Rural Hungary

Hi Darren, to the best of my knowledge (my neighbours are hunters) wild boar is all year, roe deer is April to September and fallow deer is October to December, so basically there is hunting all year round.

With the breed of dog you have then I would take heed of what Hotpot says as I know, in my area anyhow, any type of mastiff or rottweiler - without an owner in sight, would be shot purely out of fear. There are a lot of irresponsible owners of large powerful dogs which has understandably, created a wariness of them.

You would definitely be better with an end of village house.

Yes, sky isn't a problem here, there is a thread on it somewhere, I will try and find it for you.

LeftAloneInUK

HI,

I lived in Budapest Hungary for two years 2002-2004. I studied at Budapest Business School.

Hungary is a very pleasant place, but it has its ups and downs. I suggest many more visits before you choose to live there.

People say good and bad areas, but really it depends on what you want from a area. We lived in the 7th district of Budapest, it took us 4 months to find out this was a bad area, a Hungarian told us it was! The whole time we lived there we never had one problem or saw any problems.

I found Hungarian Letting agents very helpful, much better than English agents, they listened to our list of wants and then advised us and drove us around a few areas so we could see what they were like.

Ester J

Hello Darren,

Are you still searching for a property?

Ester

littlelambfound

Hi Darren,
It might be wise to just drive around the villages till you find one you fancy. Look out for houses with "ELADO" (for sale) notices in the window...you'll see many of them. Take the phone number and then ask a Hungarian speaker to enquire re price as many village peeps have an unrealistic approach to monies when it comes to foreigners.
Hungary has been suffering a huge recession over the last 5 years. The HUF is falling and repayments are sky high for mortgages taken out in CHF or JPY. Times are hard. There are huge bargains to be had....just stay away from the agents (if you can). I my experience (we buy flats in Budapest), the difference between the asking and the selling price is between 20% and 35%. And good luck!

Ester J

Indeed at the moment it is a very good time to buy or to invest in property ( from a private seller)
But you have to be aware of the fact that if you should buy a house with a lot of work on it that the building material costs are slowly expensive.

Look also if the walls are dry, many people are not thinking on that.

Ester

Rural Hungary

Hi Darren, as littlelambfound says, now is a buyers market (as it is in most of Europe).
I totally agree about the agents charges and that is why we set up a service to find properties for clients direct from the owners as so many people were/are being ripped off Also, beware of companies who act as an "introduction agency" between you and the seller, these claim that they do not sell property but instead introduce the buyer and seller to each other with their fee being paid by the seller. In two cases that I came across, the fee was 3000 euro!!!
Unfortunately, many people are only here for a few days and do not have the time to research villages or drive round looking for elado signs, which is where we help. We also advise people, if undertaking the search themselves, to research the prices before coming over as many sellers are inflating the prices even for direct sales. It's understandable really, if the house next door sold via an agent for 50,000 then you believe that's what your house is worth when a foreigner comes knocking. In these instances we advise people to offer the "real" value and if they refuse, walk away.

Hi Ester, again I have to agree that some materials, wood is one which instantly springs to mind, are expensive. However, renovation costs needn't be astronomical and it's more the cowboys and over inflated quotes that you have to watch out for.
Dampness is definitely an issue and I hope, when I have time, to write a sticky thread detailing what to look out for when buying property for renovation, particularly with the adobe houses. Fortunately most of the issues can be remedied, its when you find someone has bought a house smack bang on top of an underground stream, in an area with a high water level, that you start to worry

Ester J

Hello Rural Hungary,

I`m living for 13 years in Hungary in those years the prices went up like crazy, of course it`s still cheaper than many other countries in Europe. But for the Hungarian people it is much to expensive.
About the problem with dampness, this is a common thing by many Hungarian houses and that is not only from houses who are builded on a underground stream.
This years we had a bad summer with many rain, and during this time it was very clear to see how many houses have this problem.

Yes and indeed there are also good real estate around in Hungary and the same is with private sellers.
To have a holiday house or permanent living in Hungary is fantastic

Ester

Rural Hungary

Hi Ester, agree it is definitely still value for money here (if you don't pay over the odds). In many villages it is cheaper than Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries but with the advantage of being more Westernised than the aforementioned.

We were aware of the high water levels and subsequent damp problems before buying here, the number of ditches kind of gave it away As such, we bought a house with high foundations, only the front of the house is nearly at ground level. It's amazing though the number of properties that are sold in the summer when the walls dry out, they're given a coat of paint to look as good as new then come the winter, the damp reappears

Ester J

I completely agree with you, they know that the most people who are searching for a property are coming in the summertime.
When we bought our first house we knew about this damp problem...many people don`t. It is sad to see if people who are coming for a holiday have to work the whole time to repair their holiday house.

I was and still am suprised about the prices what many real estate agents are asking at the moment for a property, we just bought our second house our first house is for sale now...but not for such a sky high price

Ester

BRUMYAM

HI GUYS THANKS FOR ALL THE INFORMATION THAT EVERYONE IS POSTING !! IT IS VERY INTERESTING TO KNOW ALL THE UP's & DOWN's, FROM PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN THERE AND DONE IT !! ME AND THE WIFE ARE PLANNING OR NEXT TRIP TO HUNGARY FOR DECEMBER. JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS. AS WE HAVE ALREDY THOUGHT ABOUT SEEING HUNGARY IN THE WINTER TIME AS THE ONLY TIME WE HAVE BBEN IT IS SUMMER. WHEN ALL LOOKS VERY NICE AND PEACEFULL. AS I HAVE SAID ALREADY WE PLAN ON LIVING OUT THERE SO WE NEEDED TO SEE THE WINTER ! THE BAD WEATHER ! THE DAMP ! MAYBE SNOW ! WE NEED TO SEE IT ALL AS IT IS A BIG CHANGE FOR US TO TOTALY MOVE TO A NEW COUNTRY, WE HAVE SEEN A LITTLE HOUSE NEAR SOPRON AREA, IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS AREA PLEASE LET US KNOW !!! WE PLAN ON MOVING WITH OUR DOGS, ALSO CAN ANYONE TELL US ABOUT CAR TAX & INSURANCE ? e.g IS IT VERY EXPENSIVE ? ANY INFORMATION ON ANY OF THE ABOVE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED
MANY THANKS

Ester J

Hello,

If you have more than 3 dogs than you must be sure that the village doesn`t have a problem with it. We are also breeding dogs and our village doesn`t have a problem with this because there are also some farmers overhere with cattle.
You can speak with the local major about this but be also aware that if there is a new major coming that he or she can have a problem with this.

The car tax you have to pay to the village/city where you are living in
we pay for our ford escort van Huf 19320 a year. Insurance is for the same car Huf 10370 every 3 months.
If you want to import a business car ( max 3 person car ) than you don`t have to pay this so called import tax, but the car must be official tested before you get the hungarian nummerplate.
To import a person car is way to expensive than it`s better to buy a car overhere.

Ester

Rural Hungary

Hi BRUMYAM, we have only travelled through that area once, so can't really advise you on it but I do remember it being quite pretty. The only negative I could think of might be transport links, if relevant, I would check the bus and train schedules.
With regards to cars, there are a couple of threads which maybe useful here and here.

Excellent information Ester J, I didn't realise you could only keep 3 dogs (is that by law?). Is it better to have a license to breed, if there is such a thing, in case a "new mayor" does take issue? We wondered how this worked as there are several "activities" (nothing untoward) carried out in our village which, to the best of our knowledge, are carried out with the consent of the mayor. Come October, we may have a new mayor and have discussed how this will affect said "activities"

littlelambfound

And talking of village dogs in Hungary....
If you love or care for animals, be prepared for a totally different view from your neighbours. In the village of my in-laws everyone has a dog, and never have I seen such a lot of sad, dirty, underfed and badly kept animals. Of cause most of the peeps are poor, but it really boils down to a total disregard to animal welfare. Hope I haven't opened a can of worms here.

Rural Hungary

Hi littlelambfound, if you think animal welfare in Hungary is bad.... you should visit Bulgaria!
Admittedly, many Hungarians do not keep animals as pets with most dogs living their entire lives in a dog kennel and never leaving their garden. However, in our village the majority are well fed and "cared for" to an extent. I have witnessed fewer episodes of animal cruelty here than I did in Ireland (that's another can of worms).
That said, they definitely do not have the same affection for dogs or cats that the British do and find it hilarious when our pooch is walked, wearing her fleece, to the shop.

Ester J

Yes unfortunately its a law
We have an official kennel registered by the FCI and by the MEOE ( kennelclub from Hungary) who is also member from the FCI.
If it is for example an activity the major will not take quick steps to make troubles, because more people in a village/city brings also more money in

It goes about the fact if somebody is living in a village with more than 3 dogs, if a major want than he or she can make problems.
If a major makes problems than you have only 1 month time to get rid of your dogs or to move or whatever
We have in this village a forest close to us..just 3 minutes by car, if we go with our dogs to the forest we do it by car.
The reason for this is that in many Hungarian villages are walking dogs free on the street if you have for example a breed like we have or like Darren the Dogue De Bordeaux, and it comes to a fight (can always happen) than they will put always the blaim by you.
In the forest or fields it is perfect walking with your dogs this because there are not so many people in Hungary who are walking with their dog(s)
In the 13 year we are walking with the dogs we never saw another dog in the forest

If everything goes well than this village will get a major who can speak perfect English..what a shame we waited 13 years for that and now that we will move soon it will happen hahahaha

You are right littlelambfound, it is a BIG shame how many people in Hungary are treating/keeping their dogs.
There is just a new law that it is not allowed anymore to chain your dog for several hours after eachother...but the Biggest question is ..who will controll this

Of course Rural Hungary there are always countries where it is worse

Ester J