Page 14 - 2001 AMA Summer

From Dentistry to the Dent Ju Eeant
By Tania Noakes ^
season. I have a good friend who is a resident out there called Cathie and she suggested that the market was good for buying at that time. Firstly the pound was unusually strong against the Euro (hence the French franc). The closure of the Mont Blanc tunnel had made it more difficult for Italians to visit on short breaks and many had sold their apartments with a view to buying again once the tunnel re­ opened. French mortgages have impressively low interest rates in comparison to those in the UK. I was able to secure a sizeable mortgage with Credit Agricole in Chamonix repayable over 15 years with a rate of about 4.5 percent.
You have to have a little hallway. I tried to gather all my three weeks holiday to turn the imagination” Cathie had optimism together and reminded place around and do some told me four months earlier myself of all the good reasons I climbing too. Would it be over the phone. My heart whaasd to trust my friend Cathie. enough time? I surprised James,
Dawn on the Prendo Spur. By Simon Weatherall
B «BUT MBBHTAIMHB )
She had advised me that the
who had expected me later and
beating just that little bit faster as
the train pulled up at Chamonix
and I hoisted my oversized should snap it up. After all it was tion. At least I had a strong pair rucksack onto my back. My all location, location, location! of hands to help me.
concern was over how much Things had moved so swiftly
imagination I would need as I since then. I would never had “I left it exactly as I found it,"
saw my new apartment for the first time. At least I didn't have to struggle far from the station, Avenue Michel Croz leads down to the town centre and in a couple of minutes I stood outside the wide stone arched doorway of Residence Tairraz. my new co- porpirietere- or shared building.
My boyfriend James had arrived
a week earlier, collected the keys
from the estate agent and would
form the welcoming party as I basically a building divided into
saw my place in the flesh’ for the first time. Of course I'd seen pho­ tographs, but only after having committed to buying it and they couldn't really capture the true feel of the flat. Those very pho­ tographs which had shown the dentists surgery in all its sixties glory, complete with lurid brown lino, fully operational dentists chair, laboratory, dark-room and several casts for false teeth were
now at the forefront of my mind.
I swallowed hard and pushed open the double doors and entered the cool marbled
place was a bargain and that I
we embraced in excited anticipa­
thought that I'd be a home owner this time last year, let alone in Chamonix. Now I was the proud owner of one completely intact dentist surgery and very large and daunting French mortgage.
James grinned at me, buoying my hopes, “I thought you'd want to see it in pristine condition.”
We toured the surgery. It had a spacious hall with broom cupboard, a toilet-washroom, a waiting room (with dental hygiene posters), and a simply huge window overlooking the
The entrance to the co-propri-
ataire was vast, a marbled floor
with the building's name, and a
sweeping nineteen hundreds Brevent, the main room with fully
I admit that I needed little con­ vincing to convert to the idea of buying. Paying money into your own pocket is infinitely preferable to paying it to someone else. The appeal of Chamonix also swayed me... So I asked Cathie to keep her eye out for me.
operational dentists chair and a
laboratory at the back. My first
impression was of the size, not
just of floor space, at 58 square
meters in central Chamonix- a
real find, but the height of the
ceiling. It was an old building so
the rooms felt airy and spacious.
There was. however a pervasive
smell of dentists. My imagination
was already launching into
overdrive, I wanted to roll up my
sleeves and dig in that night.
changed. I climbed the stairs in a Sense prevailed, “let’s go out for between 30 - 50 thousand
marble staircase dominate the entrance. A co-proprietaire is
apartments of which certain bills like the building upkeep and heating are shared between the owners. Residence Tairraz is the French equivalent of a listed building so the walls are solid, ceilings high and the central maintenance costs are lower in comparison to modern buildings because very little can be
Less than a month later her estate agent Century 21 had identified about six potential properties within my price bracket. I had specified two bedrooms so that I’d always be able to rent one out and a price
great state of excitement, my flat is on the first floor with a big double door entrance.
dinner,” James suggested “and start first thing tomorrow."
pounds. As I flicked through the details one stood out. It was central Chamonix, but the text said it needed work as it was
I initially looked into buying an
Imagination... I tried to concen­ apartment in Chamonix whilst currently a dentists surgery. It trate as I opened the door. I had trawling for a place to rent for a was also out of my price bracket