Czechs are starting to buy houses in the Bavarian border region

Plzeň - An increasing number of property owners in Germany, particularly in Bavaria, are becoming Czechs. Germans are offering their houses in the Czech Republic through Czech real estate agencies. They are unable to find buyers in Germany. Czechs are buying family homes as well as properties for business. This is reported by Mladá fronta Dnes in the regional supplement.
    "We bought the guesthouse three years ago. My wife and I work in it together. We also bought a family house. We are happy here and do not intend to return to the Czech Republic for now," said a man from Tabor, who runs a business just across the border in Bavaria. He also has a Czech neighbor. He does not want to reveal his name due to envy. That is also why we moved here, he explained.
    "We are just starting out, this is our first property in Germany. But the trend will continue," said Pavel Pubec, owner of a real estate agency in Plzeň. Properties in the German border region are no longer as inaccessible as they used to be. A hotel in the square in Waldmünchen with 63 beds is on sale for just under 14 million crowns. In Bodenmais in Šumava, an older hotel with 30 rooms and a pool is for sale for 3.7 million crowns. "Things are going well in the Czech Republic, people are getting richer. We anticipate that the property will be purchased by Czech clientele," added Pubec.
    Real estate agency Harvilla from Plzeň is offering four properties in Germany. They already have a very serious prospective buyer for one house.
    German entrepreneurs just across the border are struggling. The tourism industry, which supports them, is not doing well. "The main competition comes from cheap flight packages to the seaside," stated Simona Fink from the information center in Regen.
    "In the neighboring town of Železná Ruda, the population has dropped from 1500 to below 1000 in the last ten years. There are no jobs there. People are moving away. Businesses are not thriving and are closing down," confirms the mayor of Železná Ruda in Klatovy, Michal Šnebergr. Evidence of this is the closed swimming pool at the border, which the Plzeň Region also contributed to reopening. After a few months, however, the private entrepreneur closed the facility due to a lack of customers.
    "We have German costs in the guesthouse, but Czech prices. We are not getting rich, but we can make a living," said an entrepreneur from Tabor. In his guesthouse just across the border, he charges 390 crowns per night for a double room.