Advice on investment/holiday home purchase in Kotor Bay

Dear Sara and Darren,

First of all, there is one parameter you do not mention for advice and which according to me is absolutely necessary to check: the quality of the building. I would advise to first check the following:
- Regarding the traditional attic apartment: find out exactly what works needs to be done on this apartment, since this can increase your investment a lot especially considering it is under the roof.
- Regarding the newly built apartment, I assume it is Acacia Hill project: I know the architect very well, and he is one of the best in the area. You should try to find out if the building has been built exactly according to the project.

Regarding the other criteria:
Location: owning a first line property on the boka bay in such a pretty village as Prcanj is definitely a plus and you can't go wrong with this. However you must know that this part of the bay is very dark and damp. Summer months are great because there is more sun and dry air, but october to May months get very little sunshine (high mountains around), and a lot of humidity... Can be a "little" depressing. I do not know Djenovici area well enough to have a clear opinion. But to me it seems a lot less charming area, however these apartments seem to have wonderful views and good sun orientation.

Rental: you would have no problem renting any of these 2 properties during the summer season. Not so good for long-term rentals but as I understand it is not your aim.

Long term investment, it depends of the price you will be paying and on the quality of the building. 

Retirement home: cf. answer about location. But it is really up to you to define your own needs for retirement.

I hope I helped a little, and if you need any advice on the technical part / construction quality etc. do not hesitate to ask.

Cheers!
Carine

Skate171 wrote:

Hi. We are an English couple on our first holiday to Montenegro. We're staying in Muo. We're seriously considering buying a second home/holiday/investment apartment out here. We want to rent it out most of the year when we're not using it.

We've seen 2 very different apartments that we're particularly impressed by. First (& our favourite) a traditional, renovated spacious apartment in the top floor of a stone house right on Prcanj waterfront and second a brand-new development (off plan but nearly completed - all mod-cons, pool etc) at Djenivici on the hill 300m above the village.

We wonder if people can advise us which in their opinion may be the better option taking into account location, rental opportunity, long-term investment, retirement home etc.

They are both similar price apartments - but the traditional one is considerably bigger but will need some work.

We'd love to hear your thoughts and views and advice on whether this is the place to invest and live in!

Thanks,

Sara & Darren.

Hi Carine,

Thank you very much for that sound advice. The stone house apartment was renovated in 2006 and basically is now looking somewhat 'tired' but is essentially sound except in one part of the apartment there is some damp from the ceiling area - indicating an issue with part of the roof perhaps?

There is also a leaky outside water tank. We obviously would get a survey done but in our view (& Darren is a Buildings Services' Engineer - so has some technical knowledge!) the house potentially seems sound.

Interestingly, as we looked around the local owner of the ground part of the house approached us and said she was wanting to sell her part! This potentially interests us but we wonder whether it would all become an administrative nightmare - not least too expensive?

I see you are in the industry. Without being too cheeky - Are you able to recommend an English speaking lawyer, surveyor & overseas mortgage advisor?  Or indeed anyone else we will need?

Thanks again,

Sara

Hello again!
A very common problem in buildings (especially old ones but also recent ones) in the Boka bay are thermal bridges coupled with no ventilation causing damp. Under the roof can also be because of bad hydro insulation. Given the fact that huge amounts of rain fall in the winter here, this is quite an issue. Great that Darren has technical knowledge, that will help for sure!
If you are going to need a mortgage in Montenegro, I am sorry to tell you that this is virtually impossible here for foreigners (unless you have some property in MNE to give as a collateral / or if you need bank financing for a maximum of 30% of the price - you usually need c. 3 times the amount borrowed as collateral - plus the interest rates are prohibitive)... Did you speak to your bank in the UK about financing?
Cheers,
Carine

Skate171 wrote:

Hi Carine,

Thank you very much for that sound advice. The stone house apartment was renovated in 2006 and basically is now looking somewhat 'tired' but is essentially sound except in one part of the apartment there is some damp from the ceiling area - indicating an issue with part of the roof perhaps?

There is also a leaky outside water tank. We obviously would get a survey done but in our view (& Darren is a Buildings Services' Engineer - so has some technical knowledge!) the house potentially seems sound.

Interestingly, as we looked around the local owner of the ground part of the house approached us and said she was wanting to sell her part! This potentially interests us but we wonder whether it would all become an administrative nightmare - not least too expensive?

I see you are in the industry. Without being too cheeky - Are you able to recommend an English speaking lawyer, surveyor & overseas mortgage advisor?  Or indeed anyone else we will need?

Thanks again,

Sara