Lots of new and exciting developments at Paris Home Shares 

 

Sue and I have just returned from Paris after two hectic and busy weeks getting the Jardin Saint-Paul apartment ready. Because so much has happened in those 2 weeks, I decided to devote the entirety of this newsletter to the various developments at each of our properties and within our company.

 

These are exciting times for us, and we want to share our enthusiasm with our readers, so check out each of the articles below to learn what has transpired.

 While we were in Paris, we had the opportunity to expand our local staff there.  Sue and I are quite excited about our newest team members, and they will make the orientation process for arriving and current Owners even better than it already was!  Liam Gallegos has left the company, and Richard Brown will be filling his shoes.  Rich is from Bournemouth, England and brings more than a decade of carpentry, plumbing and other needed renovation skills to our company.  He has already proven himself with his excellent hard work at Jardin Saint-Paul, handling both the large and small tasks with the professionalism and attention to quality that our Owners deserve. He will be available to all of our Owners to assist in whatever matters need attention, all with a easygoing personality and quick smile. 

 

In addition, Laura Pynchon, a native of Dijon, France and current resident of Paris has also agreed to join our team.  Laura has a degree in Marketing, and is perfectly fluent in both French and English.  Her duties will include arranging for cleaning of the apartments with the local cleaning people, vendor liasons, and representation of the Owners at the quarterly homeowners meetings.  In addition, she will be assisting me in expanding our influence to non-English countries via the Internet. Finally, she or Rich will personally greet each of our Owners upon their arrival at the apartment, to orient them and make sure that their stay is everything they hope it will be.

 

Terry Devers, who has been with us since our inception, has temporarily re-located to Vendee on the Southwest coast of France, but will continue to play a vital role in arranging for bids with each of our French speaking vendors for future renovation projects.  He now also has his hands full with a new addition to their family, a little baby girl.

 

As our renovation work nears completion on Jardin Saint-Paul, I wanted to give everyone a heads-up that our "post-completion" pricing will take effect on December 1st for the few shares still available.  The new price will be 92,000 euros.

 

Renovation Work Almost Complete!

 

While we were in Paris, we actually stayed at Jardin Saint-Paul.  Several things instantly struck us about how wonderful the apartment will be.  First is the total absence of outside noise.  We knew it would be a very quiet setting, but it is absolutely delightful to be able to have the windows open at night, knowing we would not be wakened by party revelers, sirens or trash trucks.  What also struck us was how wonderful it is to be literally steps away from fine restaurants, falaffel stands, and the wonderful clothing boutiques and art shops that line rue des Rosiers. 

 

I am always trying to find ways of making our fractional ownership program more responsive to the needs of those considering a purchase.  To that end, I have decided to change from our current method of lottery drawing to determine who receives what month in the first Year.  For this project, I am going to try a new system of allowing each Owner to select the month or months of their choice from all available months upon payment for their shares.  Of course, earlier subscribers have the best choice, and I suspect the prime months will go quickly.  Later subscribers will have a more limited choice.  This reduces the uncertainty for all subscribers.  We will be retaining the rotation system for subsequent years, so that ultimately, everyone receives usage for each month of the year at some point.

 

We hope that this incentive, together with a much lower "pre-closing" purchase price, will encourage those who are waiting on the sidelines to jump in and realize their dream of a Paris pied-a-terre.