Good time to buy a small farm in Greece?

BaguetteMan · #1 (**permalink**) 16th May 2012, 07:42 AM

Hi Everyone,
Please forgive me if this is a naive question. Is this a good time to buy a small farm/smallholding in Greece. I am interested in Corfu or Crete but as yet I haven't done much research. I don't speak Greek so my internet search is restricted to English language websites. I've been to both places several times so have some experience of both Corfu and Crete but only as a visitor. Can anyone offer advice? Also has anyone done this already and if so, what advice can you offer re.finding a property and about the buying process,
Regards,
Mike.

wka · #2 (**permalink**) 16th May 2012, 10:35 AM

Hi Mike,
I haven't done it myself but I have looked into it a bit. First thing to note is that farmland can be anywhere from dirt cheap to very expensive, and you have selected two of the more expensive areas in Greece. Are you planning to farm on the land? If so, what? If olives, you are looking at a much more expensive investment because the trees will increase the cost significantly. Do you want to build on the land? If so, you'll have to be very careful with the legalities - there are rules about how many square meters per 1000 square meters can be built on - and that varies from plot to plot. But you don't want to end up buying a place that's too small to build a house on if that's your goal. You can also run into issues like you're only allowed to build one structure on the property so you can't have a separate structure to house farm equipment or whatever.

In general, English language real estate sites in Greece are vastly overpriced and limited. You're much better off on the Greek sites just to get an idea of what prices are, but the only realistic option is to come to Greece and search on the ground, with the help of a local real estate agent, ideally one who specializes in farmland (agrotemahia).

Where I live, we have a number of farms listed for sale for as little as €1/m2. But you really have to talk to the agent or owner to find out what the whole story is. You may buy a place with no electricity or plumbing and have to pay to extend service.

If you can give more details about what your plans are, maybe we can give more directed advice - do you want land with a house already on it? Do you want to build on the property? Do you want land only, and to live in town? Do you want an established farm with mature olive trees and the like?

But your basic question seems to be about timing - property prices have gone down in some areas but certainly not all, and certainly not nearly by the amount that the depth of the crisis would suggest. This is unrelated to farms, but just the other day I heard on the news that the housing market in one area in a situation of 80% fewer sales, 30% reduction in prices. If an 80% drop in sales only yields a 30% drop in price, you can see you're not necessarily talking about a "golden opportunity." Some of these places were wildly overpriced to start with and -30% is probably still more than they're really worth. The crisis has NOT led to a massive drop in real estate prices pretty much anywhere in the country.

asimenia · #3 (**permalink**) 18th May 2012, 05:44 AM

Just to add - make very certain that there are no plans to pass any road through your land at any time in the near future as you will pay very highly for the pleasure of losing your land - yes that's correct - YOU will pay! Maybe think about mainland rather than islands for buying land - Epirus is a very green part of Greece with decent rainfall. There are many farmers here - so it will be easier to buy land and equipment - plus it's the mainland easy transportation.

BaguetteMan · #4 (**permalink**) 18th May 2012, 10:14 AM

Thanks wka and asimenia. I'm just starting my research and your comments are really helpful. It will be interesting to see how the political situation developes over the next few months and how (if at all) it affects property availability and prices in Greece. There has been a recent buying frenzy by (wealthy) Greeks in London who see property in the UK as a safer bet than money in a Greek bank ....... Thanks again.

BaguetteMan · #5 (**permalink**) 10th June 2012, 01:18 PM

Hi Pete,
I was trying to send you a private message but it doesn't seem to be an option on your profile, maybe you haven't set it up or something? Could you send me a 'private message' (click on my username Mike313 and choose private message from the drop-down menu) with an 'off-line' e-mail address if possible? Rgds, M.