Hi Alsodoubles

[matt]

It's Matt again,


I was just wondering if you could expand on your comments added to my my thread re Property Guides..

You seem to have had experiences that I need to know about...

Many thanks

[alsdoubles]

I lose track of what, where and who. As I do spend more time watching this website than I used to do in the UK, (never), where I was selling buying, doing deals on the internet for a LONG time. 8 Years and more. That I have not found easy to do here. Croatia...Can we trust them? I think Croatia is not quite there yet.
What was the original question? I am living here, and boy, it's grey and wet right now, and cold. 6 months 0f grey is ahead. A bit grim that prospect. I could well go back to the UK to do deals, to finance the next six months here. This was NOT my original plan, but, you have to bend with the waves I think. All of thse things you donl't know. It's a costly learning process.

[matt]

Hello Alsodoubles,

I've cut & pasted your earlier reply to my request for information re Guides to Purchasing Croatia....

Propper book. Like that. Does it have a Government Health Warning on the cover? Something like...'People (other than Croats) attempting to buy property in Croatia, it can seriously damage your health.'
I bought. But my wife is a Croat. In theory I own NOTHING! She bought. Otherwise I just wouldn't go there. Great place though. But it is a country within a country. It all depends upon where you go to buy.

This reply, not suprisingly, required further invetigation by myself, as I am seriously considering investing in the Croatian property market!

Please note I am Englisi, living in England, with no Croatian connections. Could you put some bones on the above, I would really appreciate it?

Matt
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[alsdoubles]

Bones.
My wife is Croatian. For 15 years in the UK she tried to get here changed nationality back. When we came here she got it in a month. So she has THE CARD. The number.
I, as a UK citizen had nothing. 3 months. So you have to get EVERYTHING, even though you are married to a Croat. In fact, you are NOT married, in the Croat world. You need a Croat marriage certificate.
And it gets worse and more complicated. Loads of papers and translations of papers. And then, THEN, you get six months. After that you need to get it all again. New. What are these papers. Well, so many I can't really recall what they are/were. But I need them again. Can I be assed?
This is the problem for all those private outsiders thinking they can invest in Croatia....They just give up, and go...home?
But it may all change when the Eu comes and eats the place. And it looks like it will.

[matt]

Hello Alsodoubles,

Just to clarify...

1) 'The Card'- I take it that the card is an ID card?

2) 'The No'- I assume you mean National Insurance no-or Croatian equivalent?

3) Are you saying that you cannot own property in Croatia without the above?

Cheers

Matt

[alsdoubles]

I assume your wife is Croatian and therefore she has an ID card.
As a visitor I needed. Passport of course. Then, and everything has to be less than six months old. Marriage, birth certificates. Croatian marriage certificate. Evidence about my UK police record. Bank statements showing you are not 'borasic lint'. Reason for being here. Place of residence. Medical insurance (strangely I am now paying £28 in the UK (pension only), and £29 here.) But I am not working. This is 6 times more than I paid in the UK as a self employed person. And it all has to be in English & Croatian. And it all has to be stamped by a Notary at £8 a throw. Multiple copies. In Sibenik according to the visible record books, and the numbering system I reckon the Notary is making £40 grand a year from these fees alone. Not bad eh. Course the Croats need things notarising too. Croatia is 'chitty' hell.
I am not sure I've covered everything here. If I can think of anything else I'll post it.

As a UK visitor I could not buy the house, unless I applied to the Croatian Foreign Office, which takes a year. So my wife bought the house (1 week), the car. She doesn't drive. After six months I'm supposed to swap my UK licence for a Croatian licence. So we've bought a house, furnished it, and I like Croatia. Very relaxing, but now the weather has changed I see a long grey boring six months ahead. You drink a lot, watch satellite tv and eat juha. However my Croatian wife is disappointed in the place. She remembers it better when she was young. She misses England a very great deal. And I too do miss what I used to do in the UK for 35 years. Buy and sell antiques and prestige watches. As with cars everything is crazy money here. Used cars 3-5 times the UK price. Antiques 3-10 times the UK price. If you can find any. Prestige watches...Well, 10 quid watches are 60 quid here. Rolex...I'm not sure Croatia is ready for Rolex. And is the earning power here to feed all these stupid prices? No. And what if you import. Then you're slapped with import taxes and VAT when you sell. It's all a bit of mystey Croatia, like what makes the place tick?
Back to property, there is of course the 'business buyer' angle which I understand cuts through the buying experience. That I have not fully investigated. They'd probably tax you on it any way.
So, this is more information than you asked for, and, as you will imagine, from my point of view, it's a bit of a dilema.