Top 5 tips to live in Hungary

I just found this article about rural Hungary.  I'm not sure if it has already been posted, but it's a nice checklist of things to consider.
Renovations is a big one, which I know has been addressed here before.  Even native Hungarians have trouble finding hard-working, honest-charging, on-time workers.  Please do your research and hunt around before buying a home!

thedaily.hu/6-things-you-should-know-before-buying-in-rural-hungary/

Yes, that is a nice summary of owning rural property in Hungary.  Two points worth commenting on from that article in my experience:

1) Very true when the author wrote regarding heating: "If you go for the wood option, you will find that in no time at all you will soon learn about proper seasoned wood and be eyeing up other peoples wood stacks.  It's just a thang.".  --- I have used wood for heat years before I came to live in Hungary, but only here in Hungary have I actually had tourists take pictures of my wood piles: http://stcoemgen.com/tag/firewood/.



2) The author wrote: "If Balaton it must be, then at least ensure your property is near to the Lake. And when I say near, preferably within walking distance." --- That depends on what you want. Being within walking distance of the lake is great if you want to take a daily swim or sail, but some near lake areas are indeed "dead" in the winter and you are then further from open services (i.e. fewer local restaurants, and stores, are open). And during the tourist season you will have to put up with a lot of traffic, lots of tourists, loud parties (sometimes stumbling drunks), mosquitoes, mosquitoes and mosquitoes. Did I mention the mosquitoes?

P.S. The Morso stove in the photo costs about 2000 USD (I know because I considered that model myself for a while, but eventually went with another brand). Few rural living Hungarians have that kind of money. So the owners of that house were not exactly going cheap on the renovation costs.

Number one tip is to rent for at least a year, get used to Hungary and get to know exactly what fits your lifestyle before buying property.
Don't be fooled by low prices, make sure you know exactly what your getting yourself into.

Learn at least basic Hungarian, even if only staying for a year. Also make local friends, not only can you learn a lot from them but Hungarian people are hilarious.

It's really important for new expats to make an effort to learn the language. In touristy parts of Budapest and with young people (under 30) you should be ok with English but if you really want to get a feel for life and integrate then getting to conversational level Hungarian should be your goal.

You might hear from people that Hungarian is the hardest language in the world but it's simply not true. It seems hard only because it's in a different language family from other European languages (the Uralic language family) - this means that their are no similarities to help you like there is with English/French/Spanish/Italian.

Some easy things about the language include the lack of gender nouns, the fact that their are only 2 tenses (past and present) and that it's a phonetic language, so once you know the alphabet you can read words as you see them written.

This article goes into more detail: learnhungariannow.com/blog/how-difficult-is-hungarian/

How are you coming along with your Hungarian?
I suppose I have no knack for the language at all.
Been around ( way too many) Hungarians for 41 years and still I have a bad accent and have been corrected so many times that I basically have given up on learning it at all. Other then the words I really need, police, help and get lost.
I know this sounds rude and mean but really I tried in the past to learn some but see it is hopeless in my case. Whenever I try I get shot down.
I lived for over a year with my MIL who spoke no English at all, she limited words to me as if she was speaking to a baby. That was the level of HU I learned from being around locals.
My husband's mother language is Hungarian and he is of little help with learning.
I understand allot but am mostly unable to respond.
I always get other "old ladies" speaking on and on to me in Hungarian, wonder why they never realize I have no clue what they are saying.
I have gone through the whole HU movie thing, looking at subtitles, reading books and listening to language DVD's.
I know I can pick up a new language, Spanish and French were not too difficult to get the basics when I studied those years ago.
Just something about HU that just does not appeal to my hears.
It is nice however for those in the "Honey moon stage" to try to learn and be excepted but for me I am already in the time of the "7 year itch".

Hi everybody,

Let's concentrate only on the Top 5 tips to live in Hungary and avoid being off topic.

Thanks

Priscilla 

Sorry, have no idea on job market in Hungary. We are retired( Thank GOD!!)
You might start with contacting a language school and see where to go from there. Good luck.

@USASAM: Have you checked out this: cetp.info/inside/aboutus.htm

Since you're already here, it might make it easier. Best of luck.

I've only been in the country for 2 months, but had visited a few times before after marrying my Hungarian wife. Here's my shot (coming from an US lifestyle).

1) Slow down. Life here is A LOT slower (compared to the US East Coast at least). Expect red tape (i.e., bureaucracy) for doing the simplest things. Have patience, bring a book everywhere, you might just get a chance to read it. This is not necessarily bad, just different.

2) The customer is NOT always right. Customer rights? Pffft! Hungarians laugh at that notion. If you buy something, you buy it for life, whether you like it or not. Some bigger stores seem to give store credit if you return something. This explains why Hungarians are picky buyers  (my notion).

3) Bring a Hungarian with you. If you're not married/engaged/cohabit with one, at least find a really really helpful and patient Hungarian friend to translate and ask questions for you. There are A LOT of unwritten rules and shortcuts that only a Hungarian will know. The "obvious" has a totally different meaning here.

4) Learn basic Hungarian expressions. From getting groceries to asking directions, not many people outside Budapest or other major cities (especially bigger university towns) speak English. The difficulty in learning the language, IMO, lies in the fact that you can't anchor newly learned words to any language you know. The grammar and syntax are not that difficult as in english, but pronunciation has been fairly difficult for me (Spanish has 5 vowels, Hungarian has 14). For example, as with English, I have difficulties pronouncing anything sh/ch related. Sheep, cheap, ship, and chip all sound the same to me... Imagine how Hungarian sounds to me when you have 's', 'cs', 'zs', 'ty', and 'dzs'!!!

5) People just drop in whenever they feel like it. Friends and acquaintances are not afraid to show up with less than 5 minutes notice to say hi. While I'm fine with this, being from Latin America where people are worse in this regard, it can be an inconvenience if, say, you want to take a nap. Or something.

very observant top5 - especially from someone who has only been here a short while :-)

I find a lot of the Hungarian way of life extremely strange, eg; [1] Why does, or should a daughter/son or grandchild etc; have to pay money to obtain a visa to actually come visit/see there own parents,there very own parents,residing in Hungary, only crossing a border from the Ukraine..example.?? How antiquated/weird is that, I find it totally sick, a government making money from this activity, furthermore, even for letters of invitation,..[2]  Purchasing items from large stores, " a 3 day guarantee", somebody is actually dubious or unsure about the products they are selling,or having a laugh,. [3] Fresh food / vegetables, what are they,.? we do actually have to travel some distance to obtain these, or even a nice cut of meat,. [4] Purchasing a property, yes OK we had to pay solicitors back home + certain charges & taxes, when this happened, but again to pay a tax some 18 months after the event is rather mistifying to say the least,......!!!!! No, I truly admire the laid back way of life with residing here, but not what they portray,. As soon as you open your mouth,whether it be from America,Australia,Canada,the UK or any other Western country the prices appear to rise, again, not very nice,. We appreciate salaries are not all they should be here, but do not take it out on visitors or ex-pats, your government are the real culprits, with there policies, people within certain professions, grossly underpaid,.

I am living here to 14months.. still I did not understand their language. still not found any kind of job. Work opportunities like nothing if you not know language magyar.. so time waste life waste.. people are good friendly...

Sorry, I read this to my HU husband and he laughed saying, Yes, Hungarians are friendly until you learn to understand them.
Sort of sad, he is more anti-Hungarian then anyone I've known. He was born and raised in HU but lived for 40 plus years in the US. Guess he shouldn't compare the 2 totally different lifestyles and attitudes towards life.
He was more shocked then awed moving back from such a long absence.
More so then I since I have nothing to compare Hu to. He still remembers when people in HU actually cared about each other and had respect for others, no matter what their station in life was.
Now money rules here even more then it rules in the US, hard to believe i know.

Kenyo
That's so funny when I read your top 5! Thats the life here!
I always network then it's fun and you have a lot of help!

So keep networking with Hungarians and you will have a much easier life here.

It is sort of funny but sad too reading about what one poster mentioned with the 3 day return policy in Hungary.
My Hungarian DIL was so shocked and happy when she went clothing shopping in the US, the return policies there blew her mind.
She bought an outfit and didn't like it after all, she made up a list of 10 or more things to say to the sales clerk to try and return the item.
She was shocked when they just gave her the money back no questions asked and even said they were sorry she wasn't happy with her purchase.
Couldn't stop her from shopping after that!
We shop at Tesco only because it is closer to our flat then any other large store.
For several years were refused to shop at nay Tesco because of a bad experience when buying a car batter with the return policies in HU.
It was winter, snow was everywhere and our car batter went out on a BMW. We took the train to Tesco to buy a new one. We got it home using a hand trolley and lugging it home from the station to our country place in Erd.
After testing it out my husband said he should of bought a more expensive and larger battery after all.
We didn't drive around with the battery but took it in again with the train to try and do an exchange that cost more. Tesco refused to take the battery back in exchange even though we were willing to pay more.
Made us feel like we had tried to pull a fast one on them.
Guess it could of happened at any major store but it was Tesco that time.
Now we hymm and haw before buying almost anything from any store. Spend more time price checking and looking at adds from so many shops that often we just give up and do without.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Now we hymm and haw before buying almost anything from any store. Spend more time price checking and looking at adds from so many shops that often we just give up and do without.

This is why I mostly buy on-line** in Hungary. This is better covered by EU return and consumer protection law; you can return anything without reason within a few days, even from on-line retail in Hungary.

I usually greatly support local brick and mortar stores. Especially I like to support small businesses. But not in Hungary, unfortunately. Till they learn to treat the in store customer better I will spend my money elsewhere.


** Good for many things, unfortunately probably not for a car battery.

RolyD wrote:

Why does, or should a daughter/son or grandchild etc; have to pay money to obtain a visa to actually come visit/see there own parents,there very own parents,residing in Hungary, only crossing a border from the Ukraine..example.?? How antiquated/weird is that, I find it totally sick, a government making money from this activity, furthermore, even for letters of invitation,..

I believe (but I am not an expert so may be wrong) the USA, for the B2 Visa, also requires payment from those residing in countries outside the visa free country list, even for children visiting parents residing in the US. So I do not find Hungary special or unique about this.

The good thing is we save most of our crazy insane shopping for our annual or bi-annual trips to Las Vegas, whatever is not tossed into a video poker machine is spent in the shopping malls.
Big ticket items like tv's or furniture we don't mind buying used since even after so many years of living in Hungary we are ready to leave at a moments notice. Guess old Hippies can't ever be tied down for long...
Funny how I only buy new in the US but love used in HU.
I know we got lucky 2 years back when my US cousins decided to do a reunion in Poland, had them bring over a new laptop for us which was even cheaper then ordering from the UK.
Just wish I knew more people coming to visit Hu and then I would be set for life.
Planning on a big Vegas trip this fall, can't wait to hit the discount malls even buying band-aids in the US without having to ask for them is so exciting!
Sad to say even though I have probably been one of the first to visit HU as a tourist( 1978) and have known Hungarians since 1974, I am actually so American it makes me ill.never identified with any country but seems I am happy as a" hog in mud" whenever I go home, not the big world traveler I thought I was after all...

Think your right. Our son married a lady from Japan 2 years ago and he just had to pay another $600. to get her another kind of visa to stay in the US.
With what he spent on his HU wife and now his JP wife he could of bought a condo!
The US has many regulations even for spouses but once your in, your in.
Hungary over all is cheaper then anywhere even if I tend to B**** about things here sometimes. That is the ONLY reason we are here, cheap food, cheap monthly bills and my fave, cheap good wine!
If it really got to be too pricey here, we when leave straight away.I don't know of any state in the US where we could live so good without working and just one SS check coming in. Yes, we are lazy that way!!
I have not worked since 2008 and actually don't even know what job I was holding at the time, life is easy in HU for many ex-pats other wise we wouldn't want to deal with all the other issues of living in a strange country.

2 wrongs do not make a right my friend,. If I put my head in the oven will you,.?? Your government do not have a clue as to where to tax next,.!!!

I can relate to being over charged for forgetting to shut it up and speaking in English to my HU husband in a shop.
Several times we went into a small local butcher shop and had no issues when my husband ordered and I never said a thing.
The last time we went in they owner had a sign outside his shop clearly stating the price per kilo for a cut of meat.
husband went in and ordered a kilo and this time I went in with him and started talking about something in English while the butcher cut the meat to order.
When we went to pay he charged more then double the posted price for a cheap cut of meat, we could of ordered prime rib for what he was charging for a cheap cut.
My husband in told him in Hungarian that was not the posted price.
I swear, the man went outside, turned the sign around and said, that's the "old" price.
My husband 'sweetly" told him where he could put his meat and we walked out.
another time we noticed a sign outside a small bar for a daily special on beer. We usually don't drink in bars to save ourselves aggravation but it was hot out and we were thirsty.
We ordered 2 speical beers and my husband gave the women 1,000 forints, the total was close to 600.
She gave us the beers then said she had no change. Like she was tipping herself over 400 forints. The bar was half full of regulars and it was mid day, there was no way she didn't have change for 1,000.
Well not to be played for a fool, we drank our beers fast and then my husband asked for the second time for his change. She made a big deal about asking her regular's to give her change, we tipped her something even though she didn't deserve a cent for such rude nasty service.
never will go back to either business again. Now whenever we do business my husband either tells me to shut up or stay outside until he is finished. Nice, makes me feel really good.
Being over charged here and there isn't not going to break the bank but the fact that there is no respect for customers really is a bother.
It's sad because we wanted to support small business owners but they don't seem to support their clients.

RolyD wrote:

2 wrongs do not make a right my friend,. If I put my head in the oven will you,.?? Your government do not have a clue as to where to tax next,.!!!

You seem to have misunderstood my comment. I simply pointed out that other countries also have such visa fees (in fact I suspect most do that have visa fee laws), and thus maybe it is not as "weird" (i.e. unusual) as you implied.

I made no judgment if such a tax was either right or wrong.

RolyD wrote:

Purchasing a property, yes OK we had to pay solicitors back home + certain charges & taxes, when this happened, but again to pay a tax some 18 months after the event is rather mistifying to say the least,......

Interesting experience. My wife and I have made four property purchases in Hungary and never were we taxed 18 months after the purchase.

A few issues may invoke a reassessment of a purchase, however.

For example if the tax office thinks the purchase price declaration was too low they can later re-assess the purchase transaction and tax this accordingly as what they consider a more valid actual price of the property.

Or maybe the tax authority made a mistake. Maybe you should look into that. Maybe you can get a refund.

But of course without complete details I can only ponder why you were taxed a second time.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

The last time we went in they owner had a sign outside his shop clearly stating the price per kilo for a cut of meat.
husband went in and ordered a kilo and this time I went in with him and started talking about something in English while the butcher cut the meat to order.
When we went to pay he charged more then double the posted price for a cheap cut of meat, we could of ordered prime rib for what he was charging for a cheap cut.
My husband in told him in Hungarian that was not the posted price.
I swear, the man went outside, turned the sign around and said, that's the "old" price.

I can but suggest you file a complaint. This type of behavior will only stop if official complaints are made.

Every store has to post a sign where you can file a complaint. And every store is suppose to have in place a complaint book where you can register your complain and receive a copy which you can submit to the local city or town clerk. If the store does not have the sign visible, or refuses to give you the book, you should note the time of the event, who was present, and you can file a complaint to the clerk office directly. I have done it. It did have an effect.

You can also unofficially warn others of this store by name by posting a review at a number of on-line review sites. Expats and travelers do read these review sites and you can help then avoid problems.

A refund in Hungary, that is like jumping into a quicksand,.!!!!! Are you by chance a comedian,.??  As an Englishman I have resided here for near 12 years, never heard such a good joke,.

Are you some form of free lawyer / barrister [ A barrack room lawyer, maybe in disguise ] , on behalf of the Magyar government, or maybe in Mr Orban's pocket,. You do appear to eagerly attempt to give out free advice, especially to people who have honestly found a lot of dishonesty in your country,. It is a known fact that if we open our mouths the prices double,. I & friends have experienced this ourselves in many a restaurant up and down this country, not really what you would call a friendly country,. The government here need to put there heads together & act like a government, they appear only to tend to Budapest's needs,. I note many towns & villages have not even got sewerage systems or street lighting, elderly people still walking to water pumps in there streets, not exactly a very nice advert for a country, in the 21st Century,. We do send rockets to the moon also,..............!!!!!

klsallee wrote:

I usually greatly support local brick and mortar stores. Especially I like to support small businesses. But not in Hungary, unfortunately. Till they learn to treat the in store customer better I will spend my money elsewhere.

I concur with this sentiment.
AVOID http://www.admiralstudio.hu/, this is a high end brick and mortar store in Buda. Went there with my Hungarian friend, he translated/assisted in placing order. I pointed at the kitchen hood in their showroom, said I want this in white, paid asking price. One week later received the hood in different finish. The woman who ordered the wrong item owns the store & insisted it is my mistake, not telling her exact manufacturer stock number. Just bold face Soviet Service. She made me pay restocking fee of 15% for her mistake and lack of knowledge of her own inventory.
Alternatively, I had nothing but good service, experience with Hungarian online stores.

After running into shifty craftsmen and business people, I have one advice:  Get everything in writing or photos and never pay full price before delivery.

RolyD wrote:

2 wrongs do not make a right my friend,. If I put my head in the oven will you,.?? Your government do not have a clue as to where to tax next,.!!!

I think you are just trolling for arguments, GB has exactly the same rules for Ukrainian nationals.

MOHCTEP wrote:

RolyD wrote:

2 wrongs do not make a right my friend,. If I put my head in the oven will you,.?? Your government do not have a clue as to where to tax next,.!!!

I think you are just trolling for arguments, GB has exactly the same rules for Ukrainian nationals.

I don't think RolyD is actually a native speaker of English. The language is clumsy with a few grammatical mistakes and uses phraseology which sounds odd.

OMG, this is just so "everyday" here in Hungary.
Today my Hungarian born ( but mostly lived his life in the US) husband and I went to Pratiker  to buy a few itmes to finally do our own Do it yourself in our flat.
After going through a ton of BS at immigration nearly 4 years ago, my husband has finally found the strength and desire to do some long and I mean long overdo repairs in our flat.
He was not willing to sink a penny more into this old dump since we bought it nearly 9 years ago, another tale for another time...
We had bought just a tiny can of outdoor paint to fix up the window frames a bit, we bought the wrong color last week.
We went in to do an exchange today as well as to buy more items.
Had to go through the "service" counter for the exchange of paint.
What a deal and fun time that was!!
First off the never even looked our way, just standing around BSing. My husband finally said he was waiting for them.
(All in HU so I had no clue what was going on) they did the typical HU way of giving a long face and slowly going about their business.
My husband got slightly miffed and asked in a nice tone if they were helping him or not.
The customer "service" agent said she had a long day and was tired etc but she was doing the paperwork. WTF. Where I come from if you actually told a customer you where tired or upset it could mean being fired on the spot.
I have a ton of customer service experience and know how the public sucks but WTF?
Made 2 trips to the store in one day because they had charged us for 3 boxes of tile instead of 2 and it was hard to see the invoice readings for the paint exchange since we had bought another tin on top of the exchange tin.
Stressful and we are doing the work ourselves and my husband is Hungarian!!
If I were alone I be a deer in the headlights!!
Maybe we will just leave our flat in the same condition it is in after we finish up with what we bought. Not worth the hassle to us. Hate the way the worker act, like we are doing them a favor to enter the store.
I would of raised the roof if the owner had treated us so badly,guess I am too used to good service in the US.
I notice people in the US do complain  about service but when I go home to visit I think I am treated like the Queen of England!

Dea73 wrote:

Kenyo
I always network then it's fun and you have a lot of help!

So keep networking with Hungarians and you will have a much easier life here.

@Dea73: I've been pretty much cloistered over the last few months, spending time off work with the wife before and after our newborn arrived. Other than her family, I've only met few other locals. For the most part, the Hungarians I've networked with have been friendly (in their Hungarian way). One of them even gave me a job lead! I've noticed that people here tend to be straightforward, no small talk and no BS either. You gotta warm up to them, which is fine by me, but it can be off-putting to Americans. It certainly took some time for my wife to warm up to me

It must be hard for people who are very new to Hungary and the ways over here of doing things.
I have been surrounded the past 41 years by Hungarians both here in Hungary and in the USA.
I( crazy me) even lived in a huge old beat up Hippie style house in Hollywood in the mid 1970's with my  husband and at least 5 Hungarian men. We had out own room but believe me, it was insane, only could handle that for a couple of months before I tossed a chair threw the window and told them all where to go and what I thought.
( I was pregnant at the time and my hormones took all they could) still friends with all those guys, they understood they were being jerks at the time.
We do not really "network" or mix here in Hungary with the people my husband was friend with 50 years ago.
Most have either died, become drunks or become too good for everyone( in their own minds at least).
I can say from experience that as an American it probably is never going to feel like you belong here in Hungary.
Just look at it as a life experience and adventure.
It's funny you stated it took awhile for your wife to warm up to you, perhaps it is just a female thing because my husband was pretty hot when we met .
My son dated Hungarian ladies here in HU. Most were luke warm at first.Could just be cultural, don't want the man to have the upper hand etc.
In any case,people are about the same all over the world, some are open and some are closed off.
I actually like the Hungarian way of being direct. Has put me in some odd situations at home in the US because after being around people who don't mess around with words, I pretty much do the same thing.
My mother was raised native American and my father was from Europe so not a big deal in my family to call each other out and nail them to the wall if needed. I do know most US families have more secrets and like to hide their emotions. Not so for me and mine, guess it could put people off to be exposed to real feelings in real time.
Good thing though is with that attitude emotions pass and everyone lets hard feelings go.
It's nice to not hold a grudge.
Just some random thoughts...


I

Top 5 tips to live in Hungary:
1. DON'T
2. Have a lot of money, and then some to waste and get ripped off.
3. Be eternally patient.
4. Get everything in writing signed by two witnesses.  Everything.
5. Never expect anyone to show up, on time, or at all.

I like order, simplicity, honesty, and clarity, and have thus decided to get out of here as soon as possible. It ain't all gravy...

octobop wrote:

Top 5 tips to live in Hungary:
1. DON'T
........It ain't all gravy...

Here here....

For those that are invested, property, family here, I would advise anyone not to burn their bridges back in the home country. Keep property/housing, rent it out back home and use the income to rent a property here. House prices always seem to go up faster back in the motherland and one could soon find one priced out of the market. Prices here will be stagnant until Hungary discovers oil, diamonds, gold etc.  At least with something back home you have a least a life saving "out" to a better run or perhaps more familiar economy/political system.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Keep property/housing, rent it out back home and use the income to rent a propertyp here. House prices always seem to go up faster back in the motherland and one could soon find one priced out of the market.

Assumes one was not already priced out of the property market in their home country before coming to Hungary.