6 Things You Can Do With The Cost Of An Apartment In Beirut
N.B This post was originally published in November 2014.
Beirut: the city where you can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner for under $7, and need several millions for a very average family-sized apartment.
It is no shock that there is no real price indexing done in Lebanon. Prices seem arbitrary and drastically fluctuate, and the cost of living does not reflect the reality of wages earned.
An average 200 square meter apartment in Ras Beirut would cost around $5,460/meter. By finally utilizing my third grade-level math capabilities, we see that coming to a grand total of $1,092,000. No, that’s not a telephone number, that is one million and ninety-two thousand dollars.
I would need to sell 4.1 kidneys in order to secure a down-payment on that. Here are things you can buy for the cost of an apartment in Beirut:
Located near Belize, Lark Caye, is an 8,903 square meter island for sale. It is listed at only $175,000, add half a million dollars for getting a generator, setting up pipes, and pimping up your island and you’re still well below the cost of an apartment in Beirut.
Another island is the 65,000 square meter Greek island called Little Lesbos, located right on the Mediterranean Sea. This hilariously named island will run you $991,000.
If you don’t have much hope for the future, you can always opt for a long-term hotel stay. Staying at one of the nicest hotels in New York City, The Standard, would cost you $315/night for long stays. That means you would get 3,466 nights, which is nine and a half years! And you never have to buy tampons, shampoo, or breakfast ever again!!
At $262,000/kidney, you can buy four kidneys! That’s four lives saved instead of one crummy apartment! Or, livers at: $157,000/per liver or hearts at: $119,000/per heart.
The 1979 Cessna P210N is a two-seated aircraft designed for you and your mistress/lover to play out your biggest James Bond fantasies. It only costs $160,000.
