An old football song sums up Bosnian views of this stone-walled hillside district: “If you play for your friends, you ignore the tactic. You will finish your career in low-level Vratnik.”
The name of the old district uphill from central Sarajevo comes from the local word vrat, meaning door or gate, three of which still guard the main routes in and out. The once exclusive zone for the former Ottoman Turkish ruling class started falling into disfavour with wealthy Bosnians more than a century ago. But in the past 14 years international expatriates have discovered the charm of the old stone walls, keeping the real estate market active even in the current global crisis.
“I like this old part of the city,” says Mark Wheeler, a US citizen who has been working as a political analyst and adviser since the 1992-95 Yugoslav war. “The weather is nicer up here.”
Occupying a steep hillside at the eastern end of Sarajevo, this old-fashioned version of a gated community escapes the blanket of fog that often covers lower-lying neighbourhoods. The so-called Vratnik gate guards the upper reaches towards the Bijela Tabija, or White Bastion, with forested mountaintops beyond. At the lower end of the walled district, roads snake down through the Ploce and Sirokac gates in the direction of the Bascarsija bazaar area and the 19th- and 20th-century core of the town centre.
Wheeler bought his house just inside the Sirokac gate about five years ago as a war-damaged wreck. He inverted the usual room placement, putting his study downstairs and his spacious, oak-beamed living room upstairs. “That’s where the views are,” he says, gazing out over the city and the surrounding mountains.
The back part of his house dates to the 17th century, with the original, thick stone walls still intact. But the previous owners had rebuilt the front part in modern, 1970s style. After paying €75,000 for the property, Wheeler spent €40,000 on refurbishing the interior and a further €10,000 on garages and the final touch, a traditional-looking stone frontal façade. “The workers were fantastic – good and efficient, and not terribly expensive,” he says.
The tough part was dealing with Sarajevo’s Stari Grad (Old City) municipal administration. “The municipality can nickel and dime you for thousands of euros in various fees,” he says. “In the end, I had to employ a guy at the Stari Grad municipality as a fixer.”
Wheeler’s neighbours, Armin Alagic and Marina Alagic-Bowder, acquired their second Vratnik house three years ago and turned it into the preferred drinking hole for an emerging Anglo-American enclave. Several hundred western Europeans and Americans reside among a local neighbourhood population of several thousand.
For the Phoenix’s interior, the couple – he a Vratnik-born Bosnian, she a UK expatriate – emulated an English country pub. The chalk boards, bookshelves and rugby memorabilia all fit comfortably into the stone shell. Yet Bosnians tend to be unimpressed, either because of the foreign habit of standing while drinking, or by the dogs that wander around the bar.
From a fireside stool, Armin Alagic disparages both his regular customers and his home neighbourhood with ironic affection. “Vratnik has got charm,” he concedes. “But the internationals, while they like charm, mostly have no idea how dodgy this area is. The crooks, the idiots, the people who used to go down to Bascarsija for fist fights ... all of them came from Vratnik.”
The district has also housed a few upper-crust politicians, including Bosnia-Herzegovina’s late wartime president, Alija Izetbegovic, whose memory is preserved in a museum within the two lower gates.
Most of Alagic’s family moved downtown during the communist period after the second world war, opting for European-style apartments on straight, properly planned avenues. “Vratnik was Ottoman Bosnia, versus the civilised city centre,” he says.
The Bosnian diaspora – primarily composed of hundreds of thousands of refugees working in western Europe – has shaped the demand in the local real estate market since 1995. While mortgage loans are expensive and poorly developed at local banks, numerous returnees come with cash in hand to buy Sarajevo properties.
However, they tend to prefer newer houses with generous parking space. “Bosnians no longer move to Vratnik. It’s far more interesting to foreigners,” says Neira Babic, director of Mak-Invest Real Estate. Vratnik houses often have garages but only small ones. “We Bosnians like to drive big Jeeps now,” Babic says.
Sale prices have fallen about 20 per cent since late last year, reflecting the global downturn. A newly built Vratnik house with a garden could cost hundreds of thousands of euros, while an older house in decent condition can sell for as little as €75,000. A century-old shell, with just 60 sq metres per floor, typically goes for about €50,000, according to agents. “For a little money, you can get a nice house with a nice view,” says Edina Haskovic, assistant director at Sigen X, another Sarajevo agency.
Rental prices have fallen less markedly, especially in foreigner-friendly parts of the city. “For good properties, either houses or apartments, people from embassies can always pay a lot of money,” Babic explains.
Prices are highest at the lower end around the Phoenix. Rents range from €700 to several thousand euros a month, with small apartments also available for less, says Mensura Hadzovic, a lawyer who owns Valli Real Estate.
Traditional Bosnian neighbourliness survives. “It’s safe. Everyone knows each other,” says Lejla Zaimovic, who grew up in Vratnik but left when the war broke out. “Neighbours chat. People trust each other. You can knock on the door, borrow something, or ask them to watch your house.”
Valentin Inzko, international peace overseer and European Union envoy, admires the tightly knit social fabric of the older parts of Sarajevo. “While we need to Europeanise Bosnia, we should also try to Bosnianise Europe,” he says.
Jusuf Dzonlica Street, forming the upper edge of the district, zigs and zags among small single-storey houses. Mystery lurks around every corner, as in any Ottoman urban quarter from Baghdad to the Balkans. The foreign correspondent in his dark blue pinstriped suit – donned for downtown interviews earlier in the day – elicits cautious greetings from the elderly, and fearful stares from children.
From there, steep staircases descend to Vratnik Majdan, the heart of the walled district. By the fire station at one corner, an Islamic-style martyrs’ monument commemorates Bosnian army war dead. Across the Majdan, elderly citizens gather at the Vratnik Pensioners Club – a bastion of traditional Vratnik institutional memory.
The Vratnik of foreign expats lies on the gentler slope between there and the lower gates. Just outside the Ploce and Sirokac gates, sprawling Muslim cemeteries form a giant front yard to the neighbourhood. Some prospective buyers hesitate to be so close to the graveyards. “Others say, ‘Fine, we’ll have quiet neighbours,’” says Babic.
Administrative barriers are a far bigger problem. Sarajevo courts may refuse to register foreigners as property owners. The best way to avoid problems is usually to establish a local company first and then buy your house in your company’s name. Some foreigners also buy through a Bosnian spouse or friend. Wheeler gave power of attorney to the people he bought from, yet waited several years to have his own name entered in the cadastral register.
Most foreigners buy property only after years of living and working in Bosnia. However, Ratkusic and his British business partner Paul Bradbury try to attract buyers who have never even been to the Balkans. Few clients worry about the risk of another war – despite the inter-ethnic political deadlock that has cast doubts about Bosnian integration with the EU. “This is the best period to buy [in south-eastern Europe],” Ratkusic says. “Only Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania have yet to reach the limit of fast growth potential.”
But finding the right property at the right price takes time, sometimes two or three years. “Be armed with patience,” Ratkusic advises.
Neil MacDonald is the FT’s Balkan correspondent
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Estate agencies
Agent, tel: +387 36551 123, www.agent.ba
MakInvest, tel: +387 33457 185, www.real-estate-neirababic.com
Sigen X, tel: +387 33667 727, www.sigenx.com
Valli, tel: +387 61134 242
