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Hungary: Let the school search begin!:
It all depends on your budget and personal preferences as where to live (urban, semi-urban suburban). Everybody has his/her own preference(s) which may, or may not coincide with yours. (Likely not - per my personal experience).
Your length of stay (unless you expect it to be permanent) would determine to rent or to buy.
Until you figure these out, I don't think we can be much help.
p.s. There ain't no such thing as "perfect" anything.
Hungary: dual citizen considering a move:
Ildiko;
Don't chicken out. It is a trying experience, but, you'll be rewarded in more ways than one. You speak the language, so you'd have an easier time.
Paddington egy nem-magyar seggfej, don't pay attention to his inane rant. (Az ipse terhelt).
Both me and my wife were born in HU. She was only 5 when she left (I was 18). She is really happy to have left the US, and started a new life in HU. It's incomparable. HU has its own issues, but it's still way ahead in quality(!) of life compared to America. As for living standard, your retirement money will give you roughly twice as much goods and services than in the US, plus(!) the savings in medical expenses. Add up Medicare plan B, C and plan D costs, plus medigap insurance, and you are paying somewhere $ 350-500 per month for those. If you have something chronic, medigap ins. cost can skyrocket for coverage.
Hungary: Some questions:
borschelrh's advice is sound.
I'd like to add, that your view from the US is not really sound; your American investment strategies may, or may not work HERE.
Real estate: The prospect for appreciation is not sound in a country where: 1. The population is decreasing, so as the old die, more housing becomes available. 2. Housing construction practices are for buildings to last a long-long time (all solid masonry). 3. 90% of the population owns it own home, with only 24% having any mortgage. (US numbers are: 63% and 75% - respectively).
However, buying an apartment is not a bad idea, for steady rental income should the $ hit the skids. Should that happen, your US pension will not come, or not buy much. (History is full of these kind of scenarios). I have seen the U$ at almost 300HUF (around yr 2000) to as low as 160HUF 6-7 years later. Forget the 7%ROI. We are in a 0% and negative interest rate world.
This (renting an apartment) is insurance(!) that you can eat and heat, should the U$ tank - not an unlikely possibility. You CANNOT rent a 27million HUF Budapest apartment for 160000HUF /month + condo fees (about 20-25K+ HUF in that price range). Forget it. The income is not there to support it. Plus, there is 16% straight tax on the gross rent (excluding the condo fees). You can deduct repairs and maintenance costs (receipts are a MUST) - but they are still tricky. There is a purchase tax of a dwelling of 4%.
As for the Euro? Nobody knows if the Euro will survive. It has serious problems; the Czech Republic just postponed its joining the Eurozone until 2020, and it's not b/c the Czech economy is unfit for the Euro even right now. They just have doubts - evidently - so do millions of other Europeans...
OTP Bank also cooperates with FATCA. Don't ask, what I think of FATCA, it's unfit to print...
You can bring your stuff in tax-free but you must prove 1 year-plus outside-of-EU residency and the items must be personal things; furniture, clothes, car(s), etc; no construction materials, no machinery, no business equipment/vehicles, etc. For the outside of EU residency proof you WILL need utility bills (hard copies) and likely bank statements, doctor bills (if any). If you are on electronic payment plans, put an end to it now, go back to hard paper copies; they demand ALL 12 months, 11 just won't do. I've been there... (was no fun).
Paddington is just mindlessly repeating this 27% VAT tax mantra - which really is a consumption tax which was proposed in the US 20-30 years ago, together with a flat rate personal tax. Guess what: HU has done it, the US has not. There is only one personal tax bracket, 16%.
Two or three weeks ago it was announced, that they intend to bring it down from the 16% to 9% - FLATrate for all.
Hungary: US State Dept Support Services for US Expat Retirees in Hungary:
I have looked into the Eva Balogh HU Spectrum. I watched the interview too. Your nose is correct. It does not pass the smell test. Albeit, it's a sophisticated op, but as these kinds of things go, mistakes are, and will be made. She made a couple in the video interview, to show her hand. It goes deeper, but cannot discuss it here.
Some things are just that way.
I grew up in HU - under the previous regime. If anything good came out of that were two good things: we got a good education, and learned to read between the lines of the b.s., propaganda, lies, and incendiary rhetoric; we got it with our mother's milk.
She is clear as day to me.
BTW: she slipped in a very indirect, roundabout way, that she has handlers ("help").
I remember reading an article abut a professor from Ossetia, invited to teach for year in Gerogetown Univ. He said (paraphrased) "I grew up and lived in the Soviet Union and we were trained from an early age - by necessity - to see thru the b.s. and propaganda; to read between the lines, to predict from very little info as to what are they up to. We've been sensitized for it, to see it a mile away. Within a few mos after my arrival in the US, I realized, that things are no different there, except it is more sophisticated. It didn't matter how many papers and stations you have, the info in the US is filtered and manufactured just like in the old Soviet Union."
Bright guy - can't recall his name - but probably that's why he became famous enough to be invited to Georgetown U. to teach a couple of semesters.
Hungary: Magyor classes:
Read this recently; as a newcomer, keep this in mind.
"'Stages of culture shock.' They include the honeymoon phase, the irritation-to-anger stage, the rejection of the culture stage, and the cultural adjustment phase".
You probably will go through all these; hopefully you will not get trapped in one of the stages and unable to move forward - like Paddington.
Hungary: Internet provider:
T-Home is a veritable POS. It's garbage. High priced garbage at that.
I just switched to UPC, getting 30 times the guaranteed (and actually measured) speed, for 2/3rd the cost of T-Home's trash.
T-Home doesn't have enough bandwidth - even at their pathetically low speed - so they're doing rolling drop-offs at peak periods. It was infuriating and streaming (say YouTube) impossible at HD resolution even at 720p. T-Home provides only 1/10th of the speed they're advertising.
Cannot say that they are liars, after-all if you read the hard-to-find, very-very fine print, you will notice that they only "guarantee" the tenth of the advertised figure.
UPC should be readily available for you in Bud.
Hungary: New toll roads!:
Stop your whining Paddigton.
Friends just returned (yesterday) to Budapest from France, and on one of the highways their host (they were not driving) had to pay a toll of 28 Euros. Yup, you got that right, 28 even.Talking about it to me, they got the impression, that it was a relatively short distance of the highway she had to pay for to use. First, seeing the sign, they thought it was only 2.8 Euros - which seemed reasonable (they are Americans). When they realized the actual amount, they were in total shock.
FYI: 28Euros = U$34.
So 5000HUF/yr ($19.25) is not gonna kill you.
Maryland just increased the gas tax by 3.5 cent/gal.(Jan 1st) How much is that/year for a working stiff? About $37/yr. @ 20gals/wk - which is about average for a car in that region (or below average) with commute and errands. If you own a stupid SUV, like most of the stupids have there, you're looking in excess of $50-60/yr.
So get a grip, and stop whining Paddington, it's worse in the US.
Hungary: how to open fast food restaurant:
We don't want you here, making profits on the back of these already exploited people.
Go someplace else.
Hungary and the malls have already a cornucopia of various restaurants; the non-Hungarian food ones failing in droves - thankfully... (Look at the food courts of Koki and Arkad in the last 6 months)
Hungarian food is yummy, no need - thank you - for more ethnics.
BTW: If you think you can get by current American fast food restaurant standards (i.e. the prevailing sloppiness and lack of enforcement), you WILL be shut down - quick. It's not that the regulations are drastically more stringent (albeit they are indeed more stringent) but the enforcement (ÁNTSZ) is more frequent and thorough - and that's only for the food. Your sources of raw materials are monitored also - especially meat - also for health reasons.
There is a cornucopia of hard-to-get permits (with fees) required initially.
The financial part is a would-be tax cheater's worst nightmare. ALL transactions MUST be done on a special (govt approved) cash-machine that must give a printed receipt and it not merely records but SENDS EVERY transaction wirelessly to the tax office (NAV). Ditto w/ cred card transactions. You do transaction(s) without using the machine, and you will be fined (big!) - for starters. That can be followed by being shut down, assets freeze and even jail.
Your cook(s) MUST be government credentialed/certified, you cannot just hire kids and train them - like fast food places in the US.
It has a good reason: in-depth cooking training, food chemistry, food quality maintenance and knowing and understanding health reasons and maintaining health standards in the kitchen and in the cooking process. Of course, this kind of (trained and certified) help costs more than know-nothing dumb and cheap kids...
Your working hours will be defined. That means, not only from and until when can you be open, but you MUST be open on those defined days and hours - whether you want to be or not. (Don't feel like opening today? Too bad. You still must open - at least in my district in Buda)
You will need a Hungarian partner or paid consultant, to guide you the maze of the process; the language skill and requirements knowledge is IMPERATIVE.
No matter though, it's a 90% certainty you'll be out of business in a year or two, or when your working capital runs out - whichever comes first...
Hungary: Advantages/disadvantages Dual citizenship:
US Soc. Sec. will be paid for American retirees living in HU without any restrictions.
The SSA will direct deposit your proceeds in a HU bank. You'll have to obtain the participating banks' names at the US Embassy and then open an account for the purpose.
US Medicare will NOT cover you in any shape or form outside of the US.
If you have a HU passport and proof-of-residency card (lakokartya) then you can get medical coverage (TAJ) for about 7000HUF/month (approx $30) - but only IF you are a RETIREE - without earned income. If you work, or have a business in HU, the rates are different.
You'll have to cancel your US Medicare 'Plan B', otherwise they deduct $104/mo (currently) for plan B coverage (Use form CMS-1763).
I see no disadvantages of dual citizenship. HU citizenship gives you the option (and right) to live in any EU country without any special residency permits.
Your outside-of-HU income i.e: SSec., IRA/401K proceeds/distributions, and private pension (if any) are not taxable in HU.
You MUST file a US tax return every year though, whether you owe any or not. If you don't file, the penalty alone is $10K.
Hungary: Water and Sewage:
Paddington,
You're the terminal orifice of the alimentary canal...
You should just depart from this geographic realm forthwith, to relieve our consternation with your antics, heaped upon us by your baseless utterances.
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