In our country, there are not as many entrepreneurs per capita as in the West. But sandy beaches and mulatto women gracefully serving soft drinks appeal to everyone. If you don't have money, to buy something you first need to sell something. And it turns out we have no problems with that. In recent years, when real estate prices in the country skyrocketed, millions of our fellow citizens, without lifting a finger, turned into potential owners of considerable wealth. An ordinary pensioner living in a 'Stalin-era' apartment somewhere in the city center can sell his apartment for half a million dollars and join the ranks of downshifters conquering the most exotic corners of the world.
As reported by Avenue Property, a company specializing in foreign real estate sales, their typical client today is not necessarily a major businessman or official. 'Even people who are not wealthy at all are now acquiring property abroad,' says the company's director Larisa Khoreva. 'First they rent a small apartment in a city they like for a while, and then they look for the most suitable place for permanent residence.'
Fazenda instead of a one-room apartment
A modest one-room apartment in the center, with a tiny kitchen and a combined bathroom that looks as if the times of devastation and hunger in the country ended only yesterday, today costs about €500 thousand. For that money, one can easily settle in a luxurious villa by the sea. For example, in Panama, which, according to real estate agents, has recently become especially popular among Russian downshifters. After buying such a home, there will still be about €100-200 thousand left. You can, of course, entrust it to a bank, invest in stocks, or simply spend it on personal expenses. Even with the last option, a former capital resident is guaranteed a carefree life for a decade. With more modest requests, you can buy a small house by the sea, which will cost no more than €50 thousand. Then the remaining money will definitely be enough for a lifetime, completely carefree. And if you are also willing to invest a little money in the Panamanian economy, the government of that country will gladly provide both preferential taxation and a Panamanian passport. Social programs for the elderly in this country are very well developed: instead of the usual queues for discounted medicines, a pensioner will find quite high-quality medical services and 50% discounts on all goods.
For the same money, you can also live out the rest of your life as a Brazilian planter. A hundred kilometers from Brazil's largest city, São Paulo, a fazenda of 38 hectares is for sale. On the property there are two sources of drinking water, forming a lake or a pool, and a two-story brick house of 250 square meters. The windows offer a wonderful view of a large, well-tended fruit orchard covering more than a hectare. There are also two houses for servants, each 80 sq. m, and enclosed buildings for dogs, horses, and livestock. In short, everything that each of us has already seen many times in Latin American soap operas.
In the US, the coast is, of course, more expensive, but quite affordable for a resident of the capital's center. For the same €500 thousand, you can buy luxurious apartments in a multi-story building on the Atlantic coast in Miami. The property features gardens, pools (morning and evening), fountains, and a gym. The happy owner enters the apartment via elevator, using a fingerprint through a personal access system. All services provided by the complex (parking, concierge, security) are managed via a touchscreen – these 'smart' monitors, responsive to touch, are installed in all rooms. Residents will also enjoy a panoramic view from the terrace, a wooden and glass built-in kitchen with trendy stainless steel fittings.
For those prone to anti-American sentiments, politically neutral though more exotic options are offered. For example, a three-story mansion in the mountains of Nepal with a total area of 600 sq. m will cost only $171 thousand. For this money, which today pays for a somewhat decent two-room apartment in a remote district of the capital, you can actually get marble and wood flooring, an altar room, rooms for guests and servants, three bathrooms, a fish pond in the garden, a fountain, and a kitchen garden. But the main thing is the romance, for which our compatriots go to Nepal.
You don't have to be modest in Europe either
Those who are drawn to old Europe can well aspire to, say, the legendary French Riviera. A luxurious apartment near the sea will cost a simple downshifter €250-500 thousand. For example, a magnificent six-room apartment on Boulevard Carnot in central Cannes with a total area of 130 sq. m, where each of the three bedrooms has its own bathroom, will cost only €335 thousand.
Cheerful Italy also welcomes happy owners of capital's one-room apartments. There, 80 km from Milan, on the shores of Lake Lugano, a three-room apartment with a view of the lake and the Swiss Alps is for sale. Total area 110 sq. m: a spacious living room, study, bedroom, two bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, two spacious loggias and a balcony. And on picturesque Mallorca, where half of Europe flocks for vacation, an offer of very good housing (a mansion or a small condominium built into the rocks) with a view of a cozy Mediterranean bay rarely exceeds €150-200 thousand.
It is known that the most expensive apartments in the Old World are in London, where real estate prices are rising at very high rates. However, our compatriots think in different terms: that same shabby one-room apartment in the center of the native capital, it turns out, costs as much as a luxurious apartment of 81 sq. m in a house with guarded entrance gates and access to a pier on the Thames. The price, by the way, includes two covered parking spaces next to the house.
One must only keep in mind that life in London is quite expensive. According to estimates by our emigrants, even an undemanding person needs no less than £1,000 a month. Therefore, to Britain (and to other countries of continental Western Europe) mostly either our wealthy compatriots go, or those who can actually find work there. But this is, rather, not downshifting but upshifting. One can not think about prices only in Eastern Europe, as well as in Cyprus, Egypt and Turkey, where many come to rest and then stay forever.
Better to be a millionaire than a militiaman
Downshifting is a radical change of lifestyle; here, making money or saving it is not the main thing. By leaving, citizens change their attitude to the world and often invite friends and acquaintances to follow their example. Mikhail, formerly the owner of a medium-sized business and a similarly average apartment in the capital, left his homeland a year and a half ago and found a new home in Venezuela. “It’s warm, good and sunny here,” he explains his choice simply. The settler created a mini-agency that offers fellow countrymen to join his choice via the Internet. According to our interlocutor, there are not very many people wishing to settle permanently in this country yet, but demand for houses in Caracas and its surroundings remains stable. In the capital of Venezuela, you can buy a new two-room apartment with two bathrooms (modern plumbing, luxury tiles, total area 70-80 sq. m) for $100,000-$120,000. Houses in small towns on the coast cost $25,000-$30,000.
Another downshifter, Roman Semochko, made a choice in favor of Indonesia. “Of course, everyone decides for themselves how much money is needed for happiness,” he says. “When I realized that I and my family had enough means to live, I moved to Bali. I don't strive for the list of millionaires; I have everything necessary for life and raising children.”
Downshifters come, of course, not only from the capital, because housing is becoming more expensive all over the country. However, the main motive of our downshifting is still economic. Here is a typical example. Police Lieutenant Pyotr led, as he says, a routine, boring lifestyle. His mood improved sharply after a vacation spent in India. Having discovered many people in that country with a salary of $10 a month, the law enforcement officer decided that it is better to be a millionaire there than a militiaman here. Having bought a bungalow on the coast of the Indian Ocean, he spends his time wonderfully. The thousands of dollars a month he gets by renting out his apartment at home is quite enough for good food and other entertainment.