Some of you know me as a bit of a serial investor.

Ive heard you can buy property in a pretty town called Penkun in Germany near the Polish border for ridiculously small amounts.

Does anyone know if this is true?

Ive called a couple of 'offerers'??????? which I thought might be another German term for E/A (the term I know is Immobilienmakler), but my German wans'nt up to the conversation.

I cant seem to find any E/As for the town so far.

Ive heard of someone buying a shop with dwelling for £3000 and other properties for as little as £200. One person claims they bought an old Church for £750!
Poles are apparantly snapping - up property as thier own Polish real estate has gone up so much (10 miles away).

Got to be worth a small punt no mater how bad unemployment is there.

This is a wind-up, right?
You dont speak the language, know the laws or have any connection to the area.
I heard you can buy properties for about 20 quid in Mozambique - gotta be worth a punt, right?

You 'heard' this? Was someone reading you this 18 month old Torygraph article out loud?

Ahh, now I see. To make money in this World it has to be easy. Sorry I didnt realise and its sooooooo difficult to research these days!

All those early UK buyers of Spannish and Cypriot real estate 20 years ago were real muppets not knowing the language or laws... what fools!

And as for Africa, some UK buyers are now investing in places such as Botswana because unlike your goodself they are blessed with an ability to dare to imagine THINGS CHANGE. I guess you think Africans dont have the capacity to self - improve.

Malaysia is today the 16th richest nation on Earth. 40 years ago it was considered third world and hopeless.

Makes me laugh how people entrust thier pensions to fund managers who then invariably produce a poor investment outcome and take a big slice for themselves. Ive met a few fund managers in my time, they aint gods or gurus and infact I often find they cant see the wood for the trees.



I think youre right!

Ive done some research today and it looks like shabby repo's are available around 20 - 30000 euros which is still remarkably cheap. The question is will E Germany forever wallow in recession? I think not. If formely 'low GDP' Ireland can have a rapid boom out of nothing, so can Germany.

Great to hear so much optimism comming from the UK about the ecconomy here in Germany. Whatever the prospects are, the current situation in many parts of east germany does not seem too rosy.

I read the German equivalent of Property week ( Immobilien Zeitung ) and the reports are of 1 in 4 resi. properties in some counties being empty and effectivley unletable ( so called "schrott immobilien" = junk property ). Many Towns are or have been simply demolishing their council house stock. On the other hand some peolple are finding an opportunity , buying whole blocks of the stuff , offering them proffesionaly managed for rock bottom rents and letting the tennants do them up a bit (paint job) in the first (rent free) month.
In Berlin there is (apparently) a lack of luxury appartments to rent. I also know of some small sale developments in the inner city where plots with planning permission for the right kind of resi that that middle class famlies are looking for (which largley doesnt exist) have all sold in no time indicating that an intelligent investment can pay off quickly.
Take a look at hamburg in contrast -the whole harbour is being redeveloped (Hafen City) and the local ecconomy seems to me to be going very nicely (industry is building again).
A look through the lists of compulsory sales following insolvency shows around 3.5 times as many such sales in Berlin as Hamburg. Is the east german glass half full or half empty ? I guess, as ever, its a question of viewpoint.

Reminds me of the UK 15 years ago. Many Northern Towns witnessed an exodus, unemployment was very high, whole streets empty, property as cheap as chips.

Civilised nations do not think such a divide between regions is healthy, so in time they take steps to remidy the problem.
Im certain Berlin is undergoing a transformation. Its lengthy and painful but it will happen. Berlin is the capital so arguably the medicine will be pumped into it in far greater doses than UK Northern Cities recieved. Many previously defunkt Uk cities have now become popular places to live and prices have rocketed. They include Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

South Wales was a disaster zone 10 years ago, yet here we have again witnessed a transformation and the property boom has been spectaculor.

I guarantee you Berlin will become a funky soughtafter destination within 5 years at most and the property market will have changed beyond all recognition.