Wow, there have been some really interesting comments and opinions given to this topic.
Many foreign investors lost money with off-plan apartments. In Poland, like everywhere else, the money is in bricks-and-mortar.
The 1 bedroom apartment we bought in Wroclaw was bought off-plan at what would probably be considered the peak of the prices. Thankfully, although there was a delay, the developer did complete the build to what appears to be a good standard. (or maybe it would've been better in the long run if it hadn't been built!)
I can give you the contact of a trustworthy lawyer if you wish? Several others on here can do the same.
YES Please, any personal recommendations for lawyers would be much appreciated!
its all well and good when the property market was increasing 20-80% per year. Foreign currency mortgages will always carry a risk based on the fact that they are foreign currency mortgages. Did you not realize that?
Why would you consider the advice bad?
To answer these 2 points, of course looking back on it we can admit to some naivety.
Research was done by myself and my business partner, but we made the "mistake" of trusting the property agents who are a UK based company and who set-up the deal and the mortgage... despite them NOT being FSA regulated.
Yes I now know that I should've sort opinions from FSA regulated independant financial advisers before spending a penny, but as Mglaze describes elsewhere things were very different when the deal was done and the Bank offered this type of mortgage as the cheapest and most straight-forward option back then.
Oh the benefit of hindsight, and for wishing the mortgage was set-up through our UK based limited company rather than being our names on the dotted lines!