In this article
The property story in Vollga
It was March 1994.
Albanians were finally enjoying private property.
One day, the nephew of an elderly woman who had lived in Greece since the Liberation ran riot with nothing more than a power of attorney…
He registered 3,500 m² of land in her name.
Once he had all the documents firmly stamped, the bargaining began.
Those were the days when Albania was awash with money, and selling all that land did not take much.
Just four months later, in July, an Arab buyer shelled out $800,000.
The months became years, and four years later, in 1998, the old woman caught on!
Her nephew had taken her for a ride: he had told her he had sold the land for $400,000.
Ha!
Furious as hell, the old woman’s adopted son entered the game.
He went knocking on court doors, crying fraud!
Expecting to get the land, the old woman’s adopted son drew up plans for apartment blocks.
The game left the Arab buyer badly rattled.
But after many years, the court grew tired and ruled in his favour.
Still, the old woman’s adopted son’s plans for an apartment block had brought plenty of others into the dance, and they were not about to let it go… so they blocked the land registration.
As the game grew too hot, the Arab buyer wanted at least to recover the money he had put in.
So he spoke to his representative in Albania.
The representative turned to the neighbourhood strongman for help.
He told him: Help me register that Arab’s property, and when I sell it, I’ll give you 20 per cent!
All right, he said…
He had barely opened his mouth before word spread far and wide.
Those who needed to hear it heard it!
And the job was done! The land was sold, the Arab buyer got his money, the representative made a tidy sum… the strongman ended up with property, and that was that!
The moral: Stay on good terms with the old woman, and with the neighbourhood strongman too!