Buying property in Mongolia

Hi,
buying property is allowed for foreigners.

The purchase:

the seller, the buyer and a notary meet. The buyer lets the notary pay the money into a trusted account.

On a second meeting the notary hands out the ownership certificate "Gerchilgee" to the new owner, releaes the money to the seller and probably helps in changing the ownership certificate. The person who owns the certificate also owns the property - and it is also posible to denominate a third person.

Because there's a huge amount of money in play it is ABSOLUTELY NOT recommended to do that by yourself without a notary and probably without proper communication skills in Mongolian.

A 1-room appartment 25 m² ( about 250 square foot) sells usually for 20 (Bayangol, Bayanzurh)-50 million Tugrik (Sukhbaatar, center district) in Ulaanbaatar, in Erdenet between 10 and 20, in Hovd below 10 in a "blok" or old style russian appartmet house.

If a purchase is really desired you shell come during the wintertime, November-March. The appartments are more or less all connected to a central power plant which supplies the hot water for the radiators.... and they can't adjusted. That means they're heated all time, doesn't depend if someone is living in it or not. During the wintertime it will be -40°C outside (far below 0°F) during the nights during january and february.

It depends on building quality if you have 25°C or 10°C during the winter time (about 70°F and 30°F) and for a long stay the 10°C variant is not really desireable - and all people say "my appartment is warm during the winter" if you ask them during the summer. That cannot be trusted, definitively not.

It is also a good idea to check the location during the evening. Does it look clean, and how about the neighbourhood? There exist some areas where foreigners are harassed by drunken people who hang around. That isn't everywhere, but it's something to consider when buying property.

Also to consider: The center of Ulaanbaatar has the worst traffic jam on the world and the metro will come in 2020. That traffic jam lasts between 9 am and 9 pm, so if you work consider to walk - even if it is -25°C at daytimes.

An appartment owner must pay the monthly fees, they depend on the amount of rooms - for garbage colection, electricity, water. There are mostly no counters, it's just a fixed price. For a 1-room appartment it's about 40.000-60.000 a month, actually about 30-45 US$

Basement appartments mostly look like a prison - but this is really required. Especially the buildings frmo the 30ties and 40ties have windows which can be broken within 3 minutes.

Thanks for this useful post ojutan!

Harmonie.