Property Secrets' Head of Legal & Business Affairs, Debbie Le Goff, was recently in Prague, Czech Republic, meeting with mortgage brokers, lawyers and other related companies. Here, Debbie describes what she found on her latest visit to the country...

The first thing that struck me about Prague this time round - and I am a regular visitor - was the sheer number of tourists from all over the world. The city's attraction continues to grow and it is quite a site to see groups following that single person with an umbrella held in the air. I was almost tempted to buy an umbrella hold it up in the air and see if anyone followed me!

The mortgage market in the Czech Republic remains the most advanced in Central & Eastern Europe with, as Star Capital Finance were keen to remind me, 100% Loan To Value (LTV) mortgages available.

The problem for investors, however, remains that there is still a tendency for banks to give a lower valuation to properties. So even if you obtain 100% LTV, this is likely to become around a 80% to 90% LTV.

Of more interest to investors was a meeting I had with Younique, a new company started by Martin Benik who worked for companies.cz, who enable the formation and registration of Czech companies online.

Younique claim to have a new way in which clients can obtain the EU Card without travelling to Prague. I am waiting for in-depth information concerning this.

The whole EU Card process with Younique is in the region of £1,800, which includes the application costing around £600. If you take into account the cost of travel to Prague, accommodation and food then you meet the £1,200 rate.

Highland Trust, who offer mortgages in Poland, Czech and Romania, were another company I met with, looking to expand the options open to Property Secrets clients - in the Czech Republic and also in Romania.

In addition to expanding the number of finance options available, I also met with a lawyer to discuss possibly increasing the legal options you can choose from. More on this in the future.

The market picture that I was given by all the parties I met was that it is anticipated that property prices will continue rise for about two more years before they start to settle.