Hog's Gone Fishin
07-12-2010, 01:29 PM
In Baghdad !
House-Hunting? Try Baghdad!
July 12, 2010 - 2:35 PM | by: Peter Doocy
Ishraf Ahmad and Derrick Turner have never been to Iraq, but the two 23 year old businessmen from Minnesota have about 35 homes listed there on their new real estate website, Forex Realty Consultants.
They have already sold five properties, and their listings range in price from $300,000 to $800,000- but they do have an outlier: an $8.6 million mansion with a swimming pool and a beautiful view of the "Green Zone". Although a description like that might sound unsettling, they assure potential buyers that it is safe to house-hunt in Iraq, seven years into the war. Turner says, "if you are careful about it and you know what you are getting into...it's perfectly safe to conduct real estate in most areas of Baghdad." (Which is easy to say when their fat asses are sitting in Minnesota)
Since Ahmad and Turner conduct most of their business from their couch in St. Paul, MN, they have enlisted a man to help them find clients, scout locations, and upload photos to their website: frc-iraq.com. They found this man, Ali Robaie, on Craigslist, and he has proven particularly helpful since he has extensive knowledge of the area.
Robaie explains that now is a great time to buy because, "there is a new upper class with a lot of capital to spend,and anyway most of the former property owners are dead and this is what is driving up the prices."
House-Hunting? Try Baghdad!
July 12, 2010 - 2:35 PM | by: Peter Doocy
Ishraf Ahmad and Derrick Turner have never been to Iraq, but the two 23 year old businessmen from Minnesota have about 35 homes listed there on their new real estate website, Forex Realty Consultants.
They have already sold five properties, and their listings range in price from $300,000 to $800,000- but they do have an outlier: an $8.6 million mansion with a swimming pool and a beautiful view of the "Green Zone". Although a description like that might sound unsettling, they assure potential buyers that it is safe to house-hunt in Iraq, seven years into the war. Turner says, "if you are careful about it and you know what you are getting into...it's perfectly safe to conduct real estate in most areas of Baghdad." (Which is easy to say when their fat asses are sitting in Minnesota)
Since Ahmad and Turner conduct most of their business from their couch in St. Paul, MN, they have enlisted a man to help them find clients, scout locations, and upload photos to their website: frc-iraq.com. They found this man, Ali Robaie, on Craigslist, and he has proven particularly helpful since he has extensive knowledge of the area.
Robaie explains that now is a great time to buy because, "there is a new upper class with a lot of capital to spend,and anyway most of the former property owners are dead and this is what is driving up the prices."