posted
My wife-to-be(inshallah) and I wish to move to Egypt. I've found a few websites showing houses and apartments for sale, but most are priced for foreigners. I hope that makes sense. If not, what I meant is, that to people in england it would be reasonable to pay upwards of £100,000, but I know houses do not cost this much in Egypt(except perhaps for the most luxurious of them all - which I do not want) and a lot of websites price them to people willing to pay this.
If anyone could provide some good sites, that do not list their offerings 'priced-up' that'd be great
I'm mostly interested in Cairo, or close to it. Also, after looking at a map, I liked the location of Beni Suef. If this is a deserted area please correct me I'm totally open to other areas as well, except Sharm el Sheikh, which I think is way too touristy - I want to mingle with the locals
Would it be reasonable to assume a price range of £20,000-30,000/$40,000-55,000 for a basic starter-home? Or perhaps a little less?
Thanks for any help at all.
Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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posted
my advice, dont buy, rent. Put your money in an egyptian bank the rent can be paid from the interest you will earn.
-------------------- If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them. Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I didn't think of that either. As far as I am aware though, islamic banks do not pay or charge interest. Instead, you share the 'risk' with them, or can just have an account that does not change - ie no risk to your funds at all.
I prefer minimal risk where possible.
Thanks for the site, it looks pretty good. I'll take a better look.
Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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Don't buy before you get to Egypt. You will never get the best price on the internet or over the phone. Come to Egypt and rent. Then take your time looking around before you buy. Never buy property unseen. Go around different areas and ask the bawebs if there are apartments free. That's how you get a good price. Kobri al Oba is starting to be developed and there are nice two bedroom apartments for around $17,000. Oh, and the area is on the metro line. Good luck!
Posts: 166 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Thanks. We plan on heading over there in two years or so, but if you can really get a decent starter place for $17,000 and the dollar continues to drop like a stone, then maybe a lot less
I highly-doubt I'd ever buy before going back to Egypt again. I've been once and wanted to go since I was 5(according to my mum) and Ayesha has never been, so we'll likely go next year and have a look around for a couple of weeks and decide where we want to live.
Thanks for all the help. Very....helpful Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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posted
The National Bank of Egypt is paying around 9% on deposits at the moment. You have to keep an eye on the exchange rate though because you can lose a lot of money if you ever need to change the currency back to whatever it was in the first place.
Egyptian currency has devalued greatly against both the dollar and sterling over the last ten years. Ten years ago there were about 5 Egptian pounds to £1 sterling. The exhange rate is now 10.79 LE to the pound.
Posts: 2235 | From: Jail | Registered: Jun 2004
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Dealing with financial situations in Egypt is a big mystery to me. And very paradoxal. If you can rent, the rules are as tight that you could have żou're children's children and further on living in the appartment but it will be yours. Even if you don't pay the rent, or ignore the raised rent, you will still have a lot of priviliges staying where you are. So it does seem profitable to rent. My dh has some pieces of land. His family does use some for their own benefit or live of of it, or have houses on it, the rest he collects money from tenants. The home we have in Alex he had to pay the bank some money each year for some years. So if he did not have enough in one year he would sell some land. Now the home is payed off he will try to buy his land back. Since he believes land is the most valuable thing to you're money, next to having a house in Alex where prices still rise. He will try to sell our home eventually for much more than he bought it. He told me there are this big companies that will buy houses some blocks at a time and the owners will get an appartment in the newly build flat next to some money for the ground and the appartment they sell to this company.
posted
When I was out in Egypt the rate was around 10.5 LE/£1 and seems to have been pretty stable at around 10.6-10.8 since I've been back. It is truly ashame that such a beautiful country, so rich in culture is so poor....but if I can get a cheap house out of it I'm not about to say no Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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I know absolutely nothing about property values or ease of buying or selling in Cairo. Demiana is right about the difficulty of getting people out of rented property in Egypt though. It can takes years to evict a tenant even if they have not paid the rent.
Posts: 2235 | From: Jail | Registered: Jun 2004
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Weird. So they're happy to beat-and-jail pro-democracy supporters, but won't evict people who won't pay rent?
Anyways, we may rent for a while...but hopefully not too long. Hopefully we'll be over for 2 or three weeks to check-out various areas etc and then come back permanently, renting for a month or two whilst we sort-out a place to buy...by which time we will both speak and read enough arabic to not get screwed over by a lawyer...if we happen to meet a bad one Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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I see that you are from the UK. The British Embassy in Cairo have a list of various firms that will interpret and verify any legal papers for you. This should minimise the risk of being ripped off. Relying on the interpretations of friends is a lot cheaper but is not always wise.
They also give a list of lawyers thought to be reliable. Of course they will not guarantee that they are honest (and I know from experience that not all of them are). These lawyers have a tendency to be much more expensive than others but it could still be worth the extra cost.
Posts: 2235 | From: Jail | Registered: Jun 2004
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Thanks. Does anyone have any idea why it is so hard to get evicted from an apartment if you don't pay? I have no intention of doing this....but just seems a little 'soft' for a dictatorship Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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This was the Old Egyptian Rent Law, I think, that allows tenant to stay indefintaly, and let their kids live there as well as thier kid... : confused: i think
But now they have a new rent law, that only limits to 5 years, and need to be renewed.
-------------------- -- here... [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0955020700/qid%3D1133898517/026-7853042-0414807= Recommended...![/url] Posts: 2457 | From: U | Registered: Jun 2005
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The maximum length of a lease is now 9 years but it is the length of time it takes to get things through the courts that makes it so hard to get tenants to leave if they do not pay the rent.
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I dont know why anyone would rent out their property, I think they end up losing more money, than gaining money from the income.
I wouldnit mind renting in Egypt (as it seems to hav all the advantags with the law), but no way would I rent out if I had a property there. (Maybe for for summer short term tourist, etc)
-------------------- -- here... [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0955020700/qid%3D1133898517/026-7853042-0414807= Recommended...![/url] Posts: 2457 | From: U | Registered: Jun 2005
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Regarding your budget, you will find plenty of nice apts in Cairo. You can check these websites but I will suggest that you use them to get an idea and then you come here and contact them and other offline real estae agents to have more choices. http://www.3qary.net/Default.aspx http://www.e-dar.com http://www.trenta.netPosts: 14 | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I partly agree with the Muslim principle that you should not earn interest from your money and there are banks in Egypt that do not pay interest on the accounts. However, many Muslims forget these principles when it comes to their own financial arrangements. What you chose to do personally will be within your owm remit. (I am a Muslim).
Whether you rent or buy, I hope that you will be very happy in this wonderful country.
Posts: 2235 | From: Jail | Registered: Jun 2004
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Big thanks to all of you. I plan on us going over sometime next year for a month or so. Ayesha's never been and I'm really eager to go back, so should be great Posts: 61 | From: England | Registered: May 2006
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put your money in the bank and let the interest pay the rent ,that must be the daftest thing ive heard,interest rates are high for a reason,and that inflation. so if you put your money in the bank and rent from the interest you will lose, inflation and cost of living will burn up the rest of your money. and you will gain nothing.DO YOUR MATHS
Posts: 1344 | From: uk/ | Registered: Mar 2006
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hi khalid how are u i work in real estate and we have very nice prices for beautiful apartments iff u want u can look to our website or email me my email marcelverbrugge@hotmail.com and our website is www.jennyshouse-egypt.com only the dutch version is ready and after a couple of days the english version wil be ready to launch just have a look at the dutch version and u are welcome to email me u will see very good prices for very nice propertys and a good investement is to buy some land on the sea in marsa alam iff u are intrested or have any questions u can mail me private greetings yousef marcel verbrugge
Posts: 224 | From: Hurghada | Registered: Nov 2005
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! I actually find myself in agreement with morgan. Weird. Anyways, I know I cannot earn interest on money.
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