2005 Moscow Reports

[Mohctep]

My hat off to you. That is the first girl on this board that are worthy of repeat offense. What a hot looking ****. Is she RUS? Her skin tone and posing suggests otherwise but.... may be I am too harsh on them.
Afterall Gems do exists in mother Russia.
Happy New Year hunting.
It appears the good time to go to Moscow is January now. They just passed labour law giving them Dec31-Jan 10 vacation for the whole country.
Next New Year I am in Moscow,no more US boring crap.))

[Johnny Darko]

Moreover, how about writing having a FAQ section like the one in the Czeck Republic section. There are so many replies that to go through all of them has become a daunting task. Any write-up volunteers?

Johnny

[Slavicgourmet]

I totally agree on this idea. I support it.

Me too, Stravinsky, I suggest we put in it the " basic " how to ... and " basic processing " ( visa, ATM, hotel security, apartments etc) in this thread so that every newbie could look at it or be answered " go to the basic thread!

[CA Traveler]

rm... excellent synop of the Moscow RE market. One thing though that I quickly learned is that the searches on the RE company websites are usually a waste of time! The cheap places are almost never available and most importantly, the really nice places that are reasonably priced go within a week. My agent told me that anyplace that is on the market a week after listing is either overpriced or something is wrong with it.

Also, as you and anyone who has ventured into Russian apartment buildings, well know, the photos of the apartment NEVER tell the entire story of the aparment. The building entry, the neighbors, the neighborhood, the view, the smell of the hall, the pets, etc. etc. will make or break the livability of an apartment.

As you said, IMHO the best money you can spend is what you pay your quality agent who will keep an eye open for the top-notch apartment that has just come on the market.

Also, unlike in the USA where apartments are listed on a Multiple Listing Service, the landlord must list his rental apartment with each separate agency. I've also found that the price varies between agencies. For instance, I've seen the same apartment at Intermark several hundred dollars per month more than at Blackwood.

In addition, as you stated, someone with a Western style high-quality apartment would almost never list with a Russian agency because the top dollar comes from the Xpat who is typically being reimbersed by their company for living expenses.

[Opus Dog]

Have recieved a few emails requesting info about the totchkas and just wanted to elaborate. I went at all times of the day, you just need to ask more than one taxi driver if the first doesn't know. Hail a cab by standing off the curb and sticking your arm out. I definitely want to stress - bring smaller bills with you, like $20 bills. Russian ATMs only seem to spit out $100 bills, which the mommas balk at. I wanted to bring one of those little brown counterfeit pens with me after 5 minutes arguing with a momma. Why is it people think a non-native speaker will understand better if they shout the answer at you, instead of speaking more slowly? Anyway, if you're unsure about which girl to choose, take momma aside and talk to her. One time I ignored a momma's advice on a girl and got a dud. You can be the judge if the momma is telling the truth. Always tip your momma. I gave them 300 or 400 rubles. Maybe too big a tip, but it seems like a little gratuity here and there pays off for repeat business. Anyways, enjoy, хороший аппетит, and stay safe!

opus dog

[Blue Birde]

Perhaps we've reached the point where we need a "Living in Moscow/Russia" thread???

I totally agree on this idea. I support it.

[Stravinsky]

Perhaps we've reached the point where we need a "Living in Moscow/Russia" thread???

[Roger Mellie]

Getting a little off topic Ira since this is primarily a forum about (a) women, (b) their pants and (c) how to get into them, so I will send you a PM with more details.

But in summary: Mortgages - yes; Interest rates - much higher; Privatisations - It would be too simplistic to say yes, but incorrect to say no. Young Russian entrepreneurs (do the french have a word for that?) blow enormous amounts of dough opening restaurants and night clubs; Russian stocks - yes, English reports - yes.

Moscow's Billionaires overtake New Yorks:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3710977.stm

More on the Billionaires and how they grew:
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2004/07/...sianintro.html

Also I just did a search for you in Arbat and Patriarshy Prudy areas for a 2-3 bedroom place (known in Russia as a 3-4 room place - since they count bedrooms and living rooms and add them together) of around 120 sq metres and the range is $1900 a month to $8000 a month ... realistically for a decent western standard place, in those areas, 2-3 bedrooms, around 120 square metres, you have to be looking around USD 5k a month and up.

[Ira Glub]

RM,

I appreciate your comments and effort to help and elucidate. You seem to have much experience with the RE market in Moscow and financial issues in general. I hope you don't mind me taking advantage of your kindness by asking some additional questions.

Do you know if mortgages are readily available from Russian banks? I was thinking that buying a property might be more advantageous than renting one out. As you know, here in London mortgages are very easy to take out. This might not be the case in Moscow. I also assume that interest rates in Russia must be much higher?

You mentioned earlier that there are more millionaires and billionaires in Moscow than anywhere else in the world. Have most of these fortunes been made from the privatizations of state-owned companies? What kinds of businesses are young Russian entrepreneurs exploring today?

I'm also curious about the Russian stock market. Do you know if foreigners are allowed to invest directly in Russian stocks? How easy is it to find research reports on Russian stocks in English?

CAT,

Thanks for the offer. I will PM you shortly.

[Roger Mellie]

I wouldnt worry too much about spelling. The only correct spelling of Russian is in the Cyrillic alphabet. There is no correct spelling of any Russian word in the Latin alphabet. Its like saying what the correct spelling of the english word "dictionary" is, in Chinese characters!

Transliterations tend to depend what language people are based in. How do you spell the surname of the composer Pyotr Illich? In English is see it written as Chaikovsky. Germans often spell it Tchaikowski ... neither are "correct" .. both are just trying to make a sound similar to the original russian sounds, without using the Cyrillic alphabet, and using conventional sounds and letter combinations from their own language.

Anyway, I'm looking for a 2-3 bedroom apartment in the city center, preferably around the Arbat our Patriarschy Ponds area (I hope I spelled that correctly)...

[Roger Mellie]

I am also from London and would say that
(1) Moscow real estate is cheaper to buy than in London
(2) Moscow real estate is more expensive to let, than in London

The discrepancy come from the cost of capital. Capital is cheap and ridiculously easy to come by in London. In Moscow there is a higher reward for capital, so if you are a bank lending US dollars in Moscow, you lend it at a much higher rate than you would in London or in New York. Similarly, if you own a £300,000 flat in London (say the typical 2 bed in Fulham) you might get £1200 a month for it if you are lucky these days. A similar value place in Moscow ($575,000) will be rented out for $5,000+ a month. Rental yield in London is 3-4% pa. In Moscow it is more like 12-15%.

Commissions are low here in London - but only for the lessee. Here the lessee pays basically nothing. All the fees are paid by the lessor - who typically pays 7% or so (up to 17% if it is fully managed). In contrast, the system in Moscow is more equitable in the sense that both lessees and lessors pay fees. So it is a completely different system.

Secondly, Real Estate agents in London make most of their money via the sale of property. Lettings is a side business. Often in Moscow its the other way round. Lettings are the main game, with the sale of property a side show.

Thirdly, the breadth and liquidity in the London real estate market means agents get much higher volumes than in Moscow. As a result, fees are likely to be lower as the turnover is much higher.

I can ony advise you not to spend too much time and effort fighting "the system" in Moscow. They do things their own way there, and it may be inefficient, but thats the way everyone does things. You either fit into the system, or you dont play ball at all (unless you are a billionaire and can afford to buck the system.) You can waste a lot of time and energy trying to buck the system and getting nowhere except very frustrated (and poor).

I dont know what standard of apartment you are looking for in Moscow, but anyone with a nice euro standard apartment in the Arbat or Patriarshy Prudy area available for rent is unlikely to go to a cheap discount agancy that caters to soviet era pensioners. They will almost surely go to agency like Evans, Intermark, Beatrix, Blackwood cause they know (a) those are foreigners areas and that (b) they have a foreigner standard apartment

[CA Traveler]

Happy New Year ALL! I've been strapped down for the past 2+ weeks and even now I'm in Moscow but somewhat restricted for a few more days! I do have a few quick comments though!

opusD... Great reports! Thanks for all of the kind words too. Sorry I was away during your visit. With that said... I don't even know who you are! I have found that it is best not to mention anything to a client unless they bring the hobby up, so I often don't tie a WSG user name in with a client. Even then, I have a hard enough time remembering people's names without throwing in a second name!

IG... I feel your pain! I've rented a total of 13 apartments in Moscow over the past year and I can tell you the biggest problem is the rent and not the commission. So many companies are throwing money at Xpats to get them to move to Moscow the rents continue to increase on a monthly basis. When you actually start looking at apartments you will not believe the crap that some of these locals think they can charge outrageous rates for! I wish you luck. I do have a couple of very good agents if you're interested, but I doubt you'll get a discount. I also have several suggestions of things you'll want to specify when you start negotiating with the RU landlord. PM me if you want some unsolicited advice.

[Latitude Cruz]

Anyone tried this site or "AdultFriendFinder" (hereafter AFF)?

I tried the AFF once a looong time ago and felt like I had totally wasted my money.

By this I mean, I felt like the ads you see before you pay to see "all" the ads are fake. Few (if any) women are on there, just men paying $$$ in the vain hope of getting some free pussy.

Others have better experiences?

[Ludovico]

Some of you guys might be interested to know that the Pimsleur teach yourself Russian series is being traded on eDonkey. I've already got the beginners lessons and it seems pretty good. Anyway, if you can't afford to pay $300+ for it then go ahead and download it.

Also, I was checking out xmatch.com (crap site) and noticed quite a few dyev's looking for sex. For those of you that are in candyland at the moment you might want to check it out to see if it can be a new resource!

[Admin]

Thread Starter.