Whilst this varation on the thread is not totally relevant I think it is worth a few more posts.

On the positive side, myself and my wife are "taken" by Egypt, otherwise we would never have considered even for a 2nd visit, let alone starting a major business. We now have many very good Egyptian friends (Christians by the way). My partner is Egyptian and has never given me any reason to doubt his honesty. My main message is, that even after everything that I'm relating in the forum I STILL believe it's a great place to be.

However what has concerned me, is that no body will write anything down, and this includes lawyers, accounts, the local council, etc. It is just so different to the "norm" in the UK that it makes you feel very apprehensive about dealing with such people, and yes the same is true for some deals in the UK, but it is not the "norm". Another very obvious fact is that when I ask for a price it is often twice the price that is quoted if my partner is asking the same thing - this has been proven many times, and I beleive that this deliberate over pricing to non-Egyptians, what we call "fleecing".

My general advice still is: dealing ONLY with any foreign companies is not a good idea. You must have an English element to the arrangement somewhere in the process that you can rely on, ideally the one that you are signing contracts with. Agents have a role in making the "market" available to potential owners but I would not "rely" on them for much more. Always make personal contact with the developer direct, do NOT work only through the agent. Agents will always paint the "best possible picture" of everything, sometimes through ignorance, sometimes deliberately, sometimes by mistake etc. At the very least they delay things since they are always in the middle and are afraid that they will not get their commission if you are allowed any direct contact with the developer. Agents can provide lots of extra help if you cannot be bothered to do things for yourself and that is often very worthwhile, but it is always a serious extra cost.

Like most things it's a trade off between best value through the DIY approach, and your time.

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