Just back from a very enjoyable tour of the Baltic States.
Really loved Pärnu with its wide very safe sandy beach and acres of well kept parks. Delicious food especially the cakes and all very inexpensive between 1/2 and 1/3 of UK prices.
As always I found myself looking into the local property market. Lowest cost was a 55m2 house in 2.5 hectares for £10000 situated 35km away. Estonia is a very switched on country (loads of free WiFi) and so in the estate agents you can log on to the Estonia Land Registry site where you can see an aerial photo of the house with the legal boundaries marked in yellow – very cool.
Here are all the estate agents I could find in Pärnu:-
www.kinnisvarad.ee
Www.vestman.ee
www.lvm.ee
www.ober-haus.ee
www.lossi.ee
www.bpe.ee
www.haaberstimaja.ee
New flats in Pärnu cost about £85,000 for 65m2 overlooking the sea.
Hi Geoff – good on you for blogginh about Estonia. I’m thinking of buying property in Talinn, wil let you know what I discover. In the meantime, do you know of any fee-based (trustworthy), independent property consultants in the region, as distinct from estate agents!?
cheers
Jason
Hi Jason
Couldnt find your email address. I don’t really know any more about the property market thanI blogged. If I was buying I would email all the agents listed asking for recommended architects (say you are looking to build) then email said architects with your query. Good luck!
Anyone know anything about Cavitron they also sell houses in Parnu. Are they reliable?
Hey!
found this blog. I am pleased that you Geoff found Estonia enjoiable! I am actually real estate agent in Estonia and know the local market. Thing what pisses me off ( and meny others in Pärnu) is that we have companies like Cavitron here who just copy details from other websites, doble the price and then tey to sell them. It maybe worked like this some time ago, but now people know about internet and can find out things by themselves. Best advise for people like you is to look at the website http://www.parnu.ee or http://en.wikipedia.org . The last one gives you good information about Estonia. Anyway, me as estonian and specially as real estate agent hope to see here more and more people from other countrys!
Cavitron and Churchill both push up the prices its as if they are the same company with two names
What ever Cavitron Churchill and Propert Gem have for sale can be found cheaper from a proper local agent. If they are inluding an all in price there 25% for them
As a client of Churchill’s I find this very hard to beleive. The service I have received is second to none. I can only assume that the posting on this blogg was done by a competitor. If by chance the property is slightly more exensive then it is because of the quality of service and ongoing support offered to the customers by Churchills. I do not know of any connections to Carvitron.
I am British National, and to be honest I have not met any trustworthy UK owned or run agents in Parnu or for that matter Estonia. Your best bet is a truly local agent with good knowledge, and who normally makes a small comision between 2 and 5 per-cent. I bought from a British guy who ran an agency which is still running now in a different name, and only now have managed to sell it a a small profit. I paid well over the odds for it and the mark up by the agents was scandelous. Learn from my nistake please! Dont get blinded by low prices compared with UK, in the end you want an investment and something you can sell at a profit – not a loss!
I am actually the sales manager for one of these agencies here that is run by an english guy. I am fully trained and qualified and have 2 university degrees. Just because I am not a local doesnt mean I don’t know the market. I live here in Estonia and have been researching and learning for almost a year. This market is growing so quickly and local agents will offer you absolutely NO after sales support, whether that be developing your purchased land or rental management of your new apartment or even resales like we do. They will simply sell you something and that will be the end of your communication with them. They will have no involvement in post-sales customer service. The fact that we will support a client for years after their purchase and keep an excellent working relationship with them, helping them to maximise their profits and gain everything they need from their investment is proof enough that we are confident in what we are selling and know the market inside out. If we were scam artists as we seem to be portrayed on this blog then no such post-sale service would be possible.
ps: our comissions are as low as 1% on most sales!!!
It might be helpful if you guys could post links to your web sites!
Hi Geoff Read these very interesting comments we are UK staffed estate agency based here in Tallinn Estonia filling the trustworthy gap.
http://www.tallinnhomes.co.uk
We offer property for sale & also offer a unique service of finding property in the open market for an upfront fee. However we try to get the price down for the client & give them value for money. Hope to see you all soon in Estonia. Kind regards, William.