[bigjack1]

Originally Posted by adan

Welcome all,
I thought I?d share my views with you on Budapest Property, and its purchasing issues. A few years ago, I purchased an apartment in the city centre of Budapest, but I had many issues with estate agents. I went through 4 different agencies before I realized that I was actually not getting any service for the commission that was required. My advice can be summed up in the following points:

1. If you are buying off plan, check what the resale price of the older properties in that area are. You may find that the prices quoted to you for new builds are anything up to 200% of a similar older property. This is due to the fact that these new builds are generally not even advertised in Hungary and are hugely overpriced.

2. Be wary or just avoiding guaranteed rental schemes. The rent for these 2 years or so are usually included in your sale price which costs you more to rent your own property. This becomes an issue when the scheme comes to an end and you find that the market rental value is 50% of what you were getting. This may not cover your overseas mortgage.

3. Hungarians have different tastes and standards than you so don't feel the need to upgrade your property to a London loft interior design extravaganza. You will not get any more rent, and the costs are prohibitive. If you find the right agent, they should be able to advise you on what is required.

4. Ensure that your management agency understand your wishes and put them in writing. I had a number of issues where they were fixing problems a number of times (on commission naturally) instead of informing me so that I could replace the offending article. This has cost me my first 2 years profit margins, be careful, and make sure you use the right person. I can advise further if required.
5. When a developer advertises city centre properties, make sure it is in the city centre. City centre districts are:- 1, 2, 5, 6, and parts of 7 and 9. Anything outside these areas are not!!!!

Hope this helps....
Thanks

i aggree that in the past few years the market has been terrible but independent reports show{i dont believe a word out of an auctioneers mouth anymore}that the goverment has the budget deficet under control,so they expect things to pick up in 09 and about time but who knows lets see