My experience comes from living in the Czech Republic from three to six months a year for the last ten years.  After looking for real estate for the first three years, my wife and I finally made the big plunge in October of 1993.  During the intervening three year period, we watched prices explode, particularly in Prague and Karlsbad.

When we started looking, you could buy an ambassador's residence in Prague for $25,000.   Our delay cost us dearly, but my wife and I couldn't agree on what to buy.

Its last private owner was a Bohemian baron who bought the villa for a summer and safety retreat for his family in 1941. The baron owned coal mines and had the necessary influence to do a complete renovation of the villa during the early years of World War II.  Unfortunately, his efforts were almost undone during the communist era when neglect was the rule for homes of the rich.

We bought the villa when it was on its last leg.  It had been converted and served as a Kindergarten from 1950 to 1970.  Then, it served as an apartment house for communist supervisors until 1991 when it was vacated.  We paid $32,000 for the place.  We could of bought it in 1991 for $20,000 if we would have known it was for sale.  What ensued was a lot of renovation that cost another $32,000, but we ended up with a beautiful place. The villa now provides us with a very nice two bedroom apartment, a caretakers apartment, and two apartments for use in our bed and breakfast business.

Now, here's some down to earth information you will need if your considering buying real estate in the Czech Republic.  First, don't take three years to make up your mind. 

It can literally cost you big time!  Why?  Because the Czech real estate market is poised for another explosion with their entry into the European Union. This is expected to happen as soon as January 2003. 

When this happens, all EU member nations will be allowed to buy real estate in Czech without restriction.

What is best to buy?  Your greatest success for the money will be either something large like a villa or a small cottage.  Try to buy something built before World War II because the construction was of much better quality than during the communist period that followed.

The larger cities and tourist sites are magnets for younger Czechs who are leaving their villages for better paying jobs.  This leaves a lot of empty cottages and a few villas in the villages they have left behind them for a better future.  In my village, there are 273 homes for a population of 550.  A full 10 percent of these homes are now owned by retired or soon to retire Czechs from the larger cities.  They are paying rock bottom prices for these homes and fixing them up.  There are about 12 homes that are vacant because they are too big or they require more renovation.

Where is the best place to buy?  The best place is always the best location.  Most of the best places were sold in the early 1990s.  Now, they are too expensive with little chance for rapid growth in price. 

The real money now will be made from properties located  20 to 30 miles outside of cities like Bruno, Karlsbad and Prague.  Why?  Because with EU entry, the same Czechs who went to the big city will be earning enough money to buy a car and pay for the gas to commute from their former village. 

Of course by that time, their nice little cottage has probably doubled in value or been sold.