Montenegro - Particular Area - Get Family Involved?

[BobbyFowler]

I'm looking at an Apartment in a set of Self Contained Apts in Montenegro. It's off plan, bought directly from the Developer & would be ready in under two years. It's between Bar & Petrovac. Price works out @ It's €1750/sq M. Anyone know anything about the area or q's I should be asking the developer? Also, I'd be happy to buy this for personal use for myself & Mrs Fowler. I'm thinking of asking some family members if they'd be interested. We've got enough cash between the two of us to buy it on our own but could probably get something better within the complex if we got others involved. Any recommendations on this?

 

[DonKing]

Bobby, have you searched previous threads for Montenegro? From memory there was a lot of talk of corruption and title issues in Montenegro.

Make sure you get over there and that you get a good lawyer, independant of the developer. Avoid stage payments like the plague. You could end up having your money tied up on a property which is delayed. Have you considered the tax issues you you intend to rent or sell later on? Any penalties for late completion of apartment. Will the deposit be paid directly to the developer or an escrow account.

 

[auto320]

Be extremely careful in Montenegro. Nothing is as it seems in many cases. There are few places in the world where I have been afraid to do business; this was one of them and it hasn't changed much.

By the way, in Mongtenegro "the family" is often involved, on the other side of the deal!

 

[BobbyFowler]

Thanks Don - I checked a few of the posts on this site alright. My 1st query was on the price & it seems okay. If things look positive I'll make a trip out. I would have thought stage payments were the norm (they're staged in this case anyway). I didn't check the tax issues on rent but I've been told there's no capital gains tax.........actually as I'm typing this I remember being told there's no capital gains tax but I'm not sure about Sales tax. The deposit is held in a notary account - not sure about the penalties you mentioned. Cheers for the q's I need to be asking.

 

[canny]

Montenegro is ok, as long as you dont overpay and get good title.
Bar is not nice, Petrovac is ok....make sure you have a sea view, and if so price seems ok. No mortgages there remember.Dont spend >€100k. Tivat airport will develop [1 hour to your apt..but in the meantime Dunrovnik is >2 hours, with queue for ferry in Summer.Big changes happening there...but still a bot rough at the edges. best of luck!

 

[celticcc1]

One thing to remember about a property investment in Montenegro is that they do not have a double taxation treaty agreement with Ireland. This means that you are liable to taxes in both countries and you effectively get no tax relief in Ireland from taxes already paid in Montenegro. I think people overlook the tax issues when making "investments" but in my opinion any investment should be tax efficient. I too have looked into Montenegro and may visit there soon but the potential high tax liability is a bit of a turn off for me.

Best of luck.

 

[auto320]

The country doesn't even have a currency! Thye have "adopted" the euro, but in fact that means nothing. Anyone buying in Montenegro should be buying at low prices to compensate for risk, and not at Dubrovnik prices as we are now seeing. 1750 euro sounds very high for that area.

To try to be positive however, the area North of Petrovac is among the best of it, and the proposed bridge that will replace the ferry will cut access times. Pay as little as possible, and be sure that the seller actually owns the land. Be very careful there, I can't emphasise that enough.

 

[Zulu]

I'm looking at an Apartment in a set of Self Contained Apts in Montenegro. It's off plan, bought directly from the Developer & would be ready in under two years. It's between Bar & Petrovac. Price works out @ It's €1750/sq M. Anyone know anything about the area or q's I should be asking the developer? Also, I'd be happy to buy this for personal use for myself & Mrs Fowler. I'm thinking of asking some family members if they'd be interested. We've got enough cash between the two of us to buy it on our own but could probably get something better within the complex if we got others involved. Any recommendations on this?

Be very careful Bobby. There are many Irish agents marketing properties which do not have all the planning permission so have your due diligence done. While a new project provides less hassle, the prices are extremely inflated. I have seen new projects in location like Kamenari (Spelling?) going for €2500-€3500- this is madness considering it is an emerging market. It is getting more costly that some Croation property.

12-24 months ago there was some great deals, especially some older properties (only negative factor with these was possible title problems). Beautiful place! Just worried that over development would ruin it.