Hi all, new to this forum, seems excelllent source of all things useful. I have the opportunity of buying a two bedroomed apartment, only 5 mins from the King Tut hotel in North Hurghada, 10 mins from beach. Its about 90 sq mts and has just been finished. An Egyptian friend bought it but has to sell unexpectedly. Its in a really nice block with only 12 apartments in all, in a good location. He is asking £16000. I personally think its a 'snip' and there is already a Swiss woman and a British guy have already bought and moved in...so common sense says it must be ok. Opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Lynne

The price is good and probably about right for a residential unit in Hurghada. You can pay more, depending on the facilities you want. Does it have a pool? Is it a gated community? etc etc If you have done your research on the area and you are happy then it is a good buy....I am sure that you have read on this forum the discussions about title? You should be certain that you have a proper receipt and it would be worth getting the paperwork checked by a lawyer. It could be an issue if you ever want to sell it...

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Hi Lynne
My Egyptian partner lives close to the King Tut (I've just returned from Hurghada), and in my opinion this is a mainly a local Egyptian residential area, not a genuine tourist area. It is just down the road from the Arabia district which is becoming one of the new "IN" places (maybe in about 12 months time). So location is not comparable. This is expensive for an Egyptian apartment, probably without air conditioning, no pool or garden, or lift, or security, or proper kitchen units.
The build quality has to be suspect since the standard accepted by Egyptians is way below what you will find for properties targeting Europeans.
Buildings only 4 years old in this area are already showing signs of damp and other problems (the sea water salt gets into the walls due to poor damp proofing at ground level, not something the Egyptian bother about).
Also more than likely that your friend will make excuses when asked about giving you a copy of his land registration (since it may not exist, or it will still be in the name of the original owner rather than your friend).

Assuming my notes above are correct then £16000 for an Egyptian apartment is NOT good value. The price to an Egyptian would be more like £8,000 to £10,000. I would be suspicious of the reason for sale. Most likely the money is need to finance another "project" of a similar nature and is a "marketing" strategy.
A similar size apartment in the Tourist development in the district of Arabia (about 1/2 kilometre away), with pool, a/c, garden etc, would cost at least £28,000, therefore if you can assure yourself about the potential issues above it could be a good deal, but I doubt it.
If you get a copy of the Land deed you'll need an independent transalation, and the full name and ID number of your friend so that you can check that he is the owner.

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hi lynne, i think i no the building you are talking about, stuart an english guy lives their, the price is alittle bit over the top but depending on how you want to live and how adventurous you are, egyptians as neighbours are very hard to live with. i dealt with blue horizon homes ltd who found me a lovely 2 bedroom apartment on mubarak 2 for 170,000le which is mainly a foreign area. they also furnished it for me, they really looked after me well. dave's resort next to the arabia is also good

Hi

Did you buy or not - it would be nice to know for the benefit of the forum.

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Hi, I posted, on an earlier occasion about whether or not £16000 was a good price for a 2 bedroomed apartment in Hurghada.

I had various responses from 'yes go for it' to no it will probably fall down as no damp course and its probably worth only 10K. My Egyptian partner has a flat being build now, about 65sq metres in not such a good area,,he has just had an offer of £12000 and its not even finished. The flat i am buying is over 92 sq metres and local agent has just valued it at £24000 already...so think i have a good deal all in all.

Thanks to everyone here who added their own thoughts. I am in Hurghada now looking for furniture..when i find any good leads..will post them

Lynne

Hi Lynne - hopefully you still have access to the internet and was wondering how things are going for you. Maybe you could make a post in the furniture thread with regards to prices and maybe post some pics??

Regards
Alison

hello Lynne, good for you! How is the shopping for furniture going?? I am really interested in where (which shops) you are getting youre furniture.

Regard Manon from Leo en Manon