We bought our beautiful apartment in Elizabeth city, the Jewish quarter of Budapest in the same building where my mom was born and raised back in 2007. It was for a vacation spot instead of inconveniencing our family every time we visited and a rental income to subsidize the mortgage on it. We are both Hungarian (Magyar) decent and have family who lives throughout Hungary. A long-term investment that gives us an option to either settle down in if and when we decide to move to Hungary or a rental income seemed like wise ideas at the time.
Our Walnut Apartment in Budapest Hungary has a seasonal draw with the occasional New Years visitors, making our long-term investment not profitable enough to support our family of four during our tour of Europe. (At least not to the standard we are accustomed.
Making this our first destination on the adventure to buy a B&B in the south of France did however make perfect sense, even though we miss out on high season rentals by staying in our flat.
We took the opportunity to renovate, use this as our home base to find our B&B, and to search for our camper van in neighboring countries.
It looks like Alfonz will have to fly to Mosbach Germany to buy the Camper Van for our needs. In Hungary the taxes are high, plus they pay a premium on anything outside of Hungary. A brand new VW camper van in Germany is about 30,000€. The same van in Hungary is closer to 40,000€. Worth the hundred euro flight to Germany to make a deal, and drive it back.
My cousin Bori will either stay with me to help out or I will spend sometime with my cousin Zsolti’s family in Bakonysarakony, a small town about 1 hour outside of Budapest. I’m not comfortable enough to wander around with my kids without someone else close by. In a few weeks I will be fine, but the move comes with an adjustment period, and during that time frame I want people close. Kids are not quite settled, me needing to brush up on my Hungarian, and the time change has kicked our asses!
There are a few glitches in our plans. One thing, it is difficult to buy anything over a few hundred dollars from a Canadian bank account. And to wire transfer to a Hungarian bank account, most Canadian banks require a signature in person for the transfer. Large vehicle purchases or even a deposit on a French home can be tricky. We have managed to veer through the red tape for now but the B&B purchase may prove more difficult. Cross your fingers. Time will tell how it all plays out.
Back to the kitchen renovation; before it was old and dirty with outdated counters and fixtures. Now it has a brand new IKEA kitchen, with shaker style white wood cabinet doors, ‘soft close’ hinges, and durable grey countertops. New stainless appliances makes this ‘American style’ kitchen, modern and efficient. I mentioned before and will again of my extremely smart designed Lazy Susan under the corner counter, that gives me access to the far back corner under the counter tops. It doesn’t only turn, but completely pulls out, making it my favourite feature in my new kitchen.
The original parquet floors had the years of added shiny varnish sanded off, and the dust fills the cracks and then re lacquered with a matte finish. They look gorgeous and still has the original antique floor look.
The loft has red stained pine, fits our double bed above the children’s two single beds. It frees up space in the room for a little sitting area, which is perfect for our computers.
Our home here is functional, equipped and perfect for family rentals. Even comes with a full toy box. Wi-Fi and cable are included in this fully stocked apartment and has the added benefit of a washing machine. Right down to the plates and cups, this home is ready for anyone.
If you know anyone coming to Hungary and needs a great place to stay contact Daniel at http://walnut-apartment.com