would anyone be able to advise us on primary schools for our two children (aged 8 and 5) and on integration for foreign children? Our children are used to moving around a lot with us, but to date have attended international schools. My husband would be taking a salary cut so we would not be able to afford an international education in Paris. Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

We're quite a young, alternative-minded family, so anything that you think might be attractive to us would be fabulous! We did see that this was happening near Pont Sainte Maxence, and it's very much our kind of thing!

http://ritabanerjee.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/chateau-de-sacy-ecoliving-and-writing-retreat/

My husband's also a surfer but I don't think he'll be getting much in on the Seine or Oise!

Thank you in advance and apologies if this has already been covered before!

[NormanH]

I think that the commuting life into Paris is rather different from staying in Montmartre.

Rents in the immediate vicinity of Paris are horrendous.

I think that price may well be a more important factor than you might imagine

A bit further out you can see some examples on here

http://www.leboncoin.fr/locations/offres/ile_de_france/bonnes_affaires/?f=a&th=1&mre=850&ros=3&location=60000

I am well past it all, but there are one or two members who do live and work in the Paris area, so over to them

[Emmis]

[quote user="NormanH"]I think that the commuting life into Paris is rather different from staying in Montmartre.

Rents in the immediate vicinity of Paris are horrendous.

I think that price may well be a more important factor than you might imagine

A bit further out you can see some examples on here

http://www.leboncoin.fr/locations/offres/ile_de_france/bonnes_affaires/?f=a&th=1&mre=850&ros=3&location=60000

I am well past it all, but there are one or two members who do live and work in the Paris area, so over to them

[/quote]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, this is not a life change choice - it's a work necessity and we did already imagine that life would be slightly different than a week's holiday Paris!

;-)

We're not expats on a large relocation package, unfortunately, and don't have any help from a company - fools that we are, we move on our own backs. The project has come to an end for my husband where we're currently living so we have to take the next opportunity - and it happens to be in Paris...

However, we're under no illusions. Daily life will not be romantic walks along the Seine. I'm actually quite worried as most of the cities we've lived in have been incredibly liveable. We've never lived in London and the prospect of living in Paris scares me in much the same way, to be honest.

Price is always the most important factor - we were up until 1am the night before, terrified by the rents we were looking at. Senlis/Chantilly/Pont Sainte-Maxence looked more reasonable so we were wondering if they were doable.

At the moment we're looking at this through very grey spectacles but with the current work climate we might not have any other choice. Any advice/suggestions input would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you also for the leboncoin website.

[idun]

The Ile de France, as you will have seen can be horribly expensive.

Re schools, well, there is an international school at St Germain en Laye, but you'd have to pay. Otherwise, it will be pot luck with schools.

 

Is this job so good that you can afford to take it?

The good thing is that if you chose carefully, you should be able to get reduced commuter rail fare. But there are the other household bills, local tax, water, gas/electricity and insurance, also income tax which you pay separately.

edit forgot to add top up health insurance, unless work does it, which should be cheaper.

[Chancer]

Whilst I would not recommend my area to my worst enemy rent is quite cheap because those who can get the hell out of here, we do have the very much unused gare des betteraves (TGV Haute Picardie) which has a very fast direct commuter link to Paris and there is plenty of free parking, we also have an international airport with a longer runway than Luton or Stansted as yet unused after 5 years with a second brand new terminal thanks to the EU subsidy gravy train.

As yours sounds like a temporary move it may be worth considering.

Your first obstacle will be to even find the existence of the station on the SNCF or TGV websites, google Gare des betteraves and you will find you are not the only one and the astuces to actually locate the gare on the website.

[idun]

I used to live in the Alpes and a good 7 or 8 hour drive from Picardie even in my region  everyone knew it as the Gare des Betteraves.

True that the TGV is very quickly into central Paris from that station.