Property in Baltic States

G

gnf_ireland

Registered User
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1,441
All,

Just wondering - has anyone had any experience of purchasing property in the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania), and if so what was the general consensus

I am just looking into the Riga option at the moment, as I have some friends working there and therefore hoping to get a better local feel for it over the coming weeks/months. I have been there a few times and think it looks like a country on the move up with decent GNP/GDP growth

If anyone has any information they would like to swap, then please do let me know

thanks
 
what i meant was in latvia nationalities 40% are russian.
60% are latvian / mix german swedish / finnish.

Russian is used quite a lot out there.

There is an active mafia presence in riga everything from faking notarial deeds to problems with title deeds of houses / land.

One has to have a kamakazi atitutde to going out there..
 
I know a very large property investor that has invested in Bratislava in Slovakia and plans to invest a lot more so it's bound to be a good place to invest in!
 
doberden said:
I know a very large property investor that has invested in Bratislava in Slovakia and plans to invest a lot more so it's bound to be a good place to invest in!
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I doubt Slovakia would be considered a Baltic state given that it is landlocked.

Large property investors aren't omniscient, they may have more experience and success than the average punter but they can be wrong too.
 
dam099 said:
I doubt Slovakia would be considered a Baltic state given that it is landlocked.
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I've noticed that some of the foreign property ads on the radio don't even bother mentioning where the properties are located but just include the price so it's hardly surprising that some people are a bit vague on geographic locations of investment properties...
 
ecstatic ~ thanks for the information on the population of Latvia, but you will find that less than 30% of the population is actually russian

> According to the Centre of Demography in 2003 there lined 60.3% Latvians, 28.4%
> Russians, 3.6% Belarussians, 2.3% Poles, 2.2% Ukrainians, 1.3% Lithuanians and
> 1.9% other ethnicities in Latvia.

So you say the russian mafia are a factor ? How much are they a factor - have you experienced it or is it just what you have heard ?

If this is the case in Latvia - which had a large migration of russians into it after WW2, what is the case with Estonia and Lithuania which did not have the same effect ?

These countries are due to join the euro very soon - surely they cannot be that corrupt at every level ? We have enough corruption in Ireland as well in the past, but it did not stop economic growth ?
 
if this is the case in Latvia - which had a large migration of russians into it after WW2, what is the case with Estonia and Lithuania which did not have the same effect ?
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I always thought that Estonia did experience large inward migration of russians after WW2?

We have enough corruption in Ireland as well in the past, but it did not stop economic growth ?
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Anyone who lived in 1980s Ireland will know that the corruption here during that era had a devastating effect on economic growth.
 
ubiquitous ~ I am not sure of the exact composition of Estonia. What I am aware of is that Latvia did not automatically grant citizenship to all persons born in Latvia when they became independent. This was mainly because they had a much higher proportion of russians and feared that latvians may become the minority at some point in the future

> Anyone who lived in 1980s Ireland will know that the corruption here during that
> era had a devastating effect on economic growth

Surely we have to blame a poor world economy for this also?

But yes, maybe I should change this to
"We have enough corruption in Ireland as well in the past, but it did not stop future economic growth ?"

The baltic states have ~7% growth for the last few years (ok baseline is quite low) and they are now members of the EU and scheduled to join the euro quite soon (despite inflationary pressures) and a lot sooner than the likes of Poland. Property prices have been rising by about 10% there each year for the last few.

So unless there is a major reason to invest there - like wholesale mafia involvement - it would make as much sense as some of the other eastern block countries
 
Surely we have to blame a poor world economy for this also?
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Poor world economy? Come on! The US and UK (under Reagan and Thatcher respectively) enjoyed unprecedented booms during that decade.
 
There is wholesale mafia op's there notary deeds etc going wrong.

Ive checked it out myself do your own investigation.

In case you havent noticed two banks in latvia are asked to be struck from banking activites due to prominent money laundering.

Check your facts mate its 40% russians there.
 
ecstatic said:
Check your facts mate its 40% russians there.
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Ecstatic,

It might be a good/idea to avoid the I'm right/your wrong tone.

I see that last week you were performing initial investigations into Latvia.

Now you seem to be an expert. What have you been doing in the meantime?

According to the CIA it's 30%
[broken link removed]

My understanding is that Riga has a higher percentage of Russians. It may be this to which you refer.

Incidentally from an "I visited there for a few days" perspective - it may be correct to say it is mafia dominated. There did look to be quite a few young thugs with massive cars and there is a big sex industry but this was an impression. Some tourist reports refer to racketeering also.

As to whether this sleaze extends to property and notaries, I couldn't begin to guess.

Gearoid
 
There are very few experts at anything in this life gearoid.
Id am expert at nothing and always will be.
Ive been looking into this and latvia in particular since late august.

50% of population in riga is russian. The country may differ to this but this is the fact.
There is a thriving sex industry with skinheads hanging out around corners of nightclubs and plenty of blackened out mercedes benz sitting on corners.

I only believe one may need to excercise greater caution to a project in riga than in other places for the aforementioned reasons.

Obviously im right / ur wrong lends no credence to an active debate so i duly apologise for my little rant.
 
Ecstatic ~ thanks for your information - but it is actually 30% russian in Latvia - check the last censor report, unless there has been a massive migration into Latvia since. And yes, Riga has a higher population ~ 40%

I have been to Latvia 5 times in the last year - I have a number of friends who are working over there. I had a chat with them last night and also some latvian friends I have and they all agree that the "mafia" exist and are highly visible in the sex-industry located in the middle of town. However, none of them heard anything about issues with title deeds etc and most of the locals I know own apartments already.

Yes - latvia was seen as a tax haven for a while after independence and that is probably why the banks got stricken off - I was not aware of it myself. But if you have been to Riga (or any town like Venspils or even Sigulda) you will see that most banks there are international banks like SEB, Nordia, Nord LB etc, not nationally owned banks. I am sure these banks have no desire to get stricken off the list
 
Also interested in Baltic states.
I'm in Hungary and prices have gone up quite a bit in the last
few years..
Anyone share their experiences on Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn ?
Which to go for, which to avoid ?

Tia,
HD - long time lurker, 1st time poster.
 
I have bought 3 properties in riga .the mafia are all arround but not visable !the most important thing you can do is get a very good notar.this can be done by contacting the law society of latvia through a solicitor here .not by any other means and definitly not from advice on this forum.or from people like me who say they have been through it once you have a good representitive in the legal end its much clearer,run everything by them ,mine arranged translaters etc.my partner is latvian but also speaks russian so we had an advantage.there are bacicaly two types of rigans, latvian speaking and russian speaking,russian speaking will not speak the latvian language mostly while latvian speakers will speak both if required.its a bit of a nationist thing
.my advice is to get latvian speakers .stick to properties close to rigas centre .the first and top floors are considered worst for investing.try and buy a place in an already renovated building as the rent would be there almost straight away.there are very few good builders left in riga(there all in ireland england etc. earning a decent wage) so forget about renovating for your first investment.rents are quite low for locals so the property would have to suit foreign workers where rent is good.i would really advise arround the embassys and top hotels say elizibeths street ,low numbers.or antonas street.check your banks rating with the european central bank before doing business,some banks are getting the boot as we speak ,the bank dermot desmond bought is a safe bet.rietmu i think(google it )desmond knows where the future profits lie ,all those well paid latvians living abroad at the moment will be buying property and taking out loans over the next 20-30 years in latvia so property will be a good medium to longterm investment .NEVER DO SIDE DEALS !GO THROUGH A REPUTABLE ESTATE AGENT SAY "LATIO".MAKE SURE YOUR NOTAR CHECKS OUT THE BUILDINGS STATUS RELATING TO WORLD WAR TWO ,SOME BUILDINGS ARE BEING REVERTED TO THE ORIGINAL JEWISH OWNERS WHO HAD THENM STOLEN OFF THEM BY THE NATZIS/SOVIETS,IN OTHER WORDS GOOD TITLE WATER TIGHT!A GOOD NOTAR WILL DO ALL THIS.MAKE SURE NOTAR IS LATVIAN LATVIAN NOT RUSSIAN LATVIAN.
 
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