Hi - new to this forum - stumbled on it after hitting a blank wall contacting anyone else about the fiasco in Greenfields.

None of it makes good reading - we completed on our apparment in Onix in January - we had arranged a UK mortgage from the outset because all 3 of us are self employed, and the Romanian banks needed so much personal info we decided to stick with it. We thought we were lucky being in a position to complete at all - now I am not so sure. We have had exactly the same problems as everyone else with MRI, including paying for the non existent Life Membership and also Capital Finance. I have e-mailed Emma Kavanagh on numerous occasions without reply, and now understand she is "off sick" and will be for many months.

We have considered going over to Bucharest to see what exactly is going on, but my two partners went on an inspection trip to view the Kings Residence with MRI and the "hard sell" was appalling. They persuaded the sales guy to take them over to Greenfields to see how it was progressing - the security guards "chased" them off the site with dogs - they were not allowed anywhere near it, and the sales guy was worse than useless - he was only interested in selling us another investment and no way was that going to happen!

I would be grateful for everybodys info! Thanks

Hi,

I am in a similiar position, obtaining a UK mortgage to pay for my Onix property.

MRI are of no help what so ever, everything you have described has happened in virtually the same way for me. I have bought a furniture pack from MRI for ONix which has not arrived. I have bought a second property with MRI on Adelaide which will not be ready until December, delayed !! However, I am moving my furniture pack over to this apartment.

I understand all to clearly your words and those of many others on this site. The common theme is one of negativity which seems to be born out of a realtionship with MRI. If MRI are moved from the equation do things look more positive? Well in terms of my Onix apartment I have had it furnished by Dutchie Management, who are a team who set up after leaving MRI. They seem to be painting a better picture of the world in my eyes and are confident about renting the property out. I shall know this for sure imminently and will report back.

I know there is concern also about falling property prices in Bucharest. This is a global phenomena and I understand caused by the inability of banks to lend, driving property prices down. As a result the construction industry in Romania has slowed down. Seems to mirror the UK ! When the economic storm clouds clear I see no reason why the prices won't increase and carry on increasing as predicted by many external sources to MRI.

In summary, is it MRI who are the route of our problems ??

Please comment.

Regards

Ian

It would certainly seem so !

Hi there,

I have given it thorough consideration and I am keen to continue with my investment... The developer seems to be reasonable and cooperative (unlike MRI) and we found a reasonable solution.

It's not so easy to tell how much the property is worth now, especially that developers are prepared to negotiate prices (unlike 2 years ago) and accept payments in installments, provided that you have cash or at least some cash. You need to look at all details very closely though to be able to make the right judgement and, although property prices in Bucharest dropped within last few months (as everywhere else in the world), there are other factors that are important - especially the availability of mortagages which has deteriorated a lot. Although you can now buy the same property 20% or even 30% cheaper than two years ago, you can only do it if you have cash! (and I believe that most of people don't buy properties for cash). Even for Romanians it's not easy to get a mortgage now and APR on mortgages in Romania has become unbelievably high - it starts from 8,5% (in €) and goes up to 20% (in local RON). So if you decide to take such a mortgage on your property (and some Romanians do) it obviously makes the total cost of your property very very high... And in fact, the way the market works in Romania is quite similar as in the uk - property prices dropped, but it's more difficult (and pricely!) to get a mortgage.

So have the prices really dropped? Only if you have cash. And as soon as all this global financial rubbish ends and mortgage market becomes more available to both Romanians and foreign investors, the prices will go up quickly again. Rental potential in Bucharest seems to be good according to my contacts and rental prices remain high. I used advice of local non-MRI people and many things they told me in the meeting in London are apparently not true (like problems with the maintenance of a property after completion, landscaping not going to be done etc.)

Fortunately I didn't buy any furniture from MRI and I hope to have no contact with them in the future. I don't blame the for what happened but they gave me most stress, especially not being responsive and not offering any real solution. Good luck to everyone, whatever you decide! I would be interested what you think and what you do.

^^ Can i ask how long will you pay them installments for? I am going to Bucharest next week with a view to resolving this mess, I dont have much cash avaiable however.

3 years, they are not willing to extend this period, but, given the circumstances, I believe it's still reasonable.

Hi - was very interested in your comments about the state of the Romanian mortgages, and your optimism about the rental market. What do you call a good rental, because when we first bought in July 2007 we were told to expect a rental of between 10 - 12% because of the antipated influx of relocating companies and their executive staff. We have been offered 550e per month for our studio, which based on our purchase price of 105,00euros works out at around 5%, and as the mortgage was originally 7.5% (although thankfully down to about 3% due to the fall in interest rates) it doesn't seems a good proposition to me! Not to mention the 7000euros for this elusive furniture pack!

We would prefer to sell asap, because even if we sold at the purchase price of 105,00, the change in the exchange rates would give us a profit of around £15,000. If we hang on until the market in Bucharest improves - it would need to increase in value by £15,000 if the exchange rate goes back to "normal". I don't want to make a loss, but am now at the stage where I would be happy to break even and get rid.
Anybody know of any good selling agents (or rental agents if we decide to stick with it")

Finally, I e-mailed every dept at MRI I could think of on Friday - told them I was going to approach "Watchdog" etc. etc. and raising merry hell. I did get one response from greig.obeney@mrioverseasproperty.com who promised to get back to me asap - I am so furious at having paid for that "Lifetime Aftersales" and cannot even get a reply to my e-mails! They are not AIPP members, so there is no redress down that route. I get very angry that they seem to be getting away with all this!

I am really interested in all the feedback on this site - I wish I had known a fraction of this two years ago - even without the global problems, we have made many mistakes as newcomers to the overseas property market.

Hi,

Try Grupo FDP both for resales and lettings.

Very impressed with them.

P

Helene,

If your rental offer is still available I would take it. The rental market in Bucharest has dipped hugely in the last few months, demand is down by around 30% at a time when supply is increasing.

The sales market is even worse, I doubt you have any prospect of getting a sale at a break even price, over the past couple of months I have been trying to get an idea of a realistic value for my Bucharest unit before deciding whether or not to proceed. This has been very difficult but based on advice from several agents, I contacted about selling the unit at present there is little prospect of getting a sale unless I am prepared to drop my price to at least 30% below its 2007 purchase price.

Regards

Alan

Helene, l think that 550€ is a good rental offer for Bucharest, it's not realistic to expect 1000€ or so, as for this money you can rent a flat in London! I also agree that it's difficult to sell now, unless you wish to drop at least 30% of the original price. But I don't think that you should sell now, unless you absolutely have to.

Obviously MRI's target was to sell what they had to sell two years ago and they did their job pretty well in this respect. When I decided to buy the property I realised that 20% value growth and 10% rental return they were talking about were likely to be unrealistic, but I didn't hope to make fortune there, I just hoped to get mortgage on the remaining 70% and rent the flat out and pay off the mortgage from rental which would be easy.

I came to some conclusion which I want to share with you. it's not really MRI which is behind real problems we have now in Romania - it's Romanian government blocking mortgages for non-Romanians and imposing higher VAT for non-Romanians. And these two issues (lack of mortgages and dropping prices) seem to be the biggest problems for everybody here. In Romania there is a strange tradition of ripping off foreigners, as if they didn't welcome foreign capital there (like any other European country does) - and even though they are in EU, they still seem to have double standards and prices - for locals and foreigners. I don't know if you noticed that when you went there... I had some dodgy experiences in Bucharest and Romanian government seems to follow this strange logic. I'm very interested in your opinions.