# any tips for buying house/land in greece



## TamaraW (Aug 7, 2013)

hi
just wondering if anyone has any tips or websites they can suggest for buying a house or land in greece. Looking at buying something by the end of the year. Had a look online on a site called homegreekhome com which i cant post the link because not allowed, wasn't to happy with this site. what everyone's opinions? ive have been told not to go through real estate agents and to seek out house/land for sale ourselves.

also does anyone have any other advice regarding the whole process of buying in greece?
thanks


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## concertina (Oct 18, 2012)

*greece*



TamaraW said:


> hi
> just wondering if anyone has any tips or websites they can suggest for buying a house or land in greece. Looking at buying something by the end of the year. Had a look online on a site called homegreekhome com which i cant post the link because not allowed, wasn't to happy with this site. what everyone's opinions? ive have been told not to go through real estate agents and to seek out house/land for sale ourselves.
> 
> also does anyone have any other advice regarding the whole process of buying in greece?
> thanks


hi just to tell you to be very careful about buying house or land here,there are so many pitfalls,get yourself an english speaking lawyer that you can trust to look at the legal papers of your seller before you even think of yay or nay on anything.We used to take papers from bits of land we wanted to buy to our lawyer and he would usually say "in the bin"wed say why and hed say "doesnt show any previous ownership before this seller,where did he,she,get it from.Is the land/house in the council plan,do they intend to put a road through this land at some point?There are many people here waiting to rip you off and they have no mercy.We have just built a house on my husbands land and that of course has been hell.Estate agents were trying to sell us a piece of land that actually the council had earmarked to have a road through it and compensated with another piece next to the railway line,we would have bought it and paid agent his fee if it wasnt for the fact that the agent left his phone open to my husband whilst on another line by mistake and was saying"never mind they will find out later when its too late"So you see,and not having the greek language is such an advantage to the devils.This is not England here,this is dog eat dog place.My husband is Greek and hes scared to death to do any transactions with Greeks.Many houses here have illegal things on them like extra rooms covered verandas outside of the license which must either have new license or pay heavy penalties,if you buy their house the penalties may come on you,but of course your good lawyer should see this pretty fast,maybe you know all this already but mind what you do.


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## TamaraW (Aug 7, 2013)

Thank you for your reply, a couple of good things for us to think about. did you buy on the mainland or an island?how did you find the price of the land, did you negotiate much with the prices?


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## concertina (Oct 18, 2012)

TamaraW said:


> Thank you for your reply, a couple of good things for us to think about. did you buy on the mainland or an island?how did you find the price of the land, did you negotiate much with the prices?


We built on a piece of land my husband had with an old shacky house on it,we pulled down the house and built a lovely new one,got tired of dodgy sellers and agents but now its up for sale,its 1 hour 20 mins from Athens airport.Look for private sellers in news papers and the net,theres a paper called crisee efcaria,which means--golden chance,it depends where you want to be and what you want to be near,whats important for you.Be warned that the house must be earthquake proof,it must have columns,after the last big quake the laws changed in building and more iron had to go into the columns,our house has 19 tons of iron but Ive still seen the windows shake from time to time.Dont hesitate to ask if you need any advise,help etc..on your purchase,good luck.


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## concertina (Oct 18, 2012)

*greece*

just to tell you as well that many greeks dont want to use agents when selling because of the expensive fee so they put a sign out on the fence of the land or house with their number on.It may be a good idea to decide what area you want and drive around locally to see what signs are outside,where we have our house there are many signs out for lovely lands and some super houses and we know the local agent who has told us that there is so much for sale.And dont forget if you are non Greek and buy a house for 250.000 you can have a visa for 5 years renewable if you continue to own the property.


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## TamaraW (Aug 7, 2013)

Awesome, thanks so much for your help, much appreciated. I am sure I will have some more questions soon once we get our heads deeper. Nice to hear you built a house, how wonderful. and yes we have got the crisee efcaria, looking through that now. Thanks again


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## Dimitris_Athens (Sep 13, 2013)

Good luck in your decision.. 
Asking a greek lawyer would be the best choice before you take any action


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## tish.john (Apr 16, 2013)

Hi TamaraW,
I totally agree with concertina comments and talking from our experience the essential thing you must do is find a good speaking lawyer and, ask for references, we have found this out with much pain. We purchased land through a Greek/English estate agent who has ripped us off and who we are pursuing through the courts on two accounts (that's another story and not encouraging).
Thankfully our reliable Greek lawyer sorted things out and we are now living and enjoying the lifestyle in the North West near Kissamos.
Best of luck.
John


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