Real estate
Nov
20
#Colectiv changes part of the Real Estate market
– “The politicians are thieves! The Parliament… the parties… Iohannis… I want them all replaced!” – “What happened? You usually don’t care about politics. Is it the “Colectiv” case that made you upset?” – “I will probably have to shut down my restaurant! It is not in the announced list of the restaurants that function [more]
Nov
04
Can there be a bigger tragedy than Colectiv? Unfortunately, yes. An earthquake in Bucharest. In the middle of the night…
– “My client has this offer for you” – “It is too low, I have already two better offers by other developers” – “How much do they pay?” – “More or less 30% more than you do” – “But how is it possible? We will both sell at the same price…” – “How much do [more]
Oct
28
Google and 3 reasons: Why the Romanian Residential Real Estate market has potential
Google: Romanians want to buy a house Our world includes 196 countries and even more territories. Each year Google publishes a map with the no.1 word in the google searches in each country. In the 2014 report, while in other countries people’s first concern is the cost of a cow, a goat or a BMW [more]
Oct
20
An advantage of the 2008 – 2013 Real Estate crisis: More careful end-buyers
– “We simply did not know, Ilia… we thought that life was a game… our salaries and income was increasing year after year, the prices of the properties were rising week by week… we were not realizing what it meant for us to buy a very expensive property or sign a 30 years’ loan, committing [more]
Oct
16
The healthiest Real Estate market that Romania experienced since 1990. Advantages and challenges ahead
2007 – “Hello, Ilia, how are you?” (a major banker on the phone) – “I am fine, sir, how about you?” – “I have here someone who has just transferred in our bank 2 million Euros. The money arrived yesterday, he has come today and he is leaving the day after. He wants to buy [more]
Sep
30
The new Real Estate problem and its consequences: Building permits and other urbanistic documents are on hold
“I entered in an office, where many people used to work. Now there is just one person and he simply refuses to sign any document at all. But this is the good scenario, as you find someone to talk to you. In other cases, the office is just locked”. The Romanian Real Estate market reached [more]
Sep
18
My nights with… Marius Locic
After I left my career in Greece and chose Romania to move in, I practically started from scratch. Apart from my know-how and principles, my strongest “weapon” so as to enter in the Romanian business world was to have a plan and work hard… Since 2005, I stayed for 3,5 years in the center of [more]
Sep
16
5% VAT for properties up to 450.000 Ron: A “life changing” decision for many buyers
90%+ of Romanians and foreigners who buy an apartment in the country, buy properties with value less than 90.000 Euro, less than 385.000 Ron (circa 85.500 Euro) to be more precise. This happened due to the fact that properties sold with a price up to this limit were taxed with 5% VAT. During the last [more]
Sep
12
5 lessons for the Romanian society, taken from Mr. Isarescu’s new Real Estate Investment
A new transaction was announced in the media this week. A transaction not made by just “anyone”, but by the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mr. Mugur Isarescu. The man that practically carries the financial stability of the country on his shoulders and protects it from politicians’ quarrels, made a choice which [more]
Aug
29
Retail is the king of the Romanian R.E. market
* the article was first published on the 3rd of May 2012 The Romanian real estate market is in a transition period. The worst seems to be in the past, but better days have yet to come. The European economy will remain weak during 2012, blocking the evolution of the Romanian one as well. Once [more]
Aug
24
Romania: Can it become the leader of Southeastern Europe?
* the article was first published on the 5th of March 2012 Europe is changing faster than we realize. Just 6 years ago, SEE (South-East Europe) had a completely different status. Greece was the leading country, being the only member of E.U. and having a high GDP growth. Romania and Bulgaria were about to join [more]
Aug
08
The Romanian Real Estate market 2012. Walking in the middle of a snow storm, wearing sunglasses…
* the article was first published on the 7th of February 2012 2012 brought us one of the coldest periods we have had in Romania during the last decade. But this is one of the few changes that we have experienced. Most of the key factors that create the business environment in Romania remain the [more]
Jul
30
The 3 changes in the Law for Renewable Energy everyone is talking about for the past few weeks
* the article was first published on the 26th of June 2012 From Solar Expo in Verona to Intersolar in Munich and from Foren in Neptun to RoEnergy in Bucharest, the key players and other experts of the Romanian Renewable Energy market keep talking about ANRE and its announcements, plus their information for the upcoming [more]
Jul
09
4 lies and 4 truths for the Romanian solar energy sector
If the Romanian renewable energy market has one sector where people bend the truth, this is by far the solar one. Let us go over 5 common lies and 5 truths that we hear in our daily business activity: 1. “Romania has 1.400 – 1.750 hours of annual irradiation” Lie. All serious players prepare their [more]
Jul
06
“After the dust settled…”: The first 8 conclusions for the Romanian Renewable Energy market
* this article was first published on the 23rd of April 2012 The first law for the Romanian Renewable Energy market was published in 2008. There were some serious investments that followed, but not many. As we all know, the real kick-start for the market was the new law passed by the Romanian Parliament in [more]
Jul
03
Agricultural lands for Energy: The new investment bubble awaits its victims
Romanian agricultural land was a “bullet proof” investment during the last four years of the economic crisis. Prices have remained steady or increased, while the rest of the market witnessed serious declines. (Of course some “experts” have announced that the prices increased 3 – 4 times since 2007, trying to attract speculators rather than investors [more]
Jul
02
The Romanian Renewable Energy sector: 9 “wonderful lies” that are spread around
In the last 45 days I have traveled to 4 countries and exhibited in 2 of the most important Renewable Energy exhibitions in Europe, presenting the Romanian market to foreign investors, banks and financial institutions etc. As the interest for the local market is really very strong, there are tens of questions asked during hundreds [more]
Jun
25
The crisis hides opportunities: Time for “energy saving” villas
Two years ago I shared with you my prediction that “we are entering a new generation of residential developments, smaller projects with less surfaces, better organized and planed, lower monthly costs and maximum flexibility”. (You can check my text here) As we all witnessed, this has been the trend since then. All developers of new [more]
May
28
Greece. The reality behind frustrations and the (wrong) solution of the problem
The majority of Greek society fades away… For decades, some jobs in Greece were held by specific social categories. For example, the cleaning personnel in the men toilettes were always ladies around 50 – 60 years old. They were cleaning without paying attention to what is happening around them, always looking like people with a [more]
Apr
03
2010-2012. Two years later. What changes took place as seen at the Greek Business Forum?
Tomorrow, the anual edition of the "Greek Business Forum" will take place, an event addressed not only to the Greek investors active in Romania but also to all companies and business individuals interested in staying updated on the moves of the most dynamic local business communities! Business Review, the organizers of this event, have done me [more]
Newest articles
#Colectiv changes part of the Real Estate market
– “The politicians are thieves! The Parliament… the parties… Iohannis… I want them all replaced!” – “What happened? You usually don’t care about politics. Is it the “Colectiv” case that made you upset?” – “I will [more]
Life lessons, 3: How much does your name cost?
– “For the others, Easter had finished, but for us, the route to Golgotha was just about to start… On Tuesday evening I was back… we gathered in the kitchen for dinner… your grandmother had prepared everyone’s favorite food and a carefully ironed white [more]
Relax, Romania will not collapse. Don’t confuse a country with its politicians
– “Everything has frozen, all the investors told me to stop and wait to see what is going to happen” – “It is absolutely normal, we need to wait for a few days, to see where we are heading to…” – “No, no, some of them say that they will cancel [more]