It usually happens after that first glimpse of the Sacre Coeur while strolling through Montmartre, or with a single bite of a warm pain au chocolat. You don’t have to be a Francophile to fall in love with Paris, but when it happens, the next natural step may be to start thinking about getting into an a more permanent relationship with the city. Of course buying a Paris pied-à-terre undoubtedly means ponying up for big city real estate prices, made even harder to swallow in recent years by the high flying Euro. One way to avoid those outsized costs is to consider a fractional property in Paris from a company who caters their offerings to American buyers.

Two Paris-based companies are marketing fractional pied-à-terres to American buyers and betting that such second home shoppers haven’t been completely scared off by the falling value of the dollar overseas. Both have created U.S.-based companies which, effectively, hold the French real estate, making real estate sales and passing down the apartment to an heir possible without traversing the complex French tax and inheritance laws. Additionally, like other private residence clubs, these companies take care of home maintenance, making that quaint pied-à-terre easier to manage from your home base on the other side of the Atlantic.

One company, Fractional Paris, has an 807-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment available in one-twelfth shares. That gets buyers four weeks of use per year. Shares goes for 120,000 Euros, or about $175,655. Owners can choose either four fixed weeks a year, two fixed weeks a year and two floating weeks a year, or opt for four weeks that rotate each year, from the fall and spring one year to the summer and winter the next. The company insures that Christmas and New Year’s holidays remain floating weeks, and doesn’t allow an entire prime month like June to be reserved by one fixed week owner.

Fractional Paris has sold two other shared ownership properties in Paris, and this new offering is located in an 18th century building in the Marais and has an private garden terrace. The Fractional Paris website includes photos of the unit as well as floor plans.

Paris Pied-à-Terre has one-, two- and three-bedroom residences in the 6th and 7th Arrondissements. The one-twelfth shares entitle owners to four weeks of use a year. Prices range from 92,000 to 180,000 Euro, or $134,669 to $263,491, and have a modern décor with quintessentially Parisian touches, such as the marble fireplace and parquet floors in the three bedroom apartment.

Buyers get housekeeping services and an English speaking concierge that can arrange details like a cell phone rental prior to arrival. Ownership is held through a U.S.-based homeowner’s association.

Prices for these Paris fractionals fall in line with other fractional offerings in U.S. cities like San Francisco. Of course, fractional ownership isn’t the only option for travelers seeking extended stays in Paris. The city ranks as the ninth most popular city for destination club homes, with Exclusive Resorts, Quintess and Solstice, among other clubs all owning properties in the city of lights.