Lori

Thanks for coming back to update us Trudi.  I hope you will post more in the future.

I'd like to read the Le Parisien article ALBF, but it is a pay site and I'm too cheap to pay. I get the idea though.  I think the 15% is in their dreams.  I think it will be a lot higher than that; particularly in certain parts of France.  I hope not, but we will see. I hope Trudi will come back to us and share more information on her circumstances.  I'm sure many of us would be able to relate to the process she is considering.

After having bought and sold homes in a few different parts of the world, including one in Provence, I would likely put the purchase on hold under today's circumstances. It is often quite difficult to sell even the most fantastic of homes, even when priced to sell.  And while you are unlikely to be seriously thinking of the re-sale value of a home while you are negotiating to buy it, you really should spend some time thinking about the subject.  Look into the area you are considering buying in very carefully.  Look at the demographics, the history, the population, the medical facilities, the ease of access or lack thereof to services.  How long has the house you are considering been on the market?  How long have others around it been on the market? I can honestly say that for each house we bought, we really did believe IT would be the last place we bought -- the place in which we would live until death.  Circumstances change.  Therefore, now, we go in with our eyes wide open.   Expect to make nothing off a future sale and expect it to take a longer than desired time to sell it.  Keeping into account the costs involved in selling a property in France.  If none of those negative things take place, you're fortunate.  We have not been very fortunate in the last 3 home sales we have made.  We have not lost money on any of them, but the profits were minimal and the time it took to sell them FAR FAR too long.  Buying has always been a piece of cake. I don't know the OP's citizenship.  Someone has suggested the UK?  Was that confirmed?  We are American.  So, we had to go through the very long process of legal residency which is not a small task by any means.  And, renewed for several years before being able to 'apply' for the 10 year residency card, which we both have now and have actually renewed it for another 10 years.  Gosh, we're getting old.  If you don't have to go this route, then no worries.  If you do make absolutely certain you KNOW the tasks and the costs involved here. That goes the same for bringing children to France who will be attending public French schools.  Make sure you know what to expect. The main reason I would put off the purchase is because we are now living in very uncertain times.  I know nothing about the particular house Trudi is considering.  But, it is hard for me to imagine any house holding its same value 3 months or more from now.  I would be inclined to believe you could obtain the house at a lower price by waiting.  Though I am confident we will get through the current virus crisis, none of us really knows what changes may take place before we get there.  As things seem to be changing in France on a day to day basis, even the world.  You may find you'll change your mind about moving here. At the end of the day, only you can make this decision, as you obviously know.  Me, I would put the transaction on hold. Now, if you do that and the seller says he'll drop the price by 50%.  I'd have a serious think on it.  Not likely to happen though.

Alan - your kids must be cut from the same cloth as our daughter. 

Thanks Judith.  That would normally be my system too.  Clothes horse and dry in about 24 to 36 hours.  Not in this apartment.  This building has a mold problem.  There are multiple insurance claims pending.  An "expert" from this apt. owner's insurance company was scheduled to visit this apartment the week the confinement started.  So, we can forget that. It is a lovely little apartment, but mold creeps up almost all the walls.  I can clean them with strong cleansers, but in two weeks, the mold returns.  We bought one of those gadgets that measures humidity and it stays between 70 and 82% inside the apartment. So,,,  laundry does not dry in the apartment.  I can leave it for 4 or 5 days and it still doesn't dry.  So, I've learned not to try.  The condenser dryer just makes the humidity issue worse as it emits a lot of moisture into the apartment when it is being used.  So, I never use it. We were pleased to find the new place before the confinement began.  Otherwise, we'd be stuck here with no hope of moving.  The new place is so lovely.  I really hope we get there as planned...

What a great idea Idun.  I have never seen these before.  So smart ! If for some reason we are not able to move in mid June (NOOOOOO), we will have to buy one of those.  Thank you so much for posting the link. In our new location, we will have a proper washer and a proper dryer...  Much nicer, much bigger place.

I guess I know the answer to my question, but still, I have to ask. I have not been out in a week, not once.  I am in perfect health, as far as I know. I washed ALL my laundry at the apartment today so I could take it all to the dryer at one time, lessening the amounts of trips out I would need to make for laundry. I walk in the laverie and what do I see, a man looking to be in his 30's who appears to be sick.  Snifling and blowing his nose.  He was already in the laverie before I walked in.  So, I dump my laundry in two dryers, pay and leave as quickly as possible.  Staying as far from him I as could.  It just made me mad. Anyone who is sick should not be out.  Send someone else with your laundry.  Don't have anybody else, well then no one to offend by wearing your dirty clothes until you are well. Of course I have no idea what maladie this person had, but it certainly appeared respiratory in nature.  I would never go out right now if I was sick. 

I can relate to the paperwork.  Before we moved back here, we shredded what seemed like a million documents.  That's what I get for letting them collect over the years.  It took us days to go through it all.  We followed a similar process with nearly everything we owned.  Purge, purge, purge, til there was little left.  So, here we have nothing to go through.  We are scheduled to move to a different rental in mid June.  I sure as heck hope that doesn't get messed with by all this craziness. 

It does seem very quiet on the forum, but I have only recently returned so figured this may be the norm.  Yet, with all the virus problems, I thought more people would be posting, if only just to talk - not necessarily about the virus. I have not set foot outside in a week.  I just don't want to get sick.  It is really difficult staying in a small apartment.  We would normally walk between 10,000 and 18,000 steps per day here.  That is one of the greatest things about living here.  You walk everywhere ! So, it is hard sitting still.  I don't bake much anymore Idun.  Your baking sounds wonderful.  I don't really have the ingredients here if I wanted to bake.  We changed the way we eat a couple of years ago.  I lost 40 pounds and husband lost 50.  So, we are trying not to gain it back sitting still.  Hard to do !  I'm used to going out each day for fresh food.  This is really weird. I do have to go out today as I'm doing laundry and the dryer in this apartment is a condenser dryer (total piece of crap !).  So, I'll need to walk 30 meters to the laverie to use the dryer... The aerial views of the city streets in broad daylight with nearly no one on them is surreal. News out of the States looks absolutely dire.

We have used Carrefour delivery many, many times.  However, I would say that now the system is not what it normally was. We live in Paris, so the system is likely not the same as out lying areas.  However, this is what our current experience is: Yes, you can put items in your pannier and come back to them later, but I think there is a limit on the time your pannier remains active (holding your selected items). There is a minimum on how much you must spend to get a free delivery.  It seems to vary from region to region.  However, if you do not meet the minimum, the fee seems to hover around 9,90 euros. Yes, you pay online once you've made the order.  They take carte bancaire.  I have never attempted to ask to pay in cash on delivery, so no idea if that is possible.  I've only ever used a french bank card. Normally when you order online, there is a delivery creneau the next day.  Now, however, that deliver period is as late of one week later.  We have a delivery scheduled for this coming Saturday.  Under these extremely odd circumstances, we he no idea if our delivery will arrive or not.  We have already paid for it.  I expect a refund if it is not delivered. Hope that helps.

Yes, Idun, I have heard similar sentiments.  Mr. Trump is also calling this the "Chinese Virus."  So, I suspect this may flame the fire.  We did not go out today - again - as we have supplies.  I imagine we will need to go out in about 3 or 4 days for fresh supplies (long life milk, whatever fresh veggies we can find, etc.).  I have no idea what we will find when we go out. I know that Auchan.fr says they are no longer able to deliver food items only household items.  An order to Monoprix failed as impossible to complete.  We have an order with Carrefour for delivery this coming Saturday.  We made this order several days ago, long before the lockdown took place. I have no idea if we will actually get the order.  I have my doubts.

You can still go out Hoddy (for one of the 5 allowed reasons) if you do not have a printer.  You will have to hand write the Attestation as it is written on the form, complete it and sign and date it. It is explained on the service public website.

Funny, I was just saying there will be a baby boom in 9 months time.  However, I think Chessie may have the more accurate prediction.

Well, we're following the rules...  The most exciting event of the day was taking the trash down the stairs to the bin. Yikes, not looking forward to this for any extended period of time.  I also will be very surprised if most people (in Paris anyway) follow the stay inside rule.  Tomorrow is supposed to bring excellent sunny weather.  I guess we'll see if folks stay indoors or go out to get some sunshine and air.  Well, I won't exactly get to 'see' as I'm trying to follow the rules and stay inside.. But, I'm sure I'll read about it in the news tomorrow. I hear the kids in this building barreling up and down the stairs several times a day today to go in and out.  Adults too.  It was fairly quiet until around lunch time, then quite a few seemed to begin going out.

I'm happy to see you have not lost your sense of humor Wooly.

 I don't believe anything that comes out of the White House, so have no faith in Trump's claim of having taken the COVID test with a negative result.  His many followers who say they don't believe there is a Corona virus are scary as he**.  Mainly because they will be voting in November; that is if they don't get the virus and die.... Very quiet in the building today.  Don't hear everyone going in and out like yesterday.  Maybe they've heard the latest talk that if folks in the Paris region don't begin to take this seriously, there will be a total lockdown. 

Yes Norman, and I miss you very much.

Thank you Idun ! We're about to delve out to get a baguette.  I have no idea what we will see.  Yesterday there were so few people on the streets.  It was the first day we saw the toilet paper and paper towel aisles emptied in the grocery store (we'd already stocked up).  Up to yesterday, things seemed relatively stocked and normal - short of rubbing alcohol.  Haven't been able to find that around here in a week or so. I hear lots of folks in this apartment building coming and going.  We've been surprised to see so many elderly people out and about the last few days.  I mean people who look to be in their 80's.  With all the ease of delivery services in this city, that surprised us. These folks look like they would be very vulnerable to any illness. Hope you all are healthy and stay that way.

We moved to France in 2000 also Idun.  We did so because husband was transferred to work in the middle east.  Our daughter was 6 at the time and we didn't want her growing up in a middle eastern country.  We lived in Saudi for about two years, then decided to buy a house in Provence as it was a 6 hour flight to Riyadh. We lived there for about 14 years.  For some very personal reasons, having nothing to do with the quality of life in France, we moved back to the U.S. for a few years.  Maybe not in the first year or so, but after several years of living in France, I became very well aware that it was FAR, FAR from perfection.  Yet, it seemed so much nicer than the U.S. (even with its imperfections). I did not return to the U.S. once during the 14 years in France.  When I did return, it was the strangest experience of my life.  We now live in an apartment in Paris.  For us, this was the right thing to do.  Life in the U.S. had become a bizarre scenario straight out of the Twilight Zone for us.  We began to hate it more with every single day.  That, of course, is just us.  But, we had to do what we felt would be best for us. Our daughter had just completed her Master's Degree at Sciences Po in Paris, so being near her was/is a plus too.  She now works in the city and has her own apartment. I can relate to so many of Idun's experiences in France.  I miss talking with her and many others that post or used to post here.  I'll try to be more active now. I've missed you all.

[quote user="NickP"]idun wrote: I am sick to death of every last thing being used as a 'tool' to accuse others of being racist, sexist etc. +1[/quote] +2

Thank you Hoddy !  You must have grown up in a really cold region.  Can't imagine. Nothing nicer than a warm, comfy home on a cold night.

Yes, get well soon Idun and the others who are feeling poorly. I have a similar concoction to your lemon one.  Sometimes, we'll add in a splash of bourbon to help you go to sleep (when the stuffy nose won't let you). We did use the same term when I was young.  I still use it today, but I know it isn't used by the young folks - yet they all know what it means. And those frosty windows sound awful !  Luckily, where I grew up, it didn't get THAT cold and we did have a heating system that was decent.