Hi Ricky,

I decided to go with Nordea and the whole process took about an hour, only passport was needed. Language wasn't a problem - hardest part was finding the bank. Have signed onto internet banking this morning and all seems fairly easy to use although I haven't used it in anger yet.

I went to the branch recommended by Howard above - the adress if you need it is ul. Krolewska 51 and their phone number is 00 48 12 623 1960.

The south bank development is looking good. Quite an attractive looking complex, 15 minutes from the centre of town by taxi with tram routes within walking distance. They were busy fitting out my apartment while I was there. Met up with Magdalena from Rednet who accompanied me to the development, she was very helpful and honest about the situation over there. Mentioned that the next month or so would be the best time to rent with the influx of students for the new academic year but things will be a little tougher after that because there is an oversupply at the moment. Said that a realistic rent will be 1300 - 1500 PLN / month.

Regarding your mortgage - who are you going with? I went with Noble in the end and they handled all the paperwork with budimex so hopefully you won't need to do that on your visit.

All the best with your trip.

Thanks for everyones help and advice.

Pete

Hi Pete,

Thanks for all the information. Good to hear that the Southbank development is looking well. I am still waiting for my loan with DOM Bank to be approved. They only deal with mortgage accounts. I will probably open a normal bank account with BZWBK since the admin account which redNet is setting up is with BZWBK.
Did you have to pre-arrange the viewing with redNet to see your apartment or were they happy to show you any time? Where are redNets offices exactly and is it far from the town centre and Southbank?

Regards,

Ricky

I have an account with BZWBK, and I have found their international transfers by internet banking to be unreliable - so far.

One 50000zl transfer went missing for 3 and a half months. It recently reappeared in my BZWBK account, much to my relief, after much hassling. I had recently contacted some lawyers in Poznan in order to gee them on, but thankfully that won't now be necessary. Still, the whole episode has left me out of pocket with regard to bank charges, lost interest, etc.

Having said that, when I finally got the contact details of the english speaking member of staff in Poznan, she was very helpful.

Hi Ricky,

I arranged my viewing appointment before my visit. I have no idea where the Rednet offices are. I arranged to meet Magdalena Suder from Rednet in the main square and then we travelled from there down to the development together. I don't think you will be able to rely on just showing up as Rednet don't have a permanent base at Southbank and if you are planning to only visit for a day, you can almost guarantee that they will be too busy to meet you if you just show up on spec.

Magdalena's email address is magdalena.suder@rednetproperty.com

My mortgage is through Noble who, similar to you, only offer mortgage accounts without any useful kind of bank account attached. I chose to go with Nordea based on peoples recommendations off here.

Good luck with your visit, when do you plan to go?

Pete

Hi Pete,

I am still waiitng for my loan to be approved before I go over. Apparently the bank is having trouble getting Budimex to provide them with documents for the application. Did you have any problems with this? Its been 2 weeks since I applied and they initially told me it would take 6-8 days.

Apart from the isolated bad experience in the earlier post both WBK and Nordea bank seem to have good comments. Have you had any problems so far with your Nordea bank account? Where is the branch for the Nordea bank and is it easy to get there?

Were the rental returns mentioned previously for a 1 bed or 2 bed apartment?
Also do you know where the Budimex office is in Krakow?

Thanks again for your advice hopefully I will get the loan approved soon,

Ricky

Hi Ricky,

I applied for mortgages through 2 channels, Noble and Rednet Finance. I have to say that throughout the process, the communication from both channels was very good but one thing I have learned in the property game, timescales are not often realistic. I was told 5 business days for a mortgage offer to be forthcoming.

Noble came up with the offer that I accepted in a little over 2 months and about the same time, Rednet came up with a slightly inferior offer from one of the 3 banks that they were dealing with - the other 2 banks offers were imminent (still).

I haven't used my Nordea account in anger yet - all I can say is that it was pretty painless to open and I can access it online.

Rental returns were for a 1 bed.

No idea where the Budimex office is in Krakow, I haven't dealt with them directly at all. Maybe worth you mailing Karen Lynch as IPA on that one if you plan to pay them a visit.

Just keep prodding the bank is the only advice I can offer regarding your mortgage application.

Pete

Hi Peter
Looks like I need an accoutn just like yours... dod you open a private or corporate account?
Regards
David

Hi David,

I opened a private account

Pete