Guys, I'm thrilled watching the news (I'm currently in Rio). I believe I can contribute to the forum with an atypical thread, about Rocinha.
General: Rocinha is the largest slum in Rio de Janeiro. It is allegedly the biggest slum in Latin America. It has anything between 120k and 200k inhabitants, nobody knows for sure. It is as such a small-to-medium-sized town, so to speak, in the middle of a noble area of Rio.
Specifics: What makes Rocinha special, besides its sheer size, is its strategic location. It lies, to put it roughly, between three of the top, high-class neighborhoods in Rio: São Conrado, Leblon and Gávea.
Rocinha also has some majestic views of the sea and of the forested mountains around. Rocinha is considered to also engulf the nearby slum of Vidigal, which has IMO the best seaside views in the entire town. In any case, both Rocinha and Vidigal were run until today by the same criminal organization and were thus administered according to the same "corporate culture" (more on this later).
Urban lay-out: The vast majority of the houses has running water, cable TV, internet, microwave and even air-conditioning. The inhabitants don't pay any land-taxes and utilities are extremely cheap: water, electricity, cable TV, internet etc are just illegally tapped by the criminal organization from the main system/grid. The criminal organization, which is professionally managed, sends the inhabitants a printed bill every month with a nominal value on it. It's all really cheap, except for cooking gas (which is not illegally tapped and which comes in canisters from the outside and is then once more taxed by the criminal organization).
What makes Rocinha "a slum" is rather the way in which it is built: the land has been invaded and the houses were built in a totally informal way. There is no street-planning, no urban standards, everything is a big, fucking organically growing mess. It's crowded and bloody noisy, it's a beast that's really alive. The main streets are usually narrow and full of traffic whereas most connections are actually too narrow and allow only pedestrians (sometimes under claustrophobic circumstances).
Because people tend to value "inside comfort" above "outside aesthetics" the messy and cramped urban environment tends to look even more ugly and unharmonic. With this I mean that people would rather buy a flat screen TV or a washing machine rather than paint the house or work on a little gardening. The only noticeable investment to upgrade the houses is the typical roof-top terrace with a big shower and a barbecue for partying purposes. Some of the best moments in Rocinha (and other slums) happen on these roof-top terraces, especially if they have a magnificent view of the sea and the tropical islands off the coast.
Nightlife: Rocinha has a 24/7 nightlife. There are a couple of bigger venues with music stages and plenty, plenty of bars, karaoke, pizzerias, terraces. Just ask around or go with friends, any day, anytime would do until this week at least (more on this later). Don't expect anything fancy though, it's a bloody slum afterall. It gets very merry, cheerful and lively though, personally I have to admit I enjoy hanging out in some of the lost shitholes in the narrow alleys of the slum. Some have musicians playing, most people are open, friendly and talkative. There are good chances you'll be offered beers and food if you're cool, make them laugh and speak the language. You can even steal the host's daughters if you know your game![[Image: smile.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/smile.gif)
Personally, I like more these laid-back, bohemian, even decadently poetic spots. If you're into local girls, these spots maybe a very good option too but that's obviously a matter of taste.
As for the bigger venues, those are the hardcore hunting grounds. There are tons of chicks of all sorts although the really hot ones are a minority. To get laid may be a matter of minutes if you speak the language and are nicely-aggressive. However, you must be warned the music is awfully loud and really crappy. Also lots of guns around and pseudo-hip-hop wannabee guys with heavy gold chains. Beware of the danger of hitting on the girlfriend of a gangster, which is obviously not such a good idea. Ideally, hang out with locals and ask for advice before making a move towards that hot chick to check if she's the "property" of some kalashnikov jealous lover. At the same time, the chances of getting lucky are quite high if you manage to go with locals who can sort of guide you through the thing and you speak some Portuguese. If your logistics are right, you'll be able to approach plenty of horny/available material at incredible speed and with quick end-results.
It's truly amazing to think this may have changed completely today...because the King fell just a few hours ago.....more on this later.
Girls: Lower class people are usually obese in Rio. American-style fast food and industrialized shit have become icons of the increasingly prosperous lower classes which now have more money to spend after years of steady economic growth. They find it really cool to consume tons of chemical, fat, MSG shit. Inevitably, many of the girls in Rocinha will be overweight. "Modern life" also means a lot of people eat less traditional food and more snacks on the streets.
There is a strong minority of cool girls though. Which can be subdivided, roughly, into 2 categories:
- the locals, usually very young (up to 23 y.o. they are a lot less likely to be obese, that's what I mean here). They are usually mulattas or belong to all sorts of types and shades, the cool result of highly mixed-races. That's the type I prefer, usually present, smiley, open and talkative in the smaller venues or just wildly dancing in the loud, bigger venues.
- the "patricinhas": these are higher class girls that love to party in the slum. There can be stunning blondes, brunnetes, even asian among them. They go for the cheap booze, readily available joints/coke and loud party atmosphere. Some of them find it very attractive to date gansgters. It's basically the same kind of girls you can find in the nightlife of the better areas of Rio or in Lapa, so you don't have to go to a slum specifically to meet them. This group is more likely to speak a foreign language, so good luck!
The King:
OK, after this general background I want to highlight the big news shaking Rio today.
The chief gangster, the "King of Rocinha" is nicknamed Nem. Nem has been around for a while, six years at least, having absolute power in Rocinha and Vidigal. Nem proved to be an excellent manager and a visionary criminal. If he would have run a legitimate business he would have been very successful too, no doubt.
He has maximized profit by creating his own cocaine refining plant, with an estimated output of about 1 TON per month. Only the most basic raw paste is now imported from the neighboring countries, he simply skipped a lot of intermediaries. Mass production and distribution have thus been internalized by Nem. With some partners, he has also taken over some marihuana plantations in Paraguay, again increasing volumes (economy of scale) and skipping intermediaries. There is also an "in-house" production plant of sythetic drugs...which don't have to be imported anymore...
He has also imposed a smoothly run administration on Rocinha and Vidigal: he professionally raises taxes on illegal public transportation, gas, electricity, internet etc etc which form the extra sources of income besides the wholesale drug trade.
Nem has abolished the sale of crack: crack addicted people create problems, get financially broke more easily (and thus steal to buy more crack) and the profit margins are simply lower. A crystal of crack costs about 1 Real (1,78 real for a dollar). Plus, crack addicted people tend to die quicker. He doesn't want to kill his customers, but instead to create a steady market. Let's not forget here that Rocinha is surrounded by wealthy neighborhoods, he has (actually had) hundreds of thousands of potential well-off customers for his drugs.
Nem sought to create a sort of "gangster disneyland" for the city. Order, peace and stability were crucial for his business. He didn't want to scare away the rich consumers of his drugs! People must feel safe in order to go there and spend their money. Let's not forget there is/was a thriving nightlife scene where he also raises taxes. Plus, last but not least, a big brothel and even an abortion clinic which also pay monthly fees to his administration.
Internally, the peace was maintained by 300+ guys with assault rifles. Robbers, rapists, aggressive people were given swift and medieval treatment. There was zero "common crime" in Rocinha. I could leave my wallet on a table, go the the toilet, slowly walk back and nobody would touch it for there was simply a no-nonsense death penalty (or hard-core torture) which people knew was strongly enforced. As an outsider, there was no problem at all, provided, of course, you didn't try to seduce a girl already taken by a gangster.
Externally, stability and peace was maintained because Nem was a very generous man. He paid the local police batallion a 300K real (about USD 120-130K) flat fee every week. This would not include all sort of extras, christmass presents, drugs, benefits etc. Being such a generous patron, the police actually protected him throughout his reign. When he wanted to go to other areas in Rio, he would typically buy his safe passage with a couple hundred thousand dollars extra.
"Gigante": Most of the information here is publicly known, either from the press or easily gathered if you have gone there and made friends in the area. I know a few of these things because, besides having some normal working friends in there, I was also introduced to the deputy-security chief of "the king". I want to stress I had nothing to do with their business there, but it was an interesting experience to get know someone from the, let's say, "local administration".
Gigante was a super cool guy, he was introduced to me through a common friend who was a friend of his uncle, with whom we drank beer at times...the typical Rio social kind of informal network. A brilliant man, Gigante got a scholarship to one of the elite schools in Rio where he did not have to pay the huge monthly fees that only rich people can afford. However, after being caught twice fucking some girls in the toilet of the school, Gigante was unfortunately expelled, never to resume studying again. Nem saw the potential of Gigante and offered him this position as deputy-chief of security. Salary? 1000USD a week plus fresh pussy almost every day, booze, drugs, partying..... Gigante was obviously one of the best wingmen one could wish for in Rocinha, girls just fell on your lap and he was glad to call them and make his friends feel comfortable in his domains (this was no P4P, this was prestige). Like myself, he would prefer the more quiet spots with life music where the harem would be built up very smoothly.
It was funny to be greeted by him. To get a friendly hug by someone with a kalashnikov on his back, two pistols around the waist and a screamy walkie-talkie is uncommon for me, despite my past experiences in the middle east and africa. That's something I never quite got used to, as you will understand. Anyway, once I asked Gigante if he wished to keep his job for much longer and he, after a moment of silence, just said: "I know what you mean..." We never talked about it again. As I said before, I knew this guy solely through informal, non-business related situations. I had nothing to do with that reality although it was really worth checking it out as a great addition to the book of personal experience (I am currently writing a book about the slums, by the way).
Today, Gigante might be dead or, which I believe is more likely, he escaped.
The Fall of the King:
As you probably know, the major slums of Rio are being taken over by the state, after 30 years of absence and neglect. Last saturday, Nem went to the main party venue in Rocinha, climbed the stage and fucking cried in front of everybody. He knew his party was almost over. He was so high he had to be taken to hospital, probably too much extasy, he almost died from an overdose.
His escape had been carefully planned, he would be escorted out of the slum by the police for a modic fee of approx USD 1,5 Million. The plan leaked just a few hours before it was executed! His second-in-command guy was caught yesterday night along with 5 policemen who were escorting him. Nem obviously changed his escape plans after that and then tried to flee in the trunk of a car, a car allegedly belonging to the consul of the Republic of Congo. They were stopped however, the driver claimed dimplomatic immunity, but it was the Federal Police and they were then asked to proceed to their headquarters. (The Federal Police can make a formal request to foreign diplomats and search their car). At some point, when they were driving to the Federal Police headquarters, the "consul of Congo" stopped the car and offered the policemen a million dollars in cash if they would just leave them alone. Sensing something really important might be in that car, the federal police men opened the trunk right there and found Nem. The King has fallen. It is now a matter of days before the whole administration, which has been running Rocinha and Vidigal for years, is greatly dismantled.
Consequences:
In the short run: ironically, criminality will INCREASE a bit in those slums. The medieval law-enforcement imposed on the territory by the criminal organization will be replaced by the vigilance of the weak local police and the fucked up local judiciary system. It's just less efficient and less effective, although from a human rights perspective this comment would be deemed unacceptable. On the long run, however, it is obviously better not to have the arbitrary rule of a guy who has the power over life and death, especially because a madman can always take over and do a lot of harm. As the culture will change, so will the people readapt to the new rules.
The nightlife will greatly suffer: no more loud music everywhere, every day, at all times. Almost nobody has a license there, which they will now need because the state took over the territory once again. Restaurants, bars, nighclubs, the brothel, everybody will now have to face the same bureaucracy and limitations as the rest of the mortals in this town.
Bills: yes, the illegal tapping of electricity, internet, cable TV, water will be over. Slowly, people will have to pay their bills like everydody else. Some of those guys had 4 air conditioners turned on 24 hours a day almost for free! If I do the same in my apartment in Rio, my bill increases with at least 100 USD!
Opportunities:
Guys, these slums are in prime, filet mignon areas of Rio. Real estate is enormously expensive in Rio, obviously more so in the high-end areas. These slums are next to the top-notch locations and guess what...I bet the lower classes will be slowly substitued by middle class and rich people over the course of the years. The more so because most of the slum houses will get official titles once the area is fully "normalized" and becomes once more an integral part of the city/state.
Follow my mathematics: Two bedroom apartment in Leblon/Gavea 80m2, good location, average price: 1 million real. A 70m2 shabby slum house with a stunning view of the sea: anything between 50 and 100 thousand real, right next, perhaps overlooking the 1 million million real apartment.
Eventually, the middle class, which cannot afford the ultra high real estate prices anymore in the nice neighborhoods will start buying out the locals. It will all become, in due time, a formal neighborhood, a normal part of the city. Lack of security not being an issue anymore in the minds of these people, will only lower their fears and prejudice. And money (or the lack of a small fortune to buy a traditional apartment) is also a strong argument. Also, the state will start to invest in the infra-structure of the area, once it regains control.
Prices have already risen a lot, but, for those looking for an opportunity my guess is there is still a window of time open here. P.S. This is not a troll, I'm not a real estate agent, I'm not selling anything, I'm not into guiding anyone into this. This is solely a personal impression that I'm sharing here.
Conclusion:
This is my first thread and it came unexpectedly. I hope this will shed some light on certain aspects of Rio, otherwise extensively covered in other threads. Basically, this is a very exciting moment to be in this town. I just wanted to share this with you, as a sign of gratitude, after I got myself a lot of valuable information from this forum.
General: Rocinha is the largest slum in Rio de Janeiro. It is allegedly the biggest slum in Latin America. It has anything between 120k and 200k inhabitants, nobody knows for sure. It is as such a small-to-medium-sized town, so to speak, in the middle of a noble area of Rio.
Specifics: What makes Rocinha special, besides its sheer size, is its strategic location. It lies, to put it roughly, between three of the top, high-class neighborhoods in Rio: São Conrado, Leblon and Gávea.
Rocinha also has some majestic views of the sea and of the forested mountains around. Rocinha is considered to also engulf the nearby slum of Vidigal, which has IMO the best seaside views in the entire town. In any case, both Rocinha and Vidigal were run until today by the same criminal organization and were thus administered according to the same "corporate culture" (more on this later).
Urban lay-out: The vast majority of the houses has running water, cable TV, internet, microwave and even air-conditioning. The inhabitants don't pay any land-taxes and utilities are extremely cheap: water, electricity, cable TV, internet etc are just illegally tapped by the criminal organization from the main system/grid. The criminal organization, which is professionally managed, sends the inhabitants a printed bill every month with a nominal value on it. It's all really cheap, except for cooking gas (which is not illegally tapped and which comes in canisters from the outside and is then once more taxed by the criminal organization).
What makes Rocinha "a slum" is rather the way in which it is built: the land has been invaded and the houses were built in a totally informal way. There is no street-planning, no urban standards, everything is a big, fucking organically growing mess. It's crowded and bloody noisy, it's a beast that's really alive. The main streets are usually narrow and full of traffic whereas most connections are actually too narrow and allow only pedestrians (sometimes under claustrophobic circumstances).
Because people tend to value "inside comfort" above "outside aesthetics" the messy and cramped urban environment tends to look even more ugly and unharmonic. With this I mean that people would rather buy a flat screen TV or a washing machine rather than paint the house or work on a little gardening. The only noticeable investment to upgrade the houses is the typical roof-top terrace with a big shower and a barbecue for partying purposes. Some of the best moments in Rocinha (and other slums) happen on these roof-top terraces, especially if they have a magnificent view of the sea and the tropical islands off the coast.
Nightlife: Rocinha has a 24/7 nightlife. There are a couple of bigger venues with music stages and plenty, plenty of bars, karaoke, pizzerias, terraces. Just ask around or go with friends, any day, anytime would do until this week at least (more on this later). Don't expect anything fancy though, it's a bloody slum afterall. It gets very merry, cheerful and lively though, personally I have to admit I enjoy hanging out in some of the lost shitholes in the narrow alleys of the slum. Some have musicians playing, most people are open, friendly and talkative. There are good chances you'll be offered beers and food if you're cool, make them laugh and speak the language. You can even steal the host's daughters if you know your game
Personally, I like more these laid-back, bohemian, even decadently poetic spots. If you're into local girls, these spots maybe a very good option too but that's obviously a matter of taste. As for the bigger venues, those are the hardcore hunting grounds. There are tons of chicks of all sorts although the really hot ones are a minority. To get laid may be a matter of minutes if you speak the language and are nicely-aggressive. However, you must be warned the music is awfully loud and really crappy. Also lots of guns around and pseudo-hip-hop wannabee guys with heavy gold chains. Beware of the danger of hitting on the girlfriend of a gangster, which is obviously not such a good idea. Ideally, hang out with locals and ask for advice before making a move towards that hot chick to check if she's the "property" of some kalashnikov jealous lover. At the same time, the chances of getting lucky are quite high if you manage to go with locals who can sort of guide you through the thing and you speak some Portuguese. If your logistics are right, you'll be able to approach plenty of horny/available material at incredible speed and with quick end-results.
It's truly amazing to think this may have changed completely today...because the King fell just a few hours ago.....more on this later.
Girls: Lower class people are usually obese in Rio. American-style fast food and industrialized shit have become icons of the increasingly prosperous lower classes which now have more money to spend after years of steady economic growth. They find it really cool to consume tons of chemical, fat, MSG shit. Inevitably, many of the girls in Rocinha will be overweight. "Modern life" also means a lot of people eat less traditional food and more snacks on the streets.
There is a strong minority of cool girls though. Which can be subdivided, roughly, into 2 categories:
- the locals, usually very young (up to 23 y.o. they are a lot less likely to be obese, that's what I mean here). They are usually mulattas or belong to all sorts of types and shades, the cool result of highly mixed-races. That's the type I prefer, usually present, smiley, open and talkative in the smaller venues or just wildly dancing in the loud, bigger venues.
- the "patricinhas": these are higher class girls that love to party in the slum. There can be stunning blondes, brunnetes, even asian among them. They go for the cheap booze, readily available joints/coke and loud party atmosphere. Some of them find it very attractive to date gansgters. It's basically the same kind of girls you can find in the nightlife of the better areas of Rio or in Lapa, so you don't have to go to a slum specifically to meet them. This group is more likely to speak a foreign language, so good luck!
The King:
OK, after this general background I want to highlight the big news shaking Rio today.
The chief gangster, the "King of Rocinha" is nicknamed Nem. Nem has been around for a while, six years at least, having absolute power in Rocinha and Vidigal. Nem proved to be an excellent manager and a visionary criminal. If he would have run a legitimate business he would have been very successful too, no doubt.
He has maximized profit by creating his own cocaine refining plant, with an estimated output of about 1 TON per month. Only the most basic raw paste is now imported from the neighboring countries, he simply skipped a lot of intermediaries. Mass production and distribution have thus been internalized by Nem. With some partners, he has also taken over some marihuana plantations in Paraguay, again increasing volumes (economy of scale) and skipping intermediaries. There is also an "in-house" production plant of sythetic drugs...which don't have to be imported anymore...
He has also imposed a smoothly run administration on Rocinha and Vidigal: he professionally raises taxes on illegal public transportation, gas, electricity, internet etc etc which form the extra sources of income besides the wholesale drug trade.
Nem has abolished the sale of crack: crack addicted people create problems, get financially broke more easily (and thus steal to buy more crack) and the profit margins are simply lower. A crystal of crack costs about 1 Real (1,78 real for a dollar). Plus, crack addicted people tend to die quicker. He doesn't want to kill his customers, but instead to create a steady market. Let's not forget here that Rocinha is surrounded by wealthy neighborhoods, he has (actually had) hundreds of thousands of potential well-off customers for his drugs.
Nem sought to create a sort of "gangster disneyland" for the city. Order, peace and stability were crucial for his business. He didn't want to scare away the rich consumers of his drugs! People must feel safe in order to go there and spend their money. Let's not forget there is/was a thriving nightlife scene where he also raises taxes. Plus, last but not least, a big brothel and even an abortion clinic which also pay monthly fees to his administration.
Internally, the peace was maintained by 300+ guys with assault rifles. Robbers, rapists, aggressive people were given swift and medieval treatment. There was zero "common crime" in Rocinha. I could leave my wallet on a table, go the the toilet, slowly walk back and nobody would touch it for there was simply a no-nonsense death penalty (or hard-core torture) which people knew was strongly enforced. As an outsider, there was no problem at all, provided, of course, you didn't try to seduce a girl already taken by a gangster.
Externally, stability and peace was maintained because Nem was a very generous man. He paid the local police batallion a 300K real (about USD 120-130K) flat fee every week. This would not include all sort of extras, christmass presents, drugs, benefits etc. Being such a generous patron, the police actually protected him throughout his reign. When he wanted to go to other areas in Rio, he would typically buy his safe passage with a couple hundred thousand dollars extra.
"Gigante": Most of the information here is publicly known, either from the press or easily gathered if you have gone there and made friends in the area. I know a few of these things because, besides having some normal working friends in there, I was also introduced to the deputy-security chief of "the king". I want to stress I had nothing to do with their business there, but it was an interesting experience to get know someone from the, let's say, "local administration".
Gigante was a super cool guy, he was introduced to me through a common friend who was a friend of his uncle, with whom we drank beer at times...the typical Rio social kind of informal network. A brilliant man, Gigante got a scholarship to one of the elite schools in Rio where he did not have to pay the huge monthly fees that only rich people can afford. However, after being caught twice fucking some girls in the toilet of the school, Gigante was unfortunately expelled, never to resume studying again. Nem saw the potential of Gigante and offered him this position as deputy-chief of security. Salary? 1000USD a week plus fresh pussy almost every day, booze, drugs, partying..... Gigante was obviously one of the best wingmen one could wish for in Rocinha, girls just fell on your lap and he was glad to call them and make his friends feel comfortable in his domains (this was no P4P, this was prestige). Like myself, he would prefer the more quiet spots with life music where the harem would be built up very smoothly.
It was funny to be greeted by him. To get a friendly hug by someone with a kalashnikov on his back, two pistols around the waist and a screamy walkie-talkie is uncommon for me, despite my past experiences in the middle east and africa. That's something I never quite got used to, as you will understand. Anyway, once I asked Gigante if he wished to keep his job for much longer and he, after a moment of silence, just said: "I know what you mean..." We never talked about it again. As I said before, I knew this guy solely through informal, non-business related situations. I had nothing to do with that reality although it was really worth checking it out as a great addition to the book of personal experience (I am currently writing a book about the slums, by the way).
Today, Gigante might be dead or, which I believe is more likely, he escaped.
The Fall of the King:
As you probably know, the major slums of Rio are being taken over by the state, after 30 years of absence and neglect. Last saturday, Nem went to the main party venue in Rocinha, climbed the stage and fucking cried in front of everybody. He knew his party was almost over. He was so high he had to be taken to hospital, probably too much extasy, he almost died from an overdose.
His escape had been carefully planned, he would be escorted out of the slum by the police for a modic fee of approx USD 1,5 Million. The plan leaked just a few hours before it was executed! His second-in-command guy was caught yesterday night along with 5 policemen who were escorting him. Nem obviously changed his escape plans after that and then tried to flee in the trunk of a car, a car allegedly belonging to the consul of the Republic of Congo. They were stopped however, the driver claimed dimplomatic immunity, but it was the Federal Police and they were then asked to proceed to their headquarters. (The Federal Police can make a formal request to foreign diplomats and search their car). At some point, when they were driving to the Federal Police headquarters, the "consul of Congo" stopped the car and offered the policemen a million dollars in cash if they would just leave them alone. Sensing something really important might be in that car, the federal police men opened the trunk right there and found Nem. The King has fallen. It is now a matter of days before the whole administration, which has been running Rocinha and Vidigal for years, is greatly dismantled.
Consequences:
In the short run: ironically, criminality will INCREASE a bit in those slums. The medieval law-enforcement imposed on the territory by the criminal organization will be replaced by the vigilance of the weak local police and the fucked up local judiciary system. It's just less efficient and less effective, although from a human rights perspective this comment would be deemed unacceptable. On the long run, however, it is obviously better not to have the arbitrary rule of a guy who has the power over life and death, especially because a madman can always take over and do a lot of harm. As the culture will change, so will the people readapt to the new rules.
The nightlife will greatly suffer: no more loud music everywhere, every day, at all times. Almost nobody has a license there, which they will now need because the state took over the territory once again. Restaurants, bars, nighclubs, the brothel, everybody will now have to face the same bureaucracy and limitations as the rest of the mortals in this town.
Bills: yes, the illegal tapping of electricity, internet, cable TV, water will be over. Slowly, people will have to pay their bills like everydody else. Some of those guys had 4 air conditioners turned on 24 hours a day almost for free! If I do the same in my apartment in Rio, my bill increases with at least 100 USD!
Opportunities:
Guys, these slums are in prime, filet mignon areas of Rio. Real estate is enormously expensive in Rio, obviously more so in the high-end areas. These slums are next to the top-notch locations and guess what...I bet the lower classes will be slowly substitued by middle class and rich people over the course of the years. The more so because most of the slum houses will get official titles once the area is fully "normalized" and becomes once more an integral part of the city/state.
Follow my mathematics: Two bedroom apartment in Leblon/Gavea 80m2, good location, average price: 1 million real. A 70m2 shabby slum house with a stunning view of the sea: anything between 50 and 100 thousand real, right next, perhaps overlooking the 1 million million real apartment.
Eventually, the middle class, which cannot afford the ultra high real estate prices anymore in the nice neighborhoods will start buying out the locals. It will all become, in due time, a formal neighborhood, a normal part of the city. Lack of security not being an issue anymore in the minds of these people, will only lower their fears and prejudice. And money (or the lack of a small fortune to buy a traditional apartment) is also a strong argument. Also, the state will start to invest in the infra-structure of the area, once it regains control.
Prices have already risen a lot, but, for those looking for an opportunity my guess is there is still a window of time open here. P.S. This is not a troll, I'm not a real estate agent, I'm not selling anything, I'm not into guiding anyone into this. This is solely a personal impression that I'm sharing here.
Conclusion:
This is my first thread and it came unexpectedly. I hope this will shed some light on certain aspects of Rio, otherwise extensively covered in other threads. Basically, this is a very exciting moment to be in this town. I just wanted to share this with you, as a sign of gratitude, after I got myself a lot of valuable information from this forum.
