Feb 11
An individualized society like Greece has its positive and negative sides.
On the positive: Most shops are owner operated, unlike for example in Holland, where it does not matter which city you go to, you will find the same franchised stores.
On the negative side: dealing with bureaucracy. Which is what I am doing now, and not successfully.
Feb 10
I met the owners in the apartment today. He is a retired professor, and they live in Greece. They need the money to pay of a mortgage loan that their daughter has on a house on a Greek island. The daughter is a doctor, living in London. Tomorrow morning I hav to go back to the Tax office and find out if the tax paid by the buyer of property can be paid only through a Greek bank account, or in cash.
I highlighted the apartment building,
Feb 09
Went to a notary lawyer today. Got some more info about the capital bank controls in Greece and she also mentioned that, if I am a Greek resident for a year, after that year I do not have to pay the 3% Tax when buying an apartment.
The bad news about opening an account in Greece at the moment is that apart of the 10,000.00 Euro to open, of the 3 documents needed, (EU passport, tax documents, proof of income and occupation, and a document from city hall in Holland which shows proof of residency, translated in English or Greek.)
I do not have the last one. For that I have to Groningen, register in person and then be back in Athens, all before March 04. (flying to Holland).
As I will be in the States from Mar 17-Nov 04, the process of opening a Greek account will have to wait until I am back in November.
I'm meeting the owner of the apartment tomorrow, we'll see what is what....
Feb 07
I moved out of the Aristoteles Hotel this morning. The rest of my stay in Athens I'm at my friend Hara's appartment, sleeping on a roll away bed next to the couch.
I went to the archeological museum today. The first Sunday of the month is free admission.
Feb 06
It rained during the night and still raining, sort of a drizzle.I'm meeting with Hara and her brother, to talk about the banking thing. I called the owners of the apartment, but they still have flu. Agreed to call them back on Tuesday.
Feb 05
It rained during the night, but it has been dry in daytime. I went to the Tax office this morning, there were no customers, so I got my Tax number in about 10 minutes. Why do I need a Tax number?
Well, in Greece you need it for everything. Buy a house, sign up for phone service, or utilities.
Then I went to a Bank.
And the story I got, how to open a bank account in Greece, was very complicated.
The short version is that as a Common Market citizen, you can only open an account with a minimum of 10,000.00 euro deposit.
Because of the financial crisis, the Greek banks are operating under European capital control. The reasoning is, to make it impossible for Greeks to take their money out of the country.
Why that also effects money coming in (by opening a Greek account) I do not know.
It was also not clear after talking today to 2 managers from different banks, whether I can transfer money from my Dutch account into an existing Greek account.
Later in the evening I went online and logged into my Dutch account and transfered a small amount of money into my friend Hara's account. It seemed to have worked.
Feb 04
I was going to get some info about opening a bank account today. But there is a general strike. Everything closed. Except restaurants. Greeks like eating, even on strike. Cloudy, no rain though.
My video of Athens (short verion)
An individualized society like Greece has its positive and negative sides.
On the positive: Most shops are owner operated, unlike for example in Holland, where it does not matter which city you go to, you will find the same franchised stores.
On the negative side: dealing with bureaucracy. Which is what I am doing now, and not successfully.
Feb 10
I met the owners in the apartment today. He is a retired professor, and they live in Greece. They need the money to pay of a mortgage loan that their daughter has on a house on a Greek island. The daughter is a doctor, living in London. Tomorrow morning I hav to go back to the Tax office and find out if the tax paid by the buyer of property can be paid only through a Greek bank account, or in cash.
I highlighted the apartment building,
Feb 09
Went to a notary lawyer today. Got some more info about the capital bank controls in Greece and she also mentioned that, if I am a Greek resident for a year, after that year I do not have to pay the 3% Tax when buying an apartment.
The bad news about opening an account in Greece at the moment is that apart of the 10,000.00 Euro to open, of the 3 documents needed, (EU passport, tax documents, proof of income and occupation, and a document from city hall in Holland which shows proof of residency, translated in English or Greek.)
I do not have the last one. For that I have to Groningen, register in person and then be back in Athens, all before March 04. (flying to Holland).
As I will be in the States from Mar 17-Nov 04, the process of opening a Greek account will have to wait until I am back in November.
I'm meeting the owner of the apartment tomorrow, we'll see what is what....
Feb 07
I moved out of the Aristoteles Hotel this morning. The rest of my stay in Athens I'm at my friend Hara's appartment, sleeping on a roll away bed next to the couch.
Feb 06
It rained during the night and still raining, sort of a drizzle.I'm meeting with Hara and her brother, to talk about the banking thing. I called the owners of the apartment, but they still have flu. Agreed to call them back on Tuesday.
Feb 05
It rained during the night, but it has been dry in daytime. I went to the Tax office this morning, there were no customers, so I got my Tax number in about 10 minutes. Why do I need a Tax number?
Well, in Greece you need it for everything. Buy a house, sign up for phone service, or utilities.
Then I went to a Bank.
And the story I got, how to open a bank account in Greece, was very complicated.
The short version is that as a Common Market citizen, you can only open an account with a minimum of 10,000.00 euro deposit.
Because of the financial crisis, the Greek banks are operating under European capital control. The reasoning is, to make it impossible for Greeks to take their money out of the country.
Why that also effects money coming in (by opening a Greek account) I do not know.
It was also not clear after talking today to 2 managers from different banks, whether I can transfer money from my Dutch account into an existing Greek account.
Later in the evening I went online and logged into my Dutch account and transfered a small amount of money into my friend Hara's account. It seemed to have worked.
Feb 04
I was going to get some info about opening a bank account today. But there is a general strike. Everything closed. Except restaurants. Greeks like eating, even on strike. Cloudy, no rain though.
My video of Athens (short verion)
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