Real Estate / Apartment purchase in Poland [226]

If you are a foreigner looking for a mortgage in Poland, Fortis is the nr 1 bank at present, they have the best offer and application procedure.

My company can help you with a referral to Fortis or with submitting the application proper, we are based in Krakow but can deal with properties purchased anywhere in Poland.

Life / Non-smoking cafes in Krakow to use laptop plugged in [12]

Dynia is a great cafe on ul.Krupnicza which is totally smoke free, pretty sure they also have wireless internet.

Travel / Katowice bus service direct to Zakapane ? [5]

There is a daily bus which leaves from Zielona Gora and goes all the way to Zakopane.
It stops in Katowice (next to the train station, PKP) at 11.10am and arrives in Zakopane at 2.55pm. The cost is 28 zloty for this leg of the trip. (It does also stop in Krakow).

Info is form pks.katowice.pl

Real Estate / Poland property boom over???? [54]

I sell property in central Krakow. There is no doubt prices have stopped going up in Krakow in general. The average per m2 price is now around 7500 PLN for the entire city and suburbs, though in the centre you can pay anywhere from 10000-20000 PLN/m2. Prices in the last six months have been fairly static. We have seen lots of developers trying to sell apartments (often renovation projects) at prices in the region of 15000-20000 PLN/m2, but to be honest, I don't believe many have been sold at this level. This was too high (for all but the best/most exclusive of developments) and most investors aren't stupid. In the range of 11000-14000 PLN/m2 there are some good offers currently. This is not cheap, but then again, the old town and surrounding areas in Krakow are not big and there is only a finite supply - the suburbs are a different story. Most people will be willing to pay a premium for an apartment in a building which has been entirely renovated and doesn't have potential problems with installations/roof etc or with neighbour feuds. I agree with Property Secrets, who predict that prices in Poland will be stable for the next year or two (though rents will be increasing), with the second round of capital growth (10-20% per year) starting again in 2010. If you get a nice apartment in a nice location for a reasonable price, you will still make money in the longer term. Poland is still in the early days of it's development/growth phase and wages are growing at 10% per annum.

Life / Banks in Poland - Any good recommendations [30]

I am very happy with Citibank Handlowy. Their internet banking in English works well. If I need to call their call centre, there is always an English speaker on the other end of the line. When I visit the branch, there is very rarely a queue. Charges are not too bad.

Real Estate / Skierniewice - apartment complex value [7]

It would be very easy to sell individual units, as each time you sell you would also sell the new owner the equivalent share (eg 50/390) of the common parts of the building and the land it all sits on.

Food / Polish Kabanos - "KABANOSY PSZCZYNSKIE" what are these? [8]

Pszczyna is a very pretty town in Sląsk, spent a great weekend there a few years ago. Aren't 'kabanosy' sometimes made from horse meat in Poland?

Real Estate / Do most Polish people rent their homes or do they have a mortgage??? [15]

Hi No 14, in response to your question, I am Australian and have lived in Krakow for 4.5 years. I do work in property here, but not in Gdansk. I too still rent in Krakow, but hopefully only for another year. Two years ago, together with some friends, I bought a loft in Krakow. We have been stuck in planning and neighbour disputes since buying it, but now looking likely that we will be able to build in spring 2008, so fingers crossed I will soon be living in my own apartment in Krakow soon!

Food / No Bagels in Poland (even though they were invented in Krakow :/ [11]

you can get bagels at a place called 'bagelmama' in kazimierz, the jewish district of krakow. very tasty ones too!

Real Estate / Do most Polish people rent their homes or do they have a mortgage??? [15]

A 50m2 1-bedroom apartment is pretty much the most popular size for a Polish apartment and should rent easily...depending, of course, on all the usual factors (condition, location etc).

According to a recent report from szybko.pl, a Polish property portal, the average rent in Gdansk for a one-bedroom apartment in the third quarter of 2007 is 1439 zloty, up 34% since the start of 2006

Travel / Krakow Hotel/Apt Suggestions [11]

we have lots of nice apartments to rent to tourists on a short-term basis,
krakow-apartments.biz

Law / Temporary residence card to obtain a mortgage in Poland? [17]

Regarding Open Finance, from what I have heard they push pretty much all foreign applicants in the direction of Noble Bank, to whom they are affiliated (same ownership I think). Noble Bank do not have very competitive interest rates and their fees/commissions are also high.

My business, Poland Mortgage Direct, uses some of the major banks - BZWBK, Deutsche, Millennium, Fortis to name a few - these mortgage offers, should the applicant qualify, are very competitive and the same as what a Polish applicant should get (though LTV max is usually 80-90% for foreigners).

Real Estate / Deals available from Polish property developers [40]

Self-employed foreign applicants are still difficult to get mortgages for with most banks.
At the end of the day, it is also up to the applicant to be pro-active and provide the documents we/the bank requires.
There are 'banks' (and I use the term loosely) such as Noble and Dom who will seemingly loan to anyone (including asset based applications with Noble), but you will pay through the nose with very high bank margins and lots of hidden fees. There is a point at which getting the mortgage is not really worth it because of the high fees.

Real Estate / Deals available from Polish property developers [40]

I can't comment on Warsaw, but in Krakow I have seen developer's reducing prices and offering discounts in the past few months. The reality is that the 'golden times' which developer's experienced during the last 5 years (and since EU accession particularly) are over. There is twice as much supply in the Krakow new-build market as this time last year, and less foreign buyers. The developers have to be more accommodating in order to make sales, which is ultimately good for buyers who can now actually negotiate rather than being dictated terms.

At the right price and in the right location, off-plan apartments are still selling like hotcakes to the Polish market. I am marketing a development in Bielsko Biala which is priced at 4350 PLN per m2 (inc VAT) and more than 40 out of 70 apartments have sold in the first six weeks of sales.

On another point, we also do mortgages for foreign investors from our base in Krakow. Our company is called Poland Mortgage Direct, and I have a full-time English speaking Polish staff member who is helping arrange mortgages for anywhere in Poland with six different banks currently. We only deal with competitive banks (bank margins max 1.75%) and it is slowly getting easier to obtain finance for foreigners, though we don't claim to be able to help everyone.

Andy

Real Estate / "Forma własności: hipoteczne" - why is this on a property schedule? [22]

In terms of ownership in Poland, "hipoteczne" has nothing to do with the owner's financial arrangements, despite it also being the word in Polish for mortgage.

It is actually one of the forms of ownership for an apartment in Poland. Other forms are
"spółdzielczo-własnościowe" or just simply"własnościowe".
I am not going to go into the different forms of ownership here as I am not 100% sure of my facts, however my understanding is that for a foreigner, a "hipoteczne" apartment is the best (only?) one to go for, as the apartment itself has its own "ksiega wieczysta" or ownership deed. This separates it from the rest of the building (and also gives it a % share of the commonly owned areas of the building and land). Other forms of ownership (mainly for older style block flats) don't specify that you actually own the apartment you are buying, but more a share of the building/land.

*Note - if the seller does have a mortgage over the property they are selling, this will be picked up by the notary who draws up the contract, as it will appear on the "ksiega wieczysta" (which they have to check). It would then be a part of the sale that the mortgage is cleared so that the new owner buys the apartment which is free of any debt.

Language / What is the most annoying thing about non-native Polish speakers? [90]

sometimes I do!

Language / What is the most annoying thing about non-native Polish speakers? [90]

I will tell you what really annoys me living in Krakow. It's when I go into a shop/cafe/bar and ask for something in my passable Polish and I get the reply in English. I guess this is more likely to happen in Krakow because of the number of tourists, but I live here and I want to fit in! I guess it is because I don't look Polish, and perhaps they want to show that they speak English, but by the same token it is really annoying.

Life / What type and brand of cars do Polish people like? [51]

for some reason BMW's have a bad rep in Poland...associated with gangsters and drug dealers. I guess they get stolen more often for that reason..

Travel / Health Tourism in Poland [17]

After more than 4 years in Poland, I finally decided to visit a Polish dentist last week, and I was more than pleased with all aspects of the visit. More than an hour of work (mainly cleaning) set me back a reasonable 200zl. Everything was state of the art and the dentist spoke good English. I went to Vita Medical in Krakow.

News / Is The Warsaw Voice in British or American English? [39]

I would like to add my two bobs worth to this discussion...
Every day, I receive the daily news email from the Warsaw Voice with links to their articles (and sometimes articles about Poland from external news sources).

As I live and work in Poland, I find it very useful to keep up to date with what is happening in the country in English, as my still poor Polish means I am otherwise limited to reading headlines in newspapers and hearing from colleagues/friends about what is happening. Admittedly, I have never actually bought the paper. But the daily email is a really useful source of Polish news.