Hungary Business Immigration / Hungarian Language

Enfusia wrote:

How about putting a well on it?

It depends. Local regulations may or may not allow it. And you can not count on water flow.

For what it is worth, many of the wells where I live are now essentially "condemned" because of old or illegally installed "bottomless" septic tanks that have resulted in E. coli in the ground water. And I know of some who have gone dry because of reduced local rainfall.

Enfusia wrote:

I wouldn't want to live on a country vineyard, but having one would be a fun project.

My wife and I have had our vineyards here for 17 years. You either have it as a hobby and do yourself, hire someone to do it and they take all the grapes, or you do it as a business.

Enfusia wrote:

Could I hire a local family to live on it and produce from it?

Yes, you can hire someone to work/caretaker the property, but they will not live there. Not worth it for them.

And if you are not in control of the wine making process, you may be disappointed with the results. Wine making standards in small plots are rather low here.

And I looked at the property mentioned above: not in an ideal wine making region. Hobby wine only.

klsallee wrote:

Enfusia wrote:

How about putting a well on it?

It depends. Local regulations may or may not allow it. And you can not count on water flow.

For what it is worth, many of the wells where I live are now essentially "condemned" because of old or illegally installed "bottomless" septic tanks that have resulted in E. coli in the ground water. And I know of some who have gone dry because of reduced local rainfall.

Well, the other purpose I would have for land would be a cattle ranch.

I grew up in Northern Wyoming on a ranch.
I was pushin horns by the time I was 8.

Again, I wouldn't want to live there full time, I'd be in BP. But I would like to diversify and own profitable land again.

Patrick

Enfusia wrote:

Well, the other purpose I would have for land would be a cattle ranch.

For cattle, look for land on the Puszta (Great Hungarian Plain), in south east Hungary. There you will find the "Hungarian Cowboys". Not in the major wine regions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puszta

In fact do consider Szeged (third largest city in Hungary), in the Puszta, rather than Budapest for a place to live.

But in any case, as an American, you should know you can not personally own "agricultural" land in Hungary. You would have to start a Hungarian Company with a Hungarian partner to own such land.

Yep, they have an irrigation system where the vines are,and the owner put up the cabin later,then must have given up before getting it plumbed.

Mercurien wrote:

Yep, they have an irrigation system where the vines are,and the owner put up the cabin later,then must have given up before getting it plumbed.

In my area, a well costs about $2K to drill and that includes accessories like a pump.  According to our local regulations, we can take 6m3 per day before we will be charged but we have to have permission/a permit for our well regardless.  That's for watering the garden etc. Before you can use the water it has to be tested.  If it's good, it can be drunk, used in the house or on the garden.  Some water is only good for the garden and might not be even good for that.  According to the local drilling guy here, he can tell if there's water just by looking at the ground (not a divining rod in sight).  We're considering a well when our construction is complete but asking our neighbours we've found none of them have one so we've no idea of the quality.

Yes, I neglected to say that, but yes I would do it through a corporation.

i was not familiar with this region, I'll check it out.

Thanks, Patrick

Enfusia wrote:

i was not familiar with this region, I'll check it out.

Personally, and entirely for myself, I prefer Szeged over Budapest. It is like preferring Portland over Los Angeles.

I would prefer Portland over LA any day. I lived in Seattle for several years.

But, Szeged  only has 162,000 people. I would prefer all the things to do in BP over that. But like you said, that's just my personal preference.

Having grown up in a town of 2,100 people I an not overly excited for "smaller" towns. Not that 162K compares with 2,100 but....

Patrick

Enfusia wrote:

But, Szeged  only has 162,000 people. I would prefer all the things to do in BP over that. But like you said, that's just my personal preference.

A lot of that is just urban sprawl in Budapest. There is a lot do to in Szeged as well. And the two cities are well connected by rail. So either way, live in one or the other, they are both mutually accessible.

Enfusia wrote:

Having grown up in a town of 2,100 people I an not overly excited for "smaller" towns. Not that 162K compares with 2,100 but....

All relative. I grew up in LA, with an urban population of 13 Million. Hungary has 9 Million inhabitants. The entire country is a "smaller city" to me.

I would have to be held at gun point to drink tap water with the amount of chemical poisons in it. Only drink bottled water.

You're right. I looked it up and it's only 2hrs and 23 min by train with 17 trains leaveing every day. That's not that bad.

Yes, I understand about the country being like a small city. LA county is quite the place.

As for Califiornia, I couldn't get out of San Fransisco fast enough. Coming from Wyoming that place was like a freak zoo.

Patrick

Mercurien wrote:

I would have to be held at gun point to drink tap water with the amount of chemical poisons in it. Only drink bottled water.

Watch out, several years ago, one of the bottled waters was found to be simply tap water with gas added.  Some of the bottled waters are very heavy on salt which is bad for you in excess.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Mercurien wrote:

I would have to be held at gun point to drink tap water with the amount of chemical poisons in it. Only drink bottled water.

Watch out, several years ago, one of the bottled waters was found to be simply tap water with gas added.  Some of the bottled waters are very heavy on salt which is bad for you in excess.

We just had one of those types of deals happen here in the states too. I don't recall what company it was, but they were basically using tap water too.

Patrick

Enfusia wrote:

We just had one of those types of deals happen here in the states too. I don't recall what company it was, but they were basically using tap water too.

Actually, happens a lot. From a four year study by the NRDC:

"According to government and industry estimates, about one fourth of bottled water is bottled tap water (and by some accounts, as much as 40 percent is derived from tap water) -- sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not."

See: http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp

klsallee wrote:

Enfusia wrote:

We just had one of those types of deals happen here in the states too. I don't recall what company it was, but they were basically using tap water too.

Actually, happens a lot. From a four year study by the NRDC:

"According to government and industry estimates, about one fourth of bottled water is bottled tap water (and by some accounts, as much as 40 percent is derived from tap water) -- sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not."

See: http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp

I believe it. I remember the TV show 60 minutes busted wonder bread for using plaster of Paris for one of their thickening agents and Roman Meal bread for using wood pulp as their fiber source in their high fiber version of their bread.

It's all over the place in every sector.

Patrick

klsallee wrote:

....."According to government and industry estimates, about one fourth of bottled water is bottled tap water (and by some accounts, as much as 40 percent is derived from tap water) -- sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not."

It might have been Aqua Pura which was found to be tap water.  it was at least 15 years ago I heard this story but I couldn't find anything on Google.  I'll ask Mrs Fluffy if she remembers.

Keep this discussion going folks,this is of immense interest to me.

Mercurien wrote:

Keep this discussion going folks,this is of immense interest to me.

Which discussion? Do you mean the one on contaminated, adulterated or false products?

Ive always been dubious about bottled water in Hungary,they wont import Evian,so does anyone know which the purest brands are?

Mercurien wrote:

Ive always been dubious about bottled water in Hungary,they wont import Evian,so does anyone know which the purest brands are?

I  used to drink Ásványvíz but I think IMHO they are all about the same.  There's probably some EU regulation about it. Evian is probably too pricey for this market.

Mrs Fluffy remembers the story of the fizzy tap water but cannot remember which brand. We think now it might have been Bon Aqua which is known as Dasani elsewhere. This is or was bottled by Coca-Cola.

BTW, there's "szikviz" as well, which really is fizzy tap water but very nice to drink cold on a hot day with plenty of ice and lemon.  The gas seems to help make it refreshing.

I believe the vinyard is still available,and the building a chalet would be suitable for living,if it had a toilet. There is water for the vines from a tap in the field,but its not connected to the chalet. I want out of Hungary,my Cottage & 2.6 acre's with fruit trees is now available for £19k

Hi all, thank you for all the information here i found it very interesting owning a property in Hungary. For interest sake, are there any properties such as small holdings 5 -30 km outside of Budapest close to any major roads/highways that one could buy? If there are any would such properties also lack utilities such as electricity, water, internet etc?

Jennifer_BudaVar1014 wrote:

Hi all, thank you for all the information here i found it very interesting owning a property in Hungary. For interest sake, are there any properties such as small holdings 5 -30 km outside of Budapest close to any major roads/highways that one could buy? If there are any would such properties also lack utilities such as electricity, water, internet etc?

There's a lot of land available around Budakeszi where I am but it is undeveloped.  Getting services on site costs a fortune.  We bought our place based upon the services being on site already.   Around here the biggest difficulties in order of on site utilities are: water, gas, electricity and phone/internet.  If there's nothing on site within a few metres, it's not worth doing.

One of the reasons why we thought about this area is that the Budapest motorway outer ring road would  have been completed within 5-7km of our place and this highway would link to the main Budapest-Vienna motorway at one end and connect to Megyeri ("county") bridge (aka Colbert/Stewart bridge) at the other.   The highway was supposed to have been done 2014 but shows no sign of any  progress whatsoever. 

Other locations a bit further out - Biatorbagy, Torokbalint etc.

Thank you for the information much appreciated, it seems theres no inbetween with services for properties in Hungary. Having living experience in Budapest I was under the impression Hungary is more developed, even in more rural areas. Pity about the lack of services and the motorway not getting off the ground. Really seems things are moving slowly in Hungary then. Seems its better to stick to the large cities.

Jennifer_BudaVar1014 wrote:

Thank you for the information much appreciated, it seems theres no inbetween with services for properties in Hungary. Having living experience in Budapest I was under the impression Hungary is more developed, even in more rural areas. Pity about the lack of services and the motorway not getting off the ground. Really seems things are moving slowly in Hungary then. Seems its better to stick to the large cities.

Doesn't have to be cities, could be towns.  But even in a town or village, you can go 300m outside the boundary and not have services. Each place would need to be checked individually.  Obviously if you go to tourist areas, there's no problem.   The killer thing is that if you want utilities, you have to pay for the extension of the service to your location totally and that can be mega-forints.  As I said, a lot of places have electricity, but they will not necessarily have water or gas or even sewerage.  I find that really strange.

Yes my in-laws were some of the first to build a home in Erd in the 1960's.
Sometime in the 70's they finally had city sewer lines put in, took so long to get hooked up out there, then again I grew up in Simi Cal.parents bought a house in 1966, we all were on cesspools until Simi became a city and not a town, then they put in sewer lines, this was in the suburbs of Cal. My friends and I still refer to our home town as" Cesspool City" even though these days homes sell for the millions there, Tom Hanks is even thinking of moving there as many Hollywood types live there on their Mini- ranches.
There needs to be a certain amount of population for services to come into towns.
When we lived in Hilo, Hi I couldn't get cable tv because the population in our area was not enough. I literally spent over $1,200 in one year at Blockbuster video, darn I should of bought stock in the co. before they went under!

fluffy2560 wrote:

But even in a town or village, you can go 300m outside the boundary and not have services. Each place would need to be checked individually.  Obviously if you go to tourist areas, there's no problem.

Yes, good advise to check every place individually. For us, 300 meters is generous since our reality is less than 100 meters. Gas and sewage stop as the village boundary. Any property not in the village, or not exactly on that boarder line, is out of luck.  Would not even have water if not for all the people on our road chipping in to buy and install a water line.

And we live in a tourist region.

I installed a self contained micro sewage treatment plant. And no, they are not inexpensive. Nor was the paperwork and all the other unexpected issues surrounding it easy to deal with. But that is another story.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

But even in a town or village, you can go 300m outside the boundary and not have services. Each place would need to be checked individually.  Obviously if you go to tourist areas, there's no problem.

Yes, good advise to check every place individually. For us, 300 meters is generous since our reality is less than 100 meters.....And we live in a tourist region....

I was being generous with 300m.  It could be indeed 100m or even 10m.  I was thinking about Balaton areas next to the lake but indeed there are places in tourist areas without water.  The only option is a well (and if testing is ok, you can drink it).   Surprisingly wells are quite cheap.  I think about EUR 1500 if not more than 10m down.  Good for the garden if not drinkable/saline.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I was thinking about Balaton areas next to the lake but indeed there are places in tourist areas without water.  The only option is a well (and if testing is ok, you can drink it).   Surprisingly wells are quite cheap.  I think about EUR 1500 if not more than 10m down.  Good for the garden if not drinkable/saline.

About 75 meters south of our house, on the same level on the hill as our house, but on a different road (which has not water line), someone bought and renovated a house. There was a drilling rig there last week for several days. I do not know how far they had to drill, but they were certainly there a long time.

Worst part is, there is a "source" just up their road -- maybe 30 meters -- that is contaminated and not drinkable. Which probably means their local ground water might also be suspect. So I am wondering what they plan to use the water for. But then again, I am not a hydrologist, so really have no idea of the water quality of their well.