First of all, of course, you need to decide on the region of residence. Montenegro is seemingly a small country, but very contrasting.
For example, let's take the Bay of Kotor (the northern part of the Montenegrin coast in the territories of the municipalities of Kotor, Tivat, and Herceg Novi). One typical town in this region is Perast, whose houses are stone mansions ranging from 100 to 300 years old. In general, this area is popular among many Europeans: French, English, who mostly own luxurious villas and rent them out daily in the summer. For long-term rental, you can only find options from locals here.
In terms of religious population structure, Catholics and Orthodox Christians predominate here. There are many various old churches and cathedrals.
Herceg Novi (near the border with Croatia) and Tivat are the most developed cities in terms of infrastructure in the region. Kotor is a purely tourist city and lives off the year-round flow of tourists from cruise ships.
Herceg Novi is called the 'garden city' or 'city of stairs.' For those who love a quiet, peaceful life surrounded by exotic plants and flowers, go there. Tivat recently came to life thanks to the built Porto Montenegro port, and the main economic and cultural life here revolves around this facility. Also, there is an elite English school with a sky-high tuition fee, but there is demand for it.
Budva is a mini-copy of a metropolis with its shopping centers, market, numerous sports centers, bus station, port, many educational institutions. Life here is bustling all year round, but especially in summer. Tourists come here for partying at local bars and discos. Immigrants move for the fairly comfortable infrastructure.
Due to such popularity, housing prices in Budva are higher than in other regions. On average, the cost of renting an apartment is 400-600 euros per month versus 300-400 on average along the coast.
Also in Budva there is a Russian school 'Katyusha' and a kindergarten with rather high fees for the local region. Nevertheless, the kindergarten is in demand among the Russian-speaking population.
Budva amazes with its density of development. Houses are built modern and comfortable, but there is clearly not enough demand for such a quantity of real estate.
In Budva there is also the office of the Russian diaspora, which holds regular meetings of community members at the five-star hotel 'Splendid'.
Many people, having been on vacation in Petrovac, strive to move here for a long time. But I want to warn that this cute town lives only in season, then it dies out, and given that it has practically no urban infrastructure, many are forced to travel to the nearest large city Bar for various services and amenities. In Petrovac there is only one supermarket and one school. Otherwise, it is completely focused on tourists.
The coast ends with the Bar Riviera, whose main city is Bar. This city is not so popular among our tourists because the main port of Montenegro with remnants of the navy is located here. From here, the Bar-Bari ferry runs to Italy. Tourists apparently think that because of the proximity of the port, the sea here is not as clean as in the Budva Riviera. But I assure you, that is not the case. But that's not the point for now.
Bar, in my opinion, is the most adapted city for long-term living. It lives all year round. It has all the necessary infrastructure: several large supermarkets, an excellent market, many schools and kindergartens, a port, the only railway station on the coast, from where you can get to the capital Podgorica and further to Serbia, and there is also a bus station. And for club life enthusiasts, the most state-of-the-art club in Montenegro, 'Iluzion', recently opened.
In terms of religious composition, Bar is diverse. It is unofficially divided into districts. In Old Bar, mostly Muslims live. A large mosque was recently opened in the same district. The center is divided between Catholics and Orthodox, so an Orthodox church and a Catholic cathedral peacefully coexist here.
Regarding the cost of renting housing, the price here varies between 300-400 euros per month for an apartment in the city center. You also need to consider some nuances when choosing specific apartments. You need to look at the year the house was built and check all shady places in the apartment for mold. The climate here is quite humid, and very many residential buildings suffer from mold and dampness. It is extremely difficult and costly to remove. Therefore, it is also undesirable to rent an apartment very close to the sea: too noisy in season and too humid in off-season.