Buying our first home…

Manu and I have been working on buying an apartment for almost two years now. I say “working on buying” because it has proven to be just that, work. Let me explain. A promoter from Paris purchased a farm built in 1830 in the tiny mountain town of Cordon, France. He divided the farm into five townhouse style apartments and launched a renovation project. In December 2014, Manu and I decided to purchase our first home together. We knew that this renovation would be a long process and because it was custom designed, a lot of work on our end… but we had no idea just how much work, time, and energy it would require.

We worked with the promotor, architect, plumber, electrician, etc on everything from floor plans to pocket door instillation, from outlet locations to sewage evacuation piping… I mean we were involved in everything!

The renovation was supposed to be completed in December, just in time for us to move in, and have a month to get settled before Nathan arrived. In early December we were told that it would not be ready until March. Manu and I were living in a teeny tiny apartment just outside Geneva, Switzerland. An apartment too small to fit us and a baby, and definitely too small for the six grandparent visitors we were expecting. The problem with moving in our region in December is that every apartment, BnB, hotel, basically any accommodation with a bed, is already booked for holidays and ski vacations. Or, they are free during the week, and booked on the weekend. I take that back, most places were booked, however we were able to find a couple five bedroom chalet homes available for about 5,000 Euros a week. We needed to rent an apartment from January to March, and the fact that this apartment was where we were going to be living when we had our first child, made me become extra picky! Can you say two weeks of full blown stress?!?

Manu, in usual form, worked his ass off and found the perfect solution to everything! At first we were looking at staying a week here, two weeks there… um hello, can you imagine moving every couple of weeks with a new born for three months? No thanks! Luckily, Manu was able to find a brand new apartment for rent in downtown Sallanches (where he works) that was furnished, and not too expensive. Unfortunately it was only available for one and a half months. He found another apartment, which was beautiful, but on the top floor of an old three story apartment building along the river downtown with no elevator! So at eight and a half month pregnant we packed up and moved into a temporary apartment.

A couple weeks into our stay there we realized it was going to be very difficult to move again, and the hole third floor no elevator aspect of the second portent was going to be difficult for me. Manu contacted the owners of the apartment where we were staying and somehow convinced them to let us stay through the end of March. What an amazing husband I have!!

In the middle of March the General Contractor informed us that our move in date had been pushed back another month… we were now looking at April. Once again Manu took care of everything and figured out how we could stay in our current apartment another month. Yes, we ended up living there for four months!

Anyways, back to the Cordon remodel project. We were not technically aloud onto the site during the construction process unless we were accompanied by the promotor from Paris, but you know us, we made friends with the General Contractor and all the workers and visited the site often.