St. Petersburg, One Year Later

[Doll]

If it makes you feel better I visited several other famous graves and was very quiet and respectful towards them.  I even laid some flowers at the grave of Raisa Gorbachova.

Well, R.G. was the first lady, did a lot, yet she was just Gorbachov's wife.
Nikita was the "icebreaker", took the risk. Whatever he was- nobody can make fun of his grave.  People then (in 60's) understood how it could be, Gorbachov just followed same way but in the more favorable times.
Needless to say, it was all about SU and almost nothing about the USA.
We need to be respectful to ALL of them.
One more time (for the newbies)- you go there, you respect the culture and the history.

[Doll]

off topic
Here is what really impressed me

[Mark8000]

Hi Phil,

Great report. I don't know why I am so entralled with your story- but I have been poping on and off this site just to see if you would post a trip report. I am pretty sure that my interest stems from first learning about you and Nina (on the "old" forum) when I first started this never ending adventure back in 2003. Wow, here was a guy that moved to Russia . . . .. I will always remember you and the infamous Andrew who was living in Estonia.

Anyway, we haven't talked/emailed since you and Nina graciously gave up your apartment for Lana and me in September of 2007. To jog your memory, you were here in the States and the City was redoing the plumbing in your flat.

Aside from you and Nina, I have always been interested in how you handled buying your apartment in Petersburg (and now, selling it) and the role, if any, Nina played.  Did you use a realtor?  Was it difficult? Did you need Nina?
Were there any problems selling it (time, $$, or otherwise)? Do you open an escrow- or something similar? Did it turn out to be a good investment? sorry- I could go on and on . . .

If not too personal, perhaps you can feed my curiosity.

Thanks
Mark Schroeder 

[Phil dAmore]

Hi Mark!

Of course I remember you.  Well, to be more specific I remember coming back to the apartment and finding a pile of old pipes that needed to be removed.  That's one of the things I always liked about Russia... there was a very clear delineation of labor and responsibilities.  In this case the plumbers job was to install the new pipes, something they did perfectly.  It did not fall under their job description to remove the old pipes, that was someone elses job.  

Sort of reminds of the time I had to call скоро помошь for Nina... The ambulance teams' job was to get the patient to the hospital.  Getting the patient from the apartment to the ambulance however was not their responsibility...

The purchase was really quite simple... time consuming yes but that is to be expected in Russia. Start to finish it took about 45 days. There is a real estate magazine that is published once a week with all the apartments, both existing and new construction that are for sale.  It's broken down into regions of the city, and further subdivided into apartment size.  With only a basic command of Russian I was able to decipher what all the abbreviations meant.

Buying it we did go through a broker who handled everything quite professionally.  As a buyer I paid no commissions.  It was necessary to give Nina POA to actually finalize the sale (I can't remember why, probably had something do to with my poor language skills at the time) which at that point consisted of handing over a bag full of cash and watch it be counted but beyond that Nina's role in the purchase of the apartment was minimal and she was not involved with the sale of it at all. The apartment itself was mine and mine alone, although since I was never able to get registered at that address, technically no one lived there.  

In theory this could have caused a problem because in Russia, just because your name is on a deed doesn't mean that it's 100% yours.  Ownership is split equally among the inhabitants that are registered as living in that apartment.  In a worst-case scenario the state could have commandeered my apartment because since no one was officially living there, they would not be putting anyone out on the street.  Thankfully this never happened.

Selling it 6 years later was even simpler.  I sold the place to the director of one of the language schools that I worked with.  She had recently sold two apartments in Moscow and was flush with cash (remember, this was before the crisis hit and apartment prices were through the roof).  She was so happy with the price I quoted her that she took care of everything... translation, doc transfer fees, legal fees, notary fees (well over $1500!).  Since it was basically a 'by owner' sale, I paid no commission or listing fees and since I had owned it more than 3 years I paid no Russian taxes on the proceeds of the sale.

Overall they were very smooth transactions, both buying and selling.

It turned out to be an exceptionally good investment.  I won't give specific numbers but I did sell it for 5x what I had paid for it.  Escrow accounts were opened (again, the buyer paid for all of it).  The transfer of funds and documents went flawlessly, no funny business of any kind, although I still think Baltisky Bank ripped me off for 15,000 rubles when I wired it back to the states.  I counted that cash 20 times and knew exactly how much was there, yet when we went to the bank we were short.  Still a sore spot with me.

[Doll]

скоро помошь

Скорая помощь

[Phil dAmore]

thank you, doll

[corp]

Hey Phil,
 Great to hear you are doing well and I guess Nina is too.
What's it been, like 2 years since we played music in your apartment?
Time passes quickly my friend.
Natalia and I have been married a year and a half now and things have gone very well for us.
You report of the constant rain is a sober reminder how dreary it can be in Russia
I don't know if there are dryer areas.... maybe farther south?

Natalia and I really appreciated the hospitality you and nina showed us and if you ever get get to NC, I hope you stop in to see us.

Danny

[Mark8000]

Thanks for the info. Phil.

Anyone who took the chance you did (i.e. rolled the dice), deserves the BIG reward.

Let us know when your Blues Club opens  . . . . . . 

[Phil dAmore]

Thanks Mark... Yeah, the blues club is a bit closer to being reality but not much.  I'm still in the exploratory stages.  The problem is that I know a lot about the music biz but not very much about running a bar and club so I'm having to learn all about that.

One of the downsides of being off the grid for all that time is that I have no recent credit history and even with a sizable down payment lenders are less than willing to speak with me.

Thankfully the experience gained from dealing with Russian bureaucracy is serving me well as I attempt to negotiate the ins and outs of Arizona  liquor licensing laws and business regulations.

[Jumper]

Phil, great report thanks

i've followed your story from way way back..


and i'm glad you take the time to keep updating it.