Anyone have input regarding our quality of life on my pension alone?

5,000 euro a month? Some people don't even make that in a year in Brașov. You will be living like a king

Really I live ok in the us but still have to watch the budget sometimes
I looked on some sites and the rent looked kind of expensive so im just looking for some guidance 😀

relair wrote:

Really I live ok in the us but still have to watch the budget sometimes
I looked on some sites and the rent looked kind of expensive so im just looking for some guidance 😀

Welcome,

Feel free to browse the forum on various topics, or start a new one if you need specific guidance

Romaniac
Expat-Blog Experts Team

Try this website: http://www.imobiliare.ro/brasov

The nicer apartments are comparable in price to what we have in America. For 1200 euro/month, you can get a fantastic place. I'm looking at an apartment that's about 400 euro/month and it's fabulous.

I was hoping to find something for the 3 of us in an upper middle class area as close to 650-750 euro as possible I could go a little higher say 900 but my savings plan go beyond that, thank you for your responses

Hi...Im a retired American 62 living in Romania...Brasov is very expensive....5000 euro a month will not go far...housing and land is expensive in Romania.

Some of it looks pricey any guidance regarding how you were able to achieve retirement in Romania

duklip wrote:

Hi...Im a retired American 62 living in Romania...Brasov is very expensive....5000 euro a month will not go far...housing and land is expensive in Romania.

You're know that's euro, not lei? and Brasov, not Bucharest? Bucharest is much more expensive...

$5,000 euro a month

Medium salary in Brasov is about 400 euro a month.

...and apologies to the forums gods, we've really derailed this thread. Perhaps you can start a new thread about this in the Brasov forum?

From my understanding my pension translates into approximately 21000 lei (or leu) not sure I will probably just redeem dollars for euros though it seems much simpler.
As for the apartments I've seen from 175-4000 euro per month and villas to buy from 30,000-over a million euro so it seems I'm going to have to research the individual neighborhoods to get a feel for where will be the best fit.
Thanks to all for the help we have looked into many places to relocate in Romania looks like Brasov and the surrounding area is our best bet so far since we want to be near a decent size city and we still have a child to educate

Hi relair,

I have created a new thread with your post on the Brasov forum for more visibility.

Thanks

Priscilla 

I spent 6 months in BV a year ago with a project, and I was put up at Tampa Gardens in a 1 BR / Living flat, with a spectacular scenery, at 600 Euros per month + utilities (during summer was around 100 Euro and in winter it went to 400 Euros). It was just me and my 2 loyal hounds, and my over all living cost per month was around the 3.5 to 4K mark, due to a slightly extravagant lifestyle.  I reckon, you can do well with 5K.

So, come on over mate to BV ... its a lovely place, unlike the capital. Its cleaner, air is fresher, less pollution, people are so much more nicer. You and your family will love it.

Wow I was hoping to keep our costs to between 2000-2500 euro per month after reading your post maybe that's not realistic.
If it's not too personal I was wondering if the average monthly salary in Brasov is between 400-800 euro what do you do to be able to afford 4000 euro per month ??
I retired a major from the US Army after 22 years really hoping I don't have to go back to work.

relair wrote:

Wow I was hoping to keep our costs to between 2000-2500 euro per month after reading your post maybe that's not realistic.

It's entirely realistic to live well with that, unless you like blowing money.

Lol not at all my wife accuses me of being a total cheap skate.
She says I sound like a total cheap skate when I tell her as a kid I could buy a candy bar coke and a comic book for under a dollar 😀

relair wrote:

Lol not at all my wife accuses me of being a total cheap skate.
She says I sound like a total cheap skate when I tell her as a kid I could buy a candy bar coke and a comic book for under a dollar 😀

Well, you won't quite manage to do that here but the cost of living is a huge difference from the U.S; especially if you take on a "locals" kind of lifestyle.

Romaniac

I really appreciate all the great information.
We blended pretty well when I was stationed in Germany and I'm a pretty simple person, I spent almost nothing over the course of 4 deployments and my wife adapts relatively well she lived with my parents both of my trips to Afghanistan after my son was born.
After living in Germany for a couple of years we want to be able to have enough money to travel quite a bit other than that I would rather live like a local than party like a tourist, I'm way to old for that lol

5.000 Euros is 22.000 Lei, and the minimum salary in Romania is 1.050 Lei, on which most people actually manage to live on.

Brasov is a big city in Romania and prices are thus higher for rent. I've googled a bit for you and yes, some houses pass 1.000 Euros for rent, but those are 6-8 rooms, >400 square meters villas, and I fail to see why a family of 3 would rent that.

But let's say you get a 1.500 Euro villa just because you like the view (Brasov is a mountain town so all villas actually have a view), you end up with 3.500 Euros, and if you have trouble scaling, 1kg of good bread costs ~1,3 Euros. But with that income you and your family can afford to eat at the restaurant every day, so you won't need to buy bread.

As a romanian I can't imagine spending 3.500 Euros/month unless I visit whores two times a day and I have a drug habit.

So yes, you will definitely live very comfortably here on that sum.

My mother in law lives on 1999 lei a month so you will live like a king here

Chefpjd1 wrote:

My mother in law lives on 1999 lei a month so you will live like a king here

Thanks for your input.  I think the general and correct consensus is that 5000 Euros is more than enough to live well in Romania (not to mention a few other countries in the EU),

It should be noted though that the OP has turned their attention to moving to Bulgaria now.

Romaniac
Expat-Blog Experts Team

Lol, well maybe he considers us too cheap now. A man needs to keep some standards after all!

But Bulgaria is at the same level, I would try Poland instead.