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Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Maribor, Slovenia.
Portoroz, Slovenia.
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KoÄ?evje, Slovenia. From the KoÄ?evje webcam page.
Dear Michael:
My grandmother was born in KoÄ?evje. I have cousins in Ljubliana and Maribor, with whom I communicate on occasion. I have always been interested in my "heimat," and I enjoyed your post on the Gottscheers. We don’t get a lot press, as you know.
Perhaps you can give me an opinion: what do you think of an American purchasing property in Slovenia? My uncle would like to purchase the ancestral home in the KoÄ?ejve area, and wants me to partner with him. What would the average Slovenian think of this? Would such a move be resented or welcomed?
Thank you,
Philip
As a property-owning foreigner, I can say that I’ve never felt unwelcome here. Nor do any of the foreigners I know. It’s true that right before joining the EU, Slovenes were a bit antsy about their country being "bought out from under them," but the feared flood of foreigners never, uh, flooded. What’s more, rapidly rising real-estate prices and the complex paperwork necessary to buy property here will probably prevent all but the most committed from moving here. So, my advice would be not to worry about it.
However, I wasn’t sure if the situation was different in KoÄ?evje, so I asked the magnificent Bojana (who has family there) for her opinion. She writes:
In KoÄ?evje, people are quite used to having houses in the neighbourhood that are inhabited by people other than Slovenes. There are plenty of houses of people from Germany; some of them Slovenes who moved to Germany and came back after 30 years to live there, or their children. Or these houses are just their holiday residence (some of them even selling them again). But there are also people from other countries. So, in my opinion, the guy should have nothing to be worried about, people won’t look down on him but rather welcome him. On the other hand, these things can be case sensitive. Though I think there really shouldn’t be any problem.
There you have it. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and thanks for writing!
Have a question about Slovenia? Hit me with your best shot and fire away at: AskTGoC@gmail.com
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Is this the same Philip that writes on the RTVSLO forum such things as that Maribor should have bilingual German/Slovene road signs, tables, because of the German “cultural heritage” ?
Sorry, but I don’t see the point in buying an “ancestral home” in KoÄ?evje… this is pure redneck mentality…
I have an aunt & uncle in Chicago and they bought a condo in Ljubljana for my grandma. It wasn’t too much of a pain in a butt as far as bureaucracy is concerned, but that might be also because they do have Slovenian citizenship.
As far as the attitude of the locals, I think Bojana summed it up pretty well. I do not know the Kocevje region very well, so I can’t tell you more.
As far as your investment velue, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is, that your property value in Kocevje probably won’t increase a lot. The good news is that it probably won’t decrease, either. Slovenia is pretty densely populated and the real estate values seem to be constantly growing. Another good news is, there are no real estate property taxes in Slovenia so far.
This will change very fast. I belive that property taxes will be introduced in 2005 or 2006.
Philip,
I don’t know how familiar you are with Slovenia, but if your knowledge is fairly basic, you may be interested in this introductory overview about buying real estate in Slovenia (it’s intended for Britons, but there is plenty of general info there as well):
www.channel4.com/4homes/buyingabroad/countryguides/country_guide_slovenia.html
Whoops! The URL got truncated — I didn’t realize that this system doesn’t automatically convert HTML. You can access the page by clicking on my username (”AZ2SI”) just below this post.
A great link, AZ2SI, thanks! The page also includes a link to Slovenian Properties, which has some more info. Quite useful!
If you want to bring money-you are wellcome,if you want to bring nazism ( haimat) you will be dead nazi slave Philip.
Fredi, these “Heimat”-Nazis have been rearing their ugly heads again since the re-unfication of West and East Germany. Now they’re also allowed to officially call Baltic territory “their Heimat” again with TV “documentaries” (i.e. propaganda) on German public television remeniscing the “good old days when Koenigsberg was German”.
Little known is the fact that Koenigsberg (=Prussian: Twangste) just like KoÄ?evje was inhabited by German colonists.
I therefore understand and sympathize with you and your fellow Slovenes who are rightfully concerned about rising German nationalism and the accompanying chauvenism and racism against the indigenous peoples of Europe.
You’re welcome to drop by and browse at my msn groups site at:
http://groups.msn.com/PrussianHeritageFoundation
Thanks, Michael!
Two similar sites were mentioned on another forum recently:
Slovenian Property from eurobirolimited.co.uk
Nepremicnine.net
And now that I finally figured out that this system uses ordinary HTML, here is the British guide to buying real estate in Slovenia mentioned above.
Myself and partner fell in love with the mountains and subsequently bought a property Mojstrana, near Kranjska Gora. Like some of your readers we were unsure of our reception, but we had nothing to worry about all the locals we have met are warm and friendly. We had a massive shock 3 months after buying the house when we were on holiday, some Surveys arrived at our door and announced part of our garden didn’t belong to us. It transpires that the agent TRG Bled had mislead us into what was our garden and what belonged the Municipality, who are themselves in legal wranglings with the owner who has now claimed it back after it was taken from her family in communist times. We have been to see a solicitor and are now having to fight this through the courts. Apparently you have 1 year in which you can have the contract cancelled if they think you have a good enough case, which they do. Is there anyone else out there who is experiencing a simular problem please contact us on Lis_kolkman@hotmal.com we would love to hear from you. Also if there is anyone who thinks they may have viewed this property before we bought it, as we were told many people had, I would love to from them. This is something I would receommend prospective purchases be mindful of, but don’t let it put you off this wonderful Slovenia
Philip!
Please don’t mind the nazi stupidity in some of the posts!
The great majority of Slovenes are not that way.
Gottscheer Deutsche are always welcome in their ancestral lands. We understand, how it feels, if someone takes away your land - we lost Trst to Italians and Carinthia to Austrian Germans. It does not make us hateful but rather understanding. It was a crime, to expel Gottscheer people. And every Slovene, who is really proud, should understand that fact - otherwise he is just a primitive fascho!
Great links from Karjangus and AZ2SI. Dream of buying in Slovenia someday.
It is only a matter of time before Germany regains Gottschee for its people.
ok, i am heading to slovenia next month to check out houses in the mountain regions. Does anyone know how you start making apointments to look at houses ? Does everything go through estate agents and do you need a translater? Thanks for any help. Eithne
Hello!..1.you can call estate agent 2.you can call seller of the house or 3.you can go direct to the house and ring a bell..We slovenians are very friendly,and majority of us can speak english very good, also german… Lep pozdrav!