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