After viewing nine stans in person, as well as everything possible repeatedly online, I come to the conclusion that one particular stan is our best choice. It's more than what we expected to spend... but so is everything in the neighborhoods we like best in Belgrade. And since we're coming the Belgrade simply for the love of it (rather than being required to by any obligations) it would be pretty pointless to live in an area we didn't really like.
Anyway, both the building and neighborhood are a good investment for the long term.
So after a month of stress, I relax inside. Then we decide to take a walk at night. Why not go down and check out the new neighborhood before we call the realtor with our final decision? Everything seems fine at first; quiet; a pleasant number of lit windows (nothing's worse than living in an empty neighborhood, which some of the newer buildings in Belgrade can be.)
At last, we reach a little cafe at the end of the street. From the distance it looks nice enough, a little pretentious, but I don't expect to be hanging out there myself. "Hey, there's about $2 million in cars parked here!" my husband exclaims. Cars have never remotely interested me so I hadn't noticed. Oh dear, he's right. Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, another Porsche.
We drive a "nice car" for Belgrade, but really it's an ordinary middle class car in the US. Even our local plumber has two of that model! I'm not used to living near to people who drive Porsches. I don't think I want to be either.
"Is this a fancier neighborhood than I thought it was?" I ask some local friends who I like tremendously. Well, they say kindly, it's a very good neighborhood and a good investment to be sure, but they prefer to live in Novi Beograd themselves. All their friends are there and it's just more "comfortable" for "people like us."
I had a hard time sleeping last night and today I'm heading over to Novi Beograd. It's probably best to look at a few more options before making my final decision. Blokovi here I come!
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2 comments:
Seems like an odd problem to have. Let's see: the blokovi in NB or the neighborhood with nicer cars than your own? I live in a fancy part of the US and feel comfortable that nobody will be interested in stealing my crappy 1996 Volvo wagon. :)) When I was looking to buy property (in Croatia) I experienced the agony of indecision, too. "Unclear title" issues removed some of the options, though.
You're splitting hears now..
The only problem with some of the Vracar's clubs and coffee shops is that they're owned by people who can afford business space in that location - serbian nouveaux riches.. they're mostly sitting there all day, drinking coffee and doing nothing but telephoning and staring at girls passing by.. Those 10m^2 they occupy can easily be ignored/tolerated..
People who actually live in the area have little in common with them.. they are 'people like us' :)
I live in and love NBg, but if you do want to live in downtown Bg - stay with Vracar!
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