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Posts by ShadyMarkus  

Joined: 13 Dec 2011 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: -
Threads: Total: 4 / In This Archive: 4
Posts: Total: 18 / In This Archive: 18 		From: United Kingdom, Leicester
Speaks Polish?: Learning
Interests: Learning Polish, Polish Real Estate,

Displayed posts: 22
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ShadyMarkus   
28 Dec 2013
Travel / What to do in Zakopane for New Year? ( staying in a ski resort but unfortunately no snow ) [12]

Ahhhh maaaaan. Looks awesome. Already booked in for 5 days now in Zakopane. We do have a car, 4wd with winter tyres, so happy to drive over in the now. What's the traffic like between the two towns. We heading down to Zakopane late at night to avoid the traffic jams so wondering if there will be jams between the two places? Once there we hadn't intended leaving haha.

JohnB121: yeah seen the news......also spoke to the owners of our apartment. Apparently it hasn't blown down yet so it's all still on.
ShadyMarkus   
28 Dec 2013
Travel / What to do in Zakopane for New Year? ( staying in a ski resort but unfortunately no snow ) [12]

Hey both. Thanks for your replies so far. Will check out the link above too. Warszawski, would we need to book a place at the above or can we just turn up early?

Also we did Krakow back in 2008 and Brenna in 2011, both of which had stages outside with bands playing live music etc. does anything like this get setup in Zakopane?
ShadyMarkus   
26 Dec 2013
Travel / What to do in Zakopane for New Year? ( staying in a ski resort but unfortunately no snow ) [12]

So....the wife and I are in Poland and we are booked into a place in Zakopane for 5 days over New Year. Given that there is no snow and hurricane force winds it's all looking a bit glum. Does anybody have any thoughts on what else to do now that we are booked into a ski resort with no snow. Snowmobiling has obviously gone out the window.

Also what about New Year's Eve. Heard its excellent hence why we booked it but can't find much info on any events taking place. Anybody know at all?

Merry Christmas everyone.
ShadyMarkus   
26 Dec 2013
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Well currently working as an IT programme manager overseeing all projects for a £1 billion company in the UK but would be happy to step back down into project management if that's what it takes. So hopefully it's a skill that will see me into a half decent job. If not.....I won't move until I can speak Polish. Just makes buying property damn tricky.
ShadyMarkus   
26 Dec 2013
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Damn......still not getting anywhere with this. Maybe the best option would be to move to Poland, sort a job and rent a place in the short term before doing it all in Polish. The end game is to move here anyway. What are Polish mortgages like in terms of the amount you can borrow? In the UK you can borrow around 4 times what you earn in a year but I'm hearing from Polish friends that this is completely unheard of in Poland. Can anyone confirm whether or not this is accurate?

BTW.....Merry Christmas Everyone :)
ShadyMarkus   
26 Dec 2013
Real Estate / Prices of agricultural land in Poland [39]

Thanks ellaerwin........Bit too far away to consider. Looking at the Krakow area mainly. Also, mortgages are proving troublesome. Despite earning a decent salary in the UK it seems mortgages for Polish property when outside of Poland are hard to come by.
ShadyMarkus   
15 Sep 2013
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Hey mcm1. Thanks for your reply. Sounding like a right ball ache.

You mention translations costs of 40,000 zl (£8,000). Was this for the banks purposes or something that you needed personally? Reason being my wife being Polish is fluent as it is her 1st language. So translations for the wife and I are not required. However when we got married we had to have an official translation done of some documentation which had to be paid for so just wondering if this is the same sort of thing?

Thanks for all your help!
ShadyMarkus   
13 Sep 2013
Real Estate / Prices of agricultural land in Poland [39]

Yeah quite likely.......hence why I'd like to sell some unwanted land in a few years should it go up in price.
ShadyMarkus   
13 Sep 2013
Real Estate / Prices of agricultural land in Poland [39]

Well the attraction of Kraków for us is that we have a lot of family and friends close by and should I need to work in a predominantly English speaking environment there are a lot of international companies close by. The other option would be Warsaw but that would be a fair distance away from everyone we know and really would be a last resort if its the only option for me to work in Poland.
ShadyMarkus   
13 Sep 2013
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Hi Harry, thanks for your reply - I did think about that but unfortunately don't yet have enough equity built up in my UK property to cover the entire cost of a Polish property.
ShadyMarkus   
13 Sep 2013
Work / IT Project Manager moving to Krakow Area? [6]

Hi everyone. Just wanted some input from anyone who has made the move from the UK to Poland, or anyone currently in Poland with some insight into English workers.

The wife (Polish National) and I (English - currently learning Polish but not yet fluent) are looking to move to Poland in 2015 and I'm looking at several different options for working out in Poland. Taking things on a worst case basis - in 2 years time I will have been working in IT project & programme management for 8 years and as it's worst case I'll still be learning Polish. What are the oportunities really like for English speaking skilled workers? I'm thinking along the lines of the big international companies here that are currently based in Krakow; IBM, CISCO, Microsoft, Google, Cap Gemini etc. Is it likely that they would take someone experienced on from the Uk who isn't necessarily fluent in Polish?

So again, just looking for your thoughts here. This is all worst case scenareo for me as I am looking at other options for work over the next couple of years. However, just wanting to get a feel for the options and whether or not this is even a valid route?

Thanks in advance all!
ShadyMarkus   
13 Sep 2013
Real Estate / Prices of agricultural land in Poland [39]

Merged: Agricultural Land Prices In Poland

Hey everyone. Just wondered what people's thoughts were on articles such as the following: thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/133242,Foreign-interest-boosting-Polish-land-prices

For those not in the know basically Poland will be opening the doors to people outside of it's borders and allowing them to purchase agricultural land for the first time. As a result prices are expected to go up as demand surges.

My wife is Polish (I am English) and we are planning a move to Poland in 2015 and want to live within 20km of Krakow. looking to buy the land now and develop it over the next 2-5 years Basically though we want somewhere quiet outside of the city (Iwanowice perhaps?) with a nice big plot of land for the children to play on safely with easy access to the city for work purposes. We are thinking that it might be worth buying more land now, and then selling some of it in a few years to non-polish folks looking to invest and hopefully making a tidy profit which we can put towards paying the mortgage on our polish home.

So just looking for thoughts and opinions from people really. Is the price of agricultural land likely to boom? It makes sense that it will. What happens if Poland make the change to the Euro like they have been planning for seemingly years?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions everyone.
ShadyMarkus   
13 Sep 2013
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Hey BadMonkey......really sorry for the lack of reply. Not been on here for quite sometime as workin the UK keeps me far too busy.

Thanks for your input and experiences. It certainly is useful hearing it's not an easy ride. Unlike you we are not yet sorted and as such do not yet have a mortgage. To be fair though it's only due to lack of time on our end rather than anything negative. Being a homeowner in the UK and having a tip top credit rating all my life I've no problem getting mortgates for UK property. It just seems to tough to be able to sort anything for abroad. A lot of banks in the UK just say a straight no to Poland (even HSBC who have Polish Branches).

That being said this last couple of weeks we've been picking up the search again. Spoke to one company in the UK (Connect Overseas) but they've since told me that they no longer offer mortgages for Poland as their primary Polish Bank (PKO) have stopped doing mortgages and that Connect Overseas no longer have any Polish speaking employees.

So back to the drawing board I think as PKO were my next option. Has anyone had any luck with anyone else. It may be that we have to take the mortgage out in Zloty's but I'm not overly happy to do that as both my wife and I currently earn in GBP. That being said, we are wanting to move to Poland in the next couple of years so the risk would be minimal.

Does anyone have any other thoughts or experiences they can share on this that may help the wife and I out? Appreciate any help and advice folks can give us.

Thanks in advance folks.
ShadyMarkus   
9 Oct 2012
Language / Need some Polish language help.....with a twist! [39]

Hi everyone. Long time no speak. Just thought i'd let you know that I've not forgotten about all of the advice you've given me here and am finally starting to pick the ball back up and get regimented in my learnings :) I start some new Polish clases tomorrow at a University near to me (beginner not Uni level obviously :p). Going back over all the helpful tips in this thread and going to start combining the lot......can't wat and am really excited :)

Hope you're all well everyone. Since this thread started I've been promoted from Project Manager to Programme Manager which basicaly means at the moment I have even less time haha! On a happier note though I have seen lots of international companies in Krakow recently, Google, Shell, HP and Cap Gemeni to name a few..........there could be hope for me yet :)

Keep in touch everyone!
ShadyMarkus   
19 Mar 2012
Language / Need some Polish language help.....with a twist! [39]

Hey everybody. Just wanted to say thanks to you all for all your replies. I've been working late for too many weeks now and I don't really get much chance to be on here as much as I'd like. However, I will have a study of the above and take on board the suggestions put forward. Really appreciate your help everyone :)
ShadyMarkus   
20 Feb 2012
Language / Need some Polish language help.....with a twist! [39]

Jasondmzk: Not after a Polish pill as such. I'm just aware that people learn in different ways and the way that seems to work best for me is by being around Polish people. Hard to practice with the wife because although she speaks Polish as her native language we work different shifts and so we don't get all that much time together these days. Sort of figured I could go to night school while she was at work :) Oh and the twist is that I think I've tried most of what is out there to try. Kind of like a fat dieter who claims to have tried all the diets but still can't do it. So not your typical......"I want to speak Polish name a good book" thread And if that isn't a twist enough for you then would you believe that I'm actually half Polish on my mums side? Trouble is, I didn't realise my mum could speak Polish until 7 months before she died. She was chatting away to who would be my future mother-in-law and I was just :O OMG!!!

pip: You'd think so. Seriously struggling to find anything though. Hadn't thought about going to a Polish Church to check. Didn't really occur to me as I thought they can all speak Polish :p

Hey Gumishi......thanks for all the links. Will check them out over the comming days although I do despise the teletubbies :p Willing to give it a go though haha :) Thanks again for the links.
ShadyMarkus   
20 Feb 2012
Language / Need some Polish language help.....with a twist! [39]

Hi there,

I'm wanting to learn Polish like so many people on here. My wife is Polish, and I would love to be able to have a proper conversation with her family, her friends, and even my wife in her own language. I'd also like to move to Poland one day, something which will be nearly impossible if I can't speak the lingo as I won't be able to get a job doing what I do now (Project Manager).

I've been trying on and off for around 4 years or so now and so far I've only managed to pick up basic Polish and by basic, I mean basic. Let me give you a quick overview of what I've tried so far:

1) Books (Polish in 4 weeks, Polish Grammer)
2) Rosetta Stone
3) Class room based training (didn't complete course due to work commitments)
4) Private 1 to 1 training
5) Speaking to my wife in Polish

If I'm honest I found the 1 to 1 / classroom training the most effective. I'm currently looking for some more classroom based training but finding this difficult as I'm UK based (near to Leicester). I know the best way to learn it would be to just move to Poland and immerse myself in it. Afterall, everytime I spend time over there I pick up new stuff but this isn't practical as I obviously have to work here in the UK. Moving isn't an option yet.

Now I know historically us Brits are useless at learning languages (and lazy for the most part) but what I want to know is how other people learnt the language? Surely there must be others who have been in a similar situation to me? How did you learn it. How did you pick it up?

I was speaking to a Polish guy recently who's English was amazing. He understood my slang and everything. When I asked him where he learnt it he told me from cartoons (Simpsons etc.). That's damn amazing if its true. Anybody else do this. Might sound stupid but can anyone recommend any kids books, cartoons that may help. I'm 29 at present and willing to try pretty much anything at the moment.

So there we go.........anyone have any suggestions at all?
ShadyMarkus   
14 Dec 2011
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Hey up Sally, thanks for the info. I've had a look at those two sites too although for whatever reason they seem to be a lot more expensive than others I've looked at. Saying that though I have noticed that any site that translates to English seem to give you less for your money than a native Polish site (Gogle translate or the wife for the win :D).
ShadyMarkus   
13 Dec 2011
Real Estate / Mortgages in Poland while living and working in the UK? [20]

Hi there, my Polish wife and I currently live in the UK in our own house (with a mortgage). The thing is, we want to buy something over in Poland in or near to Zabierzów (Krakow area) because sooner or later we will most likely end up in Poland. It's certaily where I want to raise a family once I can speak the lingo.

Preferably looking to get a mortgate in GBP as opposed to Zloty's because thats the currency we both earn in. So where is the best place to go to get a mortgage on a house over in Poland while living and working in the UK? Does anybody recommend any spcialist UK companies at all?

Also, does it make a difference if we wanted to build a house over a number of years as opposed to just buying one? I know when buying a house you're meant to budget for around 10% in Polish fees etc. but not sure if there are any additional fees when building.

I'm reading profusely through threads on this forum. However, if anyone has any tips or advice to offer it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers in advance all.