Living in Greece

Thinking of Buying Property in Greece?

I read a story on Thursday about Greece’s new Golden Visa enticing many more people to think about buying property in Greece. The scheme applies to Third Country Nationals, which seems to mean people who are in countries outside the EU, including the USA and UK.

If you buy a property in Greece that costs over 250,000 euros, you automatically get five-year residency rights, although the figure is due to rise soon to 500,000 euros in some areas of Greece.

Our website, Greece Travel Secrets, is purely about travel in Greece, not buying property, but I can’t be the only regular Greek visitor who hasn’t at some point fantasised about, or seriously considered, buying a home in Greece, either for vacations, a summer holiday home, or for full-time living.

Friends of ours recently took the plunge and built a house on Crete, in the village of Azogires.

By coincidence, we’d been to Azogires a few years ago while on a Ramblers walking holiday in SouthWest Crete. When our friends told us where their house was, we tried to imagine it. But there was an even more remarkable coincidence to come.

Greek property rules are complicated, and a piece of land can belong to one person while what’s on the land can belong to someone else. This can be everything from an olive tree to a house. Our friends rented a piece of land long-term, and had their own house built on it. The house belongs to them but the land still belongs to the owner. And incredibly, we’d met their new landlord, Lucky, at whose taverna we had lunch and who later led us on a walk out of Azogires.

Lucky Bringing Lunch

If you want to meet Lucky you can do just that on this video we made for our YouTube channel about our walk with Lucky. Take a look. It’s quite a basic video (we’re no experts) but he has some very interesting things to say. He’s quite a character.

Buying a House on Crete (Almost)

I came closest to moving to Greece - actually to Crete, not far from where our friends now live - after I’d been visiting Greece for about ten years. I’d come into a little money, not nearly enough to buy a house in the UK but enough to buy a small place in Greece. I was on holiday in Paleohora and Anidri, in SouthWest Crete.

Paleohora

I saw a house for sale which I could just about afford, and it was perfect. Outside the town but not so far that you couldn’t walk in and out easily. It was shaded by trees and had no near neighbours… and the reason for moving was that I was going to become a Serious Novelist. There was also a quiet little beach less than a couple of minutes away. It also had a spare room that I thought I could rent out in the summers to bring a little money in.

Paleohora at Night

It was very tempting though a little voice kept asking me - but what will it be like in the winter? Until I knew that, it seemed a big leap of faith to invest all my savings in something that may or may not work out. In the end, I went back to England, rented a flat in Brighton, and duly became a full-time writer - but a journalist not a novelist.

Living in Greece

Others have had greater confidence than me, or maybe just a greater desire to live in Greece. I’m a sucker for books about people who’ve changed their lives and moved to another country, like Peter Mayle in Provence and Frances Meyes in Tuscany.

But most of all, of course, I love reading about people who have moved to live in Greece. That’s why there are several reviews of such books on our website! So if you’re thinking of moving to live in Greece, take a look at some of these books as they will let you know what you’re in for. You might read about the trials and tribulations of Greek bureaucracy and owning a home in Greece, and think ‘No way!’ Or you might be inspired and say: ‘If they can do it, I can do it. What an adventure!’

Even though some of the books were written as long ago as the 1950s, you still get an idea about those strong Greek family ties, and what happens in homes well away from the tourist tavernas and hotels. It isn’t always a pretty sight.

A Rope of Vines

Life among the artists and writers living on Hydra in the early 1960s. https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/A-Rope-of-Vines.html

Eurydice Street

What’s it like to marry a Greek man and live in Athens as a foreigner?https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/Eurydice-Street.html

Peel Me a Lotus

Hydra again, but in the 1950s this time.

https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/Hydra-Travel-Writing-Classic.html

Margarita’s Olive Press

The author buys and renovates a house in a quiet corner of Zakynthos.

https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/Margaritas-Olive-Press.html

Mermaid Singing

Living on Kalymnos in the 1950s

https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/Mermaid-Singing-Kalymnos.html

Taverna by the Sea

A contemporary book about life over a summer in a taverna on Karpathos.

https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/Taverna-by-the-Sea.html

The Summer of My Greek Taverna

An American running a taverna on the island of Patmos.

https://www.greece-travel-secrets.com/The-Summer-of-My-Greek-Taverna.html

We guarantee any of these books will be helpful if you’ve thought of living in Greece, although they’re all great reads anyway, even if you’re only an armchair dreamer.

Till next time

Yammas!

Mike and Donna

Greece Travel Secrets