How to choose the right duplex apartment in Bucharest. Guide for expats

Choosing the place where you will live in as an expat carries a huge importance. Your new home in a foreign country should be the place where you feel safe and comfortable, a place full of harmony where you recharge after a long day. The following article is a guide offered by LUXURIA Residence for those who are looking for a duplex apartment in Bucharest where they can feel at home.

What is a duplex apartment in Romania

A duplex apartment in Romania is an apartment spread on two floors, connected through an interior stairway. Usually, the duplex apartments can be found on the last two floors. People find more attractive the apartments located on higher floors due to the spectacular views; at 11th floor, the city lays before your eyes in all its beauty. You should know that in Bucharest, most apartment buildings have 11-12 floors because it is a seismic area.

The duplex apartments offer more space than a typical apartment, larger terraces and are partitioned like a house. Usually, on the first floor are the kitchen, the living room, and a bathroom and on the second floor the bedrooms and the other bathrooms.

Choosing the best fit

While there are some options in Bucharest, it is a real challenge to find the duplex apartment you can call home. Here are some criteria and tips to deal with this challenge more easily:

Area. Being premium type of property, the duplex apartments are usually available in the most sought-after areas in the city, such as Expozitiei, Herastrau, Barbu Vacarescu, Victoriei, Dorobanti, which are safe and rich in facilities. We advise you to take into consideration having transportation means nearby (metro station, bus or tram) to move easily through the city, and also the distance between your new home and your office and other points of interest, such as kindergartens, schools, high-schools, parks, airport and Gara de Nord, the biggest railway station in the city. The traffic in Bucharest is heavy and having all the points of interest near would save you a lot of time. 

Quality of the building. We recommend you look beyond the architecture of the building. What matters the most is the seismic resistance (Romania can have powerful earthquakes), followed by the acoustic and thermal insulation, the ventilated façade and the quality of the materials used. You can ask the technical specification from the real estate developer to check all the above. Furthermore, if you want to live in a healthier environment, to have a good indoor air quality and low maintenance costs, there is one residential compound in Bucharest with sustainable, high-quality buildings that received BREEAM Excellent certification: LUXURY Residence. 

The residential compound. In Bucharest, most of the duplex apartments are in the new apartment buildings, built by private real estate developers post year 2000. After having a list of areas you consider moving in, the next step is to find the residential compounds with duplex apartments. What we recommend considering:

·       Completed or under construction. In Romania, you can buy a house off plan, that implies an advance payment of 15%-25%. As an expat, our recommendation is to look for completed, move-in ready housing units.

·       Real estate developer’s reputation. The real estate developer’s reputation is extremely important. The developer’s experience, the compounds built, the company’s transparency, all of that matters. There are a few experienced real estate developers on the market and just two that are listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange, the first one being IMPACT Developer & Contractor, the developer of LUXURIA Residence. 

·       Facilities within the compound. A duplex apartment is a special property, that should offer you a high level of comfort both inside and outside. Some facilities such as secure access, underground parking, video surveillance and human guard are a must. But you can find compounds with some unique facilities that amplify the special feeling and atmosphere of your future home. We suggest looking for facilities that are suitable to your lifestyle. For example, a lounge for business meetings is a great facility for a businessperson, a private fitness centre perfectly suits a person with a healthy and active lifestyle, a playground for children is important for a family and so on. Regardless your needs, extra-facilities are time saving.

·       Community. Moving in a compound, you are part of a community. While you cannot know how your future neighbours will be, if you choose a duplex apartment in a completed compound, most likely you can feel the vibe of the community during your visits. So, pay attention to details while visiting.

·       Pet friendly. If you have or want to have a pet, it is important for the residential compound to be pet friendly, so make sure you check that information.

Partitioning and space. One of the most important things to consider is how much space do you need or how many rooms. In Romania, the number of rooms presented includes the living room, so a 3-room apartment, for example, means that it has 2 bedrooms. In our opinion, space and partitioning go together; a poor partitioning will result in a small usable area while a good partitioning will make you feel you have more space that you can use. We suggest you consider your needs and your lifestyle. Do you need a bigger living room? A small or a big kitchen? How big should be the bedrooms, around 12 – 16 sqm (typical) or bigger? What about the terrace?

Finishes and amenities. Premium finishes and amenities play a significant role in creating a comfortable and special atmosphere in the apartment. We advise you to pay attention not only to the aesthetics of the property but to the quality of the materials used. There are many duplex apartments that look good, but that does not necessarily imply high-quality finishes and amenities. You can ask about the brand of the materials used to better understand their quality. For example, Pinum doors, Villeroy & Boch sanitary items, wood Tarkett flooring, aluminium Schuco joinery are well-known premium finishes in Romania. If you add marble flooring, you have a picture of how a premium duplex apartment should look like.

We suggest being aware that in Romania, the new housing units are sold with finishes and amenities, but completely unfurnished, so that you can create your own space as you please. LUXURIA Residence has several interior design partners that can help you create your dream home at favourable prices.

Budget. Finally, the budget is an essential criterion. Luckily, Romania has one of the lowest prices for new residential units in Europe. In Bucharest, the sales prices for a duplex apartment varies up to 5,000 euro per sqm, but you can find a premium duplex apartment at just 2,200 euro per sqm. As for rental prices, they are also below the European average. For 2,500 – 3,000 euro per month you can rent a really nice duplex apartment.

Direct transactions vs. agency services. While a real estate agency can help you navigate the challenges of the Romanian residential market, if you have time and patience, we suggest buying or renting directly from the real estate developer or owner. This will help you reduce your costs, by eliminating the agency’s commission and creating the opportunity to negotiate. In Bucharest, direct negotiations usually work best.

Key takeaways

To summarize, in order to find the best duplex apartment, you should put your needs on a list and confront them with important criteria like area, quality of the building, quality of the residential compound, space, finishes and budget.

LUXURIA Residence, the first residential compound in Romania that received BREEAM Excellent certification, offer high-quality 3- and 4-room duplex apartments in one of the sought-after areas of the city, that could check most of your criteria. Explore the duplex apartments and find your perfect fit!