IT worker bought apartment in Polish village near Wrocław. He shares costs and what it's like

What kind of village is it?

«The village is called Krzeptów, located southwest of Wrocław, near the airport. The population is about a thousand people, but developers are already building new houses.»

I moved here a little over six months ago. I bought my own place—an apartment in a building surrounded by private homes—with a mortgage. No permission from the Ministry of Interior was required since it’s classified as a residential apartment.

I was renting my previous apartment, but at some point realized I needed to find my own place. Initially, I was searching in Wrocław, but either the prices didn’t work out, permissions were needed, the apartment had maintenance fees of 1,000+ zlotys, or the surroundings weren’t suitable. Eventually, I decided to visit the countryside and fell in love with this village and apartment.

Here there’s forest, nature, and cars pass by only once every 5 minutes. Beautiful, charming houses, fir trees everywhere, birds singing.

Buses run from here—just 20 minutes and you’re in Wrocław, and with one transfer you’re already at Rynek (city center).

«Monthly mortgage payment is around $1K»

«I work under a UoP (employment contract) and got my mortgage from Pekao bank. ING and Santander rejected me. I had already signed an agreement with mBank, but their interest rate wasn’t very good, and Pekao gave their 'yes' at the last moment.»

The apartment was a resale property, meaning everything was already set up for comfortable living. Yes, I had to redesign some areas and add details (which I’m gradually doing), but fortunately, I didn’t have to do a complete renovation. I needed an apartment I could move into immediately (as my rental contract was expiring).

By the way, it’s also important for the bank that your salary is in zlotys. They avoid currencies—even US dollars—as if they were Belarusian rubles.

The initial mortgage rate was around 7,6%, but it’s variable. For instance, last month my mortgage payment fell by 200 zlotys due to a reduction in the interest rate.

Is it convenient to live and work there?

«I work remotely, so there are no problems with that. And honestly, the internet here is sometimes faster than in the city, even though it costs 5-10 zlotys ($1.25-2.56) more.»

Światłowód (fiber optic) is available here—in private homes too, I think. There’s a choice between 3-4 providers. This was probably one of my biggest surprises after moving. Moreover, they compete with each other and offer plans with 3-4 months of free service included.

There’s a shortage of shops. But if you rely on grocery deliveries like Carrefour/Auchan, it’s quite manageable. And we have a Żabka, which always saves the day.

About 600-700 meters from this village there’s another one called Smolec, which is larger. It has shops, more «Żabka» stores, and an excellent sports center.

If you need to handle documents, visit government offices or banks, or want to go to a restaurant, then of course you need to prepare mentally and go into the city. But fortunately, I’m a homebody, and I don’t want to do that often.

«Quiet, beautiful in any season»

It’s really super good here, but as it always happens, there can be smog in winter. Private homes burn coal or wood for heating, so during severe cold spells it can smell bad.

In warm seasons, of course, it smells of trees, barbecues, and various blooming flowers. There are forests here, and if you want, you can spot wild boars and hedgehogs. You often see cats walking around the village—they have owners but roam freely

The only animals that don’t bring joy are pigeons. From early spring to late autumn, they terrorize balconies, wake you up with their sounds, bring ants, and build nests. Last year they even left behind an egg.

Do planes from the airport bother me? No, you can’t hear them at all in the apartment. When you’re outside, you can certainly hear takeoffs, but I wouldn’t say it’s bothersome.

Things I really like: the silence, beauty in any season, and frequent barbecue smells. There’s a public grill where you can light a fire, smoke and grill meat.

Things I don’t like: the smell during heating season. And power outages due to thunderstorms in summer or heavy rain. In the first two months of living here, outages were so frequent that I ran out of words for the operator.

The same thing happened with the internet a couple of times—it would simply go out for 1-2 hours. Not frequently enough to drive me crazy, but it did happen. Each time I wrote to the provider. Sometimes they gave me a discount for the next month’s payment.

Yes, maybe I’m being a nitpicker, but when you work from home, these things really get to you.