BODGE71

TanyaN - P.S. what is the new sports centre like in Igalo? saw it last September when it was supposed to be near completion - looks great from the outside.

collectorsinfo

Hi,

Thanks for the link. I will give them a try.

Chris.

steve9937

Hi, i am thinking of buying a site out in a town beside Herceg Novi called Meljine, can anyone tell me what Meljine is like? Is there much development going on around that area?

I plan to go out there to view the site in late march/early april, is there much happenin in Herceg Novi around this time?

BODGE71

House or business? holiday home or investment?

Hi Steve. it's a relatively small place but it's picturesque and quieter than Herceg Novi in the peak season. it's situated on a very picturesque part of the coast. Plenty of local amenities - supermarket,pharmacist,shops, etc. have you already seen a site of interest or are you looking in general. reason i ask is that i know of a derelict building in Meljine which is on the seafront in a quiet spot. it's a large building so i expect it'll fetch a large price. if you are interested i'll describe as best as i can where it is situated.

Meljine - it doesn't look too busy - i walk through Meljine everyday when i'm in Monty. There is some building work going on but it tends to be confined to the seafront or just behind it.

I don't think much is going on in March/April but you should have some nice weather at that time of year.

steve9937

Thanx for the reply Bodge!

I am thinking of developing apartments on the site. Is there many new apartment developments being built around that area? What is the infrastructure like? Is it a prosperous place?

Ive heard that it is a beutiful place, but what is the night life like in Herceg Novi during march/april?

More importantly-what are the local people like in montenegro?

BODGE71

You should have no problems building apartments there. there are some flats/houses being built on the seafront but no apartments spring to mind. here is an idea of the type of buildings being constructed at the moment and some pictures of the seafront http://www.energovg.co.yu/savina/2.html . it shows the plans for some apartments and houses being built by Serbia's largest building company. you'll have no problem getting connected to electricity,water and telephone (broadband upto 2Mb).as for gas, i don't think it's widely used down there (i may be wrong so you'll have to check that). is it a prosperous place? - No, in a nutshell, but it's not dirt poor either. it's not as nice as Croatia i.e. Dubrovnik, but it's much cheaper at the moment and money is slowly but surely trickling in. more and more developments on the coast every time i visit. As an aside, further down the coast a rich Canadian businessman has bought a former shipyard in Tivat which he plans to convert into a luxury marina development $500 million worth, and Abramovich has property there as well.

it is a beautiful place but there won't be a huge amount of nightlife during march april (like anywhere else in the med). it's heaving in June/July/August - big music festival which lasts for 4 or 5 days every summer.

People are friendly enough but you need to be carfeul as a foreigner. some try to take the piss - they think we are just dripping with money, not helped by the fact that the russians just pay what they ask, no questions asked. if you get an architect on the coast, it'll be pretty expensive e.g am currently in the process of getting a house built in Igalo (the other side of Herceg Novi compared to Meljine - next to the Croatian border). preliminary plans cost £600 - for a few drawings of the building from a few angles and the floorplans. that's expensive to me (partly my fault for not thinking about what i was doing). i still have to submit detailed plans for final planning consent. same architect quoted £2000, this is for a 330m, 3 storey house. am considering finding another architect. if you want to know more about the building situation just drop me a line.

steve9937

Thanx for the info Bodge, it was very useful!

davieh

I'm going to be visiting Montenegro in April, this time because I'm seriously considering buying a holiday home. I'm hopefully going to try renting it out as well as for use by my family. I visited several places along the coast during a two week trip last spring and thought it was just beautiful. I was wondering whether anyone is living or has a holiday home near Sutomore or Bar for some advice on agents etc. Thanks.

BODGE71

hiya davieh.

my land is some distance away from where you are - opposite ends of the country. any agents will be based in the town centre, but my advice would be to speak to the locals - literally anybody you come into contact with and ask them if they know somebody with land they want to sell. this is how i found my land. even better, go to an area you really like, then ask the locals living in the area if they know anybody who has land for sale. i doubt you'll have any problems finding land there as it's off the radar for most western investors (apologies if you're not a westerner) at the moment, with budva and herceg novi being the areas of focus. the area wouldn't be my first area of choice but each to their own i suppose - property/land should be pretty cheap down there so don't take any rubbish from the locals. the person to ask about agents would be TanyaN as she's living in monty, but she's living near to where my land is so i don't know if she can help you, but you can ask. how are you getting there? flying or driving?

davieh

Hi Bodge71,

Thanks for your advice as regards looking for property but, being a foreigner in Montenegro, I think I'd feel more secure buying through an agent. I have noticed that there are a few in Bar and along the coast. I was really just wondering whether any Brits (or other nationalities of course) have had any experiences with any of them.

I did notice too that there are two or three agents that have English staff (Monteprop and Montestates) They did have properties further south in the areas I'm looking, but they seemed to be more expensive than other local agents (or charge higher commision - Monteprop charges 4.5% from the buyer - this seems a little steep to me ?! Perhaps they give better service for this. Anyone had any experiences with these ?

I guess not too many people have bought much outside of the Boka Kotorska.
I must admit, it is absolutely breathtaking. The main reason I've been looking further south is the property prices are more likely to be within my budget (they are probably around half price compared to Herceg Novi, Kotor, Sveti Stefan etc. etc.) Anyway, apart from the property prices, for me, I'd be very happy with a property (probably a house with small garden) in this area. I like it for a number of reasons:

- good road links to Croatia and Boka Kotorska via the sea highway (and toll ferry)
- good links with Podgorica via new toll road
- sea crossing Bar -> Bari (then Ryanair to UK)
- nice sandy beaches (Canj near Petrovac looks good)
- possibility of some sort of return at some point should I ever want to sell up.

I'll probably find it's swamped with local tourists during the summer !

Does anyone have any ideas or contacts to companies or people that would provide some form of property management, holiday change-over cleaning etc and an idea of how much I should expect to budget for this ?

My family and will be flying into Dubrovnik this time then renting a car. We got a really good deal with British Airways, but we booked back in September when they have their annual sale. We paid 350 pounds for 4 return flights. It's worth booking in the Autumn sale if you know your itinery ! That said, if I bring the family over in the summer, I'd love to fly to Bari in Italy with Ryanair then take the ferry to Bar and a hire car from there.

As regards hire cars from Dubrovnik, last time, I rented through Auto Europ but this time I'm going with EconomyCarHire - apparently all excesses are included in the price - you just pay about 6 euro extra per day for insurance to take the car to Bosnia/Montenegro and/or Serbia. (All arranged through www.moneysupermarket.com) I'll let you all know how I get on with them if anyone's interested. Any way thanks once again. Dave

BODGE71

sorry i couldn't help you with the property.

as for flights and car hire, i fly with croatia airlines - cheap and good service. i hire my cars through europcar. i've found them to be the cheapest by far. if you do use them, book the car hire in the UK to collect at dubrovnik airport. it's roughly 30% cheaper booking in the UK than in Croatia.

good luck property hunting.

davieh

Hi. Just to let you all know that I have ended up buying an old stone property (well 4 walls and a roof actually !) It's in a village overlooking Bar and the view of the coast is breathtaking. It's about about half way to Lake Skadar. I am now trying to sort out the rebuilding !
Best of luck everyone. Dave

BODGE71

Congratulations.

Sounds like you're in a nice spot, but you are some distance away from me. How did you find the property?

make sure you find a competent builder, especially as you are renovating a stone house. do you plan to keep it as a holiday home or are you planning to rent it out or have you got other plans for it?

you'd best get to work fairly soon on it as the exchange rate seems to be going against us and i hear that tradesmen rates are beginning to climb now that it's getting busier.

good luck with it. let me know how you get on with it.

magicpixi

I will be visitng soon am looking forward to it.I went there as a small child it as far as ai can remember was a stunning place.........good luck to all who go.

BODGE71

where are you going? coast or inland?