5 Lessons From Real Estate in Europe
Ah! La Bella Roma! From the cradle of Western civilization to a huge melting pot, for those who have visited or lived in Rome it blows your mind away and steals a piece of your heart. But if you actually want to own a piece of Rome, you’d better be prepared to give also your kidney away (the good one), an eye and seriously consider adding up one of your lungs to sweeten the deal. Wao. The incredible thing isn’t that prices are astronomically high; it is that at over $20,000 US dollars per mt2 or $2,000 per ft2 people are still buying.
Of course, it took over 2000 years for it to appreciate to that level, so salivating speculators in Casco Viejo, Panama, need not apply. But still, if you compound it all, what may seem crazy in today’s world is not buying a historic apartment in an urban center. What I learned from my recent trip was that human place value where life is most enjoyable.
1. Human Scale:
Never underestimate the power of a city that makes a person feel like one; where you are an important element of a beautiful city, not an afterthought behind your car.
Where you can walk both to get your groceries and to have fun. Where having a car is almost a nuisance. Anyways, in today’s world of raising oil prices and global warming having a car and using it on a daily is almost prohibitive. Rome was bursting with people walking around or riding bikes. Every historic city I’ve ever been to is a heavily pedestrian/ bike site. Creative solutions have been thought to fit them into the space and be more efficient, but not all the way around. As size does matter, Rome is the land of the Smart Car, the “Cinquecento” (or Topolino as Italians call it), and the mini everything from public transportation to the garbage truck which can be operated with only one person.
In yesterday’s world, it was just common sense. People clustered together because it was efficient. In today’s world where time and resources are money, it is a matter of survival.
2. Mix = Authenticity = Excitement =Vibrancy = Value
This package moves around together. There is no way to get one without the others.
Rome is still in many ways the center of the world. It is chaotic, irreverent, eclectic and fun. A thousand voices speaking different languages, gothic kids in the sideways giving away flyers for a concert, businessmen in their Italian suits and Ferragamo shoes elbow to elbow with tourists and residents who are having a cappuccino at one of the many sidewalk cafés or gelatterias.
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