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Real estate. Mostly in Eastern Europe. I'd buy up areas around Krakow and Warsaw. This is a gamble on political stability in the EU, which I believe will pay of

Real estate. Mostly in Eastern Europe. I'd buy up areas around Krakow and Warsaw. This is a gamble on political stability in the EU, which I believe will pay off. I believe the EU will survive, and 20 years from now Poland will be much more integrated with the EU, so real estate in Poland can only go up. Same with Budapest. And parts of Romania are worth a look. Even in the West, there are some areas that have not yet been gentrified. In Portugal, real estate in Lisbon has already gone up quite a bit, but less so in Porto. In Italy, much of Sicily is interesting to speculate on. Again, one is speculating on the notion that politics will become more stable, and crime will come under better control, allowing property values to rise.

wesammikhail 8y ago
Interesting take. I am not as optimistic about the EU as you are. However, real-estate ownership is almost never a bad thing short of being exposed to massive economic downturns.
a_bonobo 8y ago
On a similar note, buy land in Ukraine - Ukraine has the most fertile soil in Europe, but agriculturally it's very under-developed due to corruption and bad government. It could be the bread basket of all of Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernozem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernozem
- YjSe2GMQ 8y ago
  The problem with massive corruption is that ownership becomes unreliable. I had an Indian friend once tell me that it happens sometimes that when you buy some land in India, and don't develop it, someone else may, and they will even have a second title. And that the courts are likely to grant it to the person that does the development vs the person that sits on their title. I was obviously surprised, but he said - what makes you think that the title you bought and sit on was ever valid in the first place? This can also backfire on a more coordinated scale, for example see what the communists did in post WW2 Warsaw: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bierut_Decree https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bierut_Decree Those cases are still dragging on in (now fair) courts of Poland. And you can't honestly blame Bierut for doing this - the capital was so devastated that there were less than few thousand people living in it (down from like 1mil before WW2). In fact one of the problems with those pre-WW2 titles is that they often intersect multiple properties across streets, because due to the extent of city damage the street layout was re-architected (if you're starting from almost zero, why not rewire the fundamentals?).
- j_crick 8y ago
  Except for agricultural land is not for sale here right now and it’s often a subject of nation-wide debate. With bad governance habits and corruption not going anywhere for the time being it’s highly unlikely that foreigners will be allowed to buy any chunks of local fertile soil. But even if they were, not being accustomed to the way that business is sometimes done here, they could be quickly forced out by some local entrepreneur hiring some paramilitary group to set your farm on fire, for example. I’m not even making this up: https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/business/french-winemaker-cannot-get-license-after-10-years-407390.html https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/business/french-win...

wesammikhail 8y ago

Interesting take. I am not as optimistic about the EU as you are. However, real-estate ownership is almost never a bad thing short of being exposed to massive economic downturns.

a_bonobo 8y ago

On a similar note, buy land in Ukraine - Ukraine has the most fertile soil in Europe, but agriculturally it's very under-developed due to corruption and bad government. It could be the bread basket of all of Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernozem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernozem

YjSe2GMQ 8y ago
The problem with massive corruption is that ownership becomes unreliable. I had an Indian friend once tell me that it happens sometimes that when you buy some land in India, and don't develop it, someone else may, and they will even have a second title. And that the courts are likely to grant it to the person that does the development vs the person that sits on their title. I was obviously surprised, but he said - what makes you think that the title you bought and sit on was ever valid in the first place? This can also backfire on a more coordinated scale, for example see what the communists did in post WW2 Warsaw: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bierut_Decree https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bierut_Decree Those cases are still dragging on in (now fair) courts of Poland. And you can't honestly blame Bierut for doing this - the capital was so devastated that there were less than few thousand people living in it (down from like 1mil before WW2). In fact one of the problems with those pre-WW2 titles is that they often intersect multiple properties across streets, because due to the extent of city damage the street layout was re-architected (if you're starting from almost zero, why not rewire the fundamentals?).
j_crick 8y ago
Except for agricultural land is not for sale here right now and it’s often a subject of nation-wide debate. With bad governance habits and corruption not going anywhere for the time being it’s highly unlikely that foreigners will be allowed to buy any chunks of local fertile soil. But even if they were, not being accustomed to the way that business is sometimes done here, they could be quickly forced out by some local entrepreneur hiring some paramilitary group to set your farm on fire, for example. I’m not even making this up: https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/business/french-winemaker-cannot-get-license-after-10-years-407390.html https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/business/french-win...