Apartment in Paris

Most will allow a Paypal transfer or credit card deposit if you don't feel comfortable with doing a wire.

I've rented quite a few apartments over the years in Italy and France. I have not had any problems with someone taking off with the money but that possibility does exist. It's always a good idea to check for other guests comments and references. I'm renting a Paris and San Sebastian apartment in May and I've had to send in quite a bit of money as a deposit. Sometimes you have to have faith.

From the landlord's perspective I can see why they want it up front. The potential for someone to back out and leave them without that weeks rent is very high as well as the possibility of damage with very little options for recourse. My $1100 weekly rental fee pales in comparison to the potential risk the landlord faces.

Look on Iloveparisapartments.com They have at least two that would work financially. You can check availability on their website. They require half as a deposit (they take credit cards) and then the rest several weeks prior to your departure.

Etap on Rue Dr. Babinski costs around 60 Euro per night, per room and sleeps 3 in a room, ensuite. You could rent 2 rooms or even 3 and it would be cheaper than 500 per night.

We were very happy with Feelslikehomeinparis.com. Easy people to work with. They have a limited number of apartments that are mostly in the general Montmartre area.

When I was in Paris last October, I met a couple who had rented through Haven in Paris. They said they were quite happy with their accommodations. I don't have experience with them (I used vacationinparis), but when I was looking for apartments I had noticed that Haven had many positive reviews.