I have a studio apartment in Bucharest (gasionera in the Romanian lingo). This apartment has been totally renovated to a modern standard and I have it presently rented. It consists of a separate kitchen with an enclosed balcony which overlooks a football field. The living/bedroom area is large and it has a separate entry and bathroom on level 1. The apartment is located close to the central Bucharest area in the Big Berceni locality with markets, metro and trolley bus service nearby. My problem is that I have arranged for someone to organise the rent for this property as I am not often in the country. As everyone understands you are vunerbale if you are not on the ground all the times in these places. The apartment is rented for 250 euros per month and I am suspicious that this might be too little. I will be going there shortly and I would appreciate any advice that you may have so that I can be a prepared on my trip. Thanks in anticipation!

Dear Greg

In relation to your property I would like to point out the following.


1. Big Berceni is not central Bucharest, however, I do agree this rent is a little low if the property has improvements as you say and we would price this area at 300-325 without seeing the property.

2. In relation to the importance of being on the ground or having someone on the ground that you can trust, we are at your disposal.

3. In relation to you believing that the agent may be getting more rent than he is telling you there are two possibilities.


a. He has rented it to a friend or a friend of a friend as a favour at this price.

b. He is pocketing the residue.



If this is the case and he is pocketing the residue it is easily checked by asking for a copy of a rental contract and then checking this same rental contract has in fact been registered in accordance with law. This is not a hard thing to do and it gives you clarity as unlike the UK & Ireland rental contracts must be registered with the fiscal authorities within 28 days or the landlord cannot enforce them.

Rental here is very secure for you the landlord so I do not see you having any problems.

If we can be of assistance to you feel free to contact us.

David Howe LLB. LLM

INVESTMENT ROMANIA - Investment in Romanaia, Property management, Due diligence, Renting in Romania

Dear David,

thank you for your advice. I will take it all on board. I know it may not appear to be a large amount of money but if I would like to invest further in the future I must have more confidence in my Romanian partner. I will leave it at this stage and perhaps we could talk further closer to my visit to Romania. I'm not sure when I will be going as I am very tied up here at the moment (in Australia) however I must make some effort later in the year. Probably when the weather is awful.

Greg

Berceni is the area where a guy killed a friend right in the front of the Mall some months ago. See the history here: Portretul robot al ucigasului din Berceni: ZIUA (romanian only).

Berceni is one of the worst areas in Bucharest, being much better however than Ferentari, which is a 'no country for old men' area. But speaking of civilized areas, Berceni has the worst prices / sqm in Bucharest and it is far away from the Bucharest's centre.

You really seem totally strange of your investment. Before asking the real estate agent about prices you should ask yourself if you ever knew what have you bought. But yes, a good agent should have been able to rent it on your behalf for 300 euros. However do not forget that there is a big crisis now in Romania and many agents are selling anything, anywhere, no matter how, just to make some few bucks. Maybe your agent didn't had enough time to wait until a 300 euros / month client appears.

Dear Mark

I know absolutely nothing about the property Greg has bought, but I do know from reading your post that you are a wealth of useless information. Bercenii is not that bad an area at all and it does have direct underground metro to the center and way supsses some of the stuff that has been sold in the likes of Colentina, Tunari and Pipera to name but a few which in my opinion have the worst prices in Bucharest.

As for the crisses you refer to I have no idea unless you speak of Oil hitting $146 a barrel or that energy prices increased 15% on 1 July which is slighly less than the global average.

As for the murder you speak off I note a man has been arrested for the murder of 2 French Students in London and in Dublin today RTE report a man has been arrested over the Darndale shooting.

Should London and Dublin be also avoided????????????????????


David Howe LLB. LLM.

INVESTMENT ROMANIA - Investment in Romanaia, Property management, Due diligence, Renting in Romania

Dear David,
Thank you for your support in this issue as I appreciate constructive criticism and advice. I know where this property is and have been to it a number of times. I have been to Romania a lot over the years and spent a lot of time there but not so much in recent years and this is why I have lost touch a little. I never felt in danger but as in all big cities there are always problems. I have just returned from Auckland NZ a very lovely city but there are distinct no go areas. I don't appreciate what I interpret as insults - for Mark's info I paid some years ago US$ 6,000 and a few thousand for renovations and I feel I am already in front. But this does not mean that I want the property to drift along not getting the market return that exists today. Mark's reply is typical of a lot of rubbish that you get about Romania - there seems to be a distinct prejudice against this country for what reason I don't know as I have seen a number of people interested only in spreading falsehoods for either their own material gain or for other reasons. Thank you David and Mark please do not enter into further discussions on this issue as I do not value your opinion.

Ok, there is no crisis in Romania. Stock exchange is down since January by 35.5 %, inflation is almost 2 digits (9.5% and still rising) and reports indicate that the real estate market is frozen, and at least for the old apartments prices are going down, but there is no crisis. Ok. Sorry to disturb you guys, this is my last message.

Sorry folks one more "useless" information and I really go: Bursa de Valori Bucuresti (click on English language button in upper-right corner to read this useless information in English) . This is the stock price evolution of Impact Developer & Contractor, the company behind a lot of development projects all around Romania.

I therefore gave you the benefit of the doubt and did not reply.

From November the DOW Jones is down over 4000 form 14000 to 10 Dow Jones Industrial Average Index Prices, Quotes, DJIA:INDU Charts & Dow Jones Industrial Average Index News and the FTSE down 30% FTSE 250 Index Prices, Quotes, FTSE:MCX Charts & FTSE 250 News,


Admittedly inflation is getting out of hand, but global food prices up on average of 75% accompanied by oil gas and steel nowhere is going to have attractive figures and you have given no consideration for agricultural export figures due in Autumn.

As for your reports indicating the market is frozen, if you look closely and do some research you will find paper rarely refuses ink and people will always write contradictory or conflicting reports.

Reality is the market in Romania stops in July and August, so if you can get the old apartments with prices going down you would be better advised to be buying these than wasting your time here. As for the developer you mention there are good and bad companies on every market and if you were an authority on this market you would be aware Impact are about to receive a savage windfall from the foreigners who bought Greenfields at prices beyong Impacts wildest dreams.

Now one last peice of information unless you are really gone, try to substantiate what you say before you try to get others to believe it. Just because there is an iceberg spotted it does not mean we have to follow the Titanic principle.

Mark,
here's hoping you are really gone but I sense you cannot control yourself. You need to have a bit of "courage" when you are investing and not be frightened off by every headline. If as is obvious in your case you have a distinctly superficial knowledge of what you profess to be knowledgeable about it is better to remain an observer. After all I will quote an old saying " that a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing."

Greg