BEVS

I agree, so I have copied both yours and Peter_In_Hungary's posts into a thread of their own and stickied it to the top of the forum.

If anyone else has any general guides & info along the same lines, contact me.

Thanks
BEVS

TerryandBrigi

Back on topic..........I found it very straight forward.
Could just have been lucky ! Believe it was more about knowing what i wanted and bought it.
Every region has its own merits and attributes and really is a matter finding your "fit".
Dont be too put off, everyone and everything here is not out to get you !
Wont do any harm to be well prepared though, thats why you, me and everyone else on BE is here.
Terry

Rural Hungary

Slightly OT for a sec. So as not to appear a complete naysayer, just want to point out that I know who the OP is viewing with and Polly's post with the article is spot on in this regard, sometimes there are reasons to give a warning.

Pollypaprika

Good idea, thank

Pollypaprika

Thank you Rural.

I just don't want people making the same mistakes we did. In fact, they were not mistakes as such, but we were right royally conned. We paid double the amount we should have done. The article addresses issues that people need to think about when being sold 'The Hungarian Dream'.

In hindsight, I would not have moved to Hungary unless I had these 3 things:

1 Married to a Hungarian or had a Hungarian family already living here. A native support network is crucial.
2 Could speak the language.
3 Had a steady income (i.e. such as a pension) or a healthy bank account.

In my opinion all 3 would be the perfect situation. Of course, I am not referring to Budapest living here, I mean in other parts of the country. Budapest living is much the same as any other city living imho.

A few of us do prosper here without the above 3 key points, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

scrubbedexpat0105

Yup, great article.

My feeling is also that the state of the UK housing market and the hype about the UK being overcrowded mean that some Brits are unable to grasp the concept, scale and implications of rural depopulation that Hungary is suffering and will continue to suffer in the medium term.

(Slightly OT here too, but on the upside, Hungarian rural depopulation is so devastating that I simply cannot envisage the country throwing the expat community out in the event of a Brexit/Huxit. The government would be mad to do so.)

fidobsa

I accept that rural depopulation has taken place but would not describe it as "devastating". People still seem to have access to infrastructure like emergency services, doctors, dentists, schools etc. I dare say some children have further to travel to school but I don't suppose many have to go to boarding school, as has happened with some remote Scottish communities when they experienced depopulation.

scrubbedexpat0105

Fidobsa, I have a property in Hungary myself and so have no interest in making the situation look worse than it is. I'm happy to be proved wrong.

I'm not talking about the region around the lake, which isn't typical.

I'd be interested to hear others' views on this.

angolmagyar

I found the same as you. Its care research and preparation.

sowise

I live in a forest just outside Gyor, ( postcode 9073 ) and I can recommend this as an excellent location as I'm by the main Vienna/Budapest/Bratislava motorway and from there all three cities are accessible by car in an hour/hour and half. Great thermal baths and hugely varied expat community because of the university and enormous audi/mercedes factories which have brought in great infrastructure, alternative energy resources and growth for projects. I live on an international bicycle path and so I get people stopping by every day if I open my gate which I personally really like and am thinking of opening an impromptu restaurant for fun and it might even make some money Although Gyor is one of the most expensive cities in Hungary, rural prices are still much much cheaper and if you like culture as well as nature then I'm happy to show you round this area when you are here. We'll be here in July through August. I'm having a ball and the fact that I'm learning Hungarian even gets the police kindly disposed when i'm turning down bus only lanes, so it's a lovely place to live when you can really begin to communicate with people. I would say that it's not a place to make money, it's a place to be happy. It's very important to have a small but sustained income coming in from the UK, Hungary is not a place to run out of money in unless you are self sufficient good luck

angolmagyar

Hi. Though I live in a mountain village some distance away I can identify with how you are feeling in that area of Hungary.
I have had many stays in Gyor while on rout driving to and returning from uk
and Gyor its self is a wonderful place to visit and I could live thr myself. I do have friends living in Gyor and they to love the area. Particularly the older part / real Gyor with its many shops, Bars, restaurants, galleries etc..

angolmagyar

I live in a mountain village with a campsite, 2 shops, Spa'... 2 bars a restaurant and stunning surroundings. 5 mins drive to a larger town with more options and only 20 mins drive to a small city thats more like a UK large town.
All the mentioned are tourist visited and is the reason we chose our village.
We always wanted a village and looked at many and decided that initially our friends base would be ltd and though so nice and inviting with its peacefulness once we were settled we would be very board with this day in and day out...so.
We chose a wonderful little tourist village as mentioned above with the thinking that at least during the summer moths we would see an odd new face and returning new faces of holiday home owners living away from the village and we found this to be the correct decision as we are never bored in the bar with just the local faces and interact with the other visitors and holiday home owners and when the season is over we are left with only the occasional out of season tourist that are usually skiers, Ramblers or pop over to use the wonderful spa'. But my meaning is we get to live in this amazing national forest / country park without boredom and still have access to a small city life if we like. Good luck with your searches. I didnt use agents when looking to buy, however I speak the language and thus went door knocking and responding to Elado signs in windows. We have been involved in buying 4 properties this way with little to no fuss and exchange of contracts within the same week. No builders issues either. And have used modern techniques on old properties, can be done if done correctly.

sowise

Hello angolmagyar, that's really nice to hear. Do come and visit us in July and we'll pop over to you sometime as well the skiing sounds interesting in winter ! Have you tried it ? We've got a fantastic riding centre near us, which means I have somewhere safe to leave a horse if I go away for a while so I think horse rescue is next on the agenda. Also I wanted to mention to anyone here, that I have about 15 huge kennels about 20sqms each and a totally fenced garden, so if anyone needs to have a dog or cat looked after while they go away we could arrange that, the cats would live in the house with us and so could the dog if it was alone at the time , if not then kennel at night and garden and house in the day !

angolmagyar

Sounds brill. Will have sort summat out sometime.
I have not tried the skiing as its not for me. The slopes here are though profesional with ski-lifts etc the slopes professional or beginner are short for the seasoned skier but they are still patronised well but never over crowded.
google Kékesteto or Kékes or even skiing on Kékes.

sowise

Hooray! How long a drive from Gyor do you think ? I'll goggle google for Kekesteto sounds perfect for me and my daughter .