Expat Experiences: Czech Republic - Nathan and Niki Brown, Brno

Who are you?

Family Photo

Nathan and Niki Brown.

In 2007 our son Matias was born and in 2009, Elliot. Both of our children were born in Brno.

Where, when and why did you move abroad?

My wife and I were recently married at that time and thought that if we were going to live in another country, it should be before we had children. We moved to Brno, Czech Republic in March of 2004. Why did we chose Brno? My wife and I engage in volunteer educational activity and there was an opportunity for us in Brno.

What challenges did you face during the move?

It was very difficult to find suitable accommodation (i.e. clean and modern apartment close to the center) when we came. We were in a short-term rental for almost four months before we found what we were looking for.

Another problem which is constant in being an expat is navigating all the visa and residency requirements. Unfortunately there is a lot of information available on the internet but some of it is not reliable.

Not speaking the Czech language was also a big challenge when we first arrived. Fortunately we had some very gracious Czech friends who helped us in so many ways to get established.

How did you find somewhere to live?

Kitchen and living room after renovation

In the end a Czech friend was friends with a real estate agent who owned the property we ended up renting. He (the Czech friend) has heard that the daughter of the real estate agent was moving out of the apartment and it would be vacant. It was a beautiful, recently refitted apartment close to the center. His help made the whole process so much easier.

In 2007 we bought a multi-apartment building where we renovated one apartment for personal use and a second apartment was used for the offices of our building. The whole process of the purchase and renovation would have been incredibly overwhelming if it was not that I worked in the business and have a great team who assisted with the whole process...

Read more at http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-czech-republic-experiences-brno-nathan-and-niki-brown