Yesterday I posted It Is About Real Estate, Isn't It?
Comments caught me by surprise. There was sort of expectation that this would end as a big scam, and it didn’t. I reread the post, and yes, it was sort of leading to this conclusion.
It is interesting, because the guy/s behind the ‘scam’ did not do it to create a Russian Community as a goal. The goal was making money. Was it a noble goal? Is money a noble goal anyway?
It all depends.
Russians were coming to the US in waves. When the relations between the two countries were good, the Soviets would loosen the Jewish immigration. When there was a chill, the curtain would go down.
Our wave of the early 90s were those buyers I am describing in the post. The organizer/s were from the wave of the 70s, which ended up with the Soviets invading Afghanistan in 1979, which worsened the relationships between the USSR and the US and put a halt to any emigration.
The organizer/s were established here by the time we started coming.
I am sure that majority of them by the time we started coming, have traveled to Florida. Many of them have bought properties here, or were coming for vacations.
But only one guy paid close attention to Palm Coast, the largest real estate development in the post-war United States. Only one figured that this had a huge potential. Only one had guts to act on his vision.
It sounded like a dream. It sure was a bold dream.
I can imagine going to ITT CDC, the branch of ITT dealing with the residential development, and striking a deal with them. I can imagine them coming to New York and opening several real estate offices at the peak of the operation. And then creating the marketing plan to canvass all Russian neighborhoods and target newcomers…
It was a bold endeavor. It sure was.
They came with the idea, which was building credit as a way to American Dream of homeownership. There were smaller ideas as bringing Russian Orthodox church to Palm Coast, put Russian stores...
It was a system how to make us pay the deposit and buy land. And we did it. In quite serious numbers. ITT CDC could not believe it. They covered the stay at the hotel, which wasn’t a big deal for them, as they owned Sheraton brand. So, airline tickets and meals was the extent of their participation. Of course, I do not know whether ITT paid the guys only commission or there was an extra marketing fee or something, but I tend to believe they did.
And they had a plane with 30 people coming on weekends, and out of these 30 people 22-25 were buying…
So, yes, no question here, they were doing it for money. Yes, the whole operation was only marginally decent if even this, but nonetheless, it took a vision and courage, and a lot of talent and creativity to pull this off.
I salute to those, who have the vision and the guts.
P.S. I know the guy who came with the vision, and who had the guts and the determination to do it. I met him. I do not give his name as I do not know how he would react to it. After all, he has guts and determination :)
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