A la banque

If you are serious about buying property, signing up for electricity, water and phone, or even just renting for very long, you'll need a French bank account. For shorter visits or holidays, your home counry Visa, Master Card or American Express card will work fine, although there are often high fees associated with currency conversions on purchases. But for most large transactions associated with buying a home, you'll need a French bank account.

It makes sense to choose a major national bank with lots of branches. All banks will require a variety of documents: personal identification in the form of a passport, proof of your home address in France (a telephone or electcity bill less than three months old , rental agreement or bill of sale) and some written proof of income like a wage statement of a bank statement from your home bank showing balances and a small deposit to open the account. I deposted $25.

There are so many foreigners now moving to France, that many banks have special offices or representatives who speak English and are dedicated to helping a foreigner settle in. Ask friends, neighbors, acquaintances and business contacts to recommend a bank since an introduction, even from someone you don't know very well, can ease and hasten the process.

Since 2006, the French postal service, La Poste, also offers full banking services but for the services an expat needs -- currency exchanges, mortgages, investment advice -- the bureaucrats at the poste are not yet up to speed. To be fair, it really isn't their main job. La Banque Postal Website offers information in English, including a glossary of French financial terms that will come in handy no matter where you choose to bank.

Online banking is now available through the big banks, but the sites vary widely and most banks charge a monthly fee for online access, which is a little shocking if you're used to banking in the States. In fact, there do seem to be rather more fees attached to all services offered by French banks.

ATMs are ubiquitous, usually found on main commercial streets,at the entry to banks and at post offices. The "distributeurs automatique de billets" charge fees as they do in the States, but if you need Euros, this is often less costly than changing cash at a currency exchange. In France, people also pay for everything, even tiny purchases like coffee and a croissant, by check. A French check book, chequier, will make you look and feel like a local and the checks will be welcome everywhere. There are very stiff penalities for bouncing a check in France so checks are treated the same as cash. If you write a check and have insufficient funds, you run the risk of not being able to write another check for five years. Track your balance closely or arrange for overdraft protection.

Wendy recommended that I speak with Robin Boxall at Banque Chaix, a division of the giant HSBC. Banque Chaix had branches in all the southern French cities, Montpelier, Nimes, Avignon, Uzes. Robin, a British man married to a French woman, provides what is essentially concierge service for the bank's Anglophone customers.

Robin was delightful, explaining the process, promptly emailing the documents and finding a HSBC branch in Manhattan, a few blocks from my office, where I could drop off the papers to expedite opening the account. I filled out the papers, dropped them at the NY branch, and had my new French bank account open within one week. He has been consistently helpful at every step, always available by email and ready to answer questions and solve small problems. Genuine personal banking.

When I arrived to look for a house, one of my first stops was Banque Chaix in Uzes. I transferred money into the waiting account for a deposit if I found a house, picked up my crisp new checks and was on my way.

Other major French banks to consider, include:
Le Crédit Agricole
Le Crédit Lyonnais
La BNP Paribas with branches in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, King of Prussia, New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Franciso
La Caisse d"Epargne

For the moment, I'd stay away from La Société Générale until they can figure out how they misplaced $7.2 billion. If they can lose a sum that large....

Train Tip

As I mentioned in a previous post, if you're flying to Paris and then jumping on the TGV to your ultimate destination, you can do it from under Charles de Gaulle Airport. The train is easy, buying the ticket online is not. Call me clueless (you wouldn't be the first), but it took me several attempts to figure it out. Here's the Website. Once you're on, find the field marked "Leaving from" and type in: Airport CDG 2 TGV. This should produce the schedule of trains and fares.

Be sure to check out the "promos," as well. Tonight they were offering a RT flight to Prague for 120 Euros, $175. Let's go.

French Real Estate Prices

French property prices rose 3.8 percent last year, according to a report issued by the Federation Nationale des Agents Immobiliers et Mandataires (FNAIM), France's version of the National Board of Realtors. Although the report takes a rather gloomy view, this all sounds pretty good to me with what's going on in the real estate market throughout much of the United States. And the report, of course, doesn't take into account the falling U.S. dollar.

A house purchased for the equivalent of $200,000 in August 2007 at an exchange rate of 1.37 Euros to the dollar would be worth roughly $19,000 more today, five months later, at an exchange rate of 1.46 Euros to the dollar. And that's if you sold it for the exact same price you paid -- and before adding in the non-financial benefits of life in France.

Although exchange rates fluctuate, the dollar has been losing value for a very long time. Overseas real estate in the Euro, whether in France or elsewhere seems a very good hedge. And the FNAIM report makes that clear.

Ground Support

Between holding down a job three days a week, counseling my own clients, starting another company and providing parental consulting services to a 16-year-old, it has been far too long since I posted anything here.

I wasn't much less busy last spring when I was looking for a house, which is why it was a gift from the universe to run into Wendy Johnson. Wendy, who I first encountered when I responded to a for-sale-by-owner ad on a Languedoc message board, works with French Help Services, a small company that both helps people find houses and also helps them manage the houses they own. She is smart, fast, efficient, sensible, knowledgeable and funny. She started out by answering questions about one house and ended up putting together a schedule for three weeks of house viewings -- 35 houses from Pezenas to Mont Ventoux. (I've never believed in buying the first pair of shoes I try on.)

After two months of searching listings and keeping a file of houses I wanted to see, Wendy helped me pull it all together into three well-organized binders of listings, driving directions, contact numbers and logistics. I'm sure similar services exist throughout France, but Wendy is one-of-a-kind. I recommend that anyone planning a trip to house shop find someone on the ground to provide counsel and logistical support like French Help Services did (and continues to do) for me.

Wendy also has a very entertaining blog where she sometimes has property listings, including the lovely house that prompted me to first get in touch with her -- a maison de village in Anduze, the gateway to the Cevennes Mountains. The video tour of the house that Wendy shot for me is still posted on her blog. The Anduze house is beautiful, and a steal. It was just a little farther from my friends in Avignon than I wanted. If you're looking, check it out.

More later - and I won't wait quite so long between postings. It's way too much fun.

Naughty Credit Card Companies

I've never won anything in my life. I always assume that I've been so generally lucky that when it comes to raffles, lotteries and class action lawsuits, it is someone else's turn. So, when I got a notice with my credit card bill this month that I might be eligible for a refund as part of the winning side in a class action lawsuit, I threw the notice in the trash.

But then I read about it in USA Today and I checked out the Website set up by the plaintiff's counsel and it looks like I may be getting a little check.

And, it seemed worth spreading the word to anyone who has been traveling or living outside the United States over the last decade and exchanging money.

Here's the language from the Website, where you'll also find an online form for filing:

"Any person who held a Visa-, MasterCard- or Diners Club-branded credit, charge or debit/ATM card issued in the United States as of November 8, 2006 is a member of the Settlement Injunctive Class. Those persons who made a foreign transaction on at least one of those cards between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006 are members of the Settlement Damages Class. Only members of the Settlement Damages Class may seek refunds by submitting a claim. If you are only a member of the Settlement Injunctive Class because you did not make a foreign transaction between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006, you will still benefit from the settlement, which requires certain disclosures to cardholders concerning the rate used to calculate the U.S. dollar amount owed for a foreign transaction and any fees applied in connection with a foreign transaction."

With the exchange rate being what it is for dollars these days, the refund might buy you a baguette.

Useful Addresses

I spent three months searching the Web for properties, using both English and French versions of the sites created by various immobilier (real estate agents). Since there's no such thing in France as an "exclusive listing," in theory nearly all realtors should have the same properties. But they don't. You see a lot of overlap, but you also find unique properties on each site so it is definitely worth searching through various immobilier and forum.

I looked at Provence and the Languedoc Roussillon as a grid and searched area by area between Apt in Provence and Beziers in Languedoc Rousillon. I developed a standard list of key words and searched them in each area or town. You'll need to make your own list, but my search terms included Houses for Sale, Maison a Vendre, Immobilier (with name of city), Real Etate Agent (with name of city), French real estate and Maison de Village (name of city).

It is the subject of some debate whether you get a better deal buying directly from a homeowner or through an agent. If you work through an agent, between the agent fees and the fees charged by the Notaire -- the government officials who preside over property sales -- you pay an average of 8-12 percent more for older properties. (There are special breaks on taxes and fees for properties less than five years old.) You have to pay the notaire no matter what, so with the 3-5 percent agent fees, buying from an individual has real appeal. On the other hand, people selling their own homes often overvalue their properties and can be difficult in negotiations since they have more emotional investment. A good agent can answer questions and save you a lot of wear and tear. But don't forget, they represent the seller, not you, so question absolutely everything you're told and verify everything.

Beside the immobilier sites, I also quickly found other sites that were of great use, including online expatriate forum, online classified and portals, and some newspaper sites. There were sites that contained a huge amount of information on every topic related to buying a home and moving to France and there were even a number of independent Web sites set up by tech-savvy sellers for their own homes.

Here are a few Web addresses that I found useful and may provide a good place to start:

L'Immobilier en Provence CTI, the Website of the realtor who sold me my home, Vincent Dumond
Maison de Provence Immobilier Luberon
Immo30 for the area around Uzes/St. Quentin la Poterie. Agent Eric Bardel is fabulous.
ImmoFrance.com
French-Property.com which contains a great deal of relevant information and a forum
FrenchEntree.com, a portal to real estate listings, great general background and an e-newsletter
Franglo.com, a network of Websites, classifieds (including houses for sale and rent) and a forum for English speakers
Americans in France, a portal to all kinds of information, as well as classified ads
Creme de Languedoc, another portal and great resource with excellent listings by both individuals and agents

A long way from Southern France

I'm in New York City tonight for a meeting tomorrow. I'm in a trendy hotel adjacent to Lincoln Center, adorned for the holidays with a 50-foot-tall Christmas Tree illuminated with royal blue lights in the shape of snowflakes. It's freezing, with an icy wind barreling down Broadway and people rushing into taxis and buildings for shelter. I arrived late and went out right away to get a bite to eat, something to bring back to my room for a working dinner. On the corner between my hotel and the EuroPan coffee shop, an elegant store displayed brightly colored Lycra workout clothes, $125 a pop. Opposite the shop, huddled in a heap on the ground like a pile of dirty laundry was a man clutching a tattered paper cup containing some loose change.

"It's so cold," he wimpered, "please someone help me." His cry was muffled as he kept his face down to protect himself from the wind. His feet stuck out beneath a moth-eaten coat, the mismatched shoes were torn. People rushed by.

At the coffee shop, I ordered two large bowls of soup to go, two teas and two rolls with butter. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped and kneeled down by the man.

"Here's some warm soup and tea," I said, handing him the bag. "Can you find a doorway out of the wind to eat?"

After a moment, he lifted his head slightly and looked at the bag.

"Thank you," he said. He had three $1 bills clutched in his hand. "I'm trying to find a room. But nobody sees me.

"Nobody sees me."

And, it seems, nobody did.