Can 2 Adults live on 2000 USD net take home a month?

The main thing i was wanting to know is how much is a not luxury but liveable 3 or 4 room apartment is.

I am thinking 4 rooms or at least 3.

A sleeping room for me
A 2nd sleeping room for my father
A living room
A bathroom
A kitchen

and if affordable another sleeping room.

I am not sure what that would be called over there? I could not figure out what rooms are counted as rooms and what ones are just standard?

Didn't know you have experienced life outside of the US before.
I think you have an open attitude and a sense of adventure.
Just trying to give you some of the real "low down" of everyday life here.
There are millions of people who are happy here in Hungary, I suppose.
I do find it is part of the Hungarian culture to complain allot.
Many of the better educated young Hungarians are actually leaving Hungary after school to make more money.
My distant cousins from Budapest( just found out last year I have family in Hungary from my "Polish" side)
have moved 20 years ago to the UK. They are doctors and had enough of things in HU.
Prices right now are really on the cheap side to buy property. So many empty flats in Budapest right now.
It shouldn't be a huge problem to find a reasonable priced place and rent before buying anything.
When we bought our flat 8 years ago, the prices were allot higher and there were fewer places for sell.
If you and your father actually move to Budapest, I will be happy to have my Hungarian speaking husband give you any updated tips he knows about. He is always reading about prices, political events etc. here.
A site you might want to read is, www.kapu.hu
You can translate this site into English.

Sorry if you felt any discomfort about whatever was posted yesterday.
I know I was still coming down from a emotional upset.
We went swimming in Budapest on Monday and witnessed an 8 year old girl drown. It was more upsetting to watch people swimming, laughing and having a great time while CPR was being given to a child only feet away.
Most people did leave the water without being told but those who continued , slashing, running and doing cannon balls near the medic's make me more upset then usual with the careless attitude that is common here.
Life in the big city...

Hello FeliciaOni 

You could browse through our section Flats for rent in Hungary so as to get to know the market price of rentals.

Regards
Kenjee

Thats a good link Marilyn you are a mine of information x

Sounds like a flat of at least 120sq. meters is what you are looking for.
In Hungary many people double the use of what in the US we call a living room as a bedroom at night.
Lots of people use a sofa bed and turn it down at night for sleeping.
My husband and I have a small flat of just 50 sq. meters, perfect for just the 2 of us since I am over being a super housewife and cleaning up a big home like I used to do in the states.
We bought the flat from a family of 4 so most people live in somewhat tight conditions because of lack of funds.
I am guessing our flat would rent out for cheap, around $350. to $400. a month. We are close to the Vet school and students like our location. Utilities are not included in most rents. We have our own meters inside our place, some flats share costs. We also pay out a monthly amount for house repairs.
We have never rented our flat out when we go home to the US though, way to complicated to do unless it is for long term.
Again, when we bought the market was pricey, you can now find better
and bigger flats for less then what we paid for this place. A good time to buy right now, not so good for selling though.
We also paid cash for our place as loans here are tricky, another reason we bought a smaller place then what would of been my dream home.
I think honestly you should rent before buying for at least 6 months so that you become familiar with the areas and have time to figure out where you would want to live.
Now that we are here full time we wish we had bought by one of the lakes and not in the city.
When we bought we felt our personal things would be safer in a flat with neighbors around since homes that are left empty can be broken into easier.

Marilyn Tassy

Thanks for the info. Yes of course we are going to rent for most likely the first year we are there before we buy. I believe for the first year of the residence permit you have to have shown you have a place to live for at least 6ms. So like i said we will find a place most likely in Budapest, to rent for a year or 6mos then a 2nd place for more time. Yes we are moving there to live but we are not going to like entangle in something serious like a buying a house before we know things better there Like i said we are regular people not investors so whatever house we would buy would be to live in.

I feel for you on the housing thing! Here in Florida that is a sad tale repeated so often, although houses are still expensive here to buy cause the cheap ones are owned by companies and kept off the market.

Our landlord where we live now is Serbian very very nice woman barely speaks English mind you and even though has owned lots of property for over 20 yrs still has not moved into the credit card world, you have to pay your rent in cash. But our previous landlord from from Lebanon and the one before that Greece, and they only accepted cash also. Repairs at our previous places was totally nonexistent and our current landlady nice person but horrible with repairs also. Even though we rent we spent 100s i am talking like over the 2yrs here about 600 of our own money just get get the place liveable. And that is only because this place is worth it, the previous 2 places were beyond horrible. This place is a vast improvement and a good deal compared to what is out there.

So at least we are prepared for fixer uppers and such things. he hee.

Yes i have seen some place by this big lake i can not recall what it was called my dad was actually looking at it but i heard it is very expensive there and full of ski homes. But i have heard the suburbs and out of the city is cheaper so we will have to just compare and see. I looked at Gyor and Pecs but who knows.

All these different distracts is something we will spend much time to learn. I was told by someone to avoid some cause they are 99% Muslim, then others are all young party collage people, others were just single gay men others only for government workers. So we will just do much research to find a good rental. Then once there spend time figuring out what city fits us best and move again most likely.

We cook every day several times a day so a real kitchen is a must. And 2 separate bed rooms to sleep in is a must along with a bathroom. All beyond that is good but those are the basics.

Felicia

FeliciaOni wrote:

Yes i have seen some place by this big lake i can not recall what it was called my dad was actually looking at it but i heard it is very expensive there and full of ski homes.

If you mean Lake Balaton, yes the properties by the lake are way over priced (and in the summer get large (sometimes drunk) crowds and swarms of mosquitoes).

But go a few miles (km) inland, in some of the tiny villages, and prices can sometimes go down like you fell off a cliff. Especially if the property does not have a lake view and they are a "fixer-upper" (so expect to pay 30-70% above closing price to fix it up -- I have been there and done that).

There is also a zone around the lake that has a local micro-climatic lake effect, so that winters and summers are milder than even a little bit further from the lake. Knowing where that Goldilocks zone extends (it varies due to local geography) is good know and consider if one considers buying property near the Balaton, both for property price (it should go down even more outside that climate zone) and to know what type of local climate you may experience.

FeliciaOni wrote:

....some place by this big lake i can not recall what it was called my dad was actually looking at it but i heard it is very expensive there and full of ski homes. ...someone to avoid some cause they are 99% Muslim, then others are all young party collage people, others were just single gay men others only for government workers....
Felicia

I go to Balaton quite a lot as Mrs Fluffy's family own a house there. Many people have houses in Balaton and come down during the summer to laze around, swim and holiday - it's only 1 - 1.5h from Budapest.  I've never seen any real parties but I don't go to the big towns looking for this stuff.  There's a couple of major music festivals each year - Balaton Sound being one of them.

If you move to Balaton, I'd suggest living in a town not a village.  The entire place is very dead during the off-season (basically mid-September until May).  The lake is very pleasant for swimming, very clean and watersports abound (not many motorboats as these are mostly forbidden). It's a "steppe" lake, very shallow and becomes very warm.  Lots of sailing goes on and there are ferries. There can be sudden and violent thunderstorms but these do not happen all the time. 

Only the larger towns have proper regular services like supermarkets.  Typical towns include Fured, Siofok, Lelle (we don't put the Balaton part on the front usually, here we just the last bit of the name).  There's no skiing anywhere near Balaton or most of Hungary - you can sometimes ski in the Matra mountains but realistically you have to go to Slovakia, Austria or Slovenia or similar for that.

As klsallee says, the house prices drop considerably even a few km from the lakeshore.
There are hardly any Muslims in Hungary and there's no obvious segregation of communities. There are Roma (aka gypsy) communities which have somewhat different lifestyles to the majority. I've never heard of gay or government areas in Budapest or anywhere else. 

There's a slow train service down both sides of the lake. 

The southern side has more beaches and the north side is more rocky.  Getting anywhere involves driving up either side or crossing on the Tihany ferry.

The majority of foreign visitors to Balaton are Germans and Dutch. You can easily do all your "tourist" business in German in  Balaton. Many of the signs are in German. English is upcoming (e.g. menus in restaurants are sometimes in English).  It's one of the few places I can really communicate with the locals what with my HU language skills being so low.   It's pretty good during the summer if the weather is good.  Quite laid back.

I don't know much about Gyor or Pecs.
I have only driven through those two places.
Gyor from what my husband told me is nice, near Austria and is somewhat of an industrial city.
Pecs has a medical school and is close to the boarder with Romania.
Lake Balaton is pricey and the suggestion of the smaller villages near there is a good idea.
The lake season is only 3 months long or so and after that many small businesses around the lake close up for the winter.
You probably would want a car if you lived outside of Budapest and at least for me, driving is not exactly relaxing here.
The LA freeways are a piece of cake compared to driving in some areas of Hungary.
I have heard it isn't easy or very cheap to get driving papers over here, not sure but even the written test is in Hungarian.Back in the day, the test was given as an oral exam in front of a board of members, one wrong answer and it was a fail. An all day test in which you had to perform driving all vehicles that you were given endorsements as well as the long oral test. I do not think it is that hard these days however.
My husband does the driving here, he was a professional driver in Hungary in the late 1960's and he still holds 11 endorsments.( Drove both a taxi,a truck for the a famous bakery here and was a personal driver for a "big wing" before leaving HU)
Some days even he would rather use the bus then drive in HU.


That is something you might want to look into if considering living outside the city limits.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I go to Balaton quite a lot as Mrs Fluffy's family own a house there.

Family owned houses: Something I still find amazing in Hungary, given that the average American family can not even agree how to baste the turkey at Thanksgiving.

fluffy2560 wrote:

The entire place is very dead during the off-season (basically mid-September until May).

Yes, if you like peace, beautifully, deliciously, wonderfully quiet in the off season. It is quite like that 24/7/365 in some parts of rural Hungary.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Only the larger towns have proper regular services like supermarkets

Many of the smaller villages have little stores with the essentials that get you by on a daily basis. But different stores can widely vary in what they may have regularly in stock. Weekly or bi-monthly trips to larger stores take care of the rest.

fluffy2560 wrote:

There's a slow train service down both sides of the lake.

There are also now some "express*" trains. Usually the new red ones (I think Swiss or Austrian made, but don't quote me on that).

*(express in this context is relative in the trains simply make fewer stops -- the tracks are not designed for high speed rail)

fluffy2560 wrote:

Many of the signs are in German. English is upcoming (e.g. menus in restaurants are sometimes in English).

Russian is becoming more and more common, especially in the west part of the lake, and I would say that is the "upcoming" language there.

klsallee wrote:

Something I still find amazing in Hungary, given that the average American family can not even agree how to baste the turkey at Thanksgiving.

Oh, it's not sweetness and light with fluffy pink ponies frolicking amongst the wild flowers.  Blinking houses get owned by many owners through people dying off, swapping shares, putting things in their kids' names and that causes absolutely no end of hassle.  Real tangled web.  You know the saying about two Hungarians can agree, three cannot.   

klsallee wrote:

.....if you like peace, beautifully, deliciously, wonderfully quiet in the off season. It is quite like that 24/7/365 in some parts of rural Hungary.

Haha, yes, I mispoke, it's really very "peaceful" in the countryside. ZzzZzzz....

klsallee wrote:

.......Many of the smaller villages have little stores with the essentials that get you by on a daily basis. But different stores can widely vary in what they may have regularly in stock. Weekly or bi-monthly trips to larger stores take care of the rest.

Yes, that's all true but mobility is a bit of a problem. Difficult if disabled (rely on neighbours, family and friends) or you need a car for sure. What I really meant was that shops like Aldi and Tesco operate longer hours whereas the village shops have shorter hours. But it's survivable with forethought.

klsallee wrote:

.....Usually the new red ones (I think Swiss or Austrian made, but don't quote me on that).

I thought they were Canadian (Bombardier) or French (Alstom).   But I'm guessing.  I've never seen them on the southern side.

klsallee wrote:

Russian is becoming more and more common, especially in the west part of the lake, and I would say that is the "upcoming" language there.

Really? I suppose that could be because of charter flights from/to Sarmallek and Russia.  I did read something about Heviz bathing lake being sold to Russians but I could be wrong.  I suppose Russians might have some nostalgia for the area from way back.  Around Siofok/Foldvar (where I go), it's almost all German (I use German all the time there as I said) but I've never seen anything in Russian (or French, Spanish etc).  For some reason, there's a lot of Swedish/Danish people there recently judging by the cars I see.  Couldn't say why - might be Hungarians really,

fluffy2560 wrote:

ZzzZzzz....

And it is great.  http://stcoemgen.com/2011/08/07/august-days/

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Russian is becoming more and more common, especially in the west part of the lake, and I would say that is the "upcoming" language there.

Really? I suppose that could be because of charter flights from/to Sarmallek and Russia.

Most signs in Hévíz have Russian as a language. Heard a lot of Russian being spoken the last time I was there. Started seeing Russian signs in Keszthely a few years ago. And the trend is moving east. In some cases it is now even a nation wide requirement: Since March 1 no-smoking signs in Hungary are to include four languages, English, German, French and Russian:

http://dailynewshungary.com/new-rules-a … rom-march/

Going back to the original question , I think living on that amount is more achievable in the small town or villages.
I think that often when people retire or stop working they manage on whatever they have got but everything costs more in the big cities.
I also think that inflation eventually cracks in , washing machines and cars break down and we always want to keep a social life going .
So it seems a bit tight for two plus paying rent .

I know i wrote something but my browser crashed so it is gone. Anyway like yes i am glad it would be doable but i agree more is better. Like i just was wondering if it was do able for a few reasons.

One is a question we are debating We are going to apply to get a D Visa and then the residence permit. Here is what the consul told me exactly:

{You and your father will need a residency permit to stay and live in Hungary for more than 90 days.
Generally speaking as US citizens you can enter Hungary without visa and apply for a residency permit directly at the Office of Immigration and Nationality. http://www.bmbah.hu/jomla/index.php?lang=en  Or you can come to the Embassy in Washington DC to apply for a D visa. D visa in not a long term visa, but enables the bearer to receive the residency pertmit once in Hungary. So the Immigration Office has to be visited in both cases. The difference is that inthe latter case you can  you can start the process earlier, handing in the supporting documents to us and the approval of the visa means the approval of your residency permit as well.}

So what we are going to do do everything while here in the US that needs to be done and then when in Hungary get the residence permit.

The debate is should we apply for the visa now on our current income? Or would it better to wait till our settlements are done and see if and how much our income increases? My dad feels apply now and do everything that needs to be done deal with any issues that may come up and then if we have more money then all the better. Or would it be better (my plan) to wait and see our income will be and then start to apply then?

Also generally how long after you get the all clear to go to Hungary do you have to leave and go? Mainly i ask cause of plane tickets. I do not want to book a flight and then the processing take longer than we expect or like they need more info etc and have to change the flight plans. But there again, we want to leave soon after getting the all clear.

klsallee wrote:

[....
And it is great.  http://stcoemgen.com/2011/08/07/august-days/

Ok, I'll concede that looks an attractive way to spend the afternoon.  But you'll be busy come grape harvest time!

FeliciaOni wrote:

.....Mainly i ask cause of plane tickets. I do not want to book a flight and then the processing take longer than we expect or like they need more info etc and have to change the flight plans. But there again, we want to leave soon after getting the all clear.

My experience of plane tickets (and I buy a lot of them) is that they are still "cheap" if there's availability up until about 3 weeks before departure.  Once it gets to about 2 weeks, the prices rise and then within about 3 days of the flight, if the seats are not all sold, prices creep down again.  It's not necessary to buy tickets more than 3 weeks ahead. 

Budapest is certainly no longer the hub it used to be to Eastern Europe now that Malev has disappeared. There's less demand on connecting flights on other carriers into the Malev former routes for transit passengers. It's mainly all short hops in Europe on low cost airlines these days. 

To get to Hungary there are just so many ways to get here it's easy as pie. Most of the big airlines fly to Vienna which is close to Budapest (250km - cheap bus or train) or you can get here directly to Budapest airport (I think United fly in here from the USA).

FeliciaOni wrote:

The debate is should we apply for the visa now on our current income? Or would it better to wait till our settlements are done and see if and how much our income increases?

This is a good question. I can only give my personal experience in this regard.

As explained to me, the Hungarian Government does not want anyone coming from a foreign (i.e. Non-EU) country, and who wants to gain residency in Hungary, to become state dependent from social services. Ergo, they will probably want to see that both and each you and your father have sufficient independent capital and a regular income. To in part satisfy this requirement, I provided bank account statements showing current amounts and deposit histories for several months.

If your income of $2,000 is split between you, I have zero information or knowledge if the immigration office would consider this enough ($1,000 a month for each of you) sufficient or not.

Another thought I just had: who exactly the payment is given to? For example, if your father gets the full payment and then simply share it with you, then the immigration office in Hungary may see you as having no income (even if you both share the income, there may be in this case no paper trail that you have any income). And they may ask if something would to happen to your father if you would continue to get any of the income. Again, this is just a thought, I have no information if this is actually something they will ask or consider or not.

I was thinking a bit on the same lines.
I do think your income levels are enough for immigration but what if "God Forbid" something unexpected happens to your father.
Unless you have some funds in reserve  you may find yourself in trouble ,the SSDI is going to be cut off.
You must go into the US embassy once you are excepted as a HU resident and register with Social Security in the US and let them know you are residing in Hungary.
If not it can open up a can of worms, your fathers payments may get cut off if the SS does not have a current address for you.
Believe it or not the US and HU do keep up on paperwork with each other. It might take some time for them to locate you but they will.
We visited the US for only 4 months and got paperwork in HU from the US while we were gone asking where we now were living.
We are living on my husbands SS from the US, I am still too young to collect on my own.
The deal with me is I am ready, willing and able to hit the road if anything should go south.
If you establish a life here in HU and anything happens later, you may have to leave the country and give up your new life.
You are still rather young to wait it out for your own SS to come through.
Just something to think about, you may actually find a job in HU later if you are here for awhile and find something you are suited for.
We showed HU immigration a ton of paperwork, bank accounts from both the US and HU, papers on ownership of property in HU. Marriage, birth papers, my husband is a born HU citizen and our son is a citizen married to a HU on their files here. My husband and I have been legally married for 40 years and I still was given 90 days to leave HU because of slow and mixed up paperwork in the HU immigration office.
From some articals we read later we found out that of course they had to let my husband back into HU no matter what but I was a totally different issue. Some HU citizens can not even bring in their spouses if their income is too low.I had to sign papers that I would never try to get any aid from the HU gov. Believe me I would rather die then go through life on 48,000 forint a month. That's how much I heard they give to the poor to live on.
Again, I just seem to have terrible luck in HU but be warned it is slightly confusing here and one person will tell you one thing, have you submit papers and the next will ask for something else.
Do not want to discourage you, just saying.
Your father will most likely have to put you down as his dependent for immigration.

Yes these are good questions so this is good.

800 a month of his income is what he gets for aid and attendance/caregiver income. I am his legal caregiver so i am the one he gives the money too. I am his daughter and we have always lived together so it is part of household income. If like i do not know got married or whatever, then he would either have to hire someone or show prove that someone else is doing this job for him. Or he would lose part of his income.

He yes will call me his dependent for immigration, he has no issue doing that.

That said i have 10 thousand in savings that is mine and in a bank account solely in my name. The money is not from a wage source so no i do not have to pay taxes on it and it will not have deductions when i live usa.

Yes if something happened to him and he died i would be in a bad situation in many regards. My father has been ill with rare cancer and other life threatening sickness several times in the past ten years. We have thought of this possibility and that is one of the reasons why we are moving out of USA.

One thing we plan on doing once we get settled in Hungary is to buy a house and maybe some land so i will have some security. Also my father is going to buy a life insurance once we are over there so i would have that if he passed on.

If something bad would happen to him i would take my chances in Hungary over here in USA anyway.

Oh yes we will make sure his address is up to date for social security. We are not hiding so everything will be on the up and up but thanks for reminding.

Yes i am not at the point now to worry about it, i am more concerned about getting to Hungary first. But i do hope when i buy a house in Hungary i will be able to get a longer term residence permit to live there you know. But like that is all things i would look at before buying.

We are going to survive on our resources. We are not like refuges or desperate, we chose to live in Hungary. Trying to get a country's welfare is not something we are planning on.

I have no resources here in the USA once i leave i have no plans of coming back. Weather i settle in Hungary as planned or if it goes totally horrible in Hungary then i will move to a different country in Europe, worse case Japan.

Sounds like you are giving this allot of thought then.
That's good.
I actually do not know allot about how SSDI works, only SS.
My cousin lives on SSDI in SE Asia. He has been overseas for over 6 years now and so far things are alright for him.
My son is seriously considering moving to Japan but his new bride is a Japanese National.
She has only been in the US for less then 2 years and is so easy going it doesn't seem to matter much to her where she lives.
My son was married for 2 years to a Hungarian citizen and brought her to the US. A soon as she arrived in the states her true nature came out and they divorced within 2 months.
He will never even visit us here in HU because of his experience of both living in HU for 18 months and being married to a HU. It was his mission in life to marry a HU women but after actually experiencing things his fantasy world didn't come true.
Everyone is different and we all must find our place where we feel good and can be ourselves.
I suppose then if you have a plan, the funds and immigration paperwork comes through then you will be set to go.
I did have a few contacts here with English speaking real estate agents but over the years have lost contact with them.
Other wise I would forward their E-mail onto you. There are many agencies here now that can help you out.
Every district in Budapest has slightly different monthly rental rates.
My husband would never want to live in say the 8th district but we do live one district over and our area is alright.
Every district has it's good and bad parts. Those on the Buda side seem to be allot more quiet.
I am sure you can get some help with any questions you have about flats when the time comes from other ex pats on this site.

FeliciaOni wrote:

I am his legal caregiver so i am the one he gives the money too. I am his daughter and we have always lived together so it is part of household income.

Hungarians LOVE paperwork. If you can provide the paperwork to show this, they will rubber stamp it, and you are good to go. Without the paperwork to prove it, you may be dead in the water.

This is true, the more paperwork you have the better but also be careful,if you give them too much they may mess everything up. Hard to know at times how much you should tell them about anything, sometimes it just creates more trouble then it's worth.
I am so afraid to have my son visit Hungary. He is still legally married on their files although he has been divorced from his HU wife for almost 10 years now and is remarried.He is just too lazy about  contacting the HU embassy in the states since he lives in the US.
In the states he is legally divorced but in HU he is still married until he submits paperwork showing he is divorced. Hate to have him visit and find himself in jail for bigamy!! Sounds crazy but if there is money to be made out of him, someone here will find a way to make him pay for being lazy.

The idea of us renting out our flat if we can't sell it for at least what we paid for it has hit me.
I was looking briefly at English speaking web sites at rentals and yes, those are really high in price.
I am not sure how reliable Cragislist Budapest is but you might look there for temp. flats.
If you knew someone who spoke Hungarian and could help you find a rental, I know the prices would be more reasonable then then web sites you are probably using now.
My flat is just too small and too funky to be what you would be looking for. Perfect for a few students though.
Rentals vary allot in price depending on how fixed up they are.
Personally I would not consider a flat that faced the yard. way too dark and dreary for me in the winter to just look at the yard, often if you are not lucky you get neighbors that hang laundry outside. Not too fun to look at drying clothing every time you look out the windows. Small things like how close to the stairs way your flat is, if it faces the yard or a noisy St. if the WC is located in the bath or in a different"closet" all come into play when looking overseas for a place.
Things are not set up like you would expect in the US. Most flats have the washing machine set up in the bathroom and not a special laundry room or in the kitchen area.
Takes some getting used to at first.
A place for drying clothing is needed as it sometimes takes literally days for things to dry in the damp humid winters.
Just a few thoughts for you.
Oh another thought, the ground floor may be easier for your father to access but they are often damp apts.

Marilyn Tassy

Well i guess you see what i was talking about! Most of the English sites are designed for either really wealthy people or they are places owned buy non Hungarians trying to make a quick buck on some thing they brought. Like i said we live on the beach in central FL and places here are not as expensive as some of what i have seen. But it is hard to find good places anywhere it just takes much effort.

You make me smile in a good way.

Facing a yard even one with clothes hanging would not bother us at all. It is a good thing cause that means people can do that without having to worry about their clothes getting stolen! And well my father is born and raised in Nebraska which is colder than Hungary and not as pretty so i doubt it could be that dreary. Me i think run down old castles look inviting so i doubt anywhere would be that bad. Well ok like really bad raunchy stuff does bother me and i hate graffiti. And like dead animals laying around.

Yes i have noticed that washing machine thing. I see places that have it in the bathroom like next to the shower or toilet.But i guess if people do it it must work out ok. There again we have our dirty clothes hamper in the bathroom anyway so in a way that makes since. As long as it is inside! I had a friend that had the bathroom that had the shower and tub outside and around the back of the house. This was in Germany which gets cold in the winter, so it was killer.

What do you mean by damp apts? Like the roof leaks? Yes ground floor would be better for my dad although i have fallen down on stairs much more than he ever has and there is nothing wrong with me! he hee. He fears i am going to fall on some ice and break my neck but i think i will be ok. he hee. Course i might have to wait to get used to the land before i wear my 5 inch heels which is what i ware most days anyway.

Speaking of your flat, like please do not rule out renting it to me! I am not sure your time frame or anything but i think i would still be interested. I mean like i said our first rental most likely is not going to be the perfect place. we just need something to get us started get our residence permit  and then look around and move to something else. I have heard even during your first year you are allowed to move to a different place if you tell immigration where u r moving too.

So please do at least tell me a bit about your flat? How many sleeping rooms is it?  is there room in living room for a futon? (i m not big on them but for some reason dad thinks the futon are so cool. funny today at walmart he was showing me one he thought was nice for like 100 dollars. He said if we were not moving he would of got it.  Course years ago he worked at Scan Design Furniture store so i guess it rubbed off)does it have a kitchen?(now here that is something that is not standard in many places, they have like an eating area but no appliances to cook food. ie no real stove/oven and normal fridge. many times no auto dishwasher either. they say most people in usa do not cook at home but i guess we are odd balls.) If you are thinking of renting it sometime let me know. You can pm me for my email address if you like. Let me know what kind of price you would be thinking and like the size of it and what not. As long as you are not trying to turn a huge profit we would be interested.

I agree about the paperwork. We want to submit enough to get approved but not so much to get them to be bogged down. So we will give that some thought for sure.

I am sorry about your son. I am glad he is happy now with a good wife. But he should make sure he is legally str8end up cause it could cause issues if something happened to him.

My aunt she was born in usa, she married a guy in England left him he died and then married a guy in what was east Germany then came back to usa. Now she has to prove that her first husband was died before she married the 2nd guy. Which would be easy if the fact that the marriage records from her East German husband are "on file in unknown location" because she married him in Yugoslavia.

Wow I would love to live near the beach anywhere.
The dampness on the ground floor is from the foundation of the buildings, hard to dry out after rains.
There are flats that are half ground floor, forgot the exact HU term for those, a bit higher then ground level but not really a floor up.
Our flat is only 50 sq. meters, a living room that is rather large and smaller room with double doors which is "M y Room"
a kitchen and a large but really outdated bathroom.
The kitchen is strange, 18 ft. US measurements by 6 1/2 feet wide. Like a train car!
We have thankfully 3 large sunny big double pane windows that show the St., our front door faces the yard and with the door closed from the living room to the kitchen( another big double door) we can not really even heard the door bell ringing. It's good because sometimes a few neighbors get into it with each other.
I am sure their are looney people in every house so no big deal, we are friendly with everyone here and no one bothers us.
Funny though, just yesterday while I was online and my husband was relaxing watching Netflix, I heard some screaming outside. Thought it was from the St. because it was so loud.
It was actually some women in the house having a royal"Cat" fight.
Only lasted about 10 mins because my next door neighbor told them he had enough so they all just went intot heir flats and peace was restored.
Never really boring here!
The women were letting each other have it verbally, my husband translated some for me and I must say it was amusing.
One accused the other of doing drugs and being,"F***** Up' and she screamed back ,"Well at least I never was F***** in a Taxi!" Total crazy around here at times!!


Our flat again is only a living room and small bedroom, my husband usually does sleep in the living room on a fold down couch. He snores so that is why is is put out there.
I have a bad knee myself and have used a cane as well as crutches here in Budapest.
We live on the first floor, second floor in the US. Have to go up a short flight of stairs to reach our flat.
There is a hospital across the St. from us but it is more of a alcohol/suicide ward on the bottom floor and we thing the next floor is a rehab, always notice older ladies looking out the windows.
It is usually very quiet from the hospital but some nights the drunks get loud until they are given a shot or whatever to quiet them down. Not a Ghetto here but I often joke that it is one. Just not anything like NV , Hawaii or S. Cal where I lived in the past.
Oh, our flat has nearly 13 foot high ceilings, was built in 1900 and we have a large loft in the living room which we use as storage. It could be made into a cute little reading area or computer area.
I will ask my husband soon about where would be a good place or paper to find private party rentals for you if you would like. I don't know our time frame here either, we get comfortable with things for months then want to get away for good. This place has a sort of hold on us, very pretty place and it does have it's charms as well as it's dark side.
We live in the 7th district very close to a major St., about 1/2 block up from us.
I think there is a local HU paper called, Express, you can probably find them online but I am not sure if they have an English translation or not.
We once found a rental in the 5th district by using that paper. It was a short term rental for 6 weeks.
This was 10 years back or so and I have forgotten the details but I think it included all utilites and local phone calls and cable tv. Something like that might be what would suit you, no hassles with running around setting up water, gas ans cable that way.
You still have allot of time before you plan on coming over so just read as much a possible and get ready.

Didn't get to finish my thoughts, had to run out for a bit.
i asked my husband briefly about areas for you and he threw out an idea.
he said maybe you could get a map and check out some of the smaller towns just outside of Budapest.
maybe not farther then 10 miles or so.
The public transportation runs often so no need to wait for a bus or train for too long.
I lived outside of Budapest for 18 months years back while selling some property for my MIL.
The place is called , ERD. I was ok there because I had an outlet, went to the little gyms around the town and was really into walking in all weather at that time.
We also had over 200 liters of homemade wine in the cellar, came in handy at times...
I do not however think Erd is very nice, the roads are terrible and most of the side Sts. are still unpaved and full of muddy potholes.
A place not far out from Budapest is called, Budaors. I think it seems like a nice place, plenty of stores, big ones like Tesco and many smaller shops with allot of services. there is a bus that takes you straight into Budapest from there too.It is just outside of the city limits of Budapest.
I also think the city of Tata looks very cute. they have a lake in the city and hold events there often. Not too close to Budapest but perhaps less then one hour away by car.
Anyways, maybe check out a map and look up a real estate agent and see what sort of homes they have to rent.
I know you just want to find a place to hang your hat until you buy but I would hate to have you take just any old place because the novelty wares off fast and you will be uncomfortable.
The Buda side as some nice green areas for taking air or walking but prices do tend to be higher over there.
i am glad you find my sense of humor fun, I am very direct and open. Scares the heck out of some people.
Worked as a hairdresser and a casino games dealer in Vegas among other things. Nothing really shocks or upsets me much these days.My husband and I are still active people even if hitting the end game age wise.
Will be glad to help you out if we can but some things are a surprise to us here too.
Also it would be interesting to know your father's hobbies. There are many places to fish here if he likes that.
The cable tv has HBO and many other stations but they are not all in English.
We used to get more stations but as I hardly ever use the tv set we only get CNN in English at the moment.
We had been using a VPN, to allow us to access Netflix, something we got going while we were still in the US.
These days we use Hola to get the signal to receive Netflix. I did see online that there are services that allow you to get real time tv stations directly from the USA. They were pricey to me, around $200. a month for the service depending on how many stations you wanted to pick up.
If your father is slightly disabled I would think he would enjoy getting some quality tv.
The main library in Budapest does have a decent selection of books in English, most seem to come from the UK.
We had been helping our 80 year old neighbor get to senior dances, mostly we just watched danced a few and had drinks with the people at our table. It was sort of fun for awhile to dress up in the afternoons and meet other people on cold winter days and hear some music. A bit corny but it was fun once in awhile.
There are many senior centers around Budapest but if you don't speak Hungarian it is not too great.
I would suggest a home outside city limits so you could have a small garden or more peace.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Didn't get to finish my thoughts, had to run out for a bit.
i asked my husband briefly about areas for you and he threw out an idea.
he said maybe you could get a map and check out some of the smaller towns just outside of Budapest.
maybe not farther then 10 miles or so.....

I'll be quick:

Erd is a bit of a dump as is Dios.  Torokbalint is not bad but there's no real "centre" like many HU towns, it has Budapest city buses. There's also Budakeszi (where I live) which also has city buses.  As it's outside the city, you need 2 tickets but you can walk up the hill and need only 1 ticket.  It's 15 minutes to the metro station at Moscow Square (yes, it's still that to me!).  I like Budakeszi because it's in the hills for my mountain biking and the nature. Seems like you're in a village but actually within a few minutes, you're in Budapest. Rented places relatively hard to find but not to good if mobility is an issue due to the hills. Sights: wildlife park, tower, hills, grass strip airport with small planes and gliders.

Budaors is not bad but has a highway through the middle of it.  There is, or was, a free bus that trawls the area to the Tescos, Auchan, Ikea etc. Budaors is the richest muncipality in Hungary - mainly because of all the large shops there. It's got a nice new'ish swimming pool.

Tata is not that nice - it's got some hills, theatre but it's a bit drab because it was a coal mining town and had an associated power station. It's on the highway to Austria. 

You could try Szentendre - that's on the suburban railway and is considered quite scenic. It's on the Danube as well.

You can VPN to the USA (and the UK) for about $10 a month - look here: VPN. I use it to watch UK TV and it works perfectly (most of the time!).  I don't know if works with PayTV channels as I don't watch those channels. Everyone is downloading (even if illegal). It's a bit of grey area in HU.

I agree Erd was and is a dump. My in-laws started building there back in the early 60's. They were one of the first to build a weekend house out there. They loved to grow their own foods and moved to stay there once they retired.
My husband never liked having to spend the weekends in Erd as a child. He used to cry, he loved staying in the city.
I think Felicia has a great opportunity to explore Hungary and find a place she and her dad will enjoy.
It is really so hard to recommend a place to someone who you don't really know, they may enjoy things we don't.
I am trying to think of things more to suit her father then her because she is young enough to move on if it doesn't work out. Her dad may find his golden years not what he hoped for if they get stuck in a property they don't like after all.
I suppose the best bet for them is to rent a flat that is not too big or too small and go out exploring Hungary until they find their perfect place.
I know it isn't easy, we have lived in 10 US states, lived the country lifestyle in Hawaii as well as living in a high rise in Honolulu. Been to cowboy territory in NM and lived in the suburbs of S. Calif. in a huge house with pool and all the toys.
I have come to realize the best place is anywhere you have friends that are trustworthy and family who cares.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....It is really so hard to recommend a place to someone who you don't really know, they may enjoy things we don't. I am trying to think of things more to suit her father then her because she is young enough to move on if it doesn't work out. Her dad may find his golden years not what he hoped for if they get stuck in a property they don't like after all. I suppose the best bet for them is to rent a flat that is not too big or too small and go out exploring Hungary until they find their perfect place.

Yes, it's not easy for someone else.  Out of the city, I would avoid the east, the north on the East side of the Danube and the south Csepel Island. The more scenic areas are all on the West of the river and certainly it's easy to get out of Hungary that way.  My own lifestyle is intensely busy and my main priorities are based upon transport, schools, access to the city and the usual types of services (medical, dentist, banks etc).

Nagykovacsi isn't bad, also blue city buses and quite "rich" but it's quite a way from town and one might need a car. Rentals exist there and I've seen some "foreign" flags being flown in people's gardens.   Adyliget is nice but very suburban and probably way too expensive.  Solymar isn't bad but fiddly to get to but it does have a railway into Budapest (but I think it's closed at the moment as they are rebuilding the line). Pilis is too far away from BUD.   Csillaghegy is not bad as is Urom but perhaps too hilly if there are mobility issues - not much help for disabled folks in HU. Further away, Sopron is quite nice and handy for Austria (just a few km) and Vienna airport and rail for international connections (German is very useful in Sopron) and it does have sometimes English speaking doctors at the hospital (it's a training hospital for the university medical school in Debrecen).

Oh, forgot to tell you at the moment we are not thinking of renting. We would like to try getting serious about selling first and see how that goes.
We should really start making moves to sell. So far we are only talking about doing so.
The rents in our area for the size of our flat and the condition it is in would probably go in the low range, somewhere around $350. or slightly more a month. This is not including the utilities and common costs which is approx. another $40. a month. Sort of on the lower side for common costs. Our ex friends pay over $100. a month for common costs and their flat is even smaller then ours is.They have an on site security guard so his salary has to come from somewhere.
Our flat needs no security guard, our next door neighbor takes care of any problems with anyone. The day we moved in , nearly 8 years ago, he and his son literally sat on 2 men who were snooping around the building. They held them down until the police showed up. We had the front door open while the movers were bringing in our things.
He has also put his hands around the throats of a few people in the house, he did this to one of our guests, guess they knew each other from somewhere else and didn't get on.
Again, I would love to move but don't want to put a fellow ex pat in harms way, enough things to deal with here besides rough neighbors.
There are also a ton of rules for owners who rent their flats out. Have to pay taxes on the rent plus be sure the utilities are paid because they do not like to transfer the names on the bills. If a renter doesn't pay the utilties the owner is responsible for the bill unless they both go into the utility offices and put the bills in the renters name.
sort of complicated if you are not living in Hungary and can stay on top of any issues with renters.

Hi Felicia,

my husband - who is American - showed me your question and the long discussion about moving and living in Hungary.

Let me share my opinion about it since I think I am the only authentic person on this issue 

I clearly understand your feelings and I think it's a good idea to move to Hungary. Funny to read all the pessimistic views in connection with the language, health care, etc. This is without any personal experience!
Hungary is an extremely beautiful country with amazing landscapes, cultural facilities and lots of spa baths!!! Budapest, the capital city is said to be the most beautiful in the world, which may be a bit of exaggeration but definitely a lively, busy city full of beauties! But this is not everything: if you want to stay in an apartment you mentioned then I´d rather recommend going a bit further from the capital city. If you choose something on the Western side of the country, life will be a lot more expensive than that on the East or South. You can google all the lovely towns worth cheking like Eger, Szeged, Pecs, Gyor,etc. but there are fantastic quiet places in the country that you would enjoy if you dont want to live in a noisy place.
People are very friendly - the further you are from Budapest the more...everything costs less but the range of goods is poorer. Dont care about the language! Body language works all over the world!!!!!
Health care is average...there are good doctors and uncaring ones, it' a question of luck!
Hungarian food is nothing to compare! Delicious, especially sweets-pastries...if you like them, you are in danger our climate is getting hotter and hotter but this can be felt everywhere.
Unfortunately Hungary faces a critical political period but I dont think that it would mean anything to you.

Leaving a home country cant be fun...but not the end of the world or might open new perspectives for you. If you have decided to begin a new life, dont hesitate! Hopefully everything will go fine.

I wish you the best

Hello susie1

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. Yes it has surprised me the negative responses i have had from people not just on this forum but another one i joined and even from personal emails from people. But i do like hearing both sides to things and the bad is just as informative as the good. That said almost every single person that has told me to not go to Hungary once i told them how serious i am has went and encouraged me! 

I feel part of it is the way many American tourists act. I live on the beach in central Florida. I encounter tourists every single day from other parts of US and Canada and well they are just dreadful! The locals here who are their fellow Americans are treated like servants and they talk down to us and expect us to act like serfs. I can not imagine how these same people act with others that do not speak their language when being guests in someones homeland. I have visited and lived in other countries and i get embarrassed on how many USA people treat others so i think many Hungarians are afraid of more people like that.

It is good to hear from an American that lives there and likes it.

I never heard of the spa baths! Never been to one of those so that is something to look forward too!

Small quiet is what we do like and yes economical is good too. Like i said we are going to just do the best we can to find a flat to rent weather it be an apartment or house. Once there we can upgrade to a better rental and then plan on buying a house once we get settled and figured out the political and legalities of doing so. We really do not need to be in Budapest just i am thinking it may be harder to find something in a smaller town from here in USA as i am not sure how much they would list in a way we could find.

But like i said we do have some income things to settle before we devote serious time to looking for a rental.

My father is pretty good at cooking Polish and German food so adding Hungarian should not be too difficult. Me i am into sewing and making traditional clothes.

I want to leave my home country. Even if for some reason i hate Hungary which i truly doubt, then i would move to either like Austria or Germany. Poland or Lithuania if i could but i do not think that would be doable. I know dad would go to England. I have no plans to go back to USA once i leave. I really have no reason too at all.

Thanks

Marilyn Tassy

Thanks for the info. If you do change your mind do let me know. You would not be putting this fellow expat in harms way though! he hee. There really are not the protections in USA society as one thinks. You do not realize this until you actually need the help or are in a situation and see how you are more on your own than need be.

Thanks for you and Fluffy2560 for telling me the towns to not look at! he hee.

I feel there are many nice things to do in Hungary and also we both look forward to traveling to the neighboring countries too. I know i want to visit Slovenia for a few reasons. And i can not wait to go to Romania. Dad wants to see Poland and many of the other countries he could not visit due to cold war.

I plan on writing a book or too so i will be doing much time just soaking up the culture. I know my dad will want to explore the wines of Hungary so that is something he will be doing.

Dear Felicia,
Everything is doable if you want to do it. I am sure you will be very happy when you move to Hungary.
If there are any challenges you just face them and solve them as they arise. Regards Anns

Felicia, I had a SIL for 10 years named Felicia, she was also a "women of color". Sadly my bro and she divorced and although she was my sisters best fried, we lost touch with Felicia after my sister passed away.
Lately my husband and I have been doing some spa swimming in the 14th district of Budapest.
It is sort of on the outskirts of downtown Budapest but I rather like it there.
Sort of reminds me of Hungary of 15-20 years ago. Many small older homes between nice new apt. houses.
That may be a district that could suit you for temp.
There are bus lines everywhere in that district and shops in walking distance from homes.
I don't exactly know why another poster said we are not authentic, my life is real to me and so are my experiences.
This is an ex pat blog and I do think most of us are ex pats on this site, not born Hungarians and the views are what one can experience as an outsider in a new and different place.
Of course there are other sites that cater to native Hungarian speakers. Believe me, some  of the stories about Hungary that my husband translates for me are even worst and stranger then what we have mentioned here.
It really does not matter much who you are here, money talks and you know what walks.
If there is a dollar ( or forint) to be made here, someone will figure out how to get it.
Same the world over I suppose but we are just trying to keep things real. Hate to have a fairy tale in my mind and find out later it was a mirage or nightmare.Done that before in my life.
Again, not sure if the 14th would be what you had in mind for a short time move but it looks comfy to me, not too busy but still in the city limits.
I am very lucky as an ex pat that my husband is Hungarian and speaks, reads and understands some of the cultural     
do's and don'ts.
He is actually the first to complain about anything off here, I usually do not even notice because I don't usually even know what the problem is. Guess the saying ignorance is bliss is true at times!
I would recommend that you learn a few phrases and get an English /Hungarian dictionary.
I have noticed that many people will help me in the stores if need be but you will find that most people are busy with their own shopping and having to run off. You can not count on help from locals all the time.
I have experienced getting help that later was not much help at all. Still brought home the wrong item from the store etc.
In the US all of our Hungarian friends experienced bad shopping too. Some guys even accidentally brought home cans of dog food! this was in the 1970's in NYC.
My husband brought home peanut butter once thinking it was mustard, never had peanut butter before and it didn't really go with his sausage.
You will find body language helps sometimes but you can't count on that much. Usually those in the service industry are not overly happy about working as it is and a foreigner doing hand signals is not part of their job discription.
I have had some in the service industry just turn away and act like I am not there.Guess they had no imagination or just didn't feel like dealing with a strange person.In other words you will have to have thick skin to live without language skills.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

It really does not matter much who you are here, money talks and you know what walks.

Apparently in Germany, if you pay 100 Million to the govenrment the court will dismiss bribary charges against you.

Basically, a bribe to the government to dismiss bribery charges from the government....

Hungary seems to be a Micky Mouse version of fiscal misappropriation compared to other EU countries. And maybe those other countries have a corruption index reputation they do not deserve.

The nice thing about living in Hungary is you can easily take trips to nearby countries.
We did spend several days in Transylvania a couple years ago.
We did not find one person there however that spoke any English at all. Many did speak Hungarian though.
Went to Gorlice area of SE Poland last year. Not too many people spoke English other then those in my family.
They all were either teachers in Poland or Hungarian born doctors who now live in the UK.
I am not Hungarian however and either are my cousins, they just happened to come from family members who moved to HU after WW1.
One cousin of mind spoke good English but he owned a B&B and lived there with his partner from Spain.( It was interesting to see several gay men in my family tree, come from open minded stock)
Poland was very clean and very sweet.Everyones home and yard looked organized and very neat.
The spas in Hungary are really fantastic. These days many of them have raised their prices so much that it is impossible to afford to go swimming daily as I like to in hot weather.
Once you move here you can try them out, found a few reasonable priced ones but they are not in the tour books.
Some cost as much as $25. per person for 4 hours. that and lunch and you will easily be out as we called it in Vegas, a "buck" meaning $100.
Most are in the $15. per person range.
The city of Budapest has mineral lakes underground so spas are all over the city.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

spas

I prefer saunas myself.

Warm water and bladders......   

klsallee wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

spas

I prefer saunas myself.

Warm water and bladders......   

You probably wouldn't like Aquaworld then in Budapest.  But surely you've been to Fured and tried the death slides at Annagora?

How is Agua World? We plan on going there but seems we forget about it on the hot dry days. Too much rain lately to swim as often as we like. love to swim outside in summer, indoor pools for winter time.