Jeremy and I started going to a tutor recently for French and he gave more information about apartment shopping in France.
          First off, which I had my suspicions about but he confirmed, France is like the UK in where the 1st floor is actually the 2nd floor. While in America we say 1st floor, 2nd floor, etc., the French call the 1st floor the ground floor, the 2nd floor the 1st floor, and so on. So if you're checking into a hotel and you're on say the 5th floor, it's actually the 6th. In apartment ads, floors are characterized by T# or F#. For example, if an ad says T4 or F4, that means you're on the 4th floor (5th floor for us Americans). Also of note, if a building has 4 or more floors, it is required to have an elevator. Anything with less than that is not required to have one, so be careful while shopping.
          Another thing I kept coming across that was a little confusing was how many rooms an apartment has. For example, I would come across an ad for an apartment with 4 rooms but upon reading the ad I would find it had 7. They don't count the kitchen, bathrooms, or restrooms (I will explain the difference further on) as rooms. So even though it had a kitchen, bathroom, restroom, living room, 2 bedrooms, and one office/small bedroom, it was only listed as a 4 room apartment.
          Onto restrooms versus bathrooms. Restrooms have a sink and possibly a toilet, but no tub or shower. Bathrooms have a shower or tub, usually a sink, and either may or may not have a toilet. Toilets tend to have their own little closed off room inside or besides the restroom or bathroom. Restrooms are abbreviated as les W.C. in ads (leh doo-blah-vay-say) but when speaking of them, you typically say les toilettes (leh twah-let) and bathrooms are abbreviated as SDB, short for la salle-de-bains (lah sahl-duh-bahn).
          A lot of apartments come with cellar space. This is basically equivalent to renting out the smallest space of a storage unit in America but with lower ceilings. It's also typically difficult to get to (stooping and a flight of stairs are typically involved) so it can't be used to store larger items because it would just be impossible to carry those things down there. This includes motorcycles or bicycles.
          Another thing you might see on an ad is vis-à-vis or sans vis-à-vis. Vis-à-vis (veez-ah-veez) means your view from your windows is poor. Typically, you're facing another apartment or building, sometimes close enough you could probably play catch with your neighbor. Sans vis-à-vis means you have a scenic view. While ads typically tend to leave out if it has a poor view, don't assume just because it doesn't say sans vis-à-vis that it will have a poor view because I have found plenty that have gorgeous views but for some reason the Realtor or whoever didn't up-play it.
          The hardest thing I found to differentiate was yard types. Everyone seems to have their own definition. There are cour intérieures (koor in-tair-ee-uhr), espaces vert (eh-spahs vair), and parcs. Cour intérieure is when the apartment building(s) encompass a large area for parking. You will drive through an archway into the center of the apartment building(s) to park. It's typically cement and gravel with no yard. Espace vert has a wide range of definition but is mostly used for small patches of communal yard. Kind of like here in America where there is a strip of grass in front of apartments of between two apartment buildings. It's not huge, maybe there's one tiny tree or something, you can't do anything with it, but at least your dog has a spot to squat. However, I have seen larger areas still defined as espaces vert. Then there's parcs. A parc is a large area of grass. There are trees or shrubs and enough room to play fetch with your dog.
          So let's take all this and give an example to translate. This is an actual ad from leboncoin.fr:
Type de bien :Appartement
Pièces :3
Référence : T3
Description :
Bel appartement de 73m² dans immeuble récent, comprenant un grand séjour lumineux donnant sur balcon de 10m² sans vis à vis, cuisine séparé non équipée, 2 chambres, sdb, wc indépendant, un parking privatif, espaces vert communs.
          This would translate to:
Property Type: Apartment
Rooms: 3
Reference: Floor 3
Description:
Beautiful apartment, 73 meters squared in modern building, comprised of a large, bright living room with a balcony of 10 meters squared with a good view, non-equipped seperate kitchen, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, seperate restroom, private parking, and a communal green space.
          I hope this helps people in the future, as it was quite a headache for me and I still would have had questions if the tutor hadn't helped me out. Thanks for reading and, as always, feel free to comment! Don't forget to do your amazon shopping through our link on the Support Us page!

          The Realtor in Besançon got back to us. Apparently all the things we're asking for in an apartment is not very "doable" in center city. We want an apartment that is at least 70 square meters (753 square feet) but preferably 80 or more with an elevator, fully-equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, 2+ bedrooms, parking, and a green space for the dog. "Bonuses" would be a balcony, cellar, community garden, and ample closet space.
          We wanted center city because the taxes are cheaper, but according to the Realtor green space, elevators, and balconies are rare. Unfortunately, my dog can't climb steps and I'm not carrying a 37 lb dog up and down who knows how many flights of stairs who knows how many times a day, and she won't go to the bathroom on concrete, so an elevator and green area are definite requirements. We'll have to talk to her again and make sure we're on the same page about what a "green area" consists of. I'm not expecting a park or huge area for her to run around in, I just want her to have enough grass to happily do her business in.
          Unlike American apartments that come with a fridge, dishwasher,stove, and oven, most apartments in France come without these appliances. Even a fully-equipped kitchen, or fitted kitchen as they call it, doesn't come with a refrigerator or dishwasher. It seems "fully-equipped" loosely means hob, oven, hood, and sink. Also, while apartments can come with the set-up for a washer and dryer, the appliances themselves are not included. These are all extra expenditures we were not counting on, as in our experience, apartments always came with all major appliances.
          The size we're asking for is a little problematic as well. Apartments are ridiculously tiny over there, with apartments as small as 25 sq. meters (270 sq. ft.) being the norm for a single person. There are some, but we won't have our pick of the litter like here in America where I don't think I've ever seen an apartment smaller than 650 sq. ft. outside of a major city like Philadelphia or New York. Our old apartment was 870 sq. ft. and now we live in a house so we are not willing to adapt to the French norm in this circumstance.
          You may be asking why we're not looking into purchasing a house. After all, we'll be there for at least three years, right? The reason we're not looking into buying a house in France is simple. You know how in America you usually put around 10-15% down on a house and mortgage the rest? Yeah well in France you're expected to put at least 80% down. Holy smokes! No wonder why every one rents there! I mean, houses are cheaper there than here, but that's still a whole heck of a lot of money! As for renting a house, that's a pretty expensive option as well and out of our budget.
          Our trip to France to look at apartments will be the first or second week of November. Hopefully we'll have some things figured out by then! Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment!