A couple, mid 30's considering retiring in Poland.

We are a couple in our mid 30's with a small child. We are starting to consider buying retirement property somewhere and Poland is of interest to us. Before we travel there to check it out, can anyone please answer any of my questions? We may or may not purchase in Poland, it is just a consideration for now.

My husband is a licensed electrician with his own contracting company here - are Electricians in demand in Poland?

We want to buy a cheap property near Tourism so we can hopefully run a bed and breakfast - are there any good areas that would be suitable? Or are all the Tourist places expensive?

Would Polish residents not like if we bought property there for this (Tourism and Retirement) purpose?

Does anyone know of a good real estate listing website for Poland? All the ones I find seem to be not very good.

Thanks in advance, and any comments good or bad are much appreciated - as I said, we are just considering the idea at the moment and haven't a clue how serious we will get.


Thanks very much!
Katherine

Speak to Bubbawoo, he is the best person to speak to about real estate
http://www.polishforums.com/index.php?action=userinfo&user=846 You can purchase a holiday home in Poland no problem as far as I know.

Cheap is relative to what you want to have; in the Bieszczady Mountains prices are still quiet cheap but prices are rising and I would say it's a good investment for the future, but I am no expert just personal opinion.

Another place is the Mazury Lake District, which is a personal favourite of mine and is so peaceful if you find the right place. I am English myself and my wife and I are in the process of buying a holiday home in this region at the moment, but in our case it is easier as my wife is Polish and we live here.

As to Polish people not liking you, I think it would be more a case of not liking your Business because of competition rather than not liking you for your nationality, but this is just a guess.

As I said speak to bubbawoo, as he might be better placed to advise you :O)

really nice of you to say but im not sure its entirely true ;-) i have experience of buying secondary market properties in a particular region of poland



finding cheap polish property is not as easy now as it was not so long ago - that said, there are still bargain properties out there but you are more likely to find them by doing your own research on-the-ground than through an agent

I know the pomorskie region around the tri city - the baltic coast and kaszubian lake district - a beautiful part of poland that for me combines some of the best the country has to offer. tourism is going to grew phenomenally in the region in coming years and it is well served by transport links

Yes since many skilled tradesmen are working in the UK. I have a mate who earns very very good money as an electrician. However he is self employed and this is the only real way to make the cash. The major obstacle is the language. Without it in the long term you are sunk. There is a huge amount of nepotism and cronyism in Poland and without contacts life is not easy to negociate. There are many factors you have to consider, just because life seems to be cheaper is because you are comparing £ to Zloty.
If you are living and working in Poland you'll have to think about money in Zloty and suddenly life is not so cheap. I've been watching the News today and everything is going up, cigarrettes to house to books to bikes. Already to come inline with the EURO.
If you want to live comfortably with a family you'll need at least £2000 a month or 10,000zl.

I wish you luck in whatever you choose, but choose wisely and be prepared.

Stop being a troll, I doubt if the Prime Minister earns that money, A pensioner gets around 800Zl, and the average worker gets 2000zl a month.. Sure if you take drugs and visits the call girls 10,000 zl might be enough...lol

i guess some of have higher standards of living

Well hate to burst your bubble batman but I live well with the missus but I'm not loaded by any stretch of the imagination but that is what I've found to be our monthly spend, and my wife and I don't have kids yet. When you are used to a certain quality of life it is not so simple to downsize. The oint I thought of being an expat was to increase your quality of life. Poland is getting alot more expensive, having said that there are a lot of people with cash. The Public sector is poorly paid. But there are many people earning reasonable money. I suppose it depends on the circles you mix in.

As for the Troll comment, it kinda backfired when you preceded to write "I doubt if the Prime Minister earns that money." Come on who is the troll.

And incidently my wife and I don't use callgirls, we use each other......

Thanks for the information.

If we have a budget of 15,000 PLN Would it be reasonable for us to purchase a small plot of land in the (for instance) near the Bieszczady Mountains and build on it in the future when we retire? We would be retiring in approximately 20 years. I know I seem to be jumping the gun and we should travel to Poland and check it out, but I just want to know ahead of time if it's even reasonable for us to consider.

My husband would have a retirement income of at least 7000 PLN per month (in today's currency). We are frugal people and do not eat out a lot, buy expensive autos or clothing etc so this sounds like it would enough - the B&B or electrical income would just be a bonus if we did it at all.

Thanks in advance for everyone's help. (I'm not British by the way, it seems people assume I am?).

Try adding another 0. Prices are affected by building permission don't make the begginer mistake of buy farming land or protected land. This happens...people get stung.
I'm afraid the property and land market is strong at the momment. You are correct in planning ahead though. Perhaps with that sort of budget you should try further East. However, this comes with as many if not more complications.

not a hope - the extra 0 Buddy suggests will get you something somewhere

i stand corrected

partnerzy.pl/index.php?qo_nr=PZ00002s

A small percentage of poles earn 10,000 zl a month, minus tax maybe 6000zl, you are lucky man or just dreaming :))))

True, but buddy wasnt talking about Polish people was he!!!

And I regularly earn over 10,000zl a month and know of many others including Polish people that do the same.

so it's just about high time to start learning Polish :)

and it's really hard to predict what the prices will be in Poland in 20 years, assuming we keep up with the economic growth, they might be similar to the so called rich countries, maybe not G-7, but at least something like today's Portugal or Greece.
So Poland probably won't be cheap, but I'm only guessing, some people call us third world country, so they'll tell you otherwise

i have a number of friends in poland, predominantly poles, who earn in the region or in excess of 10K zl a month... some for not doing very much at all... some for doing very little time wise

I am also looking to possibly buy in Poland and retire. My E-Mail at work is Balle1@amfam.com

also, my telephone number is 480-570-2169

Would love to talk sometime. I was born in Poland and came here when I was 8 with my parents.

Thank you,

Bob

I went to the Podkarpacie region last weekend to look at a holiday complex that was up for sale - 4 shabby wooden buildings and 2 brick ones, no gas, heating, located next to a lake and woods that is visited by Poles in season for swimming, watersports and mushrooming. They wanted 230,000PLN for it and it was generating 3-4000PLN/month in season. Bear in mind that the Bieszczady have a very short season (May - September) and outside that time it's pretty much dead. It's also very remote, insular and poor, although the vast amounts of EU funds pouring into the region will no doubt change that. The holiday accomodation I've seen there is generally low quality and low price (think 30PLN/night per person), but there are some more upmarket places that charge 100-150PLN/night/person. If you want to run a B&B (when you're retired??) and make money then I'd suggest you look at Krakow or other destinations where foreign tourists visit.

For websites, have a look at the sticky on the Real Estate page.

Have a look at Jelenia Gora, Karpacz, in what used to be Silesia. I live here....Wonderful, especially geographicaly to Prague, Dresden, Wroclaw......stunning mountains. Lovely farms etc

ct11 is right. I think als it is the best and most beautifull part of Poland to live with opportunities in Poland. If you look for a mountain area with a farm house to be converted into a b&b/pension you can send me a mail:
Danny
wynschenk[at]hotmail.com

I too am retiring and moving to Poland in a couple of months, but I am not in my 30's yet. I have both my 309A and 442 licenses. I was wondering how is your husband planning on getting his electrician's paperwork there? Is he familiar with the wiring methods used there?