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Post by Barba Jere on Jan 31, 2005 22:50:17 GMT 1
from TV show Latinica today
My heritage I would sell rather to cro citisen 79%
To foreign citisen 21%
One of the biggest fears of Croats
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Post by Sasha1 on Jan 31, 2005 23:20:25 GMT 1
Being a Croat, I am ashamed of how some of my countrymen are stupid (I also watched this TV programme). Instead of selling it at the best price, they would prefer to sell to another Croat and lose maybe up to 30% of the property value. Yuck!
On a second thought possibly the TV poll was manipulated: my fellow Croats are maybe naive, but not stupid.
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Post by MajaT on Jan 31, 2005 23:34:30 GMT 1
What are you trying to tell Barba? That Croats are the only people who do not care about money?
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Post by EMIZ on Feb 1, 2005 3:09:41 GMT 1
Sasha is obviously a wise man, this is entirely due to one huge problem especially with the other 40's.
NATIONALISM.
But when the nation was built on the back of it, not so long ago, it comes as no surprise.
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Post by LoveU2 on Feb 1, 2005 12:01:09 GMT 1
Would you call Australians nationalists..... It was not to many years back, when Australians put a stop to asian investors in Real Estate... I think any country feels the same way, when a country is taken over by foreign investors. It makes people feel uncomfortable.... This is not just a Croatian thing. I believe L.A. California also had the same problem with Japan buying up downtown property and california wanted to limit Japanese investment. All countries have feelings of discomfort with foreigners and foreign investment.... I guess even some countries go the disgusting distance to get rid of foreigners (genocide) I know that is extreme but it happens. Don't you think that it is nationalist when a country won't grant citizenship to someone that has lived in their country for the majority of their life. Austrians are like that... you can't have citizenship even if you have lived in Austria since you were a child and are now 70 years old... to bad no citizenship.... Would you call that nationalist....  LoveU2 |
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Post by FranchiseCroatia on Feb 1, 2005 13:26:16 GMT 1
I also watched the program last night. Overall, the biggest problem I think is a mix of nationalism and jealousy. Foreign investors come and build apartments, houses, etc., and make a good profit on their investments. It's not to say that Croatians don't do the same thing. Obviously they sell the properties to foreign nationals because there is great demand (price premium) in this market. There is some demand locally, but not as strong. The market is small locally, but improving slowly.
All too often I read or hear stories about how a foreigner has bought something here and built something and made a good profit on the project. Yes there are Croatians doing the same thing, but all too often they don't respect the laws and planning permits and construct something entirely different in which case the government in recent times has come down hard on these constructions. And if Croatians are stupid enough to purchase apartments that have no titles/paperwork and the government decides to demolish the building then it's their problem for not asking the right questions when they made final payment for the property.
In the tv poll, I'm sure that at least 50% of the voters would sell their properties to whoever nocked on their doors, but in most cases, they are not in a position to have property to sell, and hence they are against foreign investors purely on the basis of jealousy.
Another issue that comes to mind is foreign investors investing companies here. The real view here is "come here and invest your money, but we will tell you how to invest it and we'll keep the majority of profits". Whether my fellow Croatians want to admit it or not, this country operates a communist capitalism system, and alot of people are prone to be jealous if a foreigner makes a hefty profit on their investment except them.
In Australia, I recall when I lived there that alot of australian disliked asians emigrating to Australia. In the 70's & 80's, australians were against the europeans because they emigrated in large numbers to Australia. The view was that these europeans were taking away Australian jobs. In the 90's and onwards, Australians began to accept Europeans as new Australians so the hatred began to die down, then the majority of emigrants coming to Australia were asians and the hatred began to resurface but only this time the Australians were joined by the Europeans. Suddenly suburbs were entirely taken over by the new asian emigrants and the hatred began to get worse. These asian emigrants were from Vietnam and Cambodia, although the property investors were mainly from Japan and they were buying property in large numbers in Queensland. When the asian financial crisis hit asia, many of these investors sold off their properties, but obviously some did hold onto their property portfolios.
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Post by Culchie on Feb 1, 2005 13:43:19 GMT 1
How are the banks now?
What are their mortgage rates to Croats, and what criteria do they insist on to determine how much a Croat can borrow.
It is in this area that lies the key to the development and kickstart of the local economy.....
low interest rate/reasonable qualifying criteria = cheap money = Capital Spend (inc property) = Jobs = Money = Investment/Consumer Spend = happy days !
I'd be interested in hearing about the banks.
EMIZ ... look forward to your feedback !
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Post by FranchiseCroatia on Feb 1, 2005 14:07:45 GMT 1
Interest rates here in Croatia are roughly between 6-8%, similar to other european countries. The problem lies with people earning low incomes which tends to limit their borrowing power, add on top of that credit cards that nearly everyone has and it limits your borrowing power even more. Within the past few years, people have bought new cars on loans and the borrowing power gets even less.
As Croatia progresses its modernisation, a Credit referance agency with begin operations sometime in 2005 and it will remove the need for borrowers to have a guarantor. Although some banks have removed the need for a minimum of one guarantor, the majority of banks insist on you finding a guarantor.
BUT......
If a local was to invest in the tourism sector by way of apartments, auto camp sites, or restore a historic or existing building for accomodation, the government has a credit program in place with low interest rates (roughly 3-4%) with repayment period deferred one year. In the past, you had to apply directly to the banks that had joined the program, and many if not all the banks rejected the applications on the basis that the application was not fully completed or the banks would push their own (more expensive) loan products. The general condition for getting this government loan was that it was only to be used on land that you already own, meaning you could not purchase land with these funds.
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Post by alsdoubles on Feb 2, 2005 0:26:09 GMT 1
As Croatia progresses its modernisation,. I have seen NONE. No modernisation whatever. The Stalinist communist system still is`credibly hostile to aliens. Tell it like it is, please. This country 'may' be going somewhere, one day. But it's way down the line. How far down the line? Questionable. They are working to EU membership? Probably. Don't hold your breath. There are still a million proerties for sale, for peanuts, IF you can actually BUY them. But you can't. So, what's the point? |
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Post by LoveU2 on Feb 2, 2005 10:11:24 GMT 1
. There are still a million proerties for sale, for peanuts, IF you can actually BUY them. But you can't. So, what's the point? What do you consider peanuts? $200,000 usd for an old 2 bedroom stone house....You think that is peanuts? Please let me know what you $$$ consider peanuts? I would like to know where all these homes are for peanuts?  |
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Post by LoveU2 on Feb 2, 2005 10:30:56 GMT 1
Interest rates here in Croatia are roughly between 6-8%, similar to other european countries. The problem lies with people earning low incomes which tends to limit their borrowing power, add on top of that credit cards that nearly everyone has and it limits your borrowing power even more. Within the past few years, people have bought new cars on loans and the borrowing power gets even less. As Croatia progresses its modernisation, a Credit referance agency with begin operations sometime in 2005 and it will remove the need for borrowers to have a guarantor. Although some banks have removed the need for a minimum of one guarantor, the majority of banks insist on you finding a guarantor. BUT...... If a local was to invest in the tourism sector by way of apartments, auto camp sites, or restore a historic or existing building for accomodation, the government has a credit program in place with low interest rates (roughly 3-4%) with repayment period deferred one year. In the past, you had to apply directly to the banks that had joined the program, and many if not all the banks rejected the applications on the basis that the application was not fully completed or the banks would push their own (more expensive) loan products. The general condition for getting this government loan was that it was only to be used on land that you already own, meaning you could not purchase land with these funds. Croatia definetly needs to loosen her purse strings. That probably would get the economy going but also you can lower the interest rates all you want but if the earning ratio is so screwed to what living costs are... you are going no where! Also if you don't limit foreign investment, you are going to have Croatians that are going to be living like 2nd class citizens in their own Country... Croatian are going to be working for rich foreigners....Take a look at mexico and the tourist spots... for example Cabo San Lucas... foreign owned investment property... rich foreign owners and poor Mexican people working for the rich... for peanuts... They only thing they own are their Maid outfits and chef hats and a few cabana boy bikini's. This is a shame... you would think that these people would be benefiting from the profits of all this tourism... No there not benefiting, they are being exploited! The same thing can happen to Croatia, very easily!!!! Croatian people really need to come together and fix the government. Then next is get their lazy behinds up and do something for themselves and their neighbors, they need to get more involved in their own communitys and think of ways that they can get tourist to their towns... not just the favorite spots like Dubrov and Zadar, Split....they sell themselves. The little places need to find ways to earn. Right now Croatia has incentives to start farms... I don't think anyone is really taking these incentives seriously... and why not? Does anyone have any idea's that would help Croatia's economy that does not involve foreign investment? I have a few. Why not steal work from India. Why not set up Croatia to take work from oversea's companies like india does. Here in America when a person calls into a company maybe to get advice or service... they send the calls to India and indian citizens help you out on the phone not americans. India works much cheaper than America that is why all these companies are outsourcing these simple jobs but the pay is still better than what is made in alot of countries. Croatians could be taking advantage of this situtation right now... Croatian Government should be courting big companies for these jobs for croatians. |
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raj
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Post by raj on Feb 2, 2005 16:09:36 GMT 1
Look at it from the Croatians perspective. Many need money now, their only asset is their land they have that was passed down from generation to generation, never sold. They sell now for whatever reason. Prices keep rising, Croatia joins the EU, Prices keep on rising. By that time the money they got for their land is probably spent. When all the western baby boomers have bought their plots, the property market stabilises and many of the good locations will be owned by foreign citizens - as we can afford to buy their properties now and they cant afford to hang on to them. We keep buying - they keep selling.
Much of the property is being sold for way under what it would sell for if it was in our own country. Here a good location on the water costs at least 1000 Euro sqm.
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Post by alsdoubles on Feb 9, 2005 0:50:28 GMT 1
Here a good location on the water costs at least 1000 Euro sqm. Rubbish. They are asking it, but the hell they will get it. I'll sell you mine, tomorrow. You can spit in the sea in two directions. And it's whole lot better than when I bought it. I worked hard on it. People are asking E1000 psm, but they will only get it from mugs. Outsiders. Who find it bloody hard to buy anyway. So, Croats WILL sell, to anyone, if they can 'swim the channel' on the proceeds (an English term for a cracking deal). No shame in that. If you can get a good price, go for it. That's the name of the game, selling. Find a 'victim' and sell. That's trading all over the world. Depends on what you're selling and many factors |
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Post by Ribaric on Feb 9, 2005 16:14:36 GMT 1
Hi, Can I get you to expand a bit on this please? I know of plenty of cheap property here in Medjimurje but there would seem to be a catch?
Appreciate your help. Rib.
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raj
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Post by raj on Feb 11, 2005 16:56:33 GMT 1
'Here' for me is oz not uk.
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