Looking for an Apartment, Part 1

One of the reasons I came to France a few weeks early is so that I would have time to start looking for an apartment before the start of my teaching contract. I’m looking for somewhere to live in Grasse or Cannes (or somewhere with easy access to Grasse via public transportation). I met two other language assistants on Facebook who are going to be working in Grasse and Cannes, and the three of us are trying to look for an apartment that we could share.

We started by searching online on sites such as leboncoin and appartager, but we didn’t find many promising listings. There was one listing we found that would have been perfect: a three bedroom apartment in Grasse in walking distance of both of my schools and the train station and within our (small) budget. However, the listing had some contradictions (such as the amount of the agency fee) and some other confusing or peculiar aspects. We haven’t had any luck trying to contact the contact number to learn more about it and see if it is still available.

On Wednesday, another English teacher took me to visit a real estate agency to see some furnished studio apartments. There are 5 available studios in the same building, and three of them are on the same floor, so if we can’t find an apartment for 3 people, living in 3 separate studios but in the same building could be another option. The studios were very small but nice and some of them had really nice views. They were slightly above our ideal budget plus would have agency fees. However, as language assistants with very low income, we can probably qualify for assistance with paying for housing, so as long as that works out that would make it much more affordable.

That afternoon, I went to visit the house of another teacher at the school who is renting out two rooms in her house. It was very nice, but I’m not sure if I want to be living in someone’s house. It would definitely be good for practicing French (plus she has a really sweet black cat) but I might prefer something where I’m more independent and have more privacy. The price was slightly less than the studios and includes some food, but would probably not qualify for the housing assistance, so it’s hard to know which option would be cheaper in the long run.

We’re going to keep looking online and trying to find a place that the three of us can share. I also emailed the real estate agency on Wednesday evening with some questions that we thought of after my visit, but I haven’t heard back from them yet (which leads to my next blog post…).