But it is not all doom and gloom in Greece

Having written about the cost of living and sounding pessimistic, it would be wrong to say that it is impossible to find a bargain property in Greece. My experience is that you will not find this through estate agents or the Internet - at least I haven't and I have done a lot of searching for somewhere small for myself outside the city.

My answer is you simply have to come to Greece and look around. If you are seriously thinking of living here then you are probably doing so because you have visited or do visit Greece and have fallen in love with the country.A close friend of mine here in Thessaloniki did just that. She fulfilled her dream of a little house in a village not so far away from the city where she could spend week-ends both summer and winter. How did she manage it?
She simply took walks around a number of villages she liked and asked the locals if anything was up for sale. Bingo! For Euro 50 000 which is about $70 000, she purchased an old stone house on the village street which did not need much renovation. But, as I said, you won't find these in the estate agent's window or on the Internet. Unless of course money is no object and a villa on the island of Mykonos for $4,5 million is not going to put you out of pocket!

The cost of living in Greece

A very fundamental issue for everyone thinking to relocate to another country is the cost of living. This index is usually a ratio of various services, foodstuffs, electricity, house rental, etc. But you need to know how expensive live is going to be before considering relocating anywhere.Some will counter this argument by saying you can live cheap anywhere but if relocating to another country means you have to scrap by in a life of misery it does not sound like the best idea in the world to me.

Things have changed a lot in Greece in the 14 years I have been here. But the old idea of the 70's and 80's when the $ in particular would let you live like a king has changed big time. Greece is as expensive (some would say more so) that many other European countries. This is true in terms of food, electricity, housing, pretty much across the board. Indeed proof of this is the fact that many Greek Americans who have returned to Greece and living off their US pensions are finding things much tougher than a few years ago - the causes are obvious. A weak dollar vis-a-vis the Euro and inflation.

One factor I do not understand is that now when the housing market is in ruins in most of Europe, the Greek property market seems relatively unaffected. Here in Thessaloniki, for example, an upmarket appartment on the sea front admittedly will certainly not sell for less that Euro 750K to one million. Any property you would want to live in will cost in the 200K-300K bracket. This applies not just to the urban market - seaside holiday homes are in pretty much the same price range.

And now it's back to you and your reasons for relocating to Greece

But back to the topic which is you and your intention to relocate to Greece. This can of course have many different reasons and those reasons will also greatly influence how you experience this country.

First scenario. It is for work reasons - the company you worked for has decided to transfer you to Greece. If that is the case then the chances are you are moving to either Athens or Thessaloniki. The major advantage in this scenario is that you are moving to somewhere with a good existing infrastructure in terms of English, German, French speaking schools for the children. Secondly you are probably on a salary which is far above the average Greek wage (Euro 680 - 700). And in all likelihood your company will be there to help you with settling in, finding accommodation, etc. etc. That is really a best case scenario.


Second scenario, you are fed up with the rat race somewhere else and have decided to move here and look for work. This is where things get very difficult. Before deciding definitely on this, a word of warning or a few questions you should ask yourself.
(1) Do I speak Greek?
(2) Have I checked on immigration status if I am not an EU citizen?
(3) Can I cope with the very different salary (lower) I will be earning in Greece?

Employment prospects in Greece are currently dismal - even for a Greek. So be warned.