Welcome all,
I thought I?d share my views with you on Budapest Property, and its purchasing issues. A few years ago, I purchased an apartment in the city centre of Budapest, but I had many issues with estate agents. I went through 4 different agencies before I realized that I was actually not getting any service for the commission that was required. My advice can be summed up in the following points:

1. If you are buying off plan, check what the resale price of the older properties in that area are. You may find that the prices quoted to you for new builds are anything up to 200% of a similar older property. This is due to the fact that these new builds are generally not even advertised in Hungary and are hugely overpriced.

2. Be wary or just avoiding guaranteed rental schemes. The rent for these 2 years or so are usually included in your sale price which costs you more to rent your own property. This becomes an issue when the scheme comes to an end and you find that the market rental value is 50% of what you were getting. This may not cover your overseas mortgage.

3. Hungarians have different tastes and standards than you so don't feel the need to upgrade your property to a London loft interior design extravaganza. You will not get any more rent, and the costs are prohibitive. If you find the right agent, they should be able to advise you on what is required.

4. Ensure that your management agency understand your wishes and put them in writing. I had a number of issues where they were fixing problems a number of times (on commission naturally) instead of informing me so that I could replace the offending article. This has cost me my first 2 years profit margins, be careful, and make sure you use the right person. I can advise further if required.
5. When a developer advertises city centre properties, make sure it is in the city centre. City centre districts are:- 1, 2, 5, 6, and parts of 7 and 9. Anything outside these areas are not!!!!

Hope this helps....
Thanks

all very good points , another one i would like to add is that right now , property cannot be given away in budapest , the economy is on its backside and many irish investors including muggins here deeply regret ever going near the place , the only thing driving property prices in budapest were irish people who trying to keep up with the jones , bought an overseas property with money borrowed off the back of there own house which they assumed would continue to appreciate indeffinatley
well we know what happend there so there are now zero reasons for property in hungary to rise ,contarry to popular belief , they wont joint the euro currency for nearly another decade
avoid like the plague

i aggree that in the past few years the market has been terrible but independent reports show{i dont believe a word out of an auctioneers mouth anymore}that the goverment has the budget deficet under control,so they expect things to pick up in 09 and about time but who knows lets see

for the past 3 years in budapest you would have been better investing in an igloo in the sahara with overpriced property and rip off management fees ????

I also invested in Budapest and to date my experience has been quite positive. I agree that charges by management companies are expensive. I have recently begun to have problems with the company I use after 2 years of trouble free renting, such as rent not been transferred, emails answered without the questions posed been answered or just completely ignored. Phone calls are answered but much the same thing a different story each time. Has anyone found a good management company? I am traveling over next week to try and resolve the situation and would like the reassurance of knowing the name of another company to turn to. ThaNks for the help in advance.

Can I ask why Irish investors in particular? were they selling Budapest heavily in Ireland or something?

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I am an investor too, but rather than putting my flat up for rent, I want to sell it. Does anyone know what the best way to advertise it is? As forbes_500 points out, I would like to know that I am following the right steps.
Thank you all for your help.

I am a the moment in Budapest to meet with current management company and after a new company that has been recommended to me by the Irish company that I bought the apartments from. It was set up as a direct result of the bad experiences their clients were having and run by 2 ex employees of theirs. I dealt with both these people during the sale and found them both reliable and professional. As a result of their involvement with the selling company they would be well rehearsed in the selling process. I am not sure if this new company sells as well but if it does then I can recommend it. I will ask what their position is and get back to you.

Hi forbes_500,
It would be great if you could do that, thanks.
Good luck with your new dealings.
Best regards.

Unfortunately what I found lying in wait was disappointing. The current management company has let me down badly. The up shot is the new company I spoke to seemed to be reliable, knew of the difficulties people were having and have set themselves up well. The problem now will be moving over without grief! The company are not involved in selling but like everywhere at the moment they are of the opinion selling now would be mad. The amount of properties on the market would make it very frustrating for anybody selling.

Good luck with whatever you decide but I think like management companies it'll be difficult to find reliability. Choose wisely go out and visit with them ask around get recommendations.

Regards

Forbes