US magazine Business Week recently announced that the financial crisis and recession, which hit many countries around the world, opened doors for individuals for investment in real estate. As a desirable country for such a purchase, it lists of Croatia and Montenegro. Specifically, prices of flats and houses in some countries have fallen drastically in relation to the 2007, and many owners are struggling with loans for which they were forced to set lower real estate prices.
As a result, customers are in much better position in negotiations to reach an even lower price. Portals for real estate in the UK and the USA carried the news that the real estate market in Croatia lately opened to foreigners who can buy property under the same terms as domestic people. As the advantages of our country, they highlight the natural beauty of the Adriatic, but also improving infrastructure and health care why Croatia is becoming more and more interesting to retired people.

What is the price of the property, what is the value? Everyone can determine the price how they wish. But value, it is something that can not be expressed in numbers. It is up to the buyer to know how to estimate the value according to his criteria and thus decide whether to pay the price that you specify. It is up to you to try to make that impression more better!

1. Increase space in the apartment! I do not think about the physical space that is determined by square footage, but that spacious feeling, which can be achieved by proper setting. It is important to know that empty space increases the value, so get rid of everything you think could be in the way during the demonstration of the flat.

2. It is also important to decorate the property. Fresh paint, new carpets, decoration, and maybe even small and fresh flowers.

3. Make all necessary repairs at key places in the apartment. There is not much need to explain why it is important to repair the pipes or cracks in the ceilings, but it’s also a good idea to renovate the kitchen and bathroom. Of course, when renovating, do not spend too much money, because you are selling a flat to another, you are not renovating it for yourself.

Your land is registered in the books, but the house built on it is not and you want to sell everything. What now?
The new Croatian Law on Property introduced the principle of unity of real estate by which unregistered property on registered land is also considered as registered. Property is considered unregistered if the land it is on is unregistered. Therefore, the principle of legal unity says that the subject of the sales contract is the whole property, land and the building.
This means that any agreement related to the building and land must respect the principle of legal unity, or that contract will not be possible to implement in the land registry and the buyer will not be able to register as the owner. In such situations it would be wise to contact a lawyer or a Croatian real estate agent.

Franck Ruimy, investment manager from London, was looking for apartments for European investors when he came to the conclusion from the title of this post.
While wealthy Americans, scared because all that is happening, keep away from investments in trophy real estate, Mr. Ruimy invested in some new apartment buildings in Manhattan. His plan is to buy them as much as possible on a discount and rent while awaiting long-term increase in prices during the next few years. Sounds interesting, right? Well Mr. Ruimy is so confident of success that he has so far spent over 30 million dollars, and it is expected to invest 250 to 300 million dollars in the end!
Happy shopping began as a way of exploiting the euro strength against dollar. It was still before the problems in the market became clear to majority of buyers. Ruimy said that and even then he was able to negotiate significant discounts. Today, the deterioration of the real estate market represents an opportunity for a good job.
Given that Franck Ruimy is one of the famous personalities in Europe’s real estate world, a man who has invested billions of dollars in real estate across Europe for private investors and institutions, whose company now operates a real estate worth more than 9 billion dollars, the advice should not be easily wasted.
And what says Mr. Ruimy in the end?
“I am always everywhere in search for bargaining. Is the right time for business with real estate!”

We already explained how this crisis on the real estate market that hit Croatia can bring something good, but that is not everything, however.
All agencies are now required to have a working license and their work must be in accordance with the law. Only every fourth of all real estate agencies in Croatia were aligned with the new law before the 27th April when it came into force. After the expiry of an 18 months deadline for qualification, the terms were met by 298 agencies and 554 people. Real estate agency in Croatia must now have a minimum of one employee with a professional examination, it must operate in a space separate from the housing with at least two bedrooms and must have a contract of insurance liability. Although conditions are not too strict, it is expected that not many of the Croatian real estate agencies will be able to fulfill them. Most “agencies” that are operated in the past few years have actually represented unfair competition because they had almost no characteristics of real companies, but were led by individuals out of the basement or from their kitchen, and the state tolerated this out of fear that doing the opposite could negatively affect the market. Today users of services can check anything in the real estate registry and these are important as a direct source that can verify whether the agency in question is legal or involved in “gray area” mediation. It is estimated that currently only one quarter of agencies operating in the market are listed.
Banks have also adapted their business to new conditions, including various actions and benefits trying to actively contribute to improving the situation on the market.
Share of internet real estate business in Croatia also grew significantly. Quality internet marketing of property through blogs and the official website is a good way to attract customers who know what they want. The future of advertising real estate definitely lies in the new technologies.
Despite all troubles, the crisis will still introduce a little order to the almost chaotic property market in Croatia, which will ultimately serve both sellers and buyers.