News / What kind of Poland do most Poles want? [101]

And yes Polonius - I'd agree with the countries you listed. Poland has traditionally held a very strong relationship with Italy (due to Catholicism) and Hungary. Also, let's not forget Lithuania. In modern Poland I'd say relationships are best between the Visegard 4 nations.

Many Poles don't like Ukrainians but tolerate them. Poles are most fearful of Russians, Albanians, Turks, Romanis (Gyspies), and Muslims in general.

Relationships with Germany and Austria are improving although many older Poles are still wary of these nations due to the partitions and world wars. Older Poles are also suspicious of Western European nations like England and France for their lack of help during WW2 and many younger/middle aged Poles are becoming more euro-skeptic as they feel Poland has given up too much sovereignty by joining the EU. They feel that Merkel and Brussels call the shots and Tusk is her lapdog. Poland has become increasingly critical of the United States as well although most continue to view the US as a military ally. However, I highly doubt the US would do much to help Poland if Russia happen to invade.

For a while Poles also did not like the Swedes due to the Potop Szwedzski. I personally supported Serbia during the Nato invasion but I don't know what the overall opinion of Serbia is. I'd imagine that Poles are weary of Serbia since it has been Russia's little buddy throughout history but don't have as much fear of it as they do Russia itself.

USA, Canada / Any Poles in Texas! [61]

I've thought about it as Texas is a very conservative state. If I were going to move to another state in the US I'd definitely go for like Texas or Arizona or something that region. However, I've never been there so I'd have to at least vacation there first. That would be ideal though like I definitely want to go to Poland to eventually get married and raise a family. I don't want to do that in the US - married perhaps but not raise kids. I'd prefer to marry a Polish girl that's lived in Poland most of her life than the Polish girls that are here in the states. Of course this is generalizing, but the Polish ladies in the US have far different morals and approach to life than the ladies I've met in Poland. I'd like to live in a state where the wages are relatively high but housing cheap since I want to save as much money as possible to take with me to Poland. In Illinois it's ridiculous. On top of already expensive housing, the property taxes are ludicrous. This is why so many people and businesses are moving into Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. It makes sense for a business to relocate 30 miles north or east because they're going to save a fortune on property taxes alone. Rahm Emmanuel increased them 17% this year (for homes/business worth over $250k but lowered it for those under $250k) so like for example the Ford manufacturing plant here in Chicago will pay an extra $2 million a year now. A small hot dog fast food restaurant will on average pay about $10k more. Keep in mind even before this they were already ridiculously high. A friend of mine is an architect and lives in Skokie in maybe a 1,700 sq ft house or so, worth maybe $250-$275k, $300k tops, and he pays $9,900 a year which will be increased by a further 17% now. Lunacy...

I have lived in Cincinnati, OH, northern Kentucky (essentially the same as Cincinnati but more rednecks), southern Wisconsin, and Chicago/Chicago suburbs. I also use to live in Delray Beach, Florida which is a bit north of Fort lauderdale (about 20-30 minutes) and Miamia (about 45mins-1hour) so I'd drive through Atlanta whenever I had to drive to Chicago and back. I didn't like Florida all that much aside from the weather and that it was very easy to find a job at least for me. However, I must say I really like Atlanta when I drove through it in the sense that I found it a pretty city, very nice highways, little traffic, and I found out the homes were very cheap. A 3,500 square foot home in a nice area could be purchased for $400k-$500k depending on siding/brick, quality of materials, age of home, etc. However, the same sized home in a nice suburb in Chicago would go for at least $600k-$700k and if it's remodeled with a nice yard you're looking at $900k plus.

I like southern Wisconsin a lot too but there was very few good paying jobs and I had to commute over an hour to work. I loved the nature though - the outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, boating, offroading, etc. was better than any other place I lived.

Cincinnati and northern Kentucky was the worst place I lived in in terms of quality of life. The housing was very cheap but there was lots of crime. Students from my university would get robbed all the time like walking to the convenience store since it was in a bad neighborhood. The locals would often pretend to be students, crash parties, and walk away with some students' Xbox. Also, there was nothing to do! The bars and clubs all closed down at 2 AM, downtown Cincinnati was a ghost town after 8-9PM on the week days, and there was prostitutes and crackheads galore on like every corner in downtown. It was like a huge ghetto until you get about 20 minutes outside of the city and into neighborhoods like Madeira, Indian Hills, Kenwood, etc. The downtown is actually very pretty especially driving across the bridge from KY into Cinci but it is very dangerous.

By the way, I stumbled across this article:

Divorced husband that wants to have sex with your ex wife? No problem under Islam!

frontpagemag.com/point/216697/maldives-president-rejects-law-banning-husbands-daniel-greenfield

"With the exception of forbidden forms of sexual intercourse, such as during menstrual periods and anal intercourse, it is not permissible under any circumstance for a woman to refrain from it when the husband is in need," Latheef said.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

It depends on the type of product/service, industry, market, type of sales job, etc. The job I have now I have a significantly higher base salary than my last job but overall my earnings are a bit lower since the commission structure isn't as good. However, my commission gets taxed at 37% while salary is taxed quite a bit less and I don't have to pay for my insurance at this job at all, plus it's a 8 minute drive from my house so it comes out about the same in the long run. 3k Zloty netto would be livable but it'd be hard for the first few months till I got a book of business going and learned the sales cycle because at every company it's different even if they're selling similar products or services. I've looked into some sales jobs in Poland but there were only two that seemed serious about hiring me. A lot of the companies don't advertise the salary on the job posting like they do in the US so after spending a bunch of time filling out an application, sending emails, etc. they'd finally tell me the salary and it was super low. I know I would kill it since I've worked in sales ever since college and that's all I've worked in since graduating. I love it because it's a chase and I'm good at it.

Yeah some people get into sales because even the base salaries are oftentimes higher than other positions in marketing, advertising, HR, etc. and with the commission added on it's like you're earning double. However, it's a very sink or swim type of job. Some people can't handle talking to a stranger let alone trying to sell them something - especially over the phone. A lot of people take rejection way too seriously too. Even worse, a lot of people come into sales just to do the bare minimum and collect their base salary because it's oftentimes better than what their last job offered them.

In the US the salaries and total compensation for sales reps are all over the place. For an entry level B2B sales person right out of college, they might get a salary of $30k-$40k a year and make another $20k to even as high as $50k with commission. Real estate agents typically have no salary and can make anywhere from $0 to $100k plus a year in commission. A good corporate B2B sales person will make more commission than their base salary. A pharma or med device rep which usually takes 4-6 years of B2B experience/2+ years medical industry to obtain will see salaries of $50k (small company) to as high as $90k for the elite pharma companies like GSK and Abbott with a commission of $30k - $150k. Average base for pharma and med device is usually $60-$75k with pharma making a bit higher base but less commission and med device making less base but far more commission and ultimately a higher overall income. The sales managers typically see no less than $150k to as high as $250k total compensation. Also, B2C tends to make a bit less than B2B. A sales rep at an insurance agency like State Farm might make like $25k-$35k a year with maybe another $10-$15k a year in commission if they're lucky. Retail store managers that get a percent off their products sold don't fare too well either - usually around $40k total compensation like with Menard's.

I usually stick to sales jobs in the medical industry or technology since they seem to be where the high salary, high commission jobs are.


Do you mean like Polish companies that are looking to sell in English markets or more Western companies with an office in Poland but perhaps still selling to English markets?

News / Amber Gold and other Poland's suspicious institutions [139]

As a former commodity broker I can tell you that if anyone 'guarantees' returns of over 8% to be highly highly suspect..

You can absolutely make returns of 8%, 10%, even 100%+ on an investment - it all depends on the type of security, the volatility, when you bought it and sold it, were you leveraged, etc.

I have made over 10% on certain investments like silver and off BoA stocks - but that was more just timing. I made around 25% ROI in 2014 off a mutual fund I held with with State Farm that was a basket of US small cap firms. That was rare though and investing in small caps is risky even if it's a mutual fund although at least that mitigates a lot of the risk as opposed to investing in individual small caps. This was a small part of a balanced portfolio that happened to do well and if I lost on it, it wouldn't of been a huge deal. However, since I only had about $3-$4k in this fund, the profits after the fees and taxes were only a couple hundred anyway.

It's important to be balanced and know how much risk you can live with and how much loss you can afford before you invest.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

Yeah that seems about right. I was looking into pharma sales in PL and the salaries were in the 4k-4.5k range brutto so 3k netto seems about right. I definitely want to stay in sales because the commission was great. My first job right out of college was actually working for a medical corporation (S&P 500) doing B2B sales. I worked there for 3 years and I'd still be there but they kept changing the commission structure till eventually it just wasn't worth my time. It was messed up because even though I was selling more and had more experience in my 2nd/3rd year, I was making less than I was within my first like 1- 1 1/2 years. You'd think you'd make more money as you gain experience and make more sales but the opposite happened so I left. It was still a good paying job - I was making $70k-$80k a year (combined salary, commission, bonuses, benefits) where my friends were working at electronic stores for $12 an hour, real estate for straight commission and no benefits, and the luckier ones found something around $40-$42k a year.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

Thanks Delph for finding out to me. That's good to know. What kind of business would this be in and also is it B2B or B2C type of sales? I would love to go to move to Poland but I feel it'll have to be once I finish my MBA or if I'm lucky and find an international company that is like desperate to send someone there and offers a comp package similar to that in the US. The total package is actually pretty nice but 3k zloty base salary net is like $200 a week. When I compared that to 2014 Eurostat data I was actually surprised to find that 36.4k Zloty net is what a family with 2 kids brings is so actually this kind of salary for 1 person is pretty damn good. I guess my expectations are just too high at the moment = / I just don't know how I'd live off $200 a week haha. It's hard for me not to spent at least $200-$300 on a weekend night out let alone during a whole week. I guess maybe I'd live off savings till I made a book of business and gradually started making like $1k plus a week. You never know what life holds.. I got offered $100k to move to Angola from a previous employer but I declined haha

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

I wish Porky. I just spent two months in Wroclaw dealing with the property issues I've been having. I'll be going back in the summer/fall though. Thanks for the offer though!

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]

Yose I'll trade you my 2 story on 1.3 hectars with 'hotel possibilities' as the agent called it for your villa XD

I do like it though very quality work. You got a good price on the roof considering the size. What kind of heating do you have in there? Is it a modern one or does it run on the old school kaloryfery? I personally preferred the old cast iron column radiators but they're very rare in the US unless the home is old and hasn't been remodeled.

I can't wait till I can build my dream house in Poland. At least the property taxes won't kill you. If you had that house in Crook County you'd be paying $25k+ a year or even as high as $90k if it was near the lake.

Also, did you have to get any special permits or anything to remodel? I know some places are sticklers about what you can and can't do to historic homes.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

I treat construction more as a hobby and side job. My dad is a contractor by trade (was a jeweler under communism) but got into remodeling and flipping houses once we moved to the us. He taught me the trade since I was a preteen but it's not something I'd want to focus my career on. I'm more the corporate sales manager, especially business to business, type.

Yeah 8k zloty a month wouldn't be too bad but it just seems like so little money as a lot of things cost as much or even more than in the US - like electronics, cars, gas etc. but at least rent and food seems to be a bit cheaper. If I could get a job that paid me in USD in the range of even $35k-$40k a year I'd definitely move. I think I may have to wait till I finish an MBA before that happens though. The 30k EU a year job I'd sooner take than the google one because the commission potential was much higher. It involves selling leases for cargo ships and tankers as well as the ships themselves. I do know people that do something similar but with trucking and although they make a pretty small salary like around $40k with their commission they're at the high 5 figure low 6 figure range. Money isn't the end all to be all but I'd like to maintain a lifestyle where if I moved to Poland I could afford a nice small flat, a car, buying nice suits, and travelling. I think with at least $40k USD I could live comfortably in Poland and put aside a little money for retirement. Before this tragedy with my house in Poland, I wouldn't of had to rent - just remodel the place which I could've done most the work myself.

Ultimately, I'd probably want t open up my own business in Poland in due time but I'd like to at least have a full time job for 1-2 years so I can learn the laws, customs, taxes, bureaucracy, come up with a SWOT analysis, etc.

One business I was thinking about opening that I think would be very good in Poland is a pawn shop in a major city. I haven't really seen one around yet. I did post here earlier that prior to the current exchange rate, my friend was shipping Jordans and Rolex's from the US to Poland and couldn't fill orders fast enough. Now it's completely stalled out though - the Jordans still sell but not so much the watches.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

Merged: Average sales salaries in Poland

Hello,

I wanted to ask the members what they know about sales positions in Poland and their relative earnings. I am interested in mostly Sales Representative, Sales Manager, and Sales Director/Vice President. I'm interested in both the base salary as well as what like the total package would be (bonuses, commissions, etc.) Of course this will vary from company to company and region to region - I'm just interested in an average ballpark figure for the larger cities - Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Wroclaw.

I'd love to also hear any personal experiences of people living in Poland, either now or in the past, that were employed in sales, finance, or marketing.

The only real experience I have is from some info I got from Hays/Hayes (forget the exact name) and two offers that I got around 1.5 years ago - 2k USD + commission working as a sales rep for Google in Wroclaw and 30,0000 Euro + commission as a sales manager for a British shipping company in Gdansk (forgot the name).

Any info would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Law / Can an unpayed electricity bill in Poland be a problem for visa? [2]

I doubt it - if anything it might affect your credit as not paying utility bills are the worst thing you can do for your credit. Losing your visa over it though? Highly unlikely.. You'll lose a visa if you commit a serious crime or do something that the government isn't fond of but not paying an electric bill, you should be fine I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]


That's a great price!!! How many square meters (or square feet is it) is the actual house? I can't wait to buy a home and move back to Poland.. As someome who's been helping my dad remodel homes since like 10-12 years old, I can tell you that I am very very impressed. One of my hobbies is remodeling homes like I really enjoy it. I don't really get to work with my hands as a career but I love it and I'll even go like paint my girlfriend's deck or something for fun on a Saturday afternoon.

I'm kind of obsessed with home remodeling and just like looking at homes in general. Houses are built so much better in Europe than in the US. Here they're built so cheaply and they're so weak - no wonder entire towns get destroyed by tornados. During high school and college I ran a business where I would go to tile stores and buy their broken granite, marble, and stone tiles - sometimes I'd get them for free if they were nice as they'd usually get thrown out anyway but if not $20-$30 for all the broken unusable tiles would usually do the job. I would then cut them into small squares and triangles, about 1-2 inches in length/width, put them on a plastic net and glue the tiles to the plastic.That's how I'd make mosaics out of them. For about $0-$30 in tiles, $20 worth of tile glue, 1 day of work (for a 1 meter/3 foot circumference mosaic - average size) I would then sell my mosaics from $600 and up. The largest mosaic I made was nearly 8 feet in circumference. By comparison, in a retail store they go for around $800-$1.2k (depending on style and materials) for a 3 foot circumference one and mine were way nicer plus I could make any color combination, design, shape and size that a person wants. At my height I was doing this for about 20-25 hours a week and making a very nice profit as I had hardly any material costs - it was all labor. It got to the point where some of the same tile stores that I'd get my broken tiles from were offering to buy my designs if I could lower the prices a little. I'd still be doing it but alas school and a full time office job gets in the way. Cutting tiles in your garage won't exactly help you a whole lot in climbing corporate ladders.

I'll post some pics of the home I live in now - I did all the remodeling myself and I also have one of these mosaics on the floor as you walk in.

You could totally turn that into a business or even rent it out. There's several websites where people rent out their homes for like vacationers or even travelling businesspeople. Weddings, bachelor/bachelorette, or even corporate retreats would be a good idea. Or you could become a cult leader and get a bunch of people to give you their assets and live in that house lol. That place really has a lot of potential. As someone who is familiar with remodeling and residential construction, I can tell you put a lot of time and money into that place. The work is very high quality and come out very nice. Sometimes people buy expensive materials but the project comes out looking very cold, overly minimalistic, and not cozy at all. Your place looks awesome! I especially love the wooden staircase, arched doorways, and the moldings. The only thing I'd personally change is the tiles to a more contrasting color but that's just personal choice but the color and style you have is at least very neutral and easy to match.

Also.. what is this whole people hiding in the bushes thing I keep hearing about on PF lol? Also, if you don't mind asking how does the labor costs for like a contractor, painter, etc. compare to the US, UK or the West.

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]

that's beautiful reminds me of the old 'dworki' but even nicer because it looks like you really remodeled it - very nice. i especially love that tower it almost looks like a lighthouse at the very top. that's an awesome house. nice place man.

USA, Canada / Is there anyone in the US who has a Maluch that is legal to be driven? [13]

I remember seeing a maluch during the parade in Chicago - don't remember the year or the color but there is always at least 1 in the parade every year. Belmont street is like the polish street in Chicago - it gets wild on May 3.

USA, Canada / Is there anyone in the US who has a Maluch that is legal to be driven? [13]

Hahaha unfortunately we don't have it anymore. I loved that car - it use to have like zebra striped seats. My grandma (the lady standing next to the car) called it her 'poorsche.' I think Maluchs are like 35-40HP 2 cyl engine - VROOOOMM.. My grandma bought a Daewoo Matiz (basically a Chevy Aveo) after that. The very first car I learned how to drive was a Fiat Cinquecento (or however it's spelled - basically the 90s version of the modern Fiat 500). I was like 14... See that kind of stuff wouldn't fly in America. If a Polish cop pulled us over (this was in Oborniki so it's a small town) he'd most likely complain, maybe give a ticket, but probably not arrest us. In the US, oh my goodness I can't even imagine what would happen if an adult got caught by a cop teaching a 14 year old how to drive.

I remember when I was in Poland around 12 years ago or so the government was passing some kind of law where people couldn't register new Maluchs. They let the current owners keep them but they didn't want them to be sold and then registered to a new individual since they were very unsafe cars.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

Here's a picture that's at least 20 years old... you can't really see the house but it's the white structure on the side of the photo. As you can see there use to be lots of trees around it. Now there are none.

I'll try to find some more photos on how the house use to look like - this one in particular is one of my favorite pictures and I took it out of the frame to scan it. I'll go through my photo albums and see if I can find more although most of the older pictures of Poland would be at my parents' house.

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  poland.jpg
  

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

I think the pictures from that link is from photos in 2012 because there's no trees whatsoever on the property. I did try to briefly sell it and we had some decent offers but since things were going well financially I decided I wanted to keep it and either remodel the house there or completely tear it down. I am very set on retiring in Poland and I've wanted to return back to my country ever since I was in college. One of the reasons why I actually chose International Business as a major is to increase my chances of working and living in Poland. I don't have my MBA yet so I wouldn't be too qualified for the jobs within my income requirements. If I could get a job that paid at least $40k USD a year base salary (I work in sales so I'd be mainly looking for a job that's base + commission) in Poland I'd move right away. However, I haven't been able to find a job like that. The best I got offered was $2k USD a month + commission with Google in Wroclaw and 30K Euro + commission with some British shipping company with a location in Gdansk. I think once I get an MBA, a bit more experience, it will be more likely for me to find a good job in Poland or even getting sent over by my US employer. I'm actually starting a new job (if all goes according to plan) next week that has very strong ties with Polish politicians - especially those in PiS.

Anyway, that picture with the sign (the real estate listing) I think is from 2012 since that was the time we put it on sale. The property looks way different now as you can see by the pictures I posted. I found a photo of my parents when they were in the 20's sitting in a Maluch with my grandma (the former owner of the property) in the driveway. You can't really see the house but you can get a good idea of the apple orchard that was there.

I don't really have an issue with posting the address I just ask that when you write it please type the number either in Polish or English - like trzynascie (thirteen) pelczynska Wroclaw. Please please don't type the number because then it will pop up in google search and Skank a$$ might use it against me... If anyone wants to stalk the intruders be my guest, just take some pictures or preferably video. I would love it if someone could get a clear shot of the dump truck's license plate while it's on the property. Unfortunately, most of the video doesn't really catch it. Even worse, the cops totally dropped the ball because they wrote down the license plates for 4 of the dump trucks and took IDs from all 4 of the drivers/operators. However, the cops claim to have 'misplaced' three of them and the only one they have is a driver who claimed that he got lost.

The issue gets further complicated by my family in Poland from my dad's side. The issue is complex, but it involves a rather wicked grandmother who hates me and my mom for 'taking' her son to the US. My dad's sister, my aunt basically (the one who actually notified me of this situation) isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Although she is very kind and very friendly, she has no business sense and is ADD like no other. My grandparents are still supporting her even though she's in her 30's - they bought her a hair salon to run, a big beautiful old style communist commune type of house meant for 2 big families, and a Mercedes. My grandma, who is extremely cunning is getting old and is worried that her lifes' work (definitely hers - not her husband aka my grandpa from dads side) of buying up and running like a half dozen businesses will all fall if my aunt runs them and my dad really can't because he's in the US. This lady honestly hates me - when she visited us in the US I had cancer and both my parents were very poor and working. She got asked by mom if she would look after me while they worked. My grandma agreed, but she said she wanted to get paid for it. So my parents said fine, how much... she wrote down on a napkin a ridiculous amount that was more than my parents were making let alone what they could afford. So long story short, I cannot trust her or anyone who is in contact with her because she will manipulate them against me. Even when we sold the Zlotniki house, she snuck in before the closing and stole all the cabinets. I mean these were old cabinets, not worth much if anything. However, this lady despite being a millionaire (you'd think she's a homeless bag lady from the 70s if you saw her) is totally shameless and will even steal from us to earn 100 zloty. Even when I had cancer and she visited me in the hospital the nurses complained that she was stealing blankets and stuff... the last thing I wanted is a reminder with the hospitals name from when I had cancer...

So the only person I thought I could trust was this guy who lives like he's in the 1800's... or at least use to till he got a taste of modern Polish life. He had no car, no laptop, nothing. He'd cook his food on a wood burning stove even. Very simple guy but not a drunkard and I didn't perceive him as dangerous. We often hired him for small tasks like painting a fence, feeding the dog while we're on a trip, stuff like that. Anyway, he lived in that house for free (when it was still in good shape on the inside) in exchange for very basic maintenance. I found out first he rented out the property to put billboards on it and used the proceeds to buy himself a smart phone and a laptop. He was caught, apologized, and I forgave him. In this case though, the drivers said that they got permission from him to dump there - or so they claim. That's kind of bogus because that's like if you rented a place an apartment and told a guy that he could park his car in one of the empty unit's space. I felt that this person would do a better job of maintaining it since after all he's living there and we've known him for decades. He's the towns 'amish' dude...

I do plan on fighting this while there is still fight in me. I feel that it's a losing battle though and I have a fear that despite all the money, time and tears I've poured into this that I will end up having to fix it myself and will not get Skank A$$ to do anything. I guess we'll see but it's not looking good. Check back with me in a year and we'll see what happened lol. That neighborhood did have some renovations going on but I honestly don't know what the true value is. The 5 mln zloty seems too high... even 3.8 mln zloty seems high.. I don't know what it really is worth and more importantly what it could actually sell for in the current market - both in current condition and in a condition where the house is still damaged but fixed up to at least not be an eye sore and the land fixed with some fresh trees planted. I just wonder if I could have the rubble bulldozed so the holes are even and put fill dirt on top of that or if I'd need to remove all the rubble first - which I'm guessing would be extremely costly. the long run, it would be nice to keep the property where my grandma lived, where my parents started dating and where my dad asked for my grandma's (from mom's side - she's divorced and I've only met her husband, my grandpa from moms side, like one time and it seems like they don't really want to keep contact with him) and so many other memories. I even remember when I was like 7 my cousin and I would throw snails and slugs at my grandmas windows and she'd get so mad because there'd be big sticky snail guts all over her windows. Sorry PETA people - I was like 7 lol. My dad is a contractor and he itaught me how to build and remodel homes since I was a pre-teen so my dream was to build my dream retirement home on the property and drive there. It's not like the most expensive area but it's nice because it's like a suburb and it's close to the city. I actually stayed in SkyTower while I was in Poland - It was AWESOME! I actually paid very little for the trip - $1700 total for round trip airfare from Chicago with only a brief layover and 10 nights in the hotel. However, I had to of course extend it several times because of the situation. I'm actually home now - I usually only post from work (because it makes me look like I'm busy) and I wanted to post some pictures of how the property use to look like when my family was actually living there. It really use to be a nice large (for 4 people anyway) cozy home with lots of land. We even had some chickens roaming around and we'd get fresh eggs. We would store the apples, sell them, make pies and kompot... It's sad to see all these memories and life milestones, especially for my parents, just vanish.

I do have some family living in an around Wroclaw still. My family and I lived in Zlotniki as our first house (that was the house they bought after moving out of this place with my grandma. The house was very nice - it reminded me of a narrow but tall 2 story town house that you often see in London or in the US. Like the row houses I guess in a way? Lots of wood everywhere though I loved it haha it felt like a log cabin. My grandma from my moms side, who's house this use to be, now lives in the bloke near Hotel Wroclaw. She has a nice place but it's rather small and although her condo is nice and modern the building looks like the old gray communist concrete blocks. My grandma (from dad's side) and grandpa (he's nice - but often gets manipulated by his wife) live in Oborniki Slaskie which I really like. It's a small town about 40 minutes from Wroclaw. It feels like a little vacation resort town. Theres lots of large beautiful homes, rolling hills with pines, oak, and firs, an old Soviet train station that's very well preserved and lots of little cafe's, bars, restaurants, delis, etc. There really isn't much of that with this house - it's kind of on the outskirts of Wroclaw. There's a few small stores but you can't really walk around the area like you can at my grandparents house in Oborniki or the condo that my grandma (moms side) lives in since it's super close to Hotel Wroclaw. At least I'll have that property when my grandma passes but there's not that much sentiment with that one. I'll probably sell it because I wouldn't really want to live in the bloki. It was purchased more so my grandma didn't have to deal with maintaining her old house. It's comfy for 1-2 people but the whole bloki thing puts me off. It'd be fine if say I moved to Poland as a relatively young male, but not once I near retirement age. Oh well. We'll see what happens. Thank you for all the support guys you have no clue how nice it is - I really don't have anyone I can vent to about this and it is so frustrating and heart breaking. I'm even more mad because I really tried to take control of the situation but it's like even these guys are taking advantage of me because they know I'm from the US - from the local cops, to the private investigator, to the actual company causing damage. It's like they all called each other one day and asked each other 'How can we fcuk up Adrian's life? Hey I know, let's destroy his grandmas house that he was planning on retiring in and make sure the cops, lawyers, and private investigators don't help him'

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

My lawyer told me Skanska is claiming that they subcontracted that work out but I mean clearly they even say on their own website that it's their project.. It's BS of course. Like I thought I was doing everything I should but the PI and the cops really let me down.

My issue is that there were like 3-4 dump trucks that were present while the police was speaking with me on his property. So he literally saw the dump trucks coming onto my land with his own eyes. However, he only interviewed one of the drivers and the driver said he was there 'by accident because he was lost' i mean that's ridiculous... Even worse, I hired a private eye yet I was the one who proposed to him to set up cameras and I only did that because after like 3-4 weeks of hiring him I realized he did little to no actual work and I pretty much had to tell him what to do. I mean I know it's my property so obviously I'm going to be more concerned what happens to it than say some cop or even the private eye that I hired, but still if I'm paying the person they should at least display some level of competence in their position.

I posted some of the stuff my lawyer wrote but I don't really understand a lot of the language. I can speak and write better in Polish than I can read and understand conversations. The Polish spoken in the US is much more Americanized in a way than the Polish in Poland. I don't have much contact with Polish people aside from my parents and a few friends and even then we usually speak English - except for with my dad who doesn't know English that well but even then we use Polish intermingled with English.

Life / What don't you like about Poland or Polish People? [117]

I hate that Polish people are always fighting with each other - we're like the least united nationality.. I'm not a big fan of Zionism as most of you probably know but these guys can really teach us a lesson about putting petty crap aside

yes there are disagreements and personality conflicts- some are liberal, some conservative, some rich some poor, some polish speaking some not..

we all share the same ancestry and many times even the same faith.. that should be something that unites us but instead Polish people look at how they are 'better' than their fellow man

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

hey sorry for not responding - i'm usually on PF during work hours... makes me look busy like typing up a storm... hence my long replies a lot of the times =D

yeah i took a look at the ksiegi wieczyestej and there didn't seem to be any issues. when i first learned about this whole situation it was actually from my aunt who was driving by it and saw excavators and dump trucks. i thought maybe i forgot to pay the taxes on it (which are very very low, especially compared to the $10k a year we're paying for our chicken coup here in Chicago which is going to be raised another 17% starting this year) and they repossessed it. I was a nervous wreck waiting for the office to contact me back and that they were going to contact me with bad news - you didn't pay taxes, your property was auctioned off, etc. but yeah no issues - everything is paid up, all the documents are valid, etc. the first thing i did was actually go to the tax office when i got to poland and collect documents to show that this property is in fact mine.

i don't want to post the exact address because when you google it there's only like 7 search results that pop up. so when all these court proceedings get started i don't want this to be used against me in some way.

delphi i read both of your emails - i responded to one but couldn't respond to the other - i don't know why i'm getting an error message even after i deleted some of the emails my inbox... i wanted to ask what address you used to find the property... i really do appreciate you taking the time to look at this though that's really nice of you.

Delph... oh my God... I can't believe you found that... that is my property!!!!

e-gn.eu/pl/show/dzialka/4 1.3 hectar corner property... it's actually shaped more like a weird trapezoid but that's definetely it because it's the corner lot.. and they put it up for sale for 5.4 million zloty?!

What the heck is going on?!!??!?! How can someone be selling MY land - i have all the documents proving that this belongs to me.. Jesus Christ

nevermind... disregard that, that was an old ad from a few years ago... sorry I got really scared I didn't recognize the company at first... I wonder why the google view showed that the sign was still there though I don't think we're offering it for sale anymore...

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

I'm not lying to you about the assessed value. I thought it was absurdly high too. But I mean that's what the assessor said - 3.8 mln zloty.. Then again, the house wasn't demolished, the interior was remodeled, and various work done around the property. Still though, I thought it was waaay too high. I have the document in my files I'll try to find it and scan it. Maybe the assessor was another bs'er just like these cops and private investigator. I'm trying not to stereotype, but it literally seems like every person I hire in Poland to perform some kind of service is utterly incompetent. I personally wouldn't pay $100k for that land (even before the dumping) but hey if he says it's worth it lol... If you guys know a good like real estate website where you can look up the value of properties in Poland I'd love to see it.. I remember viewing this 'Polish equivalent of Zillow' a few years back but I forgot the URL.

See the problem isn't so much planting trees and putting in new dirt. That's at least refreshing to hear that it'd be much cheaper than my estimate. The thing is, I don't know if I'd first need to take all the rubble out or flatten the earth or what I'd need to do about all the stuff they dumped. I think that may be much more expensive that just putting in new fill dirt and some trees.

If I could have it my way, I wish I could get a court order to get an excavator and destroy the site managers' property - dig up his trees, leave caterpillar marks in his grass, destroy his birdbaths, make huge holes in random places... Eye for an eye...

If I do fix this place up I am definitely going to spend at least $5k-$10k a year to monitor the place, install a top notch alarm, have some mean dogs roaming the property... I might even be able to get away with some electric fencing or barbed wire since it's zoned as agricultural and I can say it's to keep the animals from escaping... I don't know we'll see what happens. If it becomes too much of a headache I'll sell it but for now I still have some fight in me. Mainly because I want to honor my ancestors by fixing up that property and also retire there when I'm older.

Thanks for all the advice guys I really do appreciate it. Right now the lawyer is says he's in the process of 'proving' that it was in fact Skanska's trucks, employees, etc. I don't see why it's so hard to prove that when the license plate numbers and registration of the dump trucks show that they belong to the company...

I guess for now all I cna do is wait... I'll let you guys know what happens so if God forbid, you ever have to deal with trespassers, vandalism, or other unexpected property issues you'll know who to contact, what the bureaucracy is like, and so on.

One thing I can tell you... the police were more of a hindrance than a help... but yes I will call the public prosecutor that's a good idea although I think he may first need charges (from the police against the company/individual(s)) before he can like take them to court or whatever... i don't know i'm not a lawyer... i still don't know why these people weren't charged for at the very least trespassing and prevented from reentering private property..

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]


Yes you're right about that. Well, let's say he knew about the situation and didn't stop them. Perhaps even took some money from one of the bosses so they could dump there. It sucks because this was basically like the town 'couch surfer.' Real simple guy - didn't have a car, laptop, or anything like that but wasn't an alcoholic or druggie either. He would do some light labor and house cleaning for my family, stuff like that. I offered to let him live there in exchange for maintaining the place but instead he ripped out the fixtures, destroyed the home even more, it just sucks.. The inside wasn't pretty but at least it was liveable and the heating, plumbing, electrical all worked.

The locals have known my family for generations and many of them have offered to go to court as a witness. They're not the problem - the neighbors are awesome. They all thought I sold the place. Actually, one of the neighbors at first contacted me asking if I sold the place because that 'couch surfer' guy was illegally renting out the land to put up billboards. He didn't tell me about it but seemed sincere in his apology so I let it go. I could've kicked him out but again, this was a family friend and also he could've caused more damage to the house. If I showed you pictures of that house and the property from 10+ years ago you wouldn't believe it's the same house and land. I'll have to find them - there's not many but I do know we took some pictures there when I'd vacation and when my parents were younger. I'm not rich either - far from it. I'm towards the lower end of upper middle class by US standards and I have a nice home and the property in Poland but I definitely don't make like 100k or more a year. I'm in my 20s though so hopefully as my career progresses and I finish my MBA I'll make a little more.

It's more the police and just seemingly inept private detective and possibly lawyer too. Like I literally had to tell the detective what to do to gather some evidence - his idea was basically to just rely on the police report and whatever the police do.. I'm like well dude, what do I need to hire you for then? I think he got the point... Another thing is although I can speak, read, and write Polish very well I'm not a native. It's a bit hard for me to understand all the legal language and understand how bureaucracy works. I understand that there's a similar 'innocent till proven guilty' custom but I mean what move evidence do they need? Like I s

Another issue was that most of the lawyers charge per hour and some took a retainer + a percent of the settlement upon suing the parties. I figured the lawyers who took a retainer plus a percent of the settlement would be more likely to work harder on this case since to me, as a salesman, going after a commission. With hourly, I don't know if they're just messing around and charging me for hours where they didn't do anything - I wouldn't know from an ocean away.

My life for the past few months has been like go to work, try to sleep for a little (which usually doesn't work) and get up at midnight so I can call the offices once they open in Poland, stay on the phone till like 3-4-5 AM. Sleep for 1-2 hours. Drink several cups of espresso throughout the day (big cups like 12 16 oz cups just full of espresso), go to work and repeat. I haven't even been able to really go out because by the time friday comes I'm so tired from the week that I'll pass out by 8-9PM and sleep till 3PM the next day. I never imagined this to become such a big problem with no end in sight. I really really want to fight this but I feel that one day my nerves are just going to get the better of me and I'll say screw it just so I don't have to keep up with this everyday. I don't know if someone would buy this property with the way it looks I mean you'd have to fix the land no matter what unless the person demolishes/remodels the house and can live with an eyesore next door. Even if I put it up for say $100k, which would be super cheap considering it's 1.3 hectares, you'd have to invest several hundred k (maybe even a million USD? who knows?) to fix it up.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

Thanks I appreciate it I really do but I don't want to waste your time. I spent 2 months in Poland recently so I have a good idea of what's going on there. Plus I have cameras set up so I mean there's really nothing new. Most of the time it's quiet then suddenly in the afternoon 3-4 dump trucks will come in in like 45 minute trips, dump a bunch of rubble, and then stop around 5. There was a big metal gate and a fence around the property - the fence is still there but it looks like someone took apart the gate recently and I'm assuming sold it for scrap. There's really nothing new you'd discover that I already don't know at this point anyway.

I can deal with the bums breaking in, drinking beer, and pi$$ing on the walls inside the house. Even then, i got someone to live there rent free (after hiring a cleaning company to clean everything up of course) so that wouldn't happen anymore. The ripping of the apple orchard, making the land look like it's been pounded with mortars... that I can't deal with. To add insult to injury, I feel like the police did absolutely nothing. Like I just don't understand why it's so difficult to prove just two things: 1) This is my property - here is the deed, my property tax receipts, my mail, etc. 2) Here are dump trucks driving into my property - they are dumping without my permission. Literally, this conversation occurred with me and a cop in the driveway and I'm showing him documents to prove its my house while dump trucks and going in and out... he didn't even stop them - only once did the cop write down some info and like a month later question a driver who said he 'got lost and went in by accident' Then, the cops stopped answering my calls so I had to go in person. After a while, the commadant or captain or whatever would literally hide to avoid me or like sneak off so I didn't see him. If you can only imagine how frustrating this all was. Here your retirement property, your family heirloom, is being destroyed and the police are not only not helping you, but they're avoiding you too so they don't have to do extra work... Thank goodness for Valium...

Oh ya lots - there's several GB recorded. But still I guess that's not enough for the police to prevent them from coming for whatever reason. It seems ridiculous to me but yeah they were even there today - I guess they found out I went back to the US.

I mean the land is already ruined, as far as the damage and monetary aspect they're not really doing much more harm by dumping more... it's more the principle and adding insult to injury.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

See the problem is even though I have a private detective and tons of photos and 2 witnesses, I guess that still isn't enough proof. The damage is done and whether they dump another half ton of rubble on top of the 4-5 tons they already dumped I don't think its going to make much difference at this point.

I don't know if I have like a knack for hiring the most incompetent people in Poland or what but literally I even had to tell the private investigator/detective dude to put cameras around the property - like he couldn't even think of that himself?!

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

I know that's what scares me. In this case though I don't think they hired a subcontractor though. My lawyer found out that Skanska, which is a multi million dollar company with operations in many countries, is liable. I don't have 100% of the details but from what I have gathered it was their trucks, their employees, etc. on my property and doing all this. What worries me though is that Skanska has a lot deeper pockets than me so they most likely have a team of lawyers on retained and can even bribe a judge if need be. Hopefully, they'll just settle and either fix my land, buy the property from me at fair market value, or repay me for damages. We'll see. In this case, while I don't have as deep pockets as an international corporation, the media may help me and I have heard back from some news outlets that were interested in the story. Maybe they'll get shamed into making things right, I don't know. I do know that this will be a long drawn out process filled with sleepless nights and migraines. All because a multimillion dollar company wanted to save a couple grand and destroyed someones retirement in the process.

i just got off the phone with the lawyer and private detective.... the company is STILL digging and dumping on my land.. i am totally lost idk what else to do..

i found out that the police interviewed one of the drivers and he said that he was there 'by accident' and now they're not even stopping further damage of my property.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

I had a family 'friend' residing in it to keep up the maintenance but he didn't do anything and got like 1-2 years of free rent. I have a feeling he may have told the company that it's okay for them to dump/continue dumping.

I'm fine with battling this out in court and I don't plan to sell the land since aside from this property the only thing we own is a condo in the bloki in Wroclaw where my grandma lives. We bought her that place so she didn't have to worry about maintaining a house. Unless I get like some great job offer in Poland (which I'm actively looking for) I think it will be at least a decade before I move there permanently. I do have Polish citizenship though.

I plan to bulldoze that house anyway as I know how to build and remodel homes. I know carpentry, painting, drywall, tiles, etc. but not so much plumbing and HVAC. Electrical I know enough to wire a house but the electricity is a bit different in Poland than in the US.

Up until recently the only bill I had with this house was the property taxes which are very low in Poland and that's one of the main reasons why I wish to move there.

I don't really see how I lost nothing except for damage to the house if it was zoned as agricultural land. I mean the land is totally ruined like they ripped out every single apple tree and dumped rubble - like dirt mixed with huge blocks of concrete. It's hard to see in some of the pics because of the snow but if you look at these you'll see how badly it's been torn up. I don't see how anything besides weeds will ever grow there unless the rubble is taken out. If you look in the corner you'll see huge blocks of concrete that a human wouldn't even be able to lift.

Thanks for the advice though much appreciated.

This is the company that did this and their project - as you can see it's the same neighborhood. As I said Delph, I wasn't lying about this or exaggerating anything.

skanska.pl/en/Projects/Project/?pid=428&plang=en-us

wrong project -

group.skanska.com/media/44172/Skanska-constructs-flood-protection-in-Wroclaw-Poland-for-PLN-225-M-about-SEK-416-M

That's the one - they were building some canals or something but instead of properly disposing of the rubble they figured it'd be easier to just dump it on my land.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

That's what the value was according to some website that's similar to Zillow in the US when I checked it like 6-12 months after the sale out of curiosity. I mean it's not 100% accurate but it gives a decent approximation. Even if it was $250k that's still 3x more than the $80k we got for it. We needed the money though at the time as the situation was rather desperate in the US (early US recession years, perhaps even a little before the US recession). The person who bought it must be jumping for joy now though. I'll have to look it up and see what the current value is. I don't remember the exact address by heart but I have it at home.

The house that I posted pics of though I had it formally assessed but although the home isn't worth much but there is a lot of land. I do remember when we sold the Zlotniki house it was around the time that housing prices were falling drastically in the US because we needed to sell that property to pay off the property taxes, which are ridiculously high in Chicago. But yeah, we didn't get much for it.

I don't know I mean my brain is like fried from dealing with all of this. It's in the lawyers and polices' hands now. I mean if I could stay in Poland and just focus on resolving this I would but unfortunately I had to get back to work. I will go again in a few months although this time I'm going to vacation a little before and after dealing with this situation. What I did wrong is I spent almost everyday on the phone, surrounded by paperwork and an ashtray overflowing with Marlboro Red butts. I did at least get to see my family in Wroclaw, Walbrzych, Rychwal, and Konin but even then I felt bad because I was always on the phone.

It seems like real estate prices fell a lot. When I last checked similar homes in Zlotniki a bit after the sale of ours (around 2006 - give or take 1-2 years) they were much more expensive. Also, we put it up at a very cheap price so that we could get some cash asap.

Our zlotniki home would've been almost exactly like this: 4-5 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2 stories, lots of wood everywhere,

This one would come out to around $240k or so with the current exchange rates. So yeah, someone basically got the same thing for $80k.. lucky family = ) I'm kind of glad they did though since they seemed like a very nice young couple.

otodom.pl/oferta/dom-310-m-wroclaw-ID2MI7X.html#3b5c8bb9f6

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

This place was in good shape, at least on the inside until this year. I let a person live there for free in exchange for maintaining it. I didn't expect a family 'friend' to rip out the fixtures and everything. Aside from hiring a full time property manager or a security guard I don't know what else I could've done - and even then it's not guaranteed that they'd even look out after the place while I'm gone.

I've already spent around $10k USD with this - counting the wages I lost while there the figure is much higher.


The issue is though I wouldn't sue the dump truck driver as he has little to no money and it's not he that decided to go there, it was his boss who told him to. We know this from interviews with the drivers. I just don't understand why the police wouldn't stop people from continuing to dump. Like they knew what the company was doing is illegall and that they are dumping on private land yet they continued to do it. They only stopped once I physically got there and start photographing the 'boss' (judging by his brand new BMW and suit and tie attire).

Once this is over, I'm putting in land mines, electrical barbed wire fences, and rabies ridden German shepherds. Ideally, I'd like them to just get the land back to the way it was. The house is old and needs a lot of remodeling or to be torn down completely. The land is zoned as agricultural because of the apple orchard that use to be there. I don't know how likely it is that they company will fix the land they destroyed which to me is actually preferable than giving me money equal to the damages. I'm not an expert, but I'd imagine fixing that land up, clearing all the rubble that the company dumped, and replanting the grass and tress would probably cost close to $1mil. Although the monetary value of this property is high, or at least use to be prior to the destruction (was appraised for 3.8 mln zloty like 2 years ago) its more of a sentimental value to me and I wanted to return to the same neighborhood I was born in and grew up (Zlotniki - not too far from Psie Pole where this house is).

I may add that we sold the Zlotniki (Wroclaw) property a bit too soon because we fell on hard times. If we would've waited just 6-12 months more we would've got around $350k-$400k USD. We got around $80k USD. This was around the time of the recession like 2008-2009ish. It was in nice shape though - little outdated kitchen and bathrooms but very cozy and well maintained.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

Don't buy property in Poland unless you yourself look after it regularly or have someone you can really really trust look after it. You can't just assume that the police will make sure no one breaks in and steals stuff. You could bribe a cop or two and pay them some money to drive around it or install cameras. Still though, leaving a property alone and unguarded in Poland is like leaving your car parked in a really bad neighborhood.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

The worst one... Keep in mind this use to be a beautiful apple orchard with 100s of trees... a big 2 story home utterly destroyed and all the land with it too... that was going to be my retirement. Quite frankly, I don't care if you believe me or not Delph the fact of the matter is I'm not BSing. I did have a local person look out for this property but he took advantage of the situation - I was letting him live there for free in return for maintaining the place which of course he failed to do. I will never purchase a property in Poland again unless I'm living in it or can stop by and see it at least weekly.

Yes, I expected the police to at least charge the people for trespassing and damage of property. I mean the cops literally saw them creating this mess but all they did was take their IDs and write down their license plates. This has been a horror.

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