Essentially, real estate brokers are letting in the Russian mob — not Russians simply wanting to ‘escape the cold.’ Today, most (if not all) of the rich Russians are part of the communist oligarchy. If you’re not part of the team, then you’re one of the serfs with no future prospects. Real estate brokers today are motivated by both greed and an easy sell to countrymen awash in oil & gas revenue as well as a fractured American economy that has Americans selling their homes or losing them. They essentially have no clue who or what they are letting in.
On a recent afternoon, Miami real-estate agent Jill Eber is taking a Russian millionaire on a mansion-shopping trip.
“This is the Versace Room,” Eber says, walking into a vast living room of blue velvet sofas and gold French Imperial lamps. “It really makes a statement.”
The mansion, “Castello del Sole,” sits on an exclusive island on Miami Beach and has eight bedrooms, nine baths and a three-story foyer with fresco ceilings. The grounds include two yacht docks, a tennis court, guest villas, a five-car garage and a lagoon-style pool with over 100,000 gallons of water.
The asking price: $37 million. Continue reading
Global Geopolitics 