Viewing trips
 

In relation to a property search, is it worth contacting an agent to do a viewing trip through them as I have seen advertised on some sites? I have read on this forum that there are some agencies that have been dodgy and sold people properties that were not up to standard at all & have cost a lot of money to fix. We are looking to go to Hungary in March to look at houses and was wondering if anyone has any advice about how to tackle the property search.
Thanks

Re: Viewing trips
 

I looked at property in Bulgaria and there I was driven around by agents who showed me far too many houses in a day and I ended up totally confused. I lost track of which houses had which features and never knew where I was in relation to the main towns or cities. A lot of the estate agents will not release too much information about a house location or how it looks from the road in case you bypass them and go direct to the seller.
If you can work out exactly what sort of place you want and what things are or are not important to you, such as views, amount of land, proximity to lakes, airports, shopping centres etc. you could start to narrow down the search area using advice from members of this site.
If you can drive round the area yourself you will get a better idea of which villages you like (if you want to be in a village) and what sort of properties there are. The house I bought was not advertised on the internet but I spotted it when I came to the village looking for 2 other houses for sale with the same agent. Since I came to this village I have seen another house here that I like a lot more. It is not offered for sale but I would not be above approaching the owners and offering to buy it.

Re: Viewing trips
 

Viewing trips can (and should be) a great way of visiting the country and getting shown around by people who know the area to view houses. Even if you don't buy, it can be a pleasant weekend away. However the downside is that you might be shown houses that the seller wants you to buy. Get all your facts straight before you go so you know exactly what sort of house you want, location etc. Also, you have to ask yourself - how can anyone who earns a commission not be bias. Its the same in the UK....the estate agent works for the seller...

Perhaps another way of doing it, would be to go on the viewing trip and then look on the local estate agent sites to see exactly how much you should be paying. If you see something you like, you can always approach the buyer direct with the help of a translator. I know that this might sound like a lot of effort, but its better than being sold something unsuitable at twice the price.

The other day I did come across someone who got a good deal on their house...they had looked on local websites before coming over, and then approached the buyer direct. Admittedly they did know people who lived here beforehand, so that was helpful.

I would say go with someone who is upfront about their fees. Free viewing trips can be a bit like free lunches....they just don't exist.

Re: Viewing trips
 

We bought our house through a local agent. It is worth contacting the local agents by email to see if they speak some English. This is what happened with us and I had researched the local prices before we viewed so I could tell what was a good price or not. Most hungarian local agents I think will give you a better service than the larger agents. This is my personal opinion of course. Don't let the language become a barrier because in our experience more people speak English than you might think.

If you don't know the areas that you want to buy in it is really worth spending time driving around and finding which ones you prefer. You can get a feel for the place then. This is really important as it can take years to sell a house in Hungary so if you make a mistake you will be stuck with it.

Do your research and remember location, location, location :)

Re: Viewing trips
 

It really is a good idea to narrow down where you want to buy before viewing properties. Ideally visiting and as others have said, driving around the country to see which areas you prefer - do your research first though regards crime, infrastructure etc
From a different perspective, whether a viewing trip is worth it or not depends on what you expect from it and what is on offer. Some agents offer free or heavily subsidised trips because they are making an extremely large commission on every property. In our case, we don't earn a commission and have to charge for viewing trips, though inevitably, we end up subsidising petrol costs and of course time. Therefore, it can be frustrating when you are sometimes told that they only came for "a holiday" and are not really considering buying but that is to be expected. We only started offering trips because not everybody is confident enough to drive themselves about or immediately tackle the language barrier - which is a barrier for most people who have never visited before and some people just like to know there is somebody there to help.

Cathy, the number of properties around the lakeside and even in villages to the North of the lake, which have been on the market for 2-3 years is quite surprising!! There is a common theme with several of them though in that they overpaid for the property and/or the renovation and can't afford to sell at a loss.

Re: Viewing trips
 

Yes it is surprising and I cannot see that the situation will get any better i.e. Prices rising enough so that those houses will sell. It will be interesting to see if the conversion of the FXloans to forints makes any difference to the housing market. I think this is what the government is hoping for....

Re: Viewing trips
 

A place near us (near Tapolca) has recently sold and the owner got his full asking price, without having to drop to get the sale. It was up for sale for 10 years before a buyer was found:eek: There are 3 other places up for sale locally that have been on the market for between 5 to 12 years with no takers. I wonder sometimes if sellers are on a different planet, or do they just think of a number and wait until they get it :fingerscrossed:

Re: Viewing trips
 

Some of them probably don't actually want to sell the house but if someone came up with their asking price it would make it worth their while to move and still have some surplus cash left from the deal. On my place I offered about 20% below the asking price and they accepted so they could get their mortgage paid off. I think if I were looking now I would try to find out which houses on my shortlist had mortgages, as it can give you more potential for haggling over the price.

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Unbelievably they do Peter! As we're not agents, we don't advise people on pricing and if they want to list with us, we ask what is the minimum they would take - we have turned away numerous properties because of crazy prices but the sellers genuinely believe their house is worth it.

Re: Viewing trips
 

Thanks for your replies, we are planning a trip in March and already have a list of the areas we are thinking of, and i've contacted a couple of agents for information. There's one site thats got a property with almost everything we are looking for but it looks very overpriced, but i suppose still worth a look anyway when we go. :)

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Lulu122 It is good to go on a viewing trip to see the country but if you have a good idea of where you would like to go, Then buy private as you will get a lot money for your money and better as you can come to arrangements with the owners direct, Just remember anyone that is selling house's is making money from your pocket !!!!

Re: Viewing trips
 

Doesn't that go for anybody selling any product or service? I wouldn't expect a gas fitter to fix my boiler for free ;)