Some that I know and have friends facing these problems:

1. What are the most common ways to get ripped off under Romanian system?
- Two or three owners of the same land...
- Bad ownership papers…
- Incorrect evaluation of the value of that land… some banks can help here.
- Very risky… buying a piece of land in a place where real estate mafia have interests to buy for expanding their empire! This happens here, but mostly near by or within big cities of Romania.

2. What checks should I make sure I have covered before I sign a contract?
- Check all the above problems you could face here…
- Also, make sure that the public notary, or the lawyer, is not “team worker” with the seller… Most of them are ok, but as a wise investor you must do your research. A good public notary, attorney or consulting company can help a lot.
- Never deal with people offering any kind of “financial” or etc. services on the streets, and on the net, until you aren't sure who they are.

3. The agent said it would be easy to change land use from agriculture to buildable is this also true?
- Not really, it takes some big amount of paperwork and bureaucracy. And also some extra costs involved. Not easy to build a house on agricultural lands, but easier to build a barn and a temporary housing for the owner. In some areas it is also easy to build a cottage or cabin.

Teodor