House market

I can see power lines in the background.  Does it have mains water, electricity, gas and sewage? Utilities are a killer for this stuff.   

I generally think it's better to knock it down unless it's going to be a long term labour of love.  No romance in old HU buildings. Mud built, riddled with damp and woodworm and very far away from anywhere at all. 

Summers only!

fluffy2560 wrote:

I can see power lines in the background.  Does it have mains water, electricity, gas and sewage? Utilities are a killer for this stuff.   

I generally think it's better to knock it down unless it's going to be a long term labour of love.  No romance in old HU buildings. Mud built, riddled with damp and woodworm and very far away from anywhere at all. 

Summers only!

It would be good to know the amount of land that's included?

SimCityAT wrote:

Farmhouse in Hungary for sale! 180 km from the Austrian border! (33 km south of lake BalatoL) Price Only €6300

Nothing special. Lots of houses like that for about that price in the countryside in Hungary.  Being 33 KM from Lake Balaton is actually pretty far. Especially if the roads are bad (and many here are still). Might take quite a while to drive to the lake.

SimCityAT wrote:

(needs to be heavily renovated as in poor condition

Basically the definition of all old houses here.

SimCityAT wrote:

but great location

They all say that. So, probably not. Means nothing. Being in nature is great. But there are also practical issues to consider. For example, what is the name of the village where it is located? This would be most helpful. If not listed, then it is probably really not near any large town where one can shop for basic services, and that is not good.

SimCityAT wrote:

Whould this be an investment as a long term project??

Not an investment.

You can hire others to "fix it up" for you, so need not be a longer term project to renovate.

But keeping it up, will be a life time project. For example, you have to mow the grass in the summer every two weeks else it gets out of control. And if you do not heat all winter (preferably with wood as the chimney helps move moisture out of these mud houses), then you will have damp and mold issues that will never go away.

"needs to be heavily renovated"

You mean rebuilt? 30km S from Balaton, that's Somogy county, high level of rom infestation, yeah, great location. Sorry, couldn't hold my sarcasm, it's always cute when foreigners find these little country gems and they go it's ONLY xxx! 

fluffy2560 wrote:

I can see power lines in the background.  Does it have mains water, electricity, gas and sewage? Utilities are a killer for this stuff.

There is almost no sewage in these "village" houses (most village house have a "barn" in the back -- that does not make them a "farmhouse" ). And if one renovates, then one usually has to put in a modern sewage treatment unit or septic tank. That will cost about the price of the house. I know. I did it.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Summers only!

One can live there. In fact, if one wants to homestead. I know a few expats around me that do this. I live full time in our old house, and manage quite a bit of vineyard land for example. I know anther that raises cattle and farms his land (and he is British by the way, but he has a lot of land to make it work fiscally). In fact, one should live there in that sort of house. As I mentioned above, if not heating in the winter, damp will be a problem. There are polymers one can inject into the walls to help reduce damp issues, so there is no need to tear down the building. But, there are limits to what that treatment can do if the house is not actively lived in.

Ach, it's the same "romanticised" BS type country house that HU real estate agents want to sell to a foreigner with more money than sense.  Looks to me like a money pit.    I think it doesn't have foundations either.  Looks like the tiles are laid on the dirt floor.  Photos give a suggestion it's sliding down the hill too!

Mrs Fluffy's family has got an old shared place down near Balaton, 100m from the lake,  and no-one goes there during winter. I doubt anyone has been there since about September 2017.  We have regular discussions if we should do something to fix it or knock it down! I favour just starting again and getting in wrecking ball. 

Overall, because of the shared ownership (in our case) and likely disputes, I think it'd be easier just get 3 or 4 very clean 20ft used shipping containers, stick them on a concrete foundation (2 x 2), shove in some pre-existing water, sewage and power and convert them into living space!  People are doing that with used shipping containers the world over these days.

If the land was closer to Balaton (like <0.5km) then it might be worth considering a renovation but I'd still knock it down.  Those kinds of places are just not that unique to try and save .

Hi, let my Hungarian husband have a look/see at these photos.
He also stated that it looks like a life long "project" house.
Almost like a home a  older couple may of lived in and just ran out of gas/money and energy to keep up.
A "mud house" which always needs a bit of attention.
Had a friend who's parents left him a mud style house with allot of outer buildings.
He lived in NY and skipped a few yearly visits over, he returned to find the outer buildings totally falling over.
Some of these farm houses are not worth more then the value of the land.
I know it is tempting, we have also seen a few "deals" on the internet.
Even so, think my money is better spent just renting something or other right there on the lake rather then investing is a bottomless pit of hassles.
Then again, if your handy,young and willing to work your self half the death,it could be "fun".
Sad to say most of the handymen that know what they are doing have already left Hungary and those who have stayed to "scam" people don't know how to nail a 2x4.
That is what my husband has said and I do take his words to heart.
The old time people who cared and had pride in their work is long gone, it's all about trying to get as much as possible of out some "sucker" without really doing much in return.
If you're not in love with the place, no one else will be either.
Actually these Tanya"s were built just for workers to be close to the new growth and to take a rest before getting up at dawn to work the land.
No ever meant to be a serious year long living home.
Only the dirt poor farmers lived there full time.
Most people lived and had a more serious home in the near by village.
Keep looking, there are still some deal out there but do not jump on the first one.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I think it'd be easier just get 3 or 4 very clean 20ft used shipping containers, stick them on a concrete foundation (2 x 2), shove in some pre-existing water, sewage and power and convert them into living space!  People are doing that with used shipping containers the world over these days.

In many places around the Balaton, building codes are quite limiting. Especially in or near the National Park. I could not even put on a metal roof when I re-roofed. And I had a limited number of colors I could pick for the tile (and I am several KM inland from the lake). I doubt a shipping container would be code compliant.

Of course people do all sorts of things here, that are not "allowed". But that is another can of worms.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

He also stated that it looks like a life long "project" house.

As a DIY project, indeed. One would probably be buried with a trowel in on hand and a paint brush in the other.

If one has the money (and you will need more than you first expect -- trust me), a full renovation could be done in a year or two. Total time would depend on scheduling of the (competent) workers (which is actually quite difficult) and how well one wanted to really renovate (i.e. it takes less time to slap on some new plaster, which will fall off in a decade unless one also properly deals with the wet wall issues which take much longer, and more money, to fix properly).

There are actually some houses near me that are under historical preservation. They must be renovated, can not be replaced. And I have seen them renovated. So it is doable. Can be expensive. But doable.

If one "wants" to do it or not is another issue. Some people like to restore or own old cars. Some like to own and renovate old houses. If one is not the renovation, or liking to own old things, type then probably not worth even looking at any of these old houses, anywhere, in any country.

Side note: I have helped to renovate old houses in more than one country -- in the US one was a 19th century Victorian. Those have their own set of different problems. So, yes, I am the renovating type. So one must consider my comments come from that perspective.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I know it is tempting, we have also seen a few "deals" on the internet.

IMHO, if it is on the Internet, it is not a deal in any way or form. Only shows that it is otherwise impossible to unload. A real deal would be snatched up by someone local a long time ago, and they already have been -- real absolute deals in Hungary are mostly in the past.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Sad to say most of the handymen that know what they are doing have already left Hungary and those who have stayed to "scam" people don't know how to nail a 2x4.

To be honest, when a foreigner drives up in their BMW, and does not know how, or want to be bothered, to hammer a nail into a 2x4, then I don't blame a local handyman charging them 1 Euro per nail, and then pounding in 10 nails when 2 will do.

I agree, handymen or any other worker from auto mechanic to dentist will try as hard as they can to make the most money off of a person they possibly can.
Not too different in the US either.
One thing my DIL tells me about Japan is how honest the people are overall.
I believe her, she was home just a couple years ago and nothing had so far changed in the regard.
All petrol is priced the same all over Japan be it in a small village or in Tokyo, auto mechanics do safety checks on cars but do not rip people off .
Said if you buy a used car there for say as little as $3,000 it will still be a car in good repair and not run into the ground.
People do not add hidden charges for things, everything is up front and the price stated is the price charged.
It's a issue of honor to be honest there.
It sounds like the culture in japan is refreshing in many ways.
I know my DIL is one of the most loyal and mild mannered people I have come across, except for perhaps other Japanese ladies I've also known.
After years of knowing my DIL, she finally told me she had taken 6 years of private piano lessons in Japan. Most western people would be bragging about having their first lesson.
Used to be overall that way in Hungary too but no longer.

It's true any real house deals are not usually online in English.
My husband often scans the internet in Hungarian for land , homes and apts. prices around Hungary.
Balaton is costly, about as much as living in Budapest, could trade in a flat for a little something at the lake.
Many years back we drove out near the Danube to a village to look at  a half finished home walking distance to the Danube.
Nice large piece of well kept land with a A frame house built and a sturdy bunker style cellar, The kitchen and bathroom still needed to be installed but the house was going for only $5,000.
It was tempting to buy but I know us, no way could we do the work ourselves, would take too long and not my thing to do. At the time we were not actually living in Hungary either and never really considered being here full time at all.
While we were in the village several people approached us to come look at their homes.
They were not even on the market but they told us they would be willing to sell out if we were interested.
Some were rather nice and already had a kitchen and bath inside.
We saw at least 4 more homes that day in the same area.
If you speak Hungarian then it a whole different ball game to buy here.
One family actually invited us into the home and their nice garden , they had some extra land to sell but had us over for hours,grandma brought out home made biscuits and wine and then insisted we pick cherries from their trees and take them home with us.
They were so nice that a month or so later we drove over to give them some gifts, candy, wine and flowers for granny.
The people who were selling the fixer upper had us over to their other home to look around in case we wanted to buy that place instead, it was more in the village proper then the second home was.
They were a older couple and the lady came down with a heart issue so they stopped working on their vacation home half way through building. If you speak Hungarian you can find these sorts of deals that are not even advertised.
Now I sort of wish we had just jumped in and bought that home, could of paid a local back then a fare wage and everyone would of been happy.