16 Allee Mouille Fetu, Chatou, 78400.
To read about our new house, please go to this link.
http://www.seloger.co.uk/detail.htm?cp=78400&euro=1&idpays=250&idtt=1&idtypebien=2&nb_pieces=%2b4&px_loyermax=4500&surfacemin=180&IMMOBW_ANN_QRYpg=11
The back story. We visited our first choice house in Le Vesinet on Friday and met the owner where we were told that they had a few offers and would make a decision over the weekend. When we had not received an answer by early afternoon on Monday we started making more appointments to see houses on Tuesday morning.
The first two houses we saw were in Le Vesinet and both were nice but had issues that could be overcome but were still issues. While we were visiting the third house of the morning in Chatou, Julia's phone rang and she noticed that it was the agent for the house in Le Vesinet but she let it go to voicemail. She let it go to voicemail because we were falling in love with the house we were viewing. More specifically we were falling in love with our view of the Seine. There is a gate at the bottom of our backyard. If you walk out the gate the only thing separating you from the river is a paved path and a little bit of grass.
It is a modern house with tile floors and white walls. Oh, did I mention that it has a pool? Not a very large pool but enough for us to get wet and for Samuel to splash around. The living room has a working fireplace, though we have no idea where to acquire firewood in Chatou.
There is a very nice guest room on the 1st floor with an individual entrance to the yard. There is also a shower with multiple nozzles, shower heads and knobs. By the time someone visits we hope to have figured out how it works.
The master bedroom is good sized with a small terrace with a nice view of the river.
After we handed our dossier to the agent, we returned to our car to check Julia's messages and we discovered that we were being offered our first choice house in Le Vesinet. At this point we had a very difficult decision in front of us. We decided to drive around Chatou and discover the lay of the land before we made a final decision. This almost made the decision easy as it was very difficult to navigate around Chatou with very narrow roads. We did discover a small strip of shops just 2 blocks away but learned that they were closing so that a newer commerce area could be built in 2010. Bummer.
After having difficulty finding what we were looking for we drove to the Mairie(city hall) and asked for help. they provided a map and suggestions as to where to look for boulangeries, butchers and markets. With the map we were able to find what we were looking for but the shops are not as convenient as the shops near our choice in Le Vesinet.
In the end the deciding factors came down to the following:
1) From Chatou Julia will have an easier commute with more options available to her should traffic be delayed in one area.
2)In Chatou we will have a smaller, not as nice garden, but we will have the garden to ourselves. In Le Vesinet we would have shared the garden with the owners.
3)The wonderful, peaceful view of the Seine. We were both imagining sitting on our bedroom terrace on a Sunday morning eating our pain au chocolate and croissant, drinking our hot chocolate while watching the river roll slowly by.
Then came the difficult part of the day. Calling back the agent for the Le Vesinet house and telling her we had found something else. This is when I am glad that Julia speaks french much better than me.
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