investing in land or property in romania

Investing in Romania
Background to my experiences
Having been visiting Romania since 93 or there about I have a pretty good overall experience of the country and people from an outsider’s point of view.

I used to visit on business quite a few times a year to various cities in romania such as Bucharest, Cluj, timisoara, Satau mare, Zalau, Brasov just to name a few, there is not too many major towns I have not stayed in or passed though at some stage or another, as most of my trips were by car or internal flights.
Only twice I braved the train (that was the early days) probably the inter city trains have got a bit better, I am sure they will with time but its just like uk trains some good others well not so good.
Since then I have had two weeks holiday here one in the summer and one skiing in the winter, both of which were great fun and cheap to do. Romania is still to this day a very good low cost holiday destination.
During the times I visited I have met some great people, so much so as I fell in love with the life style and country I decided to move here over a year ago after a personal tragedy.
So How to Invest and in what to Invest

That may sound an easy question and for most the quick answer is land and property. Sure these are great investments right now, as anywhere in the world land normally appreciates in value, here in Romania at an alarming rate delloite and touche a year ago issued a report which I read that said land here was increasing in value over a year at 400%, I am still trying to find it again but the report was issued by the timisoara office I think. I must find it to put a reference here.
I work on very simple information, like classifieds and local advertising, as well as seeing some of the properties on offer, locally.

There are many web sites offering Romanian real estate property and land, some at some huge prices, in my opinion.
However most of what I see on the web is partly realistic, although it’s a good starting point its maybe not the best way to find an investment opportunity if you cant afford to take a big gamble.
Corporate investors will do their own detailed research and can afford to, others with smaller funds will turn to the internet, such as those seeking holiday homes abroad, or those looking for smaller investments for the short to medium term in may be land or houses or holiday lets.
I only have some words of caution and advice for those wishing to come to Romania with a land or property purchase in mind, don’t buy the first thing you are shown, the price you will be told will be at least one third more than if not double its true value, everything is negotiable. Your new friend is earning from this sale. What you see may not actually belong to the person selling it; it can be a long legal process to find this out for sure. Pay nothing as a deposit in cash no matter how much pressure you are under, chances of getting it back are nil, and the sale could still fall through. You may have to pay some search fees but check these out with government approved agencies before you come so that you have an idea how much to expect. These are normally non refundable same as the UK. Once you know who owns the land all the family members with a legal interest in the land or property must agree to the sale. A bit like a will that’s laid down in law before you die. The registered owner of the land normally consists of several family members who have all registered their interests in law. So do property investment companies! In the UK companies can go insolvent very quickly.
Getting to the land or property
For holiday homes its very important, at present most of the corporate money is going into places like the major cities, the smaller cities have yet to see much of this although it has started due to the lower prices and the lack of available opportunities left in the big cities.
The only down side to the smaller cities is the airport links, and distances by road are long between cities. Transport to places like Brasov is fairly well organised, as well as the larger tourist cities like Sibu, Cluj and Bucharest. There are a lot of plans to improve travel links and these will be more rapid as the euro thinking etc has now hit home here. The majority of the major road routes have seen good improvements over the last year or so, thus a car journey of a few hours is not so bad as it used to be. The internal flights are good and run frequently most major cities have an airport; some are international like Cluj Napoca. Within around 3 to 4 hrs from London you could be in most places in Romania

Many smaller cities are keen to attract foreign investors and the Germans and Italians as well as other European counties are investing faster than some notably UK companies who seem to be slow in coming forward. E.g. I have a German neighbour its a holiday home, he comes for the skiing and he has business here. Many Italians have invested in Timisoara so much so you can get some fine Italian food there, and the nightlife is good too being a major university town. Timisoara boasts an international flavour; it also has what is purported to be the largest shopping mall in Europe the Ilulius Mall. Flights to Timisoara are available from Bucharest about 45 minutes transfer time. Also they have some international routes. Easy jet were looking at Romania I believe along with some other low cost airlines, Timisoara could be a place they would go to? If that were the case then it would open up a whole new set of opportunities in the Banat region including Caras Severin
So what do I get out of posting this information here

Truthfully nothing right now in cash terms, my motives are to start a business in this field, I always work on the principle of honesty. So if you find this information to be incorrect or useful I am open to comment. I already have enough to keep me busy for the moment but a consultancy is not out of the question. We all like to earn a few extra beans.

Next Post: some specifics information on what’s available in this region: Banat Caras Severin. Some information on the great tourism possibilities for this area skiing Ktm off road enduro,4x4 trails off road, ATV Trips off road hotels Bed and breakfasts Where to stay Where to Go What to do in the Banat region of romania

happy holidays birthday in romania

well its my birthday tomorrow waiting for my kids to come on line so i can chat with them.
just been working on my new websites and updating a few old ones. just felt i had to post this as tommorow i am having a party so will not be able to post for obvious reasons.
the posts here will get modified but just using them like a diary for now in the event that any other expats in romania stumble acroos them and fancy a chat. still wont be long on this one a cheap beer beckons,and my kids are now on line.
bfn

just a few jokes english humour is scarce in romania

What did James Brown's missus get for christmas?A smaller f**king turkey.
This is the best joke of all time!

priest walking down a Country road when he spots a car overturned
8 year old crying
my mommy and daddy are dead
priest drops his trousers and goes
Its not your day is it?

TWO SNOWMEN WERE IN A FEILD...

ONE SAYS "CAN U SMELL CARROTS"

Do u reckon the Queen's ever pulled the sheets right up in bed, just showing her head and said
"look phillip am a stamp?"

Whats the most confusing day in Brixton.

Fathers day

a rich man and a poor man are standing in a pub they are both talking about what they got there wives for christmas
rich man says i got mine a brand new bmw,solid gold ring and a new house.
poor man says what the f**ck did you do that for i got my wife pair of slippers and a vibrator.

rich man says why did you get her a vibrator t
he poor man turns at him and says because if she doesnt like the slippers she can f**ck herself.

There is a man who has three girlfriends, but he does not know which one to marry.
So he decides to give each one $5000 and see how each of them spends it.

The first one goes out and gets a total make over with the money. She gets new clothes, a new hairdo, manicure, pedicure, the works, and tells the man, "I spent the money so I could look pretty for you because I love you so much."

The second one went out and bought new golf clubs, a CD player, a television, and a stereo and gives them to the man. She says,
"I bought these gifts for you with the money because I love you so much."

The third one takes the $5000 and invests it in the stock market, doubles her investment, returns the $5000 to the man and reinvests the rest.
She says, "I am investing the rest of the money for our future because I love you so much."

The man thought long and hard about how each of the women spent the money, and

decided to marry the one with the biggest tits.

day 2 still getting to grips but romania is great for a holiday

Well its day 2 of me blog just keen I suppose for now just been catching up on a few things that I used to do like SEO and WEB site design, been reading a few things on the www.webworkshops.net forum about a guy called dave pasternack http://www.webworkshop.net/seoforum/viewtopic.php?t=16392

Maybe it’s of interest probably not to you.

Well I am going to post a bit more in a while so hold on to your hats, this site will be the back bone for holidays in Romania, with time I will post a proper web site that will cover all aspects of taking a holiday in Romania. Also I am setting up a web site design and management firm which will not just concentrate on web design but get our customers traffic that’s relative. Property development here is big at the moment so this is another area I am getting into. I know a lot about the property investment and tourist market in Romania I have been living here for more than 12 months; also I first started coming here in 1993 and have been a regular visitor since then at least 5 times a year until last year when I decided to live here, still miss a few thingsAny expats reading this get in touch?

Day one of new Blog 12 months in romania now

well its been a long time i have been here 12 months and only just started to get some free time and getting a little bored well it is winter huh? the weather is not as cold as was last year thank him above.
stil i am an expat living in romania,in caransebes i have at the moment a bar /club/disco its ok but not the most people from the uk would think, its a bit up market for this town but certainly not the best in banat,timisoara has some better. still if you live here you know what i mean.
started to do this blog again thanks to a guy living and working in ? somewhere near sigisora and brasov both places i have been. i would be keen to here from other uk expats in romania,please contact me i have 3 i know at present doug a scotish guy who works for KTM motor sport for tourisum on the mountains,keith the manager of the bastion casino in timisoara,and kevin a friend from retford nottingham who is building a bed and reakfast here this spring. well thats us for now.
be interested to see who is in deva i know there is a few but dont know who.
i will cut this one short for now and post more later thanks to all those who know me,and Nicky uk and the www.webworkshop.net/seoforum/ for all their help over the last year or two hop we can make this a good year for all