Real Estate / A holiday home rental property in Poland - good investment? [11]

Not unless you think you will get good capital appreciation too.

Bubbawoo's point is correct. Add to that the difficulty in finding reliable tenants and the fact that courts are very slow if you want to kick someone out (and law is tenant-friendly).

Real Estate / Skierniewice - apartment complex value [7]

Rental income for the shops would probably be about 30 zloty per sqm per month.

I think you will struggle to shift it as one unit - the town is pretty grim and there are quite a few empty units in the middle of town already.

Also if you do find a developer for it then be prepared to demonstrate valid title to the building - this area of Poland is one where restitution claims for pre-war property are still an issue.

News / What do you think about what the Kaczynskis say about Germans ? [90]

I think the fact that Merkel was born in 1954 gives her quite a good alibi for involvement in the war

News / What do you think about what the Kaczynskis say about Germans ? [90]

More worrying to me is the foreign minister - they hardly ever let her outside, but last night she was on telly and she is weird.

she looks like she has just woken up, sounds like she is on opiates and says some amazing things - last night's 15 minute spot included accusing Luxembourg of being a German client state and saying that in German schools they should teach Polish, funded by the German taxpayer.

The Kaczynskis do indeed enjoy strong support but a look at the voting maps from the last election will show you who voted for them - the weak and the stupid who do what their priest tells them, plus some vindictive old people.

News / A thought on Poland! [140]

Tranh An you fool, I am British.

But I have lived in Poland for 7 years and lived in Germany for4 years so I have a unique perspective to tell you that you are talking nonsense.

News / Poland's Contribution to the E.U. [56]

Being honest PeterCpt, have you even in your parochial existance noticed some roads and some airports being built ? noticed some shiny new computers in your town hall ? noticed some nice new pavements ?

Have you noticed they started building them in 2004 ?

Who do you think is paying for it ?

News / A thought on Poland! [140]

Jesus Tran Anh, I like Brahms but apart from that I never read such a pile of crap in my life.

Its 2007

The War has finished 63 years ago. Germany started it and then lost. Since then they built some new factories, set up a democracy and quietly got on with making themselves rich. To stop fighting with their neigbours they decided to form the EU.

Is it really so complicated for a seemingly intelligent person to understand.

Real Estate / property in Lodz - anyone any experience [102]

No its not common to have no lift unless it is an old "kamienica" from before the war or something put up cheap in the 90s.

I think after 2001 there was a regulation that all buildings over 3 floors had to have a lift.

Remember that with no lift you can not rent to young families or old people, most richer middle aged people would prefer houses so you may be stuck with students.

Real Estate / Wilda area of Poznan - to buy or not to buy [5]

Extremely expensive for a crappy area. No parking around there either so unless it comes with parking I would question the value of it.

Law / Bank interest rates and deposits in Poland [14]

Its not secure - those are funds based on equity investments, mainly in Polish stock market. So last year they gave exceptional returns because the market did well

Life / Polish novels in English. [7]

There is a printing house called Central European Press that has very good translations of some Polish classics - I recommend the interwar novellas Wilko Girls and the Birch Grove by Iwaskiewicz (which might wind up the mentalists on this forum as I think he was later a commie), also Czeslaw Milosz - the Issa Valley is his best book, but the Captive Mind is quite interesting.

Still struggling with the trilogy myself - it doesnt translate easily - will try and finish it during my summer holidays though.

News / The legal definition of Vodka in EU - Poland not happy [16]

One thing that amazes me now is that if you go into a trendy bar or hotel bar in Warsaw, Poznan and Krakow and ask for a vodka tonic then often you get served Absolut, Finlandia or Smirnoff - lower quality than Polish vodka for higher price ! The great Polish vodkas are getting squeezed out of their own market - the ones that survived seem to be those in a fancy bottle like Chopin or Belvedere.

What happened to Zytnia ? or Pani Twardowska ? Luksusowa (my favorite) I still see occasionally but not often in big towns.

News / Poland's Growth Fastest in 10 Years [95]

Mmm, I sit on the board of companies in both Czech and Poland and I love both countries, but Zion speaks a lot of truth - the Polish need to look at the present and stop thinking Czech has some head start because it was part of the Hapsburg empire that split up in 1918.

Why is Czech a richer country than Poland now ?

1. It undoubtedly had less problems to fix in 1989.
2. The government is pro business - there is much less bureaucracy and they reformed the banks, legal and accounting systems very early.
3. Hiring someone is 15% cheaper but on minimum wage the worker gets 14% more in their pocket than a Polish worker.
4. The government is not ideal (in fact for most of the last year there wasnt a government) but there is nobody in there who is actually mad like Giertych or Lepper.

5. They fixed the roads, quickly and properly.
6. There is much less bureaucracy
7. It is easier to build something and investments are welcomed not treated with hostility and suspicion. Obviously the German's are the biggest investors but the Czech's take a realistic approach to this.

Life / Jaywalking in Poland ? [38]

You are not being petty but you are being thick.

It is obvious that a car going through a red light could cause more damage than a pedestrian. Stopping distance for a car going 50km is about 30m. Stopping distance for a pedstrian travelling 6km an hour is erm 1 metre.

Life / Jaywalking in Poland ? [38]

Yes I agree it's petty and illogical - but in that respect it is like the Policeman and besides it makes me feel better.

My first and preferred reaction would be to write to the local paper, but there isn't any Dziennik Kutnowskie or similar.

Life / Jaywalking in Poland ? [38]

But the fine for speeding is less than the fine for jaywalking. Plus I acknowledge that speeding is dangerous and it is regulated by signs that any foreigner can understand.

In Kutno I looked left and right, checked nothing was coming and crossed a road, just like my Mum taught me when I was a kid. Nobody was harmed.

Life / Jaywalking in Poland ? [38]

I got fined in Kutno for jaywalking - 250 zloty. I tried the old "ignorant foreigner" trick but this was not accepted so I said OK, I'll pay the fine expecting it to be about 20 zloty and was amazed when it was 250 - thats a weeks wages for the average citizen of Kutno.

At the time I was actually on the way to make an investment that would have given jobs to 6 Kutno people, but was so angry I never did it and even though I now have to visit Kutno maybe 5-6 times a year I have never spent a single grosze there - I will not eat, drink or take a leak while I am there.

Real Estate / property in Lodz - anyone any experience [102]

Thats fine Neil - its your money and your choice and I am interested how you get on, but sceptical about Lodz. It just does not have the potential of Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk since Poles do not consider it a desirable place to live.

But you need to consider fundamental economics and remember that only one bad investment can undo a lot of your good work in other countries.

Real Estate / Buying a flat in Poznan [7]

I would buy off plan, but prices are high relative to value. Also note re Friday's Gazeta Wyborcza that prices per sqm have levelled off in the last quarter.

At the high end there is quite a glut of properties and not many company's need to accomodate expats or temp workers any more, so you may end up renting to students. Figure on getting a maximum rent of about 2000 zloty for a high end place in the middle of town.

Real Estate / property in Lodz - anyone any experience [102]

But Lodz renters will not even be able to give you a yield on 6000 zloty per sqm. Average take home salary in Lodz is less than 2000 zloty, so rent levels are often less than 1000 zloty a month, leaving you with 300 months to cover the capital of a 50 sqm flat. Thats 24 years.

Alternatively your average Lodz citizen would need 15 months full wages to put down a deposit on a 50sqm flat at 6000 per sqm. And then a mortgage for 10,5x earnings.

Food for thought ?

As for the town, well yes there is a new shopping centre. Big whoop. Of course your friends see big changes but how that translates into 6000 zloty per sqm I have no idea.

Real Estate / Buying new buildings in Poland and price I was given [42]

avg after tax income in wroclaw is about 480 euro.

Real Estate / Buying new buildings in Poland and price I was given [42]

Not at all. The foreign investment is probably affecting Warsaw but nowhere else. I blame the Polish govt as the pricing is led by supply restrictions which are their fault.

I have 2 properties in Poland, bought in 2001 and 2 in Czech, but for me the value in Poland is now long gone, it costs up to 3 times more than Czech which is 25% richer and has a better stock of housing.

In Poland the rent to buy equation no longer makes sense (for instance you will be unable to rent 50sqm in suburban Wroclaw for more than 2000 zloty which means you need to rent it for 18 years to cover your capital, never mind interest, assuming you dont have to do any repairs or have any management costs).

The capital growth will also stop soon - the crack point will happen when deposits need to be say 70.000 or 80.000 zloty - that's beyond the reach even of the migrant workers, let alone locally based Poles.

You guys go ahead - its a free country, a market economy and every man for themselves, but I'm an accountant and I think you will catch a cold.

Real Estate / Buying new buildings in Poland and price I was given [42]

AM I the only person here who thinks that is an outrageous price for 50 sqm in Wroclaw ?

Life / Polish Literature-Czeslaw Milosz [11]

I have read 2 - I can recommend Milosz's alphabet. As a casual read, The Captive Mind seems dull and dated. Read in the political context of the 50s it is powerful though.