An Anniversary Message to the Members of the “Group”

Today marks my 20th year in Paris. It’s been a fascinating 20 years, particularly since becoming involved with investing in property in France which began in the year 2000 when I purchased the apartment in which I was living and renting. The process for a neophyte like myself was both a challenge and a learning experience that clearly changed the rest of my life.

Sure, I had some real estate experience in the U.S. — I had taken mortgages, purchased homes, made property improvements (renovation) and had even built a home of our own. None of that mattered, though, as everything here in France is a ‘different ball game’ with different rules and a different playing field.

Becoming a professional in the ‘game’ was not by design, but by sheer chance when the company I was working for (International Living) had readers/clients who needed assistance in doing what I had done: get financing, find property, manage the purchase process, renovate and rent…for investment purposes and for their own pleasure. It was then that I organized a team of people who could perform the tasks and together we developed the resources we needed, many of whom I had discovered when first setting out to purchase my own property: the Notaire, the lenders, the designers and contractors, etc.

Over the years, some of those resources have morphed into others, but many have stayed and grown with us. In this Nouvellettre® I’d like to honor and thank those who were so instrumental in helping me personally, assisting so many of our clients and contributing to our success as a team of people who have made the dreams of so many Francophiles to invest in France come true.

At the top of the list is Mary Fort who led the international lending team at Banque Patrimoine et Immobilier (BPI). There were only two banks lending to foreigners at the time and both of them were British banks doing business in France: Abbey National and Woolwich. Mary was with Woolwich, which was later purchased by BPI and is now no longer lending to foreigners at all, recently making Mary and her team redundant. Mary had a loan officer at the time named Stéphane Denner who was a young, handsome, charming and very smart guy and my first contact with the bank. To this day I don’t know why they agreed to take the risk of lending me money, but they did and neither of us ever regretted it.

Within the next ten years BPI granted me five mortgages to purchase five properties, all the while brilliantly advising on real estate strategies that have subsequently paid off, not to mention providing loans to dozens of our clients until they shut their doors this past year. Stéphane Denner sadly died in 2012 of cancer when he was way too young (adrianleeds.com/), but I will be forever grateful to him and to Mary for their unrelenting support and clever minds, as well as their friendship along the way. May Mary land happily in some new adventure in her life, now that her days at BPI are gone.

Next of course, is our Notaire Stéphane Adler. He has been a beacon of light and outshone every other Notaire with whom we’ve ever dealt. The tall young handsome Frenchman who makes his clients swoon at the oozing of his charm cuts through an issue with a sharp sword wielding it with both humor and friendship. Over the years he’s had many different English-speaking clerks manage our clients’ files, but he is always in the background ensuring the purchase or the sale goes as smoothly as possible.

Last week I witnessed the signing of an “Acte de Vente” (title deed) in Nice with the Niçois Notaire of the seller. He was so arrogant and rude to those of us representing the buyer that all I could think was, “Stéphane Adler would NEVER have behaved so badly…ever, for any reason whatsoever.” In all the years of watching him preside over a signing, regardless of how difficult the clients or the other parties, or the issue at hand, Maître Adler never missed a beat in finding the solutions to whatever conflicts arose. What would we do without him?

Martine di Mattéo is also high on the list of people who made a real difference to me, our clients and our business. A property consultant working with us in 2006 said, “You need to meet Martine,” and so we did. We liked each other immediately and her drawings represented a style we knew our clients would like, too. It started as simply as that and now after dozens of projects together, we might not even survive without each other. Not only are we close friends and mutually admiring of one another, but her talent to ‘tell a story’ through design, decor and functionality is like no other’s. Each apartment she has recreated is a ‘Disneyland’ all of its own — and perhaps it’s because Martine works for Disney and other theme parks to tell their stories, too. She’s won awards, been featured in a plethora of magazines, and all because a mutual colleague saw a potential synergy between us. To him I’d like to thank…wherever he is now, and to Martine, of course, for being who she is.

Behind the scenes is Schuyler Hoffman (pronounced “Sky-ler”). He’s the voice behind “[email protected]” and a variety of other email addresses that provide customer support. Schuyler knocked on my door one day in the late ’90s in order to register and pay in advance for a 4th of July Dinner the Parler Parlor French-English Conversation Group was sponsoring. He thought he was coming to an office, when in fact he landed at my apartment.

During a brief conversation, I recruited him to write the “Gay Guide to Paris” to add to our bevy of electronic guide books. He agreed and became one of the authors, then later in 2001 moved to Paris to become my assistant in running International Living’s Paris Office. The rest is history. Together we created and ran the Living and Investing in France Conferences, produced both the French Property Insider and Parler Paris Nouvellettres® and responded to our readers’ and clients’ inquiries. He has co-edited with me International Living’s France Owners Manual and written and/or edited numerous other articles and publications. Let’s face it, he’s my right arm. Without him I’d be at a big loss.

Schuyler moved to New Orleans after Katrina as a doer of good deeds and opened a Bed and Breakfast in the Faubourg Marigny called “Chez Palmiers.” This is what he’s up to when he isn’t up to ‘no good’ working with us. To him I raise a glass of wine in a toast for all of his never-ending support, in keeping with the spirit of New Orleans, my home town.

There are lots of other people who have been instrumental in making my last 20 years the happiest and most rewarding of my life here in Paris which are sadly unmentioned here for lack of time and space. To all of these colleagues (you know who you are), on this momentous occasion, I’d like to thank you for your support, your hard work and your friendship. Life in France would be a whole lot different without you…and definitely not for the better!

A bientôt ,

 Adrian Leeds

Adrian Leeds Group

(photo by Tom Marquardt)

Respond to Adrian: [email protected]

P.S. Le Palace des Vosges, the outstanding fractional ownership property at the best address in Paris, Place des Vosges, is now sold out but there is one owner share currently available for sale. If you missed your opportunity to own a fraction of this gorgeous and luxurious Paris apartment now is your chance! For more information and photos visit Le Palace des Vosges  or contact [email protected].