Letter from Hungary - News by Magyar Kúria

Dear friends of Hungary,

Hungary is still winter's white, even though the regular winter sun radiates from the blue sky. We just glances briefly back again into the past year:

Rising tourism

After several years in a row the tourists little interest in Hungary had shown it was the year 2004 of a significant turnaround. Besides a small increase by Hungarians, having holiday in their own country, it is the foreigner, with a rise of smooth 10% cite the statistics. It seems as if the problem child Balaton slowly changing the desired image and takes away from the low-cost tourism for the benefit of the quality tourism. The Hungarian government believes EU membership and cheap fares but for the relevant factors. Our region has been for about 8, -- € by train from Budapest in an hour and a half away.

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A residence permit in Hungary

Many foreigners have Hungary not only discovered as a vacation paradise, but would like to live permanently in Hungary. As we all know is Hungary since the May 1st last year, a member of the European Union. That does not mean, however, that after buying a house the foreigner simply should move in permanently. Hungary is not yet a member of the Schengen countries, and that citizens also need to be granted a residence permit. The most important change is the legal entitlement to a residence permit! But the process is simplified. It is no longer necessary to begin the Hungarian Consulate in their home country to apply for visa. It suffices to visit with a completed application form and supporting documents related to the foreigners' police. The form (there is a German version) allows you to the places of foreigners police, but also in the office of Somogyi Kúria Bt. Furthermore, you need a travel document for identification and evidence of a health insurance (initially, the foreign), income and housing. As incomes count regular income from Hungary or abroad, but also a "reasonable property". As appropriate assets are currently 300,000 HUF, or about 1,200, -- € based on a Hungarian bank account. Are you married and only one partner has income or bank deposits? Then the marriage certificate and submit with an income of the spouse must sign a document that he or she is the "indigent" partner. Did you purchase a house in Hungary? Then you have to go to the land registration office, get a certified copy of the deeds, and you have fulfilled all the formalities. If you now have stamp marks in the value of 1,500 HUF and a passport photo stuck on the form is a lawful permanent residence in Hungary nothing in the way. After a few days, you will receive a card and so you can be registered at the Population Register. Finally, a note about a concern that many people have: You keep your current citizenship, and you will be by this procedure is not Hungarian, but you only get permission to live permanently in Hungary. Next time: Work permits for Hungary.

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Büssü

We receive a lot of questions about our houses in Büssü. For this we first quote a positive headline from the Balaton newspaper from March 2005: "Declining trend in the crime."

Now we turn to the unpleasant things, the situation in Büssü. All houses in this community we have taken out of our program, because the security in the village is no longer guaranteed. In the past year, there were in the 2004 by us in the one way or another supported properties 11 slump thefts or simple thefts and one further slump thwarted thankfully by a watchful neighbour with a sharp dog. This increases the statistics of the year 2003 by 1200 percent! That is absolutely no advertising for a house in Hungary - you might think. But, this view is entirely wrong. All events of crime were committed in the community Büssü and none of them in the out of Büssü supervised homes. This corresponds much more to the general security situation in Hungary, after all, the crime in Hungary much lower than in Western Europe, in general you are safer in Hungary than in Western Europe, as the newspaper Balaton been correctly described, but not so in Büssü. Since autumn last year, the security situation dramatically worsted. Our repeated appeals to the municipal authorities to launch citizens brigade remained without any reaction. After we heard from a customer that the police not intervened when she gave names and addresses of those neighbours (!), where she saw her stolen property, we took the consequences. All orders in Büssü are terminated and we don't accept any new orders. Although it is not forbidden to sell houses in a community like Büssü, it doesn't fit to our business comprehension selling any more properties in Büssü. It is only ours to offer our excuses to our buyers in Büssü, but such a change in the security situation we did not expected.

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The own vineyard!?

The desire to own a vineyard is for many Northern Europeans a reason to look in Hungary for a property. It could be a great thing, weren't there some statutory provisions... To say it at the very beginning, a foreigner in Hungary can not buy vineyard (at least if we assume that the alien is not a resident in Hungary registered as a farmer). The end!

The end? There is always a friendly fellow, who will advise to register the vineyard to a Hungarian, the Hungarian would become the owner in the deeds and you could use it yourself. This friendly fellow knows always a Hungarian, who is willing to register himself for a small amount. That is a criminal offence for the foreign buyer the friendly fellow does not care. The end!

The end? There is a legal possibility, at least if the offices follow. Then you have first of all to change the property's status from vineyard to family house officially. Mostly the entire is depending of numerous different rules, it costs a lot, and offers no guarantee of success - and the vineyard would be no vineyard any more, at least on paper. The end!

The end? Why making it easy when it can be done complicated as well one might think. No one cares about whether on a family house property, which has already been registered as a family house, is even used as vineyard particularly. This has the advantage that you do not have problems with the purchase, and the house is usually significantly higher than the 30 m², a vineyard house may be mostly. Or you plant but the grapes on your own, in this case there is also no statutory problem. And this is now the positive end!

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Risen from ruins

To say it directly: only a few houses in Hungary are ruins, most are not even close to this state! But some are due to a lack of capital of their owners or simply by the ravages of time in or close to this state.

What do we find? Let's take the worst case. A more than 75-year-old farmhouse, clay (stomped or in clay-brick construction). No bathroom, no water in the house, gable sides above the ceilings are collapsed, the outhouses are ruins. On the sidewalls is up to a height of approximately 2 m the plaster broke out. No gutters. The roof damaged. Ruin! Ruin?

We also have some positive, what is often hiding behind this facade. Massive sidewalls, in the basis of up to 70 cm wide. Oak beams under the cracked plaster ceiling, as well as massive oak planks, waiting for redevelopment. Properties in size from 2,500 m², quiet village situation.

It is now a fundamental decision: not the building of the house should be the centre of the decision, but the location and the charm of the house and surrounding area.

Let's regard the redevelopment step by step.

The first is to plan all the works on the house completely. Well, during the construction work new facts and new needs can surprise us. If necessary we have to improvise. But with a good planning, of course based on a precise plan of the existing building, you have at least an approximate idea of costs. And to plan and possibly to reject them again on paper is cheaper than in the construction phase.

The water supply is in most cases on the land. Attention! No bathroom and no water in the house means regularly: no sewage pit. Even in Hungary a closed sewage pit is required now. This must be built in any case. Getting the water into the house is no problem. Here you should bundle the supply lines at a central point where they are needed. The kitchen and bathroom should not be planned too far apart from each other. A very good idea, the owner renovated a Somogy house, where kitchen and bathroom are side by side, and thus the connections and lines are very close and short.

Example kitchen / bath:

Important is in this context: the sustaining walls are along the outside. Interior walls are only in exceptional cases sustaining, but in any case openings can be broken. In this area is often an arc is used, which forms of two small rooms a spacious new one and still divides it optically.

Water pipes: these should not be placed directly in the walls but should be placed on it or in an extra pipe. And for a good reason: when a pipe breaks in clay wall water will get into this clay slowly and it become always softer of course. At the end the rests will be simply washed away. If you are lucky and some parts of the wall still stand you have a large passageway to the garden. But who wants to have in the bathroom... Therefore note: Water pipes don't lie directly in the wall. The pipes can be hidden later. And do not forget: the bathroom needs a central drainage. Because if in your absence something should happen, the water will be drained without further damage..

A few words about the electric. Often, when you have old houses, the used cables are black and black. In modern houses the design is often colourful: blue and blue. So principally: alt out, new in. When removing the old cable you can get a look at the new expression "short distances". The cables are often laid diagonally. Don't do it again like this, even if it could eventually save money. A distribution with the protection of various circuits is a rarity in Hungarian houses, but who wants to go out of the house by wind and weather just to reconnect the fuse at the always outer box meter? And even with the new rules: when replacing the electric also replace the outer box, the same with some ampere more, according to the latest standards. The whole affair is slightly more expensive, but in fact in the long term it will save money.

Back to our house. The plaster damage at the exterior walls is mostly caused by the fact that the builder thought gutters would be an expensive luxury only. Thus all the rain water coming from the roof falls directly against the walls or first on the ground and splashes back up to the height of approximately 2 m (see above). So the plaster is washed off already in a short time. So at the front and back install gutters, dry the walls and you can plaster them again. Note: on clay you can use each breathable plaster. Do not use watertight sealing of the surface, as some "experts" often recommend.

Of course you should improve the windows before plastering. Double windows are no worse than double-glazing, single-glazed windows are. If they are distorted too much say farewell to your windows. But it also has its good side. Dense windows keep the heat in winter indoor and outdoor in summer. Not advisable is an enlargement of the windows. Because: see above. Small windows, as they were used already long ago when these houses were built, have their deeper meaning. And if we talk about new windows: why not combining them with shutters? They are in any case better than roller blinds, can be closed secure from the inside just as well (if not better) in the absence of the owner and still give them an original touch. But this issue is more about personal taste.

We turn now to the outer appearance in the upper area. The mentioned gable sides collapsed and broken rafters. What at first glance likes to be a total loss turns out to look at the second and closer inspection than a nice and part of the building, ready for redevelopment.

First the roof tiles need a closer examination. Are they still intact? Or are they consistently moist like a sponge? This condition can be found already at 80 to 100-year-old houses. This means: old tiles down, new (new or used) back again. But now very slowly. First down (whether intact or not). The roof slats must in any case be replaced, because we want to use a foil under them. The costs of used material are often low; the labour is decisive. And this is in Hungary in any case much cheaper than in the Western nations. The same time also gable will be re-erected.

Remember? In the beginning I wrote about outhouses in bad condition. A lot of them are not necessarily useful for redevelopment. Then you should have no inhibitions for demolition. But beware: even stable and other outhouses were in older times preferably built from bricks. Horse and sheep lived in a more expensive building than their owner did. And please do not throw away bricks. Because here we have the basic material for our gable walls. Note: Hungary is a nation in which the word recycling is very important. What has once discarded can not be used any longer. From used bricks can be build about everything. Gable walls, pave roads, create partition walls, built fireplaces and chimneys (for stoves, with a "tubes" suitable for gas...), and many more needed things.

Back to the roof. Damaged rafters must be renewed of course. Not a big problem. The old buildings have a unique roof structure that allows to replace rafters without difficulty. When attaching the roof slats it is possible to extend the roof at the gable sides. This area will be so much the better from rain. The optics will only minimally be changed. If this projected gable is surrounded by wood it is the final decoration.

So we have done almost the entire outside. Smaller beauty spot are depending on your personal taste; the colour of the facade is a very personal decision, which we do not want to discuss closer. Only to tell the most important much about: there are no laws about it.

One very important point when we must not forget in the interiors: please do not expect straight walls! Because then you would definitely decided for the wrong type of house. Clay walls are wider at the bottom than up. That is the nature of the material and the static. Furniture should never placed directly at the wall, these have mostly in the upper part "contact poverty", and the surface is not smooth. It is the consequence of handcraft - and this just gives the house its distinctive image, its character.

Clay walls function as a natural air-conditioning. A continuous exchange of moisture takes place. The climate in clay houses is almost free from allergens, always sufficiently moist, but never wet. In Western Europe, the usual artificial humidifiers are absolutely not necessary. Clay walls require only limited but important care. So it already has its reasons that in clay houses wallpapers are not used. Simple lime paints, possibly embellished with traditional painting, completely satisfy. The air exchange is guaranteed. You just mustn't seal the walls, which means never use latex paints or non-breathing artificial plaster on them. Such a little attendance can help to provide wet walls with all the consequences; nobody wants to have wet walls or four in the covering material.

A very important point: the heating. Here there are very many different ways to discuss about. The main important we filtered out below.

Conventional stove heating. All houses have chimneys, which are appropriate to "solid fuel (wood, charcoal, briquettes). In earlier times furnaces almost exclusively heated houses. In Hungary usual steel furnaces cool down very quickly unfortunately, but warm in operation even quickly and reliably. Especially in the living room such a furnace (perhaps covered by a glass door) spreads a cosy and comfortable atmosphere. The so-called "cooking machine" dominates the kitchen. Nowhere else can a Hungarian goulash (Pörkölt) better prepared than on such wood fired stove (because of the steady release of heat). And these stoves can be found still new all over Hungary at moderate prices for sale.

Tiled stoves. The culture of tiled stoves in Hungary is very large. Sometimes built in dividing walls between two rooms they heat them simultaneously. Economical consumption, long storage times, but unfortunately an equally long lead time are characteristics. So if you are on a cold winter evening your cottage you need the first 4 - 5 hours waiting until the furnace slowly spreads the first heat. The other: to getting from the cold here you wonderfully can warm your backs. Never try it at a conventional oven or a fireplace... anyway, the moderate but steady radiant heat is particularly pleasant and even healthy.

Central heating. Either fired with wood or other solid fuels or gas operated. Radiators are in all rooms, fast heat when it is needed. And at the same time, the hot water supply. But gas is more expensive than wood.

For vacationers, who only temporarily live in their homes as well as for permanent residents here now offers a mixture of a tiled stove and a central gas heating. Why? Well, the stove is for the comfort and healthy because of its even warming, the gas central heating (of course thermostat controlled) for the fast heat and hot water along a combination boiler. The warmer the tiled stove is, the lower will be the energy source of the gas until it finally stops. When the tiled stove is combined with a fireplace with such a large glass door, everything will be assembled in one system. What do you want more?

You did not find a paragraph telling something about prices. The has a good reason. First of all, people are (fortunately) different. Everyone has his own ideas about choosing materials or construction. At the same time in the article above we also described many different ways. Building is not a flat-rate. But it can be targeted for each request and for every wish a separate cost estimates can be created. And of course for each house.

And when doYOU visit us?

The exhibited photos show details of several houses. Out of every house, each of the described work out and not every owner want the described standard version. The selection of stoves is an example of craftsmanship.




Magyar Kúria Real Estate Limited with office in Várong, nearby the thermal bath of Igal in Hungary, looks at herself not as real estate agent only, but mostly as service enterprise around the subject real estate, it doesn't matter whether used or for construction of your house or vacation-home, on your own or a by us purchased property, as a vacation-house, or for living there. On behalf a house in the tourist centres, as for example Siófok at Lake Balaton we can offer you your own farmhouse in a for village tourism interesting settlements, or just a townhouse in Kaposvár, Pécs or other towns. We will help you with your cure or vacation and also if you plan to invest between Balaton and Drava, we work for you in the komitats Somogy, Tolna and Baranya. For all questions you can contact our customers service.

Your partner as legal real estate agency, for all your investments and vacations in southern Transdanubia, the sunny thermal and holiday region of Hungary

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