Resale? What resale? We buy flat to live there till death! :P

Well Lithuanians are one of those people with "how to make it better?" mentality and getting a complete flat would result in half of it being ripped off and redone anyway. LOL. Also pre-done living spaces are done to awful and cheap standards all over the world. Friend of mine just bought a restored house in UK and hasn't stopped swearing for couple of months now how awfully it was done.

Here in Lithuania. We bought our flat with most of the work done by developers. We got to choose materials by price limit. Note that sometimes "specialists" knows less than you. Especially when there is the boom in house erection.

As a lithuanian who purchased a flat recently and had to handle all the contractors myself, I agree it's a pain and something should change in the country.

That is why architects and interior designers exist. They can design an apartment's interior in your preferred style. Also, they will recommend what materials to use, colours, lights, electrical fixtures, furniture, etc. BTW some companies have an option if you want a 100% finished apartment. IMO buying a finished apartment would be like buying a basic model VW Golf with the cheapest interior and specs. It is nothing wrong with doing that, but if you want a better interior, you would be stuck with a lame basic one. We all know that builders' goal is to earn as much profit as possible I am sure they would make just a few interior options.

In a lot of post soviet and eastern European countries majority of new apartments are sold this way as well. This is not exclusive to Lithuania.

Being under soviet control meant every apartment was exactly the same (furniture, walls, windows etc.) I might be wrong, but maybe because of that now Lithuanians like to choose everything for themselves. They want to feel free to make choices and live how they like, not like every other flat in the same house, like it was before.

here in the Netherlands this might also happen but on a much smalled scale. for example, it is concidred "normal" when you buy or rent a new place that the place might not have flooring, or the prevouis owner will take the flooring they bough away with them.

In Lithuania home ownership rates are one of the highest in europe. I think people tend to buy property with the idea that they will live in it themselves, rather than for re-sale. So the re-sale considerations are less important. Things are changing tho.

Lithuanians have deeply rooted mentality to do their homes themselves, to control quality etc, so this way of doing things is for Lithuanian culture and way of thinking. So, yeah, this way is made for Lithuanians by Lithuanians. When Lithuanians buy not a new apartment, they rip it apart and do it to their liking anyway, even if it was already renewed 🤷🏽‍♀️ I think its a cultural thing, and it's up to every individual whether they like it or not. I would probably prefer it the Lithuanian way, to be honest.

when I lived in The Netherlands (I'm American) - I was SHOCKED that even RENTING an apartment meant a nice, concrete space - lol - the previous tenant wanted us to pay HIM for us to keep the carpet or he would tear it out (which he did!) - that's one thing I never got used to --- when my mother in law bought her apartment in Kaisiadorys, it was an old, Soviet building and the previous tenant asked her what she wanted to keep - there wasn't much she kept, but at least it was painted and had basic fixtures (sink, toilet) - she opted for someone to come in and install a new shower and kitchen, but it was pretty simple. The more shocking thing than that was HOW they buy apartments (maybe it's more the older generation), but there was NO security at all! My mom-in-law looked at the unit, said she wanted it, handed over an envelope with a ton of cash in it, they shook hands, had coffee ,and then said "we'll be in touch!" - no escrow, not contracts, nothing! I was there to witness it and I was shocked! 2-3 weeks went by and she hadn't herad from the seller - I was starting to thing my mother-in-law was scammed, but after about 3 weeks, she got the call that the place was empty, they could meet for coffee and sign some papers and move it. My mind was blown, lol - don't know that happens with the younger generation, but this wasn't too long ago (2015!) When we went back the next year to visit, I made sure to ask to see all the appropraite legal paperwork (I wasn't convinced that anything had been "officially signed") - it looked to be in order, with stamps/seals from notary along with all the diminsions of the flat and agreements with the buidling regarding cost of heat, ect ... very strange experience for me. Funny part was, my (lithuanian) wife and I bought our first house 2 years later - my wife was so confused as to why we needed a title company, closing costs, agents, contracts, escrow, ect ... lol ...

Ukraine is the same as Lithuania in this regard. You can buy a pre-owned apartment though. In that case you can even get all the furniture and household hardware already installed.

Here in Bulgaria, new apartments are offered as a shell, as you describe. The apartment we bought was in a building 10 years old. The apartment itself had been rented out for all of that time and the interior was rather "tired". We had a contractor put down new flooring, repaint every room and install a completely new kitchen.

I think the logic goes like this: if you're buying a new apartment, rather than second-hand, you must have excessive amounts of money and an ego to match. Therefore, you probably want interiors to be done uniquely your way for showing off.

I think the best is having a choice: either buy a naked apartment or done and furnished. And these are the options you can get in Belarus, though still the majority of flats are left and sold naked.

Thanks for this video

Lithuania. Have it your way :p

Wow, 1:53 the prices seem quite mad considering for so little space, completely empty and unfinish apartment and possibly with no garage, especially for a quite low wage country.

This changed. New law was created that makes housing developers add the interior stuff before sale. Problem solved :D

As a Lithuanian, there are some contractors that might scam you out of thousands. Sometimes more on immigrsts sadly. My best bet is just go to IKEA a bunch of times, get your furniture and get a very reuptable contrsctor to install windows, etc.

Men can live in any interior. Only need airbed, TV and fridge.

Like recent Chinese appartments.

This difference mainly exists, because of Lithuanians being poor. When the first new apartments were being built majority of people who bought them were either rich and they wanted to do things their own way or others bought them as an investment and tried to save everywhere they could, doing interior finishes themselves. Also the resale value argument doesn't really hold up in Lithuania, because a lot of people take out 20-30 year mortgages to buy the apartment so they expect to live in it for majority of their life, resale value is a very low priority.

Galima - kaina bus kita.

Not necessarily related to the video, but the old soviet neighborhoods are soo much better than the way housing is built currently most of the time just by the side of some road. The complete lack of city planning really bugs me.

IKEA:❌🤮 SENUKAI:✅😎

Ah yes, for a person buying a property the priority of their's should be the resale value instead of living there. Capitalism at it's finest, like who needs stability of any kind anyway.

It really comes down to what the customer wants. Most developers offer fully furnished flats for sale, but it goes on top of the initial price. However, with the material choice they give you, it's significantly cheaper to do it yourself, but you get to deal with the hassle of managing the project. Me personally, I don't trust developers that much, they aren't strict too much on quality and their interior design choices are ofter shite.