Kees Mulder,  Friday, 12 August 2022

 

(This article was translated from Dutch into English with the help of the translation engine Deepl.com.)

10 tips for buying a second home in Greece

Having a second home in Greece is a real adventure full of new discoveries, unexpected challenges, new social contacts and many other highs and lows. It is enjoyment, but also hard work. As seasoned homeowners, after more than 10 years that's fair to say, we have compiled a list of the ten most important tips when buying a second home in Greece.

1. Learn Greek
And not just a little, but well. A little Greek may get you applause in a souvenir shop, but it won't get you through a performance review with your property manager or your gardener. As a homeowner, you will find yourself in countless situations where you will have to deal with someone who can or will only speak Greek, but who is important to you. This can range from a conversation with a plumber about a pump that is not working properly to a discussion at the counter of the local tax office. Of course, you know people in your neighbourhood who speak Greek and they can help with translations of letters, but at the very moment you are in Greece and you need them, they will not be there.
It is not an easy language, so take years to learn it. The higher the level the better.

2. Make sure you have your own capital
In the past, you could still get a mortgage in Greece if you lived abroad. But that is over.
So own money is a requirement, otherwise it is a waste of time.

3. Operation
List the costs and the possible rental income.
You might say this is no surprise, but do it in detail and take plenty of time to find out the costs. There are often costs that you don't expect, also because you may have additional wishes after the purchase. Like installing an alarm or internet.
If you have a house with rental potential, that is very nice. However, renting out your house also costs money.

4. Renting out a second home is like running a business
Renting out a house can be lucrative and a lot of fun. However, it requires a lot of time and energy. You have to advertise, answer emails and phone calls, keep in touch with your manager and others in Greece, keep the records up to date, solve problems, etc. But you also have to keep up to date with the Greek rules regarding renting out, the changes in taxes, etc.
So only do it if you have the time.

5. Buy a house with a social network
Especially if you are going to rent out the house, but also if you are going to stay there yourself during the holidays, you are more than ever dependent on the local social network. There are two things to consider: how to find the person you are looking for and how reliable he/she is.
Looking for a Greek plumber over the Internet? Forget it. Even the larger Greek companies are not equally well represented on the Internet, and even the best Greek searches fall short. It comes down to old-fashioned networking. That is possible, especially if you have a good command of the language, but it takes a lot of time. A whole season passes by.
Besides, when you have found someone, you often do not know how reliable that person is. That is easy to find out by trial and error, but it is not the best method. Before you know it, the gardener spends the night in your house. Unfortunately, there are many examples.

Solution: choose a house where you can take over the existing social network. It can save you huge dramas. In later seasons, you can always decide whether you should expand your network and hire other people.

Extra tip: let yourself be introduced to a part of the network during the house viewing. These are the people you will be working with in the future and who will create your dream house.

6. Renting out? Take over the marketing channels
Advertising the house is very important for the rental. Every home owner who rents out his or her house has experience with this. And some have already put a lot of time and money into this. For example in a good running social media account, a beautiful website or excellent advertisements. Including email addresses. Make sure you include these marketing channels in the negotiations. It may be an investment, but it can yield so much in terms of rent.

7. Go there for a few weeks on holiday
You get an idea of a house when you are there for an afternoon, but you only know if it is your dream house when you are there for a few weeks.

8. Buy an existing house
We once had this house built new. That has its advantages. You can make the house exactly as you want it, for example. It really becomes your own house from beginning to end. But there are also disadvantages, as you can read in some of the points above: you can't try it out and you often have to build your social network from scratch. You are also dependent on more people, such as the contractor, but also the municipality when connecting to the sewerage system, for example. The risk is that the contractor will take advantage of the fact that you live far away (this happened to us), for example.

9. Know the rules and laws
Many rules and laws are different in Greece than in your own country. Make sure that you are well informed about them. Often, this is only possible if you hire someone who is familiar with this subject and can file the Greek taxes for you, for example. That is handy in any case, because in Greece a lot of things are still done via paper forms and tax offices.

10. Know the culture and customs
Chances are that in one week as a homeowner you will learn and see more of the Greek culture and customs than in 20 years of holidaying in the country. After all, as a homeowner you do other things than when you are on holiday there. If the electrician says he will come in the afternoon, don't be surprised if he arrives in the evening and his very elderly parents are waiting in his car while he tries to quickly fix something at your house. Or that you stand in front of a closed door in the afternoon at the shopping centre because the shops are closed every afternoon.
Try to get to know the country behind the holiday photos as much as possible when orientating yourself towards buying a house. Talk to foreign homeowners, but also ask Greeks how certain things work.