Official Tunisia.com Blog

Hi All,

We finally got there and got the new website design up no doubt we will have to carry on changing things for a while as you can test and test but there are always the odd thing that comes up when you launch a new design.

I hope that you like it which so far most people say they do especially the menu which is a lot easier to use than they old one and it stays in the section you are in also so no more having to go up and down to get the menu!

The serious business starts now of updating the information and we have created a new section called "things to do" which is where we place the directories of hotels etc which replaces the old hotels directory. I hope that the MIT show this week will give us a head start updating this information as many operators will be there.

Speaking of the show we have been running about trying to get the stand ready which has been hindered by me being sick for the latter part of last week which was a real pain :-( the good news is I was sorted out right away by the local pharmacist who expertly understood my hand gestures and hooked me up with the requisite remedy that had me out of the toilet and on the road to recovery.

Car:

As you may remember I brought a car with me when i came over 2 months ago and guess what it still is not on Tunisian number plates. I finally gave up in Bizerte and headed to Tunis to sort out this and other papers for the company and I found the answer to everything (why I did not do this in the beginning). It seems to me that as a foreign investor it pays not to be clever and try and sort everything out locally your are better to go to the API in Tunis as boy it makes a difference as they have seen it all and speak English making the whole process a lot more understandable. I now have to have a load of paperwork redone which is a pain but it looks like i will be able to get to the bottom of my paperwork nightmares as i am allergic to papers especially in french/arabic.

Once this is completed I will add a guide to the site to sorting out car in Tunisia!

Property:

I am still no nearer buying or renting a place since I got here maybe I am just lazy and my mother in law is looking after me too much but i also have to have a little bit of a moan about the Bizerte rental market which to me seems very expensive and not really the standard it should be. I have looked at a few houses now and the rents are as much as Tunis especially when I am there as my face increases the price lol I have now been consigned to the car until the price has been stated. Another factor which is fair enough is that rents to nuts during the summer period and a house that is 400 goes to 700 during the summer months which though good for bizerte is a pain for us international businessmen (funny saying that) looking for a good quality rental for a reasonable price. Another couple of bug bears I have with the Bizerte real estate market are that people think of nothing of fibbing about the location of a property and will do everything to avoid telling you to location so you can drive passed (as you can usually say yey or nay from a drive by) what is described as corniche can be miles away. My personal fave which makes me go arrg is when I go to see a house and it is not finished ie no paint etc and the price is still high (500 d/m +) I mean do you want me to finish your house for you lol!

As you may now (I bang on about it all the time) I am a bear on UK property and sold up on exiting the UK feeling that things have to come down though not gloating as yet it seems that I was right and property is on the way down. I am now annoying my wife (who wants to buy whatever the cost) here as i get the same feeling about prices in Bizerte Corniche as I cannot justify buying here either lol I mean even at a nutty 1500 (681 GBP) dinars a month the house would still cost you 400,000 (181,000 GBP) dinars to buy which is well under 5% return (not including taxes etc) which when your getting over 6% in a savings account makes you feel like just sitting pretty or investing in a business which is what I am doing. I am sure this annoying the wife as I promised her a house and she cannot understand having money but not diving in there as the Tunisian tradition seems to be get a house first and then worry about money later but in my family we are tight fisted and pride ourselves on always being pragmatic (or loosing as little as possible LOL).

I can even see our next argument as we reached a semi compromise we would by a plot of land suitable for a nice house 1000m2 or so possibly in La Grotte which is the cove next to the corniche which is beautiful but undeveloped not permission, no utilities etc real green field.

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The idea is to buy here and forget about it for a few years and then build when Bizerte expands out here but get this the price for this opportunity 250 dinars per m2 lol which means 250,000 (113,000 GBP) before you start your house LOL! At this rate I will have a UK house again sooner!