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I receive regular email from "International Living." The concluding paragraph, almost like an afterthought, is pretty unsettling. Global darlings, no more...
Live a Life of Luxury--
For Pennies on the Dollar!
Now, you can own a Mediterranean-style luxury three-bedroom apartment, terraced to
the sea for just $45,000! Enjoy maid service and your own driver for penny-ante pocket
change. And dine out in style for less than you're paying for fast-food carry-out.
If you have a grub stake, you can own a gold mine--under the sun. It's true. You can live
a life of luxury--for pennies on the dollar.
**********************
Essentially a beach village, Skala Eressos hibernates between October and Easter. Greeks running businesses usually winter in Athens, Mytilini town, or the inland village of Eressos. Home to around 1,000 locals and 100 expats (not all gay women), Eressos is less than four miles from the coast.
With deep cherry-red shutters, Eressos has some lovely restored stone houses. Greeks tend to cover old stonework with ugly plaster. But seeing what foreigners have done, more locals are returning to the traditional look. One restored 70-square meter (753-square-foot) stone village house with wooden ceilings and a bijou guest cottage in its courtyard is $182,000. In these parts, starting figure for small, unrestored stone houses is around $102,000, plus $95,000 for renovation. Plots that are almost half an acre within a village boundary start at $65,000 and building costs $1,163 per square meter (that’s $108 per square foot).
At the other end of the scale, a one and a quarter acre property in the Eressos countryside with olive trees and three restored buildings is $654,000. Big price, but it offers all kinds of tourist potential.
Outside village boundaries, building a home requires at least a one acre plot. Now selling their immaculate village home (with immaculate garden) for $363,000, this is what two UK women are doing.
Co-owner Amanda spoke of some scary moments after their architect said an archaeological survey was needed. It sounds wonderful to live in a richly historic area, but expect lengthy delays if artifacts are found. They were lucky. None turned up.
Non-EU citizens can also expect extra bureaucracy. Due to proximity to Turkey, Lesbos is classed as a border zone. Americans and others need special permission from the Greek Defense Ministry to buy. Joanna says obtaining it takes around six months.
Roving Europe Editor, International Living
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