The high quality of real estate we are used to in Estonia is by no means as common in Dubai, Spain or Thailand. But while there are downsides, living in an apartment or villa abroad can offer the sort of quality of life where each day feels like you have lived a day and a half.
Other foreigners with bulging wallets have long since landed in Spain, Thailand and Dubai. Now though, having built up capitalism over 30 years of freedom, Estonians too have become rich enough to own property outside of their own country. But why look to buy an apartment or villa in another country in the first place? Experienced investors and entrepreneurs Priit Villemson, Gerdi Arst and Sanders Skorik gave their take on this at a real estate seminar held on Pihlaka Farm in Järveküla, describing what their fellow countrymen have given as their reasons for doing so. The panel was moderated by Janar Muttik, the CEO of Everaus Kinnisvara, who put some interesting and very useful questions to the participants.
The main thing that draws people to warm countries is their desire to escape the cold, especially in an era when teleworking is everywhere: simply switch on your computer and log in online. The main reason for Priit Villemson, who is behind a villa development on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand, was the difference in the seasons. “I have this tiny island in Estonia called Viirelaid,” he explained. “It really started to bother me that our summer is so short. I began looking at where I could go, and somehow Thailand appealed, because the seasons there are the other way round.” He feels that people still dream of living somewhere warm in their old age, but often leave it too late. “My idea, in terms of the kind of life I want, was to start living it now,” he said. “That’s how I’ve ended up dividing my time between Estonia and Thailand.”
Gerdi Arst, who works as an estate agent in Spain, added that she and her husband had no plans to pack their bags and move to Spain at first, but started to really like the lifestyle and quality of life the country offered. “We thought, why wait till we’re 60?” she said. “At that age we wouldn’t be able to enjoy it like we do now. You have to live today, not put off living till tomorrow. In Spain it’s like we live a day and a half every day, because there’s so much more to our lives there.”
