yes, it is right thing to do to keep politics out of this, BUT !!!...if Investment community is just focused in buy cheap, sell high..than more or less it comes to old jewish saying, something like..."when its blood on the street, its time to buy realestate"...it will always be another totalitaristic regime to fall apart and always some poor people forced to sell cheap...
quite something to think about, isnt it ?...It should not come to that in peoples (investors) minds, I dare to think so...

qrm

There is much more to investment than 'buy cheap sell high".



How is this statement related to Kosovo?

Do you understand some basics of economics?

Lets take Kosovo for example.

3 months old country, with no money, poor infrastructure and with desperate need for investment in order to develop.

How do they move forward?

They need to give some incentive to investors to come and inject some cash. For investors to inject some cash means that there must be some competitive ROI (return on investment). The riskier the investment, they will expect higher ROI.

Banks lend money on same principle. When they do your credit score check, they will assess the risk and according to that risk they will decide what interest rate will you get.

Now, its up to you to do your maths and see how much can you give away for what profits.

And this is where your economy sense is tested.

A year ago I approached one poor Croatian coastal municipality. They were quite left behind and though they owned lots of land, they couldn't sell any. Well, they were after 100eur per m2. No infrastructure, no facilities, nothing. They offered us 10% discount of communal taxes.

I brought with me two investment bankers from London. We came up with the proposal where we would develop a master plan for a particular area where we have seen the potential. We would market that project and sell it for them to carefully selected investors. After the project was in full swing, the prices of all the land around would multiply and they would be able to make serious money. There will be many new jobs created, and lots of cash flow. In return, we asked for the best plot of land there, which was roughly around 20% of the total land offered.

Can you guess the answer? They said no. We can't give it to you. We are happy to take, but we can't give. And they are still sitting on it, asking why no one wants to invest there.

Then we moved to Dalmatia. We identified wonderful area on one of islands in the vicinity of Split. This time the story was different. When mayor heard our proposal, he offered us much better located land for half price (for total project), and offered to build the whole infrastructure from the taxes we were due to pay.

This mayor was an experienced and educated businessman, and he understood that is much better to have 50% of something that 100% of nothing. Something that the other guys didn't.

Unfortunately, some other investors beat us to it, and come up with cash quicker.

Back to Kosovo.

To get something, you need to give something. So if Kosovo government has any economic sense, they will give very good incentive to investors. In that way, the place will start developing, and other investors will follow like sheep, demand will increase, prices will go up, more money will be pouring in and very soon Kosovo government will have enough cash to start investing themselves.

What is the end of the story?

Investors that took the initial risk made lots of money, and government made money, country developed and everyone happy.

All provided that the government had enough brains to chose what to give away and to whom, and for how long.

Dubai is an excellent example of how to turn desert dust into gold dust, following the same principle.

Finally, I really don't understand where your statement about exploiting poor people who are forced to sell cheap is coming from.

Re. But, because of what has happened in the last 100 days or so, the risk is not what it was and if I was to catergorise, then Kosovo would, in my eyes, now be medium risk for a short or long term hold, depending on the individual's wishes or circumstance.
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In a little reported story, on June 8 two men entered the highly protected compound which is the residence of the Prime Minister of this not-quite-a-country. Hashim Thachi wasn't there at the time and the intruders escaped when guards opened fire. Thachi was a leader of the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) before being named PM, and the Serbs consider him a war criminel and therefore a fair target for their agents. Any Serb who dares venture into Kosovo is almost certain to be targeted by the local population and it is even ill-advised for foreigners to travel to the enclave with a Serbian registered vehicle. Thousands of Orthodox churches have been destroyed in Kosovo (whilst UN forces look on) and Orthodox priests have been molested and sometimes even murdered. The recent Declaration of Independance has exacerbated tensions even further between the Christian Orthodox Serbs and the Islamic Albanians...
"Such criminal acts damage the positive image of the state of Kosovo" said a government official after the attack.

Kosovo prime minister's home attacked » Kuwait Times Website

I might add that when you reach the border of the territory, you are required to buy a special warzone insurance policy. It costs 50 Euros and is valid for two weeks only.
Passports are not stamped by the Kosovar authorities, and your "visa" is a simple paper document which is meticulously inserted into each passport.
Once you have your policy and visa in hand, your car is directed through the barbed wire and around the tanks into the enclave.
When you leave the territory, the visa is removed from the pages of your passport, and no trace of your visit subsists for others to see.

Thanks Neustria, this is very useful info.

Can you suggest the best way of getting there from London?

Cheers.

"Can you suggest the best way of getting there from London?"
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Best you not go, for you won't like it.

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"Thousands of Orthodox churches have been destroyed in Kosovo (whilst UN forces look on) and Orthodox priests have been molested and sometimes even murdered." (my own quote)
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The above figure was a bit of an exaggeration, and I apologize to those whom I might have inadvertently misled by it. .

Though there are thousands of Orthodox churches in Kosovo, according to the latest information that I have found, "only" 76 have been damaged or destroyed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army...

Of these seventy-six, twelve were built in the 14th Century, two in the 15th Century, and seven had been built in the 16th Century.

With the exception of five, the others were built in the 20th century.

These destructions were indeed often carried out in the presence of UN peacekeepers, notably British, American, and Italian…

The warzone insurance is only valid for up to two weeks.

Maybe the locals just got a bit upset about decades of abuse by Serbia...

In the same light, I guess I should cancel my trip to Belgrade. After all, Serbian army also destroyed many churches and mosques (before any orthodox one's were destroyed), and on the top of that killed ten's of thousands innocent civilians in the presence of the same UN 'peacekeepers'...

Can you remind us, who was that bombing Dubrovnik?

In short, don't you think that we should keep the politics out of this discussion?

I was attempting to describe the atmosphere which reigns at this time in this territory where you seem to be considering investing, and where you are perhaps also implicitly suggesting that others on this forum could follow your lead. As I wrote previously, I was in the enclave only a couple of months ago.

Political my post? Kosovo is politics and passions there are running high. And you will not be able to avoid this all-pervading subject wherever you mght go in the enclave. Would you consider investing in something on the French Riviera without mentioning at the same time how far the property is from the Sea?

Finally the post you made above was exactly of the type you were reproaching me. But following your wish, I am happy to not answer it per se, thereby granting you the satisfaction of having the last word in this decidedly never-ending debate.

Developing there. The economy is now very basic. What you have now there is construction (a lot) and little else.

Claudio - PM me please.

Kind regards
Stingo

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