My Realtor in Budapest, Hungary
Meet Benedek, Realtor in Budapest, Hungary
Benedek graduated in engineering from Corvinus University in Budapest. However, what he is most passionate about is real estate and Kayaking. Most notably, during his school and university years he used to have 9 training sessions per week on the mighty Danube. His two brothers are also into Kayaking, and one of them represented Hungary in international competitions.
Benedek owns a mid-sized property management company, both for long term and short term lets. This is what I really like about Benedek – he fully grasps the rental market. By being your buyer’s agent, he will be able to give you much more honest yield estimates, and find properties that people want to rent, rather than real estate that whatever agent you are talking to is trying to sell.
Sure, employing Benedek as your realtor in Budapest comes with an extra fee, but the Return on Investment is quick. You can either speak to a bunch of normal real estate agents, and be partially in the dark in terms of the rental potential, or have Benedek look for an optimized investment.
Objectively, his 3% fee is reimbursed quickly. If he can find you an apartment with a yield 3 percentage points greater than other agents, then you have your Return on Investment within a year. The maths are really that simple.
Local Market Expert
Property Management
Renovation Management
What to expect when working with Benedek as your realtor in Budapest
1. You get in touch with Benedek directly using the form below.
2. You have a 15 minute, free, discovery call where you discuss your objectives, and Benedek elaborates on how he can help you, and whether your expectations are realistic.
3. If you want to recruit Benedek as your buyer’s agent he’ll ask for a €500 deposit for the process of finding and sending you properties he’ll have carefully filtered to be in line with your objectives. If you end up buying one of them, the €500 will be credited towards his commission. If you don’t, he keeps the deposit as compensation for his time.
4. Benedek charges 3%+VAT of the value of the real estate being bought.
5. If you are looking to do a renovation after the purchase, he will provide you with a full quote. You are more than welcome, and encouraged, to get other quotes as well. Benedek can provide you with his portfolio of renovations he has completed.
6. If you recruit him for the renovation, he’ll manage it from A to Z, and work with you and the interior designer to get a great result.
7. He also offers property management services.
How the real estate market is structured in Budapest
- Every real estate agency has its own listings, and some listings can be found at multiple agencies.
- That said, you can’t speak to all agents as many will be a waste of time.
- There are countless “inflated listings” of people who don’t really want to sell their apartments, but who list them anyway at higher than the market price, and try to sell them to unsuspecting foreigners.
- The key to successfully investing in Budapest real estate is understanding the local dynamics and rental market. The vast majority of real estate agents will give you false expectations of rental yields on their apartments. The scale of rent inflation done by real estate agents is unfathomable, unlike in any other market I’ve experienced in Central Europe. Agents will not hesitate to promise you rents 2x or 3x of the actually rental value. So just using an estimate of “rents are probably being overestimated by 20% by agents” won’t even work.
- You want to work with a buyer’s agent who links with various agencies and who represents YOUR interests. Most importantly, his interests must be aligned with yours. This is why I’ve been working with Benedek, as he owns a property management company. He doesn’t want to promise you sky-high yields, as he’ll be the one managing your property later on.
- There are some large real estate companies, such as Tower International, who also offer sales and rental management. However do note that their sales and property management departments are separate. The agents selling to you will in no way be accountable for the actual yields that you later get from the property management department. Also, as they target mostly foreigners, they have a higher proportion of inflated listings.
More from Budapest, Hungary
I wrote a full article on a Real Estate Investment in Budapest which details the market in Hungary.
Learn about the strategies Benedek uses to maximize yields
Learn about the apartment I sold in Budapest.
Other available services in Hungary:
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