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Debrecen good place to live?

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guestuser
  9/15/2014 14:06 EST

Hello everyone,

My father(he is 57) and i(i am 34) are moving to Hungary next year and we are figuring out what city to start with. Of course Budapest is the capital and where most expats start with due to it being so international and established. But by the same token we do want someplace a bit more quiet. We have been looking at various different cities and are coming u with Debrecen. It is the 2nd largest city in Hungary and seems to be small but not too small.

Housing rentals seem much more affordable there which is a big plus and also my father is from Nebraska which is the Great Plains area of USA so moving to Great Plains area of Hungary is a real plus for him.

But i am asking the things you can not tell from reading online sites. Like how is it there to live? I know it is near the Romanian border so i guess that would influence things there, i guess. I honestly do not know.

Has anyone on here been or lived there? Is it someplace one would recommend for people moving from USA to there?

KEG
  9/16/2014 05:35 EST

Not sure about Debrecen. It is a bit far from most nice places in Hungary. Have you looked at Kesztehly area? It is close to lake Balaton, Heviz thermal lakes, and excellent train service to Budapest. Might be good if you took a couple of weeks and toured the country a bit. That would be the most helpful.

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Grazka
  9/16/2014 05:49 EST

I would recommend Sopron.Its on the border with Austria.Very central...Was living there for a 2 years ....Just something to think about.

guestuser
  9/18/2014 19:07 EST

Thanks for those cities also. We will look at them too. One of the things i liked about Debrecen is that rentals seem affordable and reasonable. We are going to rent an apartment for awhile before we find a house to buy.

Is the cities you listed affordable for renting?

I know Lake Balaton area is expensive from what i have seen, but i may not know of the areas that are not.

Same question about Sopron?

Grazka
  9/19/2014 01:15 EST

The Balaton area is touristy so prices are higher. Sopron apartments for rent are not the cheapest one because lots of Hung coming there from around the country .They are living in Sopron but they are working in Austria. From Sopron to Vienna is only 40min by car.And takes u 5 min drive to be in Austria.The rent for a 2 room apartment in Sopron furnished will be around 80-90K HUF/month.You can also look on the small places around the Sopron.
ISopron its easy city to live.People are friendly there.The houses are not expensive either...dependent what part of Sopron interest u.
If u have a some more questions just ask...happy to help. Grazka

guestuser
  9/19/2014 02:14 EST

Grazka

You say this
{{The rent for a 2 room apartment in Sopron furnished will be around 80-90K HUF/month.You can also look on the small places around the Sopron.}}

Ok like my father and i would not live in a 2 room place as i have realized in Hungary they count each room. So like tell me this if you know

How much are places with this

2 Separate sleeping rooms with a bed in each

A living room

A kitchen

A Bathroom

I am not sure if would be consider a 3 room or 5 room place or what but that is what we would need. But if you happen to know what a place that size would be each month?

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Grazka
  9/19/2014 02:28 EST

In Hungry the living room and the b'rooms are counted as a rooms....the kitchen,bathroom...no one counts separately. In Sopron 2 brooms plus living will be about 100K HUF/months....plus of course electricity,gas,common cost (around 6K/m)...so all extra cost will be around 20kHUF/month.
If you go out of Sopron a little u can have slightly cheaper.
G.

guestuser
  9/19/2014 02:52 EST

Ok so yes i guess i would need a 2 or 3 bedrooms plus living room. So a 3 or 4 room place. 3 rooms at least.

100k HUF is lets see 415 USD so that would be very affordable and extra costs around 20k HUF which is like 83 USD

Those prices would be very doable and affordable for us.

So yes i will consider Sopron also when i look at what city for us to move too. Although i have read more of it, it seems near Gyor which i did read some of.

We are most likely gong to rent a hotel for a week or so then find a place to rent. And get our residence permit as soon as we can.

I know that USA people can go to Hungary with just a passport and then apply for 1yr residence permit there n Hungary. So i think we are just going to do that and make sure we have all our documents to get the residence permit there in hand to give to the government.

We were gong to try to go the the embassy here in USA and do it before hand but it seems like it may be easier to wait until we r in Hungary since renting remotely will be hard.

Grazka
  9/19/2014 03:14 EST

I think your biggest problem can be only the language.Do you or your father speak Hungarian?? I notice that more people who are walking dogs in the park can speak English then in any office or bank here.So knowing Hung its a big big help.As u know the bureaucracy here is a big issue as well.
Gyor is more industrial city but cheaper then Sopron.
When we come to Sopron we stay few months in Anita Apartments..google if u want.

guestuser
  9/19/2014 03:41 EST

No we do not speak Hungarian.

Industrial nope that seems bad in any country! he hee

I will google that place, it might be good for us to stay for a few weeks until we find an apartment to rent.

But we are moving to live so we will just try to deal with the bureaucracy as best we can.

Debrecen still is where we will focus on but i will look into Sopron also. Although i am not seeing much n the rentals for Sopron.

Grazka
  9/19/2014 04:42 EST

Personally I will not live in Debrecen even if looks like it is beautiful city. Manly because of location ( poorer part of Hu). But u need to find the place where u can be happy. Best way probably will be if u come here and travel maybe around.
If u don't know Hungarian u should go to the places where some emigrants are or where are some bigger possibility to find somebody English speaking.Believe me this is the biggest your problem.When u settle always u can move somewhere else.
Maybe try to find somebody in Debrecen with English who can help u if those city is where u like to be.

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maggiej
  9/20/2014 08:33 EST

I was there once for a two week language class at the KLTE university. Kossuth Lajos Tudomanyi Egyetem. I remember there being a nice outdoor pool area nearby. I had a good time during my brief visit.

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