House prices in Hungary

As for house prices:

1. Anything which is listed on a public platform is more like the "desired" price than the real price also most forms of advertisements are very costly and pile up with time.
2. What is listed via agencies are even more costly with at least +5 - 10% partly because the comission of the agency and their "quality of offering"

Best prices can be found via flyers distributed where the property owner offers directly the flat.

As for Heviz:

Territory of Bratva - get ready to pay them as well in case they accept you there.

As for Heviz:
Territory of Bratva - get ready to pay them as well in case they accept you there.
    -@sjbabilon5

i think the local version is equally in evidence everywhere.

    I need a detailed answer about home prices in Hungary. Are the prices as high as listed on inglatan ? If I am in Hungary can I get better prices, how? I speak some Hungarian. Are the yearly property taxes based on the sell price or is it based on real value? Is real value a lot less? Do I have to spend 100000$ on a home and then pay almost 3000$ yearly on property taxes? How could people in Hungary afford those property taxes ?! I am looking for a home outside of Szekesfehervar or Heviz. Thank you in advance for answering me.
        -@angelarobbins

Recently local property taxes were cancelled (they were where I live).  They were based on the area of property.  Not sure why local taxes were cancelled.  Political I expect.  They might come back if the government changes. Who knows?! There are also the usual things to pay for like water, trash, gas, electricity etc.

You have to pay a percentage transactional tax buying a property.  And the lawyers take a bite too.

If you are not an EU or HU citizen, you need permission to buy from the local government.  This is not usually withheld for residential property. Different rules if the property is in a national park. 

Have a read of this > How to buy a property in Hungary by the steps and what nuances to consider

As far as we know so far you don't have to pay property taxes inside of Budapest. Erd, they pay property taxes. Depends on the district it seems.

You'd have to pin point where you want to buy and then go into the local tax office or city hall.

We found our flat ourseves through an add. We had been using real estate agents but they kept showing up places we didn't like.

They tried to push their hard to sell flats our way, waste of time.

The bad thing is the people we bought from had placed their add in the paper themselves but were stupid and had given a real estate agent their flat to sell also. They agent got 50% commission from them and 50% from us. It was almost a turn off for us to pay out at the time another $3,000 to an agent we had never met or used.

Just be careful about the details for any sale.

We almost walked away from buying this flat because of the underhanded back deal with the commission but we ran out of time to leave Hungary and just wanted to get it over with.

They sprung the commisson thing last min on us.

    As far as we know so far you don't have to pay property taxes inside of Budapest. Erd, they pay property taxes. Depends on the district it seems.
You'd have to pin point where you want to buy and then go into the local tax office or city hall.
We found our flat ourseves through an add. We had been using real estate agents but they kept showing up places we didn't like.
They tried to push their hard to sell flats our way, waste of time.
The bad thing is the people we bought from had placed their add in the paper themselves but were stupid and had given a real estate agent their flat to sell also. They agent got 50% commission from them and 50% from us. It was almost a turn off for us to pay out at the time another $3,000 to an agent we had never met or used.
Just be careful about the details for any sale.
We almost walked away from buying this flat because of the underhanded back deal with the commission but we ran out of time to leave Hungary and just wanted to get it over with.
They sprung the commisson thing last min on us.
   

    -@Marilyn Tassy

Yes, indeed, avoid the agents.  We sold our original house by making a sign up and sticking it outside on the fence.   Took a while.  Agents were useless.

We did buy the current house through an agent.  She had her ear to the ground and knew which houses were empty etc but unadvertised.   It was in the times of a bubble and we needed to move fast so we didn't feel too bad paying out something.

Just driving around here, I see plenty of houses with "Elado" (for sale) on them.  They probably won't be on  ingatlan (real estate) web sites.

I reckon a good plan is to come to Hungary, rent a place for 1-2 months in the area of interest to get a feel for it and spend some time driving around checking it out for opportunities.

@sjbabilon5

is it hard to be accepted ? what do you mean by that ?

@fluffy2560

what do you mean by that ?

@angelarobbins

what makes it hard to be accepted in Heviz ?

    @fluffy2560
what do you mean by that ?
   

    -@angelarobbins

Please use the quote button so we know which comment is being referred to.

Thanks.

@angelarobbins What to worry about, Heviz is very international we lived close for 7 years, fine with Hungarians and expats alike. No problem. Depends on personality as well I suppose. Me and my wife were accepting and easy, of course there can be an issue going out of line. But in general very fine (I personally think in all of Hungary) but also around Heviz.

@angelarobbins Apologies to be rude, but there are so many sources to get the information from (also in English). To me it sounds that you will not be a positive member of the forum, lets see.

@cdw057

Sorry that you feel that way but I would like to hear from people who actually retired in the towns I mentioned. Its  not a big deal in general

    @cdw057
Sorry that you feel that way but I would like to hear from people who actually retired in the towns I mentioned. Its  not a big deal in general
   

    -@angelarobbins

You can look up the prices yourself on many web sites.

Here's a link for you to check out prices in Pecs.

Click here. 

Change the parameters for search as you wish.

        @cdw057Sorry that you feel that way but I would like to hear from people who actually retired in the towns I mentioned. Its  not a big deal in general        -@angelarobbins

You can look up the prices yourself on many web sites.

Here's a link for you to check out prices in Pecs.

Click here. 

Change the parameters for search as you wish.

Not badly priced
   

    -@fluffy2560

            @cdw057Sorry that you feel that way but I would like to hear from people who actually retired in the towns I mentioned. Its  not a big deal in general        -@angelarobbinsYou can look up the prices yourself on many web sites.Here's a link for you to check out prices in Pecs.Click here.  Change the parameters for search as you wish.Not badly priced        -@fluffy2560        -@SimCityAT

The gap between paragraphs problem is back again.

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We're looking at house prices around here to see what our insurance value would be for rebuilding.   Our insurance company put a limit on claims. It wouldn't be enough.

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There's a lot of odd things happen around here. Always seems to be fires. 

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Around here, couple of years ago, a kid killed his sibling by setting fire to the house.  He was obsessed with fires and had tried to burn his house down before.   And yet another kid about 12 died when the house burnt down a few weeks ago. Everyone else escaped.  No smoke alarms.

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I'm all about risk mitigation so we talk about how to to escape, which routes are best out of the place, how to alert everyone and we have smoke and CO detectors.   In the UK, sometimes the fire brigade give away free fire and smoke detectors and they are compulsory in new builds.   They are quite expensive here and much cheaper in the UK. Naturally I bought ours there and brought them back here. 

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Not preaching, but obviously I would encourage everyone to have them AND to test them regularly.

 

Around here, couple of years ago, a kid killed his sibling by setting fire to the house.  He was obsessed with fires and had tried to burn his house down before.   And yet another kid about 12 died when the house burnt down a few weeks ago. Everyone else escaped.  No smoke alarms.


    -@fluffy2560

After the Grenfell Tower fire, I kitted out the whole house with fire alarms. I think I only had 1 before that. But because of the size of the house I got an extra 5 in a multi pack.

@SimCityAT     Of course we were afraid of fires (especially because of our own forest), having said that we had dogs, we hardly (if ever) went for holidays. But fires can be nasty and sometimes there is little you can do. As per a previous comment, insurance value in general is way under real value (understandably (the land will still be there)).

In summary in Hungary to live in a village fire is a real danger (I totally agree). We sold our property for EUR 350 K, but insurance was for EUR 220 K. Again I have to say even if completely destroyed, the land is there.

    @sjbabilon5
is it hard to be accepted ? what do you mean by that ?
   

    -@angelarobbins

I don't think it is hard unless they find the new wannabe neighbour trouble or the suspicion of stool pigeon/ snitch/ flip rises or even just if someone too much interested. Basicaly they use Heviz that as a holiday spot / recreational site - not for business.

@ sjbabi

My husband only speaks english. Heviz seems to be an area  were people seem to be offended by that

      Around here, couple of years ago, a kid killed his sibling by setting fire to the house.  He was obsessed with fires and had tried to burn his house down before.   And yet another kid about 12 died when the house burnt down a few weeks ago. Everyone else escaped.  No smoke alarms.    -@fluffy2560

After the Grenfell Tower fire, I kitted out the whole house with fire alarms. I think I only had 1 before that. But because of the size of the house I got an extra 5 in a multi pack.
   

    -@SimCityAT

Don't forget the CO (Carbon Monoxide) alarms as well.   If you've got gas anything or a wood burner, it's vital.

    @ sjbabi My husband only speaks english. Heviz seems to be an area  were people seem to be offended by that        -@angelarobbins

If something happened to you, he would be alone.   

I'm in the same position. I don't speak Hungarian to any degree.  My other language is German which is sometimes workable if English doesn't work. 

But I'd have to rely on my kids to help if Mrs F was no longer around. 

That assumes of course they haven't left the country given the horrible politics.

I think probably - if I was completely alone/just me and the dog+cat -  I'd probably have to leave the country and go back to the UK.

    @ sjbabi
My husband only speaks english. Heviz seems to be an area  were people seem to be offended by that
   

    -@angelarobbins

In that habitat it would be useful to learn some Russian or Serbian as well (yeah and understand some Hungarian after all that is in theory the official language here).

Off course they are less than pleased with anglo-saxon native origins - it is history includes recent.

But that can be changed after knowing each other.

@angelarobbins I do not understand, we speak only English, German and Dutch, my wife also Russian. OK rip off on foreigeners, but they (Hungarians) do not seem to be offended at all (good tips will get you around, choose your suppliers (loyaltiy both ways and far as neighbours are concerned it also goes both ways).

I am curious to know why Englic=sh speakers are frowned upon (not my expierence at all, just friendly foreigners)

@angelarobbins USD 3 K for annual taxes for a property of only USD 100 K is far, far too high, more around USD 500 per year, of course gas and electricity is a different story, where do your get your info from?

@angelarobbins Where you get your info from? Please look at another post, if is about people and of course foreigners are ripped off (as everywhere), I have no experiences like that. OK I am ugly and we had (a fenced in)  protective dog, and another negative we had enough cash for shopping, alcohol and smoking . Jealousy is normal and people speak, but it is not about English.

Hungarians in our village hated Hungarians from Budapest (buying holiday houses, shopping in local supermarkets)

Sorry Angela I strongly disagree with your assesment, we had good neighbourly connections with Hungarians and expats alike and us speaking different languaguages no issue. They bring Apricots, we bring strawberries and apples etc. Very sometimes invite them to a restaurant and talk (with interpreter).

Easy does it.

I joined a chessclub ( I am not too bad) and local Hungarians welcomed us with open arms. (festivities, restaurants, ....). One of our neighbours was/is very active in a choir (good by the way), but also open arms.

I am sure that there are also knitting, gardeners etc clubs. Just join and contribute (I do not thing English is not a problem, they have google chrome and hand languaguage can go far (in any case for me).

By the way a budget if only USD 100.000 K for an American speaking about retirement/care homes seem to be small.

What are your annual budget to spend annually. Having said that local retirees have a VERY, VERY  limited budget, you have been informed apparently on USD 3 K annual taxes (that equals for many the annual income), please get your info straight.

Yes I am bullying again, but also honest feedback.

@angelarobbins Not hard at all, but I think also applies to the rest of Hungary, be good, bring your money and your social skills.

@angelarobbins What are you bringing? A property of USD 100 K is something I suppose even if I have to say for a US citizen it is limited. OK you are a bit old for the labor market, but can you do something for free  (to start) in hospitals etc. Where I am surprised you are posts indicate lavish life, but only USD 100 K budget and local taxes to be misinformed (in my view).

Inglatan is fine around Hungary.

We bought our property 9 years ago and it was fine, the only thing we said we are fine with price, but when we come we want it to be fully fenced and agreed with neighbours, (it was agreed and finished)) christof001 on youtube

$100,000 USD in Budapest will buy you around a 50 sq. foot flat in several districts, probably not in the 5th which tends to be more expensive.

Age of the building, having a lift or not, what floor you buy on and if the flat faces the yard or not.

Refurbished flats cost more too. Then again if it's ground floor and facing the yard, newer repairs aren't going to help much. Long dark winters with no sunlight isn't great.

Flats that face the yard and are ground floor are cheaper but are usually damp and dark.

Outside Budapest you will get more for your money.

Different districts have differnt prices per sq. meter of living space.

The more far out usually the cheaper unless it's a new building.

Hevis is a  pricery area, anywhere near the lake will be .

Real estate is sort of slow right now, it's a buyers market.

The down side t buying a century old flat is often the rooms are set up in strange configurations.

Most were large flats that were chopping up in post WW2 .

Many have odd shaped rooms or a large wide hallway that is mostly useless as a bedroom or sitting room.

Takes allot of looking to find a place.

One more thing I should metion,  Usually the smaller a flat is the more it costs per sq.meter.

Larger isn't always better with flats at least.

No idea why but over the many years we've watched real estate prices it seems the best selling size is around 50 sq. meters, not too large for 2 people and not to small.

Larger flat seem to take longer to sell and cost more to heat and cool.

Our friend inherited a beautiful 110 sq, meter flat in the 5th district.

He closed off one large room to save on heating and cooling. He actually spent most of his time sitting in kitchen reading a book under a small light.

It was too much flat for one person.

    Have a read of this > How to buy a property in Hungary by the steps and what nuances to consider-@SimCityAT

Good info BUT in our experience with me being from the 3rd country ( USA) my husband owning a flat in Hungary didn't help my immigration go more smoothly.

Perhaps if the property was also in my name it might of helped a bit? Not sure.

        Have a read of this > How to buy a property in Hungary by the steps and what nuances to consider-@SimCityAT

Good info BUT in our experience with me being from the 3rd country ( USA) my husband owning a flat in Hungary didn't help my immigration go more smoothly.
Perhaps if the property was also in my name it might of helped a bit? Not sure.
   

    -@Marilyn Tassy

Being an EU citizen worked well for me. It just said in our purchase contract I didn't need a permit and Mrs F obviously didn't need one as a HU citizen.  Wasn't applied for as not needed.

For UK people, as a 3CN (3rd country national) now post-Brexit, it would be different.   We'd have to get that permission up front but unlikely it would be withheld if not in some protected area or national park or farming area etc.

Just another bureaucratic hurdle to mess you up.

We spent allot of time in the year 2000 around Szekesfervar.

We rented a villa( some large 2 story weekend house) near lake Velence.

My husbands old childhood friend is well known in Velence and has a nice house just across from the villa we rented.

We looked around Velence for a purchase but off season it's pretty much like a ghost town.

We looked at one or two places in Szekesfervar too.

I liked the place, reminded me a bit of where i grew up, not sure why but it has a small town feel.

At that time it was a bit cheaper then Budapest too. I've heard though that prices there are now as much or close to those in Budapest.

What's nice is that it's close to both lakes, Velence and Balaton .

The bus service there is fine too. Buses don't seem to run as often as in Budapest but they do come within a reasonable time.

We only bused around there once.

Everyone drives there so you'd probably want a car.

Off topic but years back when I was a games dealer in Las Vegas, I worked with 3 Hungarians on my shift. One young guy was from Szekesfervar.

He should of been a stand up comedian, not a games dealer.

Smart ,funny guy who always got the better of the palyers just by twisting their words etc.

He had me laughing most of the day when he was on a table next to me.

They had to move him to the back tables because he was always getting the players angry at him.

At the time I had no idea where Szekesfervar was or anything about it.

@cdw057

How do I live a lavished life ? We are limited in our income and dont want to spend our money on a property only.We are looking for an apartment not a house

    @cdw057How do I live a lavished life ? We are limited in our income and dont want to spend our money on a property only.We are looking for an apartment not a house        -@angelarobbins

To start you off, I searched for you here.  You can take it from there and search for your needs/wants.  Some of those places listed are panel houses (not good, communist bodging/kontars builders, often without an elevator) but some a newer builds (also potential bodging/kontars builders but with elevator).   It's a drag climbing the steps with shopping bags and if mobility is not as good as it was, it's good to have the option of an elevator.

Apparently house prices have doubled around Balaton, so if Heviz etc is of interest, you might find it to be  a bit of a premium.  We go to Balaton multiple times a year so we see what is going on. There's a lot of over development going on around the middle of the lake around Tihany/Szántód.   It's supposed to be a national park but that's not stopping Orban's cronies from building luxury apartments for all their best friends.  That means there's pressure on local services and it will probably pollute the lake even more.   Around  Balaton, it's dead in the winter - season runs from about late May (as weather improves) until early September (when schools go back).  So certainly it will be quiet  for more than half the year.