A piece of Greece? No thanks

About 2 years ago, while my wife & I were lazying on one of the pristine beaches in Mykonos, Greece, it may have occurred to us how cool it would be if we could actually own the beach or a part of it. On reading this article, the thought may seem like a possibility in the near future. Debt-strapped Greece is not only depending on the much awaited EU bail out package but also taking some measures of its own.

The Hellenic Public Real Estate Corp., the government body that manages public property, has a list of about 75,000 individual government-owned properties. The corporation has appointed National Bank of Greece SA to lead a consortium of advisers who are now preparing to sell an initial portfolio of 20 to 30 properties, the first of which could be put on the market in the next few months, according to Aristotelis Karytinos, general manager of the real-estate division at National Bank of Greece.

Noble idea, romantic even, but will this proposition fly with foreign investors? How is owning the land any safer than owning the debt? My guess is Greece would offer long-term leases (99 years or something like that) while retaining the ownership of land. So imagine, your landlord would in fact be the Greek Government! Lovely. And not to mention the poor administrative & taxation systems combined with a sorry state of political affairs which has left the economy dangling.

Property might come cheap in Greece, but should you invest? My advice is rather stay put.