Quote: (06-15-2013 06:48 AM)Vorkuta Wrote:
The most undervalued market right now in my opinion is Berlin and Budapest. You can get apartments in either city for under 50K Euro quite easily ( especially Budapest ). If Hungary was a Slavic speaking country I'd have bought there a few years back. You can buy new build studio apartments today for 30K Euro's in quite good areas ( not District V obviously ) of Budapest. Great city but I don't have the energy or inclination to deal with the language etc. and with Orban in charge who knows what will happen over there?
Funny you would write this. I speak the language and just got the citizenship (hadn't bothered before but did it precisely as a preemptive measure against orban).
I'm thinking of buying a flat there, more as a way of protecting savings from a euro collapse. And also because I could pay it in 4 years and have something decent, whereas in Paris I'd have to go in debt for 20 years for something shitty.
My only problem with buying a flat in budapest is that I'm not sure the value will go up anytime soon. Population is on the decline, economy is not strong. If I need the money later, will I be able to sell it easily? Maybe I should use my cash to start a business instead. There's a reason why prices are so low in budapest, in fact many reasons. Rents are also pretty low there so if you plan on just staying there a few weeks per year you will be better off renting.
Also, things I read here show some people actually lack real world experience from what they are talking about. You can't just "own" a flat. There are always costs, like stuff to repair, if not in your flat then in the building and you have to pay. If you don't live in the flat and you are not renting it, you will lose significant amounts of money every year from it. Not to mention hassle and time. If you try to rent it, then you better be near or you will be taken advantage of, and might find the flat in a very bad state. This I say from experience.
Same for owning a business, especially in that part of the world. Thinking for a second that you can leave it on autopilot while you focus on other things and live in a different country seems very naive (but maybe you were not serious).