I’m an American who moved to Paris. Finding an apartment was like a full-time job — but I think I discovered the secret sauce.

Before living in Paris, I was in Madrid with my husband and our cat.

My husband went to Paris a month and a half before we planned to move. Most of the time, we needed to be able to view apartments in person, sometimes with just a few hours’ notice.

Since we were both working, we split up the tasks. I did the initial research on websites like SeLoger and Leboncoin with our agreed-upon criteria.

Rent scams are common, so I was on the lookout for any red flags — like fake apartment photos — during this step of the process.

I put the information I found in a spreadsheet, and my husband contacted the landlord or housing agent directly.

French laws are pretty pro-tenant, so landlords tend to be picky about who they rent out to.

The market is also very competitive — there aren’t many available properties, and there are plenty of people who want to rent.

Because of that, we ensured all of our paperwork was ready to go before my husband even left for Paris. We compiled our financial statements, work contracts, and IDs (all translated into French).

Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about filling out extra paperwork or pulling vet records for our cat.

Unlike what I have seen in the US, French landlords can’t really prohibit pets in apartments as long as it isn’t a restricted breed (like a terrier, pit bull, or Rottweiler) and they don’t cause nuisance or destruction

Since most landlords use an agent, you often have to pay an agent fee (around one month’s rent) if you’re approved. Along with the first month’s rent and a deposit, moving costs add up quickly.

Fortunately, we ended up getting a place directly through the landlord, but that’s not super common.

Landlords like to see that you have a permanent employment contract, called a CDI in France, and that you make around three times the listed rent.

If your salary is less than that, some landlords may ask for a guarantor who lives in France to sign the lease. You can also usually pay a company to prove you’re guaranteeing to pay rent if you don’t know anyone in the country.

Because I’m a freelancer, landlords didn’t consider my income when looking at our application. We had to apartment hunt based on my husband’s salary alone.

Working on only one income limited our budget and the areas of Paris we could afford. We ended up also looking (and eventually finding a place) in the city’s inner suburbs.

In the suburbs outside Paris, rent is usually cheaper and apartments are often bigger.

We chose to only look at places near a Métro stop, as the larger commuter trains don’t run as frequently, and we still wanted easy access to Paris.

We applied to dozens of places in both Paris and the inner suburbs and only one place accepted our application.

We got lucky. Our landlord knew a friend of ours who lives in the area, and she recommended us to them. Turns out networking isn’t just for jobs.

If you’re moving to Paris from abroad, it’s best to come a month or two in advance and stay in temporary accommodations while looking for places in person so you can build a network.

You can also network online — my friend Hannah, another American in Paris, went to school here and found her first apartment through an online forum.

The rental process can be stressful, especially since we didn’t get a place until two weeks before moving in. But I love living in Paris, so it was all worth it.