Re: Looking to Move...
 

Wow what a great cake...I know where to come for my 50th!

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Thanks :D I think I'm now in the running for the top "after sales service" award;)

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Hi Windyridge1,

I am always pleased to hear when english ppl plan to move to Hungary:) The country has so much potential ,just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed! I am hungarian but my english partner says I am more british now :lol: after living in the UK for over 10 yrs ( the tea def.ly tastes here different:). We recently moved to Keszthely area, near Balaton & spas . He loves loves Hungary & thinks the life here now is like how it was 40-50 yrs ago in the UK. This may sound bad but believe me you will love it here! Just the weather alone is amazing, already 20c here today:D About to go outside sorting the garden in the sunshine.
So, when you look at the Balaton ( I know you prefer West) the map you will see that there is a motorway M7 starts from the capital running on the south part of the Balaton which takes you down to Croatia,also leads to Slovenia and from there can pop over to Austria easily. The reason I mention the motorway cos it is handy to have one near you. In the west part of Hungary there is none yet:thumbdown: but I am sure will be one day.....
Having said that Kormend just minutes away from the Austrian borders and there is a national park too and your nearest airport is in Graz. Bigger towns in the area Zalaegerszeg & Szombathely. Great position I would say.
When we were searching properties I mainly used ingatlan.com website which has properties from different agents & from the owners . Not sure if you speak any hungarian.... to submit your search select Elado( for sale) then Vas megye (county) and depending on what you want, a house (ház) or apartment (lakás) choose from drop down. Once you have the list click on whichever takes your fancy and you will see an orange box in the brief description which says térkép= map. When you klicked on that you will see where that property is located ( using Google is so easy to see how far places are) and also will see little orange numbers on the whole map area. From here its easy wherever you want to view houses just click on the desired location,select lakás or ház and it gives you a list of properties. My personal oppinion after having a quick peek you will find a nice looking place with a good size garden under 30k. Village properties should be freehold ( and cheaper), unless there is some strange agreement/contract etc ...in that case run:lol: Useful tip, foreigners are not allowed to buy vineyards with holiday house or any agriculture land. So, if the agent is showing you a nice looking house remotely with a view ask them whether its classified an inland building ( for instance row of houses) or a garden. If you are unsure all local council have classification of all properties,houses,lands in the villages/towns.

I really hope you find what you want here in Hungary:fingerscrossed: If you need any help or guidance get in touch. Best Wishes, AdiHUN

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Thanks Adi but this has all been covered in many previous threads. Also, the freehold/leasehold question has been put to bed a long time ago :cake:

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Hi,

Pleased to hear that your plan to move to Hungary:)
I am not aware of any green tax where I live ( nr Keszthely). RE the sewage to be connected to mains, you wouldn't be allowed to do that yourself only the utility companies. Villages slowly slowly join the mains but the locals actually were saying to me that costs much more monthly than calling a truck which used to take it away from the cesspool. Best,AdiHUN

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I wasn't aware there is a post police:lol:

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"Green tax" isn't literal and Polgardi was meaning putting in the pipework up to the mains - hence needing to know where it connects to the mains, this you can do yourself.

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Hello AdiHUN

Thanks for your reply. It's useful to get an overview on such things.

Ideally I'll find something already connected or with fully functioning sewage tank. I've been looking at properties that need quite a lot of renovation, so just have to decide if I'm up to the tasks or not!

Starting_Out

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Repetitive and lengthy threads can make it difficult for users to find the information they require. Most forums are the same but the usual term is moderator, not police.

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Windyridge1 - if you do set up a biker B&B do let me know. Although I'm not one myself, I know plenty of people who are and it could be really interesting having this kind of B&B in the area.

It's looking likely that I will buy somewhere in the national forest - I just love the area so much!

Now I have to address the practicalities of continuing to earn a living and where I should be 'resident' (6 months UK/Hungary maybe?), but that's another story...

Let us know how you get on.

Bests

Starting_Out

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Hello, Just to clarify...what I meant was that you can dig the ditch yourself to be able to connect to the mains. In our town there is no longer an option to have a cess pit, and in fact by doing so you get charged 10 times the amount you would have done previously (green tax). So in my case, having the 'szennyvízszippantást' come and collect is no longer a viable option. I know this from experience, having just paid a huge bill because I did not read a utility letter properly :eek: (oh and also by being told by rip off merchants who sold us the property that we were connected in the first place)

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Polgardi

I'm hoping to buy something that's already connected up, but if not your words of advice will be heeded!

thanks

Starting_Out

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Hi what is this green tax that has been mentioned? is it imposed by the EU or a local tax
if a property did not have a mains connection or an approved septic tank which would be the best option to go for?

and whilst Im on a roll with questions
what is the situation with recycling in rural parts of Hungary cardboard plastics wood and metal?

Are there places in the larger towns that you can take larger refuse items to?

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Hi Heli,

I can only provide you with my experience. I am unsure of the origin of the 'green tax' it was just a word I used to describe it as it was something imposed by the water board that operates in our county. I know that if you are not connected to the mains for your sewerage then normally you would need to call the local council when the cesspit is full and they send a car/truck round to empty it....not a pleasant job I am sure... Anyway, it used to be that having a cesspit was cheaper than being connected. The water board (or Hungarian equivalent of) charge double for the water on the way out than they do on the way in. In my town they are now basically ensuring everyone is connected to the mains by charging TEN TIMES the amount they would have charged for those who are not connected. This may not be the case yet in other counties, but if they are doing it here I expect it to be nationwide soon.

With regard to recycling most towns have somewhere you can take your bottles and cardboard and our town have just introduced regular collections with the normal waste collection. Also, if you buy bottles etc from your local supermarket, you should check to see if they take back the returns. We did not realise this when we first moved here and recycled a small fortune in Soproni bottles when we could have taken the empties back to the shop for a small refund :-)

With regard to larger waste such as scarp metal etc, most towns have a special day for pick up....and in the morning or the night before the local tinkers come and help themselves too if you leave it out...

Hope this helps

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Ouch, that's hefty though I suppose understandable in a village with mains.

We have a septic system running into a reed bed and it's needed emptying once in 4 years - if I remember correctly, it cost about £45.

Like Polgardi says, certain bottles can be returned to the shops and Tescos pays a small amount for plastic bottles and cans. In our area, even the smallest of villages have recycling bins.

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The 'green tax' as said above is imposed where mains drains are an option but people choose not to connect. Its a way of persuading people to connect up. The only reason that cesspits are/were cheaper than mains drainage is that all the cesspits leak. Around here 'smelly nelly' charges about 1600huf/m3 to empty the pit. (+AFA if you want a bill) The green tax is imposed because everyone knows all cesspits leak and without the incentive to connect to the mains the leaking into the ground of untreated sewage would continue.

There are yellow, blue and green recycle bins everywhere and the annual rubbish days, but for metal than its worth finding out where the local 'ethnic' family who deal in scrap metal lives and sell the scrap to them. Never Never sell scrap to door to door callers, its just asking for trouble the following week.

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Whilst on the smelly nelly subject..... what on earth happens with the outside toilets Peter. We used to surmise that they dug a large hole and when it was full, they moved the toilet - I know in places like Alaska that this is what happens. However, a neighbour in line of site, has an outside toilet which has never moved in four years and it is not, as far as we can see, connected to a cesspit - not one which can be emptied anyhow as it is at the opposite (wrong) end of the garden for access. The mind boggles:blink:

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So its official. I am a smelly nelly :p But not for long....:cool:

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I'm an eco smelly nelly cos I have a reed bed :p:thumbsup:

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More or less thats what happens. The old fashioned way of building them was to support the sides with wood and when the contents was within about 30 cm from the top you moved the wooden shed from the top and recycled it to the new position. The existing hole was filled (top 30cm) with earth dug from the new loo and a fruit tree of your choice planted on the place of the old loo. The wooden underground side supports rotted away and allowed the roots to grow as needed. It generally takes years to fill as there is no water used and the solids compost down over time reducing in volume. To use properly there should be a bucket of ash inside so that the days fresh deposit can be sprinkled with ash to keep both smells and flies at bay. In addition to that if the inside of the shed is lime-washed annually and some copper sulphate (get some from your local vineyard owner) is added to give a pale blue colour this will also help deter flies. Flies don't like blue, which is why many old dairies were lime-washed with blue to keep out the flies.

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Thanks Peter, so going into year 5 now and 6 of them using the toilet, I should expect to see it on the move anytime now! Hopefully out of line of sight:fingerscrossed:

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Thanks for the replies very happy to hear of plenty of recycling facilities and will bear in mind when house hunting to find out about mains sewer

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The colour blue or the copper sulphate? :confused:

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This is all interesting reading....thank you. If its an option I think I would like to try reed beds...

Rural Hungary - anything else eco friendly that you do that? Is it expensive over there for this to set up?

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My place still has the old earth closet type loo in addition to the normal indoor one. Mine is brick built and there is a concrete lined pit behind it which looks like it once had a wooden lid. I suppose this had to be emptied periodically.

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Oh yes - the proverbial brick s*** house, yes this will need emptying periodically, too much work to move. Best to empty after the winter and before the spring use makes it too fresh:eek:

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Reed beds can have a problem in Hungary, they need to be large enough to work in the cold of the winter when bacterial activity slows down and the lack of rain can mean that the winter size is unsupportable by the inflow water during the summer so the reeds die out. If there is a high enough water table and natural reeds then they can be OK but if they are artificial then problems can arise. Another point is that the authorities don't like them so permission can be a problem.

PS If the property has access to mains drains then you will have no choice but to connect.

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Oh..ah well thank you... something to consider if we plan it. Thank you :-)

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We did our own and never had problems. Twin chamber septic which is obviously functioning well as breaking down solids to the extent that it has been emptied once in four years and we are a family of 5. Our mayor is fine with it and we are thinking of expanding it this year. We collected reeds from the village Tor (lake) and had no problems with them.

We rendered our adobe house in mud and straw, smoothing it down with large stones - neighbours thought we were mad! We also try to garden organically and to date, we haven't used and chemicals on the land.

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Following on from my original thread we are 99% sure :fingerscrossed:we will be visiting Hungary by 22nd June:thumbsup: Can't wait! Sadly only for 5 days before we have to head back ....

RH - if there is a chance to meet up, view and chat etc would really appreciate it. We still want to focus on the western border area although probably could be tempted further east in areas you know well and cover.

We haven't booked accomm as we don't know where we will be at any given time. Can I assume we shouldn't have too much of a problem just "turning up" and booking in?

We have, away from the forum received some quite negative feedback about Hungary from someone who travels there regarding ruthless/over zealous policing (parking tickets etc), being pestered by locals when they see foreign number plates etc but thats one person's opinion .....

Getting excited now...

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Hi Windyridge

Have lived here two months now and visited many times before that travelling all round Hungary. Have never been pestered by locals and the police have only been interested in vehicle when OH drove old pick up truck with a homemade cover on the back! But then he experienced same in Germany.
This time of year there are many foreign vehicles in Hungary of all nationalities. Only thing I would say is that we get overtaken a lot :)
Good luck with your trip and hope you find what you are looking for.

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In my opinion the police can be a bit over zealous at times, but not necessarily just to foreign drivers, but to anyone. Obviously if you speed or commit a driving offence then you can expect to be fined. No one has ever pestered us for having foreign number plates...although it does confuse some locals and is always fun to see people try and get in the drivers side. The majority of other road users flash to warn of police up ahead, and if you see someone indicating a clock shape by twirling their hand around...that means there is a speed camera ahead. Speed cameras are often set up in unmarked cars along the side of the road...so if someone warns you that there is one ahead...then don't be complacent.

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Just a quick reply as in Budapest at the moment. Police in some areas do pull foreigners more than is usual in other areas, moreso out of season than in. Though generally, it isn't a problem.
Pestering can occur if you buy in certain villages, usually saying no and meaning it is sufficient though not always. Will PM soon - up to my eyes in marking mocks!

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would it change your mind if that was the case? Ive not experienced either

experience so far is drink sing fall asleep not fight the world as in UK town centers.

inquisitive, great sense of community like something from the 70's
and "bo lond" is not refering to my hair colour its refering to my hubby crazy mad fool

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It hasn't changed our minds, :)

Its just someone's own opinion which has been countered with more positives ....at the end of the day its our own opinion that we form that will make our decisions ....

We live in an area where the fallouts from pubs with brawls, arguments etc are a very regular occurance and we live a few doors from a rural police station (albeit unmanned!)

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I've not had problems with the Police generally in Hungary and I don't think I've ever seen them in the village. I think for places like this they make do with the Polgárőrség, community policing.
If I do give up on Hungary and go to UK or elsewhere it will be other factors that influence my decision. For me the worst aspect of living here is the language. It is full of very long words, completely unrelated to the same word in Latin based languages and hardly anyone speaks any English. I think it would be easier to get by with English in just about any other EU country, even France!
The other problem that is making me question my future in Hungary is mosquitoes. They are particularly bad this year and I am covered in painful lumps from their bites. I am in so much discomfort that I don't get more than a couple of hours sleep each night. I suppose this might be a particularly bad village for them but I don't know why it should be. I'm not aware of any lakes or ponds nearby.

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I lived in Turkey for years and went through the same thing initially. Actually, the two languages are related linguistically and whenever I've looked at Hungarian grammar a lot of the concepts are very familiar, even if the vocab is completely different to Turkish. Romanian, by contrast, is a piece of cake. If I don't know the word, I just guess it using something vaguely Latin-based and Romanianize it. Sometimes I get the genders mixed up, and my accent isn't great and makes people laugh, but I could converse with people after a year in the country. Turkish, on the other hand, took me about three or four years to get comfortably conversant in, but you do get there in the end if you keep practising (Turks are extremely talkative and uninhibited, so you are constantly getting drawn into conversations with strangers - annoying sometimes, but useful from a language learning perspective).

I found with Turkish there was a point when you just start to 'get it', and once you hit that point, you start to improve a lot quicker. I think that point came after about a couple of years of struggle.


Again, I had the same problem in Turkey. The first year was terrible; each bite itched like crazy for 24 hours and drove me up the wall at night. By the time I left (after five years there) I hardly noticed the bites any more so I can only assume that after a while you build up a kind of resistance or tolerance to the venom.

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The truth of the matter is that Hungary, like every other country, has good places to live and not so good. If you have upwards of £40-50,000 to spend then you will have no problem buying in an area that has few to little problems. Below this price, especially below £20,000, you have to be more careful as many properties are cheap for a reason. "Pestering" is a problem in some villages and can be quite intimidating for some people, especially retirees. Likewise petty crime and burglaries, in general not a problem but in some areas a huge problem. Nationalism, racism and homophobia not apparent in some areas whilst openly expressed in others. Likewise organised crime, drug smuggling and people trafficking.
I have said many times on this forum, Hungary, like Britain, has many problems but like Britain, these problems tend to be confined to specific areas. Often, I draw comparisons to the conversations I hear/have in Kent regarding immigrants with those in areas of Hungary. In both cases, anybody with darker skin than themselves should be shot, hung or thrown out the country and this from intelligent, educated individuals. It can be quite unnerving especially remembering that we ourselves are immigrants.`
It takes a bit of time and scratching to get under the skin of Hungary but despite the negatives, I still enjoy living here.

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It takes time with the language and I am still terrible whilst, as you know, my daughter and husband are very good. Why not buy one of the electronic translators, a friend lent us theirs for a while and it is useful. You also soon pick up words through using it. An idea I had for my son, after his exams, which might work in your village is to put a sign in the library offering free English language evenings. There are many children in Nagy learning English at college and grammar school who would love to spend an hour or two with a native speaker. That way you get to know people in the village/area who speak even rudimentary English and hopefully they can also help with your Hungarian.
Regards the mozzies, it is a known problem this year so everybody is suffering.

1. Keep indoors after 6-7pm
2. When sitting or sleeping, have an electric fan on as it blows them away.
3. Buy eucalyptus, citronella and lemongrass essential oils - you can order them online. Add about 20 drops of each to 100ml of water and put in a small plastic spray bottle. Spray when needed and then every hour - it does work.
4. Take zinc tablets

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Do you remember what make the translator was? Having looked online at them there is quite a selection - the cheaper ones only translate individual words or phrases, if you want to translate sentences they seem to cost from £100 to £300.