I have now lived in the Republic of Georgia for over a year. When I first got here I believed 3 things:
- It is a great place to live,
- It is a great place to invest, and
- It is a great place to start and run a local business.
Well 2 out of 3 is not bad. Georgia is a great place to live and invest. Running a local business here is problematic. The rules are great, and the authorities are eager, but things are constantly changing. Very hard to deal with a system where the rules essentially do not exist because they are always being changed. I am hoping that after the recent parliamentary elections things will calm down a bit.
But there are great investments available. For as little as $10,000 you can get a darned good rate on a 1 year CD in USD or other foreign currencies (7% to 8%). For a bit more you can negotiate a higher rate, or you can take the risk of the Georgian Lari and get 12% to 13%.
If you want to invest in real estate there are a lot of short term flipping opportunities due to how Georgians must finance apartment construction. In short there is no financing; everything has to be self-financed. So as a nice project is coming to completion the builder is usually looking to sell apartments at a substantial discount. I have a few of those in the works and I expect to get a quick 20% ROI. If you are ever interested in checking it out get in touch with me. I have some nice apartments I am renting out! 😉
An interesting article on Georgia confirming my own opinion (we all like that!): http://www.valuewalk.com/2016/11/incredible-opportunities-hidden-corner-world/