Beware stories

[Anja]

Guest-AnjaIsNaive said:

anja, sorry, but you sound naive. i belive the other guy. accept that in a country which is still modernising the procedure of home buying, there is
still some 'wild west' attitude in croatia.

accept that there are bad and dishonest agents else you live in the fantasy world.

eldesee makes sense to me. yes, get a good soliciter but you also have to deal with agents. don't have to defend everything croatia. but also some solicitors are not good either so, there lie the dilema.

Sorry I do not really understand what you are suggesting here..
There are good and bad people everywhere in the world.
I own properties in UK, not only in Croatia, and was recently looking to buy in Spain therefore I have contacts with agents everywhere.
To say honestly, I do not see a big difference in estate agents behaviour in UK, Spain and Croatia.
Spain is beginning to adopt to 'British/American way' of property business practice.
Croatia being closer to other parts of Europe unfortunately can not adopt to this approach.

[englishbloke]

The aspect that bugs me is this:
You sign an agreement not to buy a property you are shown with any other agent.
Therefore, the first agent can charge you more than the other agents since they showed it to you first.
What's all this about??

[bheywood]

Let's get one thing straight - business practices in the UK are not the standard by which all other countries are judged. Diff'rent strokes, diff'rent folks, people.

If a property is advertised for X in 2003, and no-one buys, the vendor is perfectly within their rights to ask 2X in 2004 if they wish. Like any property purchase, haggling is part of the deal - as is research. Before we had an offer accepted last month we asked around, looked up all the firms advertising and saw the same places for sale with several agents, sometimes for different prices; but so what? Caveat Emptor. There's nothing illegal about trying to sell your house for more money.

Example: there's a property currently on sale with Trgostan, Dalmatianvilla and a Czech agent called First Net. The price varies between €80-100,000. Back in London we spied an ad for an unspecified property that boasted a terrace, first row from the sea, sea view, ready to move into with a little work, etc, for £80,000 - no photos. We did some digging. It turned out this was the same place again - €40,000 more expensive this time!

Who was the agent? A BRITISH aquisition expert who wanted to charge us £1000 just to view it!

There's more.

We actually got curious and viewed this place through Dalmatianvilla.

It turned out to be a huge old mini-hotel that was NOT first row from the sea, had no sea view, and needed approx. €200,000 to restore to a habitable state! It was an amazing project, but out of our league.

The crucial point here is that DV warned us about its state in advance. Our friendly Brit had never LAID EYES ON IT despite having it advertised. We made a video to illustrate how careful the buyer must be. Ads don't tell the whole story, so never forget that.

So to sum up: always be careful. There are good agents, bad agents and sloppy agents from all corners of the earth. As a potential buyer, you have an obligation to protect yourself. Do your homework.

If a man in a pub sells you a car, it's up to you to make sure it isn't just a rusting dustbin with no engine. If you decide not to drive it, more fool you. On the other hand, if there's a nice, tidy motor for sale and the buyer thinks someone other than you will pay more for it in a year's time, that's their choice. There's no use whinging about it.

Croatia "wild west"? Rubbish. A fool and his money are soon parted, said Shakespeare. He might well have added the ignorant and the lazy; as in any such ventures, buyers only get back what they put in, and if that means you need to scour the internet, make pro-active calls, and even - ye gods - learn some Croatian so you can talk to the most knowledgable of all - locals - then that is what you should do.

[elsanddee]

Thanks Alice and Tom, at least we know we are not alone, as the agents lead us all to beleive.
We met a lovely agent in Pula three years ago, who will feature on a tv program soon. We always said, if they we could buy a property through them,we would love to. We have only been told about properties in our price bracket and that met our requirements. They are so professional and finally we have bought our dream house and a plot of land.

Istria does seem to have a better developed property market than the rest of Croatia, the agents are much more professional and don't charge for viewing and are mostly honest.

[PeterK]

Just curious... everyone is talking about Broker. Do they operate in Istria?

Elsanddee, I also like Istria. I would be intersted in messageing for information.

[Channel 4 TV Programme]

Dear All,

I wonder if you can help. I am working on an overseas property programme for Channel 4 in the UK (possibly the one that was mentioned on this forum) and I am looking for people to take part in the series, below is some more details about the program.

The series is about British people buying property abroad and how different it is to the UK system; the program is to be aired on Channel 4 in September. We (www.ricochetsouth.co.uk) are looking at the common problems that face people when buying all over Europe and farther a field. So far we are looking into Cyprus, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy and now Croatia. Our aim is to try and advise the wider audience of how to avoid certain issues such as difference in land laws, red tape, rogue business people, getting the deeds to the house, natural disasters, inheritance laws and huge unfinished renovation projects to name a few.

Each program looks at 6 different stories (different property problems) and each week we are able to help with one of the property problems. So far we have negotiated between troublesome neighbours, helped get planning permission for illegal extensions, project managed unsatisfactory building work and in one case we have helped a home owner in Spain to get a new apartment after theirs was destroyed due to a compulsory purchase order. Obviously we can not help all the stories but overall we aim just inform people of the common misconceptions and pitfall overseas property buyers face.

I would like to make it clear that our intention is to provide a useful guide to the wider audience; we do not intend to scaremonger or put people off moving abroad, just inform people of the common misconceptions and pitfalls before they buy and help those already in trouble.

Also please feel free to pass my details to anyone you think may help, I am, perhaps you could suggest a way I may find people or bars etc I could advertise. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Abi Fowora

0044 1273 648340

[elsanddee]

Hi peterK, we used home, www.home.hr/, just say ells and dee recomened you. We have also contacted genting and elf in the past. I know peter ellis has been mentioned on these pages and seems very reputable. It's funny no one ever complains about agents in Istria, but don't take my word for it, we had generally good experiences there.

[kg]

To Abi

I may be too late to speak with you about your programme being aired in September. However, I would certainly like to share my experiences of buying property in Croatia with you.

I can be contacted on the following email address

[e-mail]

Regards
Karen

[alsdoubles]

One could possibly assume that these 'tv' people are NOT. That would be the best way to think about them, I think.

[Nicola]

I anyone is buying through Beatum agent in Novigrad (and he told me there are a few English), email me 1st. He has let me down on some legalities and you may wish to be forewarned.

[LeoFish]

Alsdoubles said:

One could possibly assume that these 'tv' people are NOT. That would be the best way to think about them, I think.

trying to decifer your message with no apparent luck...