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First Person: Simon Janusas

New York Agent Sees His Future Business in Lithuania

Simon Janusas in Lithuania

By Simon Janusas

Agent, Keller Williams

We're all familiar with the scenario: You go somewhere or meet someone expecting a particular outcome, but end up with a completely different one. That happened to me last summer.

I vacationed in my native country of Lithuania for the first time and soon decided that this is where I will be concentrating most of my real estate endeavors in the future.

In July, I arranged to meet one of my best friends in Vilnius, Lithuania, the capital of the country where our parents were born and raised. We grew up together in Queens, NY, as children of immigrants, but hadn’t seen each other since the ‘90s.

The timing was perfect. I’m 36 and I got to see the place I reluctantly learned about as a kid, when my parents forced me to attend Saturday Lithuanian school in Queens. I now appreciate missing out on Saturday morning cartoons all those years.

Lithuania is a small country the size of West Virginia located on the Baltic Sea. Although tiny, it's an unbelievably diverse, scenic country. The Baltic coast is to Russians what California is to Americans--a booming resort spot. The island province of Neringa boasts the tallest sand dunes in Europe and there are more than 4,000 lakes scattered throughout the country. Cities are filled with Renaissance and Baroque period buildings and streets, along with museums loaded with artwork from every significant period since the region was first recognized as a country more than 1,000

years ago.

While traveling through the country by bus, train and taxi, I realized that Lithuania is a land of immense real

estate opportunity. I covered 16 cities on a three-week-long tour and saw all the signs--literally and figuratively. I frequently spotted “for sale” signs on empty lots as well as on buildings.

Throughout my entire tour, it was difficult not to notice cranes, scaffolds, cement trucks, stacks of building materials and other signs of new construction and renovation projects. Inland from the 70-mile long Baltic coast, there was an average of thirty lots with "for sale" signs out of every 50 lots. The ratio increased as I got closer to the water. There is a variety of properties in prime locations and prices were cheap. For example, in a new development in Vilnius, with a modern architectural style and units between 185 to 240 square meters, the average price was about $242,000.

In the last year studies show that prices slid in Lithuania, along with most of the region, but the people I talked to said property values are still up from a few years ago. Since 2005 a renovated or new building within the old town section of Vilnius increased in value by 40 percent, locals said.  Vacation spots in the coastal region have achieved even higher yields. (A new hotel in Klaipeda recently sold for $56,629.)