The lion was sick in its cave and several animals were visiting it to wish it to recover. And the fox was watching outside the entrance of the cave but did not get in. An animal going in asked the fox why it does not get in and the fox answered: No no, I noticed that a lot of animals get in but not all animals get out.

This teaches us to be careful because not all who we think are our friends they are actually friends but when they have the opportunity they exploit us.

Photo credit: shakko

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

A shepherd decided one day to play games with his co-villagers and started all of a sudden shouting and asking for help saying that a wolf was killing his sheep. Then all the people from the village got armed with guns, and

other tools and run to kill the wolf. When they went there the shepherd laughed saying that it was a joke, no wolf  was there.

After a few days again the shepherd repeated this bad joke and the villagers left the place.

After a few days a wolf appeared and attached his sheep, then the shepherd asked desperately for help, but no one run to help him. Then he realized that his joke was a very bad one and he never said lies again.

The lesson we get out of this fable is that lies are no good. This is taught in the schools not only in Greece and Cyprus, but also in other countries because is a very good example to explain how bad is to tell lies.

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

A Crow (black big bird) which was on a tree with a piece  of cheese in its mouth. The sly fox was watching the craw and it used a clever way to get the cheese. So it told the craw ‘I heard you have a very nice and sweet voice can you sing a little?’, The crow being flattered, tried to sing with a result that the cheese fell on the ground and the fox ate it.

This teaches us to be careful from flatterers, who they don’t mean it when they say something good to someone but they only say it in order to gain something they want from you.

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

Now I shall make a review of the situation regarding the property market for the last 6 months.

It is true that the problem during the last few months has been concentrated to the huge debts of the national Governments in some European countries with emphasis on Greece and now on some other countries like Italy.

The property market in Europe, was adversely affected mainly by the actual economies deterioration, as the incomes of people are reduced. In addition to this psychology has a substantial contribution, and also the reluctance of banks to grant loans.

Banks in Romania, started giving loans with caution, making use of the scheme ‘prima casa’ for first time buyers. This resulted in the creation of some demand for small and cheap residential units.

The sector of the building plots in the periphery of Bucharest, is going to take longer to recover, because the demand for villas in these areas will be created by the middle and upper class.

In the long ran, the property market generally, is going to improve dramatically in the years to come, as it is estimated that in, say, 10 years time the population of the Capital is expected to double, that is to reach 4.5 million people. This will create demand for housing for additional 2 million people.

Already there is a very big deficit of housing units. It is usual to see in a small apartment in Bucharest the grand parents, the parents and the children.

Another sector of the property market is the commercial and office buildings, in which foreign investors are moving in, although these investors are waiting to see the outcome of the Euro crisis, in order to proceed.

Presently the market for commercial and office properties, which are let started moving, as it gives a very good return (about 8-10% return from rents plus substantial capital appreciation which is expected in the following years. An investor who has 50-60% of the proposed investment can borrow the balance from a bank. This arrangement will result in increasing the rate of return as the interest payable on the loan will be less than the rental income.

Another sector of property market is the market of houses and villas in the suburbs. This sector of the market , will take probably 1-2 years to recover, and therefore developers thinking to expand in Romania, and especially in the area of the Capital Bucharest should start preparations from now, to see and decide areas of activities, make applications for building permits, and other facilities, as this may take one year or more. When the permits and all preparations are ready, the market will be regularly under review, and the project will start when there are signs of recovery, and some advance sales contracts can be made.

Concluding, I wish to refer to the prospects for investments in the emerging countries, like China, Brazil, India, but I don’t think that investments in these countries are presently safe compared to investments in a European country.

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is a chief executive of Bestservus Group. He is a qualified accountant (FCCA) and Banker (FCIB) with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania since 1997. He is an optimistic guy who sees Romania as a second home and likes to lay down his thoughts on his blog. You can check his work at www.bestservus.ro.

Oath

All merchants,
in observance of the law,
should bespeak the henceforth:

1. We shall not affront the laws,
nor shall we abjure the Holy,
nor shall we be in any matter irreverent
with ou dependents.

2. Though if we shall do otherwise than vowed,
let us be summoned by the law and the Republic
and duly pay; thus, we shall be punished and banished
from the arches of the market.

3. At no time shall untruthful witnesses
and law offenders be allowed to have
a say in the Council.

4. No breacher to the Oath
shall be considered worthy of any compassion,
but shall recceive unanimous penance.

Text preserved since 340 AD courtesy and care of the wheat merchant Filipides of Attika.

This is a copy from the brochures of the Bucharest Chamber of Commerce

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

I remember when I was a little boy, around 8 years old (it was summer holidays so we had no school), my father told me that the next day, at dawn he would take his brother’s donkey, and go to our land up in the mountains to cut wood. He did not want to take me with him that early, and asked me when I weak up in the morning, to ride our family donkey called ‘siderkas’ (i.e. iron animal) and go to meet him so he would have 2 donkeys to bring wood home for next winter.

I was scared, I never went before to that place, called Ayios Constantinos, and told my father my concern. He calmed me down saying ‘don’t worry,

Siderkas knows the way, you ride him and go towards the south exit of the village where is the cemetery, and he knows, he went there many times’.

I tried to calm down, at night I could not sleep, I had nightmares, and early in the morning I did what my dad instructed me. I rode the donkey and proceeded towards the direction instructed. It was a strange experience for me, riding a donkey and climbing up the mountains. I was going and going in the middle of nowhere, and after 2 hours trip the donkey was still going. I was very scared, and suddenly when we were on the top of a hill, I heard my father’s voice. He was at the opposite hillside calling me. My heart was now beating for happiness… thanks to ‘Siderkas’.

DONKEYS ARE NOT ALWAYS STUPID, IN SOME CASES THEY ARE VERY CLEVER.

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

How is the property market in Romania?

In order to give the right answer to the above question, we have to examine the past and the present of the property market.

The Past:

Since the fall of the communist regime about 2 decades ago, the country is still trying to harmonise with the situation in western countries, including of course, the property market. At that time property prices were surprisingly low (the main reason being scarcity of money), and started rising gradually, but prices did not reach the levels of prices in similar western countries.

Then the economic crisis came about 2 years ago, which caused the fall in prices of apartments between 20-40%. Similar situation prevailed in commercial properties and offices. An example for the above, is where an office building of about 1,100 sq.m., cost 10 years ago 500,000 dollars (building costs and land cost), it could be sold 2 years ago 4 times as much, and now, where prices reached their bottom, it can be sold for 3 times the above cost (exchange fluctuations are ignored as figures are approximate)

The present and the near future:

At present there is a huge deficit of housing units, and it is usual to see in one small apartment (built during communist times) a family with the grand parents, the parents and the children. Additionally, studies made by international organizations, like IMF, conclude that the population of the capital will double in 10-12 years. Bearing this in mind, together with the already existing shortage, one can imagine the situation which will prevail in the near future, as the incomes of people are increasing, and the supply of money (e.g. bank loans) is also improving.

A similar situation is foreseen to be also for office spaces as the economic situation and commercial activities in the country improve and more international companies use Romania, mainly Bucharest, as their basis for their activities in the Balkans and middle east (Romania is the biggest EU member in the Balkans).

Another category, which some people are asking, is the land in the city and the surrounding areas. A lot of investors preferred to buy land and split it into plots. Prices for this category, fell sharply in the same way as prices appreciated in recent years, due to increased demand created by these investors. Those who made a good choice of the location, i.e. near a village in a radius of up to 30-40 km from the centre of Bucharest, where there are facilities, such as access roads, electricity, water etc., if they wait for a period of say, 3-5 years, they can earn from their investments, especially if they develop their lands with all necessities (roads, electricity, water sewerage etc).

Unfortunately I cannot say the same for those who trusted unprofessional people and bought land in the middle of nowhere.

Finally, at present the market of shops or offices in good location, started moving, with let properties which give immediate return (between 9-11%) plus of course the expected capital appreciation.

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

This client came to me to serve him one day, and after that he preferred me for his banking business. He was always very pleased with the service I offered him, and if I was busy when he came, he was happy to wait for me to finish and take care of his banking business. When he visited the bank for some work, and it happened for me to be off work, he asked when I should be back and he came again later so I shall be at the office and serve him.

My colleagues were wondering what I have done to this man and he was so good with me, but with nobody else at the bank. In the end I disclosed to them my secret. In fact it was not a secret it was very simple:

This man had some psychological problems because his wife had been killed in a road accident, and what he actually needed was a piece of attention immediately he entered the bank. Just a few words like welcome my friend, or even welcome my crazy friend… You could tell him anything, it was enough for him to show him a little bit of attention, and he was calm and did his business in a decent way, he thanked and left.

When I explained to my colleagues the above, initially they did not believe me that the whole story was so simple. But after a little bit of consideration they accepted that what I told them was a fact…

This is psychology….

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.

There were two friends at school, Andreas and John.

Andreas was a hard working clever boy, and he finished school with excellent marks.

John on the other hand was not a good student, he just managed to get the lowest marks which would permit him to graduate.

The good student, Andreas, got a Government job and he became a good civil servant.

The other one, John could not find a job and he went abroad. There he had also very big difficulties, and he had to wash dishes in restaurants in order to have some food.

After a few years John informed his friend that he would return to his home country and so Andreas went to the airport to meet his friend. There he realized that his friend was very rich. He arrived with a private jet, he went through VIPs etc. etc.

The following was an interesting conversation between the two friends:

Andreas- But I see you are very rich, how come?

John – Yes the difficulty was until I got the first million of dollars. After that everything is easy, you invest money and you have a good return and so on.

Andreas- Yes but how did you make the first million?

John – Look my friend, I went to sleep one night, in my despair, I saw a dream, I saw number 8. Number 8 so many times, I woke up and I was looking on the cars numberplates, and I thought that every number was 8, so intense was my dream.

Andreas- Interesting, and what happened then?

John – I said 8 times 8 makes 56, I bought a lottery ticket no. 56 and that was it. I won one million dollars.

Andreas- Yes but 8 times 8 is not 56 is 64.

John – Yes my friend, if I was as clever as you are, I would certainly be like you now.

My friends: What do you understand from this story?

You cannot rely entirely on luck to make your fortune, because this if we look into it statistically, your chance would be 1 in many millions! So, come to us (www.bestservus.ro) and we can help you so your money will grow bigger whatever the size.

ANDREAS KAKOFENGITIS is Chief Executive of Bestservus Group, a qualified accountant and banker with long experience in the financial sector in Cyprus, England and Romania. He is also a humorous guy with a lot of stories to share.