Buying property in Hungary(New)

Hungary is big enough, so so if you want to buy a House in Pécs its not recommended look for an lawyer in Budapest.

Next to lawyer its recommended to find someone who know the area, if it is good idea to buy there anything, and can check the condition of the house. Its very hard to find anyone who can repair anything, and very expensive.
Even a good contract will not help if anything goes wrong..

ant75 wrote:

... Its very hard to find anyone who can repair anything, and very expensive.
Even a good contract will not help if anything goes wrong..

That's true. It's almost impossible to get construction/building people these days.  Almost becoming a sellers market.

You were asking about Miskolc, if that's where you're planning to buy a house, I'd strongly advise you to look elsewhere. There is a reason houses around Miskolc are cheap.

What are the reasons?

globalcitizenrain wrote:

What are the reasons?

You must do your research before buying anywhere.
Houses usually are cheap when there is a problem of some sort in the area. No jobs, high crime ect.No close by hospitals or bad schools, who knows .
Not having quick access to a hospital can be dangerous. Our neighbors son lives in a village, was using a power saw and cut his leg badly. He was super lucky that a surgeon was visiting his fmaily in the same village and heard about his injury. Went to the local small medical office and helped save his leg. They told him if that surgeon had not arrived they would of had to take his leg off because Budapest was too far away and he was bleeding out... No thanks.
If you do not speak Hungarian forget it, people will more then likely target you because of many things, all in their own minds. Too young, too pretty, too rich whatever but you will never blend in and considering most people have lived in the same areas for generations... well no outsiders needed or wanted. Not all towns are this way but more then you would think do act this way.
Even my husband who speaks perfect Hungarian and is old gets odd looks because he has a city accent. Of course not all residents act rude but many do. Even when we visited a small city where his father was raised, people were super nice but kept asking my husband where he was from...
If you live in an area with tons of other ex-pats like around Balaton then it's good but it's not cheap.
My husband has read some horror stories about some ex-pats buying cheap, fixing up the place, going on holiday and coming home to find that their place was stripped of anything of value.
This is funny and disturbing, heard from a lady who's UK friend had a decent home near a Gypsy village. Whenever she wasn't home, was on a short holiday they would move into her house because her home was more comfy then theirs. She had hot water on demand etc. I think she was lucky they just made themselves at home and left when she came home again.
This women has since sold... No clue as to what the next unsuspecting ex-pat is going through now.
We have thought about buying in a quiet place here but even my HU husband has serious second thoughts about it. He says if we buy we can never go anywhere, someone has to hold down the fort .
Wouldn't worry about finding a lawyer as the first thing to research here.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

My husband has read some horror stories about some ex-pats buying cheap, fixing up the place, going on holiday and coming home to find that their place was stripped of anything of value.

Yes, has happened here where I live. There was a copper wire gang operating here for a while. Would enter houses, strip out all the copper electrical wire. If the wire had been put into conduits, then little damage.... But sadly... cheap renovation methods were the norm, and the wire was usually embedded directly into the plaster. Lots of damage.

Also, have neighbors who hire care takers to deal with their land to keep it tidy..But the land just grows weeds all year. I know when my neighbors are coming, because suddenly, everything it cut, mowed and trimmed.

Funniest was nearby an expat bought a large bit of land, and got horses. Hired some locals to feed, care for and and exercise the horses. They showed up unexpected one day to find most of their horses had been rented out to tourists for ridding. Seems their caretakers were running a side business.... I had to laugh. On so many levels. Well.... technically they were getting the horses exercised.... such side businesses are so typically Hungarian..... Only goes to show, an expat with money can be outwitted by a local with a bit of larceny in his heart.... 

globalcitizenrain wrote:

What are the reasons?

Your path says you are from China.

What is the least desirable area to buy a house in China? Answer that, and you probably answered Atomheart's comment.....

klsallee wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

My husband has read some horror stories about some ex-pats buying cheap, fixing up the place, going on holiday and coming home to find that their place was stripped of anything of value.

Yes, has happened here where I live. There was a copper wire gang operating here for a while. Would enter houses, strip out all the copper electrical wire. If the wire had been put into conduits, then little damage.... But sadly... cheap renovation methods were the norm, and the wire was usually embedded directly into the plaster. Lots of damage....

Yup, that's it.   There's a small hospital near Mrs Fluffy's mother's house.  They were renovating it and put in a new heating system including new radiators before they finished the doors and windows.   Yes, you've guessed it, stupid thing to do, because when they came back a week later, the entire thing was gone.   

The thing about ripping the wires out the wall is the damage it causes is far in excess of the reward in the overall transaction.  Be cheaper to pay the gang to guard the house even if that's the same as letting the fox guard the hen house.   

One of my relatives had a convertible car.   People always wanted to break in by cutting the cloth top to get in. It caused huge damage, just to steal something like a pen or a paperclip.  In the end it was better just to leave the car doors unlocked and nothing inside.

Wow, that is one way to exercise the horses... Poor things who knows what BS they had to put up with tourist day riders...
Off topic but my sisters rented horses for the afternoon at the old Spahn ranch near Simi, Ca. AKA Manson headquarters. They said the poor horses were totally "freaked out" and the people at the ranch gave my sisters the, "creeps".
We once paid someone to have their adult son store our BMW for 6 months inside their garage...
Returned from the US holiday to find the red car now looking an off shade of red/orange from being in the weather and sun all those months, the muffler was hanging off... Someone it seems had put a fake plate on our car and rode the heck out of it around their village...
Another time we sent over a 2 year old , also red Mustang car to resale here.A "friends" mother had a garage and this guy was also a business partner. Long story short, the guys younger bro was renting our car out by the hour to drag race with. My husband saw the car when he returned to HU and just cried. Transmission was blown, seats and carpets muddy. He had to take out the tranny and bring it to Ca. to get an expert to rebuild it, they carry it back to Hu and find someone to put it into the car....Hardly can trust anyone here, sad to say.
Yes, also heard about the old copper pipe robberies around Hungary, copper and brass.
I cold mention we left our old car with my SIL, she wasn't going to use it at all and we paid her for storage. Last min. like the day before we left HU her SIL asked if he could use our car for just 3 days while his car was in the shop. Had us over a barrel so we told him 3 days only, the car needed brakes when we returned to HU. Dam if the brakes were gone when my husband went to pick the car up. the battery was dead too, darn SIL was no where to be found either... He used the car until it was run into the ground. Used a private party in Buda once with the BMW for a inside garage, all went well, not bad for 1 out of 4 times?! Better odds playing Blackjack!

fluffy2560 wrote:

The thing about ripping the wires out the wall is the damage it causes is far in excess of the reward in the overall transaction.

Once had my car broken into twice in 4 weeks. First time caused $800 in damage. Second time, caused $14 in damage. But the thief got in the same each time. Basically, thieves do not care how much damage they do. If they did, they would all use the $14 method. Even if they get a 0.50 cent pencil.

fluffy2560 wrote:

In the end it was better just to leave the car doors unlocked and nothing inside.

Or not.... When living in Sacramento remember a comment in the agony column of the newspaper that said basically, "Why did you break the window my car? The door was unlocked". That is again, thieves are not exactly the slickest puck on the ice, the biggest balloon in the bunch, or the sharpest knife in the kitchen. They are petty thieves because they are extraordinarily lazy and stupid people. Who are too lazy and too stupid to even check if a door is unlocked. You can not fix stupid. You can not ask lazy to work. Much less think.

klsallee wrote:

....
Or not.... When living in Sacramento remember a comment in the agony column of the newspaper that said basically, "Why did you break the window my car? The door was unlocked". That is again, thieves are not exactly the slickest puck on the ice, the biggest balloon in the bunch, or the sharpest knife in the kitchen. They are petty thieves because they are extraordinarily lazy and stupid people. Who are too lazy and too stupid to even check if a door is unlocked. You can not fix stupid. You can not ask lazy to work. Much less think.

That sort of thing is normal.   My relative's car was parked on the street in Amsterdam and the usual thief profile was a drug addled person thinking a foreign registered car would be laden with valuables. Yes, as if.   

One time, my relative arrived at the car when the perp was still searching it.  It was a confrontation and the druggie was aggressive but eventually just walked off, dissatisfied.

There are plenty of YouTube videos of stick up men being stuck in small shops because in their panic to escape, they cannot work out the door opens the opposite way to the way they are pushing/pulling.

I know 2 people in Budapest that had their cars stolen.
One couple are HU/US citizens. They shipped over a brand new Honda and had just brought it home from the shop, had all the EU regulations put on the car to be legal. I would guess someone at the shop knew their address...
Another was an American lady who's husband is US/HU. His father moved back to HU so all of his children and their wives came too.
They lived in a nice area in Buda, the lady walked out one morning to her car as it was going down the st. 3 or 4 men were inside, she started to scream and run after her car. They stopped, told her to get lost or else...Then drove off.
Besides so many people "borrowing"different cars we left in their care, we once parked our Audi on King st. in the 7th. It was daytime, mid afternoon. Was only gone for less then one hour , returned to find someone had jimmied the door open and tried to remove the steering lock on the wheel. They really messed up the steering wheel, was never the same, didn't steal the car but still.
Makes you wonder why so many people just see something but don't say something. No one cares about anyone else until it's their turn.
We never open the front door to our house to people we are not sure live in the house or not.
I'm sure though that not everyone cares about their neighbor's safety much and just lets anyone in. Sometimes people ring the door buzzer from outside to get in. We always ask who they are and what flat they live in or we don't let them in.
In the old days every house had a doorman who asked who you were visiting if you didn't live in the house, he would ring the flat and if no one answered you were not allowed in the house.No one even those who lived in the house had a key to open the front door, everything was done by the doorman.
In fact just last week someone rang our buzzer to get into the house,My husband went to the intercom and asked who it was in Hungarian. All the guy said was,"What is the meaning to life"? My husband was busy and forgot to answer in HU but in English told the guy he had no time
for games and didn't let him into the house. People are odd,he later was sorry he didn't ask him what he thought the meaning of life was.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....Besides so many people "borrowing"different cars we left in their care, we once parked our Audi on King st. in the 7th. It was daytime, mid afternoon. Was only gone for less then one hour , returned to find someone had jimmied the door open and tried to remove the steering lock on the wheel. They really messed up the steering wheel, was never the same, didn't steal the car but still.
....
for games and didn't let him into the house. People are odd,he later was sorry he didn't ask him what he thought the meaning of life was.

That's the problem.  The damage can be considerable running to $$$$.  It'd be better just to give them $20 and they clear off rather than smash up the car for the price of a couple of heroin fixes.  I don't know how much heroin in is but reports I've seen elsewhere (mainly UK) are that it's likely below $10 on the streets and could be as low as $5 equivalent.

Answer to the meaning of life?   That's easy, it's 42.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....Besides so many people "borrowing"different cars we left in their care, we once parked our Audi on King st. in the 7th. It was daytime, mid afternoon. Was only gone for less then one hour , returned to find someone had jimmied the door open and tried to remove the steering lock on the wheel. They really messed up the steering wheel, was never the same, didn't steal the car but still.
....
for games and didn't let him into the house. People are odd,he later was sorry he didn't ask him what he thought the meaning of life was.

That's the problem.  The damage can be considerable running to $$$$.  It'd be better just to give them $20 and they clear off rather than smash up the car for the price of a couple of heroin fixes.  I don't know how much heroin in is but reports I've seen elsewhere (mainly UK) are that it's likely below $10 on the streets and could be as low as $5 equivalent.

Answer to the meaning of life?   That's easy, it's 42.

Yes, we had a night crawler/homeless /druggie sort break into our van in Honolulu years ago. We had a office on Nimitz Hwy. and 3 cars at the time in Hawaii.The van was for our business use.
Someone broke the lock and slept in the car over night... Never bothered to fix the lock as the van was old.ran like new but wasn't exactly great looking, not after the next door business dropped a load of metal rods on the van and cracked the lights and put  a huge dent in the van...( another tale of woe) It sort of sucked to have to reach over from the passenger side to lock and unlock the drivers side door though. Later the van was stolen in Las Vegas from inside our "secure" gated fenced in parking .. Recovered the van just days before we came to Hungary, had to do a quick sale on it as we hadn't counted on it being found and ran out of time to sell it.Was obvious that another homeless had moved into the van.The trash, smell and parking stickers on the back window told the story, What a hassle to fix the parking tickets last min. with giving my police report about it being stolen, good thing we reported it or we would have to hold the bag on weeks worth of parking tickets beside impound fees. I figure the homeless still owe me a good $1,500. No charge for the stress and hassle.
Sounds mean of me but darn no one ever paid our way in life, dislike freeloaders more then words can say.

Hi. My husband and I are also planning to buy a house in Hungary but not in Budapest. Which areas are more dangerous? We will not be living there right away only on holidays. Where did the home invasion and robbery take place? How can we guarantee the security of an empty house?

Thanks for advising.

monout wrote:

How can we guarantee the security of an empty house?

You can't, you could install a fancy alarm system hooked up with a local security company (so that they get notified if the alarm goes off and send someone right away), but that will just attract burglars. IMO your best option is not to leave anything in the house you can't afford to lose, and hire a caretaker who goes there once or twice a week to avoid further damage from doors/windows left open by burglars.

I am from the Netherlands, in general considered to be a safe country, as far as burglars and car thieves are concerned not at all true (I know quite some people who have fallen victim (even 1 with a home robbery with a knife to her throat).
Hungary has many minuses, but as far as security is concerned never better. Not a single   thing. (the odd (always the same beggar in Keszthely), when the annual big garbage collection is due some gypsies calling to our home.
What helps (in order)
1. Living in a village helps
2. Good contacts with neighbors
3. A dog (ours I think also protects properties close by)
4. Showing to be at home (solar energy lights)

Again so far no problem at all and personally even if situation gets bad (Corona related) I do not expect any issues.
If I were a criminal I would move to the UK or Germany (western Europe in general, more to get, lower sentences). I live in the neighborhood of Heviz for almost 6 years.

In our village there are many, many holiday homes, I did not hear about break-in's

In general I have to say Hungary is safe (I can not speak for bigger towns), but criminals are business men (or women).

cdw057 wrote:

...
What helps (in order)
1. Living in a village helps
2. Good contacts with neighbors
3. A dog (ours I think also protects properties close by)
4. Showing to be at home (solar energy lights)

We've been burgled once and had multiple assaults on our cars. 

A lot of burglars are opportunists.  They try to use what is lying around to break in.  But generally in Hungary, it's not with violence.   People here can have guns at home and I think you are allowed to shoot people under some circumstances.  Dodgy stuff.

It's a good list but I would add some optional extras (based on my own house):

1)  Window shutters (roller shutters should be steel, not uPVC) or stainless steel window bars carefully placed.

2)  Cameras (or fake cameras with flashing lights) (btw, I can see my cameras remotely)

3) Steel insert doors (looks like ordinary door but has a steel sheet in it so it cannot be kicked in)

4) Multi-point locking window and door frames (most windows lock 2-4 places but you can have more like 6 locking points)

5) Zoned burglar alarm with network connection (mine sends me an e-mail if it goes off and also sends one to the security company)

6) Auto sensing lights


Out of all of these, we were told by the police here that they never have burglaries where people have window shutters.   It's a small place so not a large enough of a statistical sample.