IIRC, Saint-Petersburg is one of the most expensive places to live, less than Moscow but about like Paris and London. OK my info is >5yrs old. But still. Hell yeah, that's a helluva good deal.
@@MyPartytime69 Before the pandemic this apartment cost would cost 190$ +50 dollars water gas electricity but prices got lower because everyone is leaving city to their hometowns or to parents. And also the Russian curency fell a bit.
As American to be honest I would not mind living in one of these apartments. For a single person it is honestly all I would personally need. You could easily clean it up a bit and make it look pretty nice. Sure as shit beats being homeless as well. Thanks for showing us your home. Cheers!
I’m an American who has lived in many such apartments when I lived in Ukraine for years. These apartments are concrete prison cells. No human should live like that. The typical American home is like paradise compared to these apartments
@@yeboscrebo4451 atleast not cardboard boxes. In america most walls are made of cardboard. Basically it doesn't take alot to break a wall. But in russia you will never break a wall because it's concrete. 👍🏻
@@JK-ml2rc Most walls here are not made of cardboard. Most walls here are made of wood framing and layers of insulation and drywall. When I lived in apartment complexes in Ukraine, cockroaches from the neighbors would crawl through the cracks in the concrete into my apartment. It was absolutely disgusting.
$12.50 for rubber gloves, $8.00 for a nice bucket, $14.00 for scrub brushes, $7.50 for TSP (sugar soap), $60.00 for paint, $15.00 for new curtains. Yep, I'd live there.
I've lived in worse....in Canada. No plumbing. Drew water from a mountain spring. Had an outhouse. Small gas stove for heat. Minimal electricity, 2 bare bulbs and 2 outlets. Roof leaked, plastic covered broken windows. Your apt is a palace!
New Brunswick. NB is the poorest Canadian province. Lots of 'working poor' people. The northern portion of the Appalachian mountain range runs through NB. The poverty stricken live in the hills or the hood. Even though I'm not poor any longer, I prefer the hills.
The apartments in Soviet Union mostly were given for free. My mom was a teacher in the college, and when i was 5 years old she got a free two bedroom apartment from her job. The way you live and keep your place clean and tidy is only your problem!!!
In the occupied countries, which were not officially part of the Soviet Union - i.e., the Baltic states, apartments were mostly given for free to Russian citizens, not locals - Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians (which were considered "second class" citizens at the time of occupation). This has created a situation in the Baltic states where many locals still do not own their own housing, and are forced to rent, often from Russian citizens or their children.
Being given does not mean you owned it, could sell it and move on. Dont live in a farrytale socialist utopia. Also if you graduated your school the government told you where to go... in big cities where young people wanted to live you did not get apartment that easily at all but government said you need Hinsdale County, Colorado and teach there and you will get apartment and you will not get job anywhere else then would you like it? @@JoaoSantos-ur1gg
@@electrogestapo only netflix? Our decadent homeland is a free country and so we have Netflix, Amazon, Hbo, and Hulu....subscription because we want to be able to choose. Yes, all at the same time.
You bring childhood memory to me, I'm not Russian, but i was living with a Russian community in my country , bcz of them I learned simplicity, efficiency and adaptation to hardship . Russian are humble and friendly.
I feel the same way, in my neighbourhood there were Russian-Germans who came back to Germany in the 90s. We even had two Russian shops in the district town where you could buy furniture and wallpaper from the Soviet era and the flats looked quite similar in style, which also reminded me a lot of my childhood.
short answer: yes. long answer: also yes. i live in a 24 m² aparment and i pay 300€/month (germany). this place just needs to be scrubbed and new wallpaper and you're golden.
Oh man, it reminded me when I was little, I left USSR in 1990 to Australia. Me and my parents lived in an exactly the same apartment. Great video!! Bring it on!!!!
@@CrazyRussianSergey you have a great sense of humour !!! Questions pls. What percentage of miniumn wage would this apartment cost? What about curtains or blinds? I notice from both your video and others, that the windows are covered with sheets? Cheers from Canada.
to be honest it needs simple inside renovation like cleaning all walls and ceiling, paint it with nice color or use wallpapers on walls, so fix and cleaning in bathroom, maybe change to modern heating system, new radiators and its pretty good to live, for whole house they need to make few renovations too with roof and balcony, with walls from outside heating leakages
You're hilarious, lol. It's actually a good place for that amount of money, now I know that I can afford something like that if my dream of living in Russia comes true. Greetings from Mexico komrade.
Exactly what I was looking for! I was born in 1982 so this is a trip to see post cards in the era of my first memories! But my family was in West Germany and dad was in US Army in those times, but I always wondered what life was like on the other side of the wall, I have a little idea now...but I imagine the building looked a little bit newer than it's now current state, thanks Sergey!
I doubt you can even rent a room for less than 400$ in Toronto... The prices are crazy. As a student I have to live with my parents because living on campus is unaffordable.
@@michaelsemyanovsky9638 pff. 60% of my friends in Russia living with their parents till 30-40 y.o., some start renting after second kid in family as it's hell experience to live 5-6 people on 45-50 sq.m.
Now in Belgrade you can not find apartment with 30-40 square meters on some districts 10-15 kilometres far from center for less then 150 euros or 170-180 dollars.
Also our payments are about 400 euros per mounts, so almost half of your payment goes to paying rent. Not to mension that you need taxes, 150 euros in average. So you have 100 euros left for food, clothes and alot more. So we live much harder then other European countries.
Russian people are resilient and that's too be admired, but there are many people who have a little more luxury than this living in St Petersburg. I like the Russians especially the ones that are hardworking class decent people ❤️✌️
Don't forget that you can hear Everything, literally, one of your neighbour decides, how great it would be to put some cables in the wall at 5 AM. So he starts making tons of noise you can't sleep, also no A/C. Heat sucks. Everyone knows you, so if you do something, they will know. Atleast this is the case in hungary
IceCrystal 009 OP lives in the US and the walls there are made of carboard, you can punch a hole in them, so I don't think it's any worse. To me, personally, the most annoying is when neighbours decide everyone needs to hear them fuck.
I had an office in the USA that had an echo and was definitely not soundproof, so we put a carpet on the wall and it really did soundproof the office 👍🏼❤️
My first flat 32 square metres in an old building from 1880 on the 3rd floor (4th floor for Americans), 54 stairs up, was similarly cheap and at least as noisy as a Soviet flat. Last renovated in 1982. When trucks drove through the street without permission (was forbidden), the glasses in my kitchen cupboard shook. I moved out seven years ago, nowadays the same flat costs almost twice as much rent and all they did was slap new paint on the wall and write "renovated" in the ad and idiots fall for it.
$150/mo? That's my electric bill. Those kitchen floor tiles? My basement in British Columbia, Canada has those exact same tiles. I don't know what it is about 50+ year old buildings and those tiles, but they're EVERYWHERE.
I’ve lived in a 1 bedroom Chicago apartment with three others for $800 a month. By the time my family said “f this place we can do better” there was a giant hole in our bathroom ceiling, rotting wood, mold, cockroaches everywhere, the toilet had been ripped out for some reason, it just got worse. Our landlord demanded money plus some... and we just left. It was hell on earth. For $135 a month for this? And barely those problems..... I wouldn’t complain. But reading some of the comments it seems like $135 was a chunk of money taken out of peoples’ wages?
The ruble unfortunately does not have the same buying power of the US dollar. however. The Russian economy is very different from the US, and the function of the ruble has different value depending on what its spent towards.
Huh. We just moved in a soviet style apartment. A little bit of tlc and they are better than new ones. I can t punch through a wall and wave to my neighbour...
That apartment could be so much nicer with very little effort. Stresses me out that the wallpaper is flaking, paints chipped, plaster is cracked, and nothings been done about it 😂 bruh that's gotta be some $20 fixes
I lived in a post soviet flat from 7 to 18 y old. For that price, and with my current salary? Sure ye! I would save up for land im Bułgaria in 1-2 years lol Now im in UK and live in about 26m2 flat for 540 British pounds for rent, 140 tax, and on top of.it.i have electricity and water to pay..... At least 800 a month in winter!!!
@@GM-xo7yy the £140 is what is called Council Tax and is a once per year payment. It is used by the local council authority to pay for street cleaning, refuse collection, sewage disposal etc.
Croatian here, 7:36 I used to have that EXACT lamp in my house before renovating it. Funny thing is, it's not a flat, it's a one-family private house. I guess the communist style spread in rural areas aswell.
I've spent my childhood in Eastern Poland in a single family house. Brick built, 1 floor (although 'sticking out' above the ground. The cellar was both partially under and above the ground so the ground floor was kinda on the 1st floor). My parents had it built somewhere in the 70s. I can see many similarities: telephone plugs, antresola, radiators, carpets everywhere and the immortal doorbell that will outlive us all. Despite the fact that it wasn't state built, it has plenty architectural designs similar to that shown apartment. I find that quite interesting. This video really was like a trip down the memory lane.
I like your apartment. The heating system is great! Also, the bigger a place is, the more there is to clean and more utilities to pay. I think the price is great!
I love it! Minimalist, simple, and modest! Definitely would live in one, preferably a Brezhnevka and not a Khrushchevka, but either one yes I would love it! Just for the nostalgia! And the price is the best part!
Very interesting and informative. Great job! I watch a lot of Bald and Bankrupt on UA-cam and you might find his content interesting too. Love the gas mask!
That is how my grandparent's house in the village looks like, if not even worse. Though they haven't lived there since 1982 where the construction company where my grandpa used to work gave him an apartment.
Any shelter that you can sleep in safely and stay warm out of the elements is a good deal at $150. But most of your issues seem to be cosmetic. Buy the supplies and fix it up. If your landlord won't you still have to live there and look at it. So quit complaining and fix what you don't like about it. If you don't know how, there are plenty of UA-cam videos that teach you how to do almost anything. At the very least you can do a better paint job than that.
It may not look like much but it is better than alotta places honestly. Plus I love the aesthetic although it does need some new wallpaper lol. But grreat vid nice of you to post and share history.
Humor is seeing western commenters saying, 'should clean, paint, fix, repair'...to 'make it look nice'...but they don't have a clue (never met a Russian that wouldn't work hard)...the problem is like in some parts of the U.S., you first have to spend money (your money, or put in request to get approved from state) to get the items listed...then you do the work...looks like a modern home to westerners, right? Within a few days or weeks, local supervisor comes by and re-assess your rent...it is no longer $135 a month...it is now $550 a month! (some parts of the U.S. are like this in regards to property tax...as viewed by aerial photos or on-site tax assessor, looks nice, you get appraised for a $200,000 property that you have to now pay tax on, based on percentage of assessed value...yearly. So, you let the paint peel off, you let the weeds grow outside, install your own potholes in the driveway...and you get assessed at maybe 1/4 of this amount)...same principle...
It could be a nice home after you spend some (large? how large?) amount of money and clean and update everything. I have no idea how much it would cost but man, strive to do it for yourself. You will feel much more comfortable. Have a good New Year 2021!
Yes, I would... looks about as nice as the apartment I pay 900 dollars a month for. And I live in Memphis, TN. USA. which is a not so great, crime is sky high kind of city. Things are getting more and more expensive here.
9:06 i love that phone socket, they are so easy to connect, it dosent give me so much problems, my home phone is a soviet made vef ta 68 with that plug, that is still working since 1976, voice is clear and it it's easy to fix
That's really crazy to pays such a Price, but then again, i live in Canada. This appartement is ok for one person. My appartement is a bit bigger than that.
If the alternative is a blanket in the park in a Russian winter, this is just fine. Two blankets and outside looks better. Around here if I were that desperate around here I would get arrested to avoid sleeping outside in the winter or any other season.
Nice apartment, I like it very much. It just need a good clean my friend. I really like your heating. My friend in Petrozavodsk has the same type of apartment. I like Russia, it is a very beautiful country. Thank you for your very good video, I wish you the best of health, Paul from Australia.
Tbh I would love in it. I like a simple life. As long as there is internet, a computer and tv a decent bedroom and I can make some good food. I am happy enough
This is better than the bedsits and flats that were in Earl’s Court in the 70s. Looks fine to me, you just have to clean, furnish and do a few repairs..like anybody else does.
You're a funny guy! This was interesting. I'm actually from Belgium, but I live in Ukraine now. My apartment is about 90 USD/m. Obviously there's a lot of similarities, so it's all very recognisable to me. с Новым Годом!
Though my childhood apartment was nicer due to my mother's obsessive cleaning, I stayed in a rental for 3 years in Bucharest exactly like this one. Horrible, horrible place, but living alone in a 2 room apartment with my own bathroom and kitchen for 100 euros per month was heaven. That place got me out of my college dormitory where I shared a room with 5 other guys. This kind of places are like gold to poor students.
135$+40$(water, gas, electricity) Would you live in this apartment in Saint-Petersburg?
If it's in a central location, absolutely!
@@enriquemaldonado6426 It's not the center but not the outskirts as well. And 12 minutes walk from metro
IIRC, Saint-Petersburg is one of the most expensive places to live, less than Moscow but about like Paris and London. OK my info is >5yrs old. But still. Hell yeah, that's a helluva good deal.
@@CrazyRussianSergey I think, still worth it!
@@MyPartytime69 Before the pandemic this apartment cost would cost 190$ +50 dollars water gas electricity but prices got lower because everyone is leaving city to their hometowns or to parents. And also the Russian curency fell a bit.
Why does this video seem like it's satire but not at the same time?
I was wondering that !! lol .
I though so to...
It is not. I was born in the SU and this is how most of the people lived and still do, at least in Russia. In other countries they went long way...
I was wondering the exact same thing!!
Does feel like satire, for sure. IDK,, I liked it.
"Soviet clocks which are stuck on the exact time when Soviet Union collapsed." LMAO
I don't remember that. he forgot that Soviet Union wasn't only russia .
The rug really does tie the room together.
Duuude🤪.don't urinate on the carpet Mr lebowski
I assume the purpose is insulation, besides decoration
It's a pretty rug!
Vic, how delightful!
As American to be honest I would not mind living in one of these apartments. For a single person it is honestly all I would personally need. You could easily clean it up a bit and make it look pretty nice. Sure as shit beats being homeless as well. Thanks for showing us your home. Cheers!
I'm an American to.. I'd live here..In fact lived in a hotel room with a similar layout.
Gopniks live in these kinds of areas so.........
I’m an American who has lived in many such apartments when I lived in Ukraine for years. These apartments are concrete prison cells. No human should live like that. The typical American home is like paradise compared to these apartments
@@yeboscrebo4451 atleast not cardboard boxes. In america most walls are made of cardboard. Basically it doesn't take alot to break a wall. But in russia you will never break a wall because it's concrete. 👍🏻
@@JK-ml2rc Most walls here are not made of cardboard. Most walls here are made of wood framing and layers of insulation and drywall. When I lived in apartment complexes in Ukraine, cockroaches from the neighbors would crawl through the cracks in the concrete into my apartment. It was absolutely disgusting.
$12.50 for rubber gloves, $8.00 for a nice bucket, $14.00 for scrub brushes, $7.50 for TSP (sugar soap), $60.00 for paint, $15.00 for new curtains. Yep, I'd live there.
Don’t forget extra noise insulation!
@@henrykwieniawski7233 If you can survive a college dorm room you can survive this.
It would be even cheaper to commit a crime, plead guilty and get thrown in jail.
@@floxy20 And that sounds like a lot more fun,...?
where the fuck are you buying a pair of gloves for 12 quid, 14 for some brushes?
I've lived in worse....in Canada. No plumbing. Drew water from a mountain spring. Had an outhouse. Small gas stove for heat. Minimal electricity, 2 bare bulbs and 2 outlets. Roof leaked, plastic covered broken windows. Your apt is a palace!
Sounds like rural Ontario in the middle of muddy bush.
@@PolskiKabaret Ontario?! That's where the fancy folk live! I'm from the backwoods of NB.
@@icouldjustscream Sounds like you don’t travel.
Where in Canada is this? And when?
Sounds a bit more like parts of rural Appalachia
New Brunswick. NB is the poorest Canadian province. Lots of 'working poor' people. The northern portion of the Appalachian mountain range runs through NB. The poverty stricken live in the hills or the hood. Even though I'm not poor any longer, I prefer the hills.
The apartments in Soviet Union mostly were given for free. My mom was a teacher in the college, and when i was 5 years old she got a free two bedroom apartment from her job. The way you live and keep your place clean and tidy is only your problem!!!
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. He needs to clean and repaint, but it's not a bad apartment.
If only teachers were able to afford two-bedroom apartments in most capitalist countries.
In the occupied countries, which were not officially part of the Soviet Union - i.e., the Baltic states, apartments were mostly given for free to Russian citizens, not locals - Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians (which were considered "second class" citizens at the time of occupation). This has created a situation in the Baltic states where many locals still do not own their own housing, and are forced to rent, often from Russian citizens or their children.
@@andrejsb.8184 What a bullshit, I can say quiet an opposite. The nationals always had a priorities.
Being given does not mean you owned it, could sell it and move on. Dont live in a farrytale socialist utopia. Also if you graduated your school the government told you where to go... in big cities where young people wanted to live you did not get apartment that easily at all but government said you need Hinsdale County, Colorado and teach there and you will get apartment and you will not get job anywhere else then would you like it? @@JoaoSantos-ur1gg
"They cannot invade us because of our power plags"
Where can we plug our iPhones, huh? This is crazy, lets go home to our decadent western homeland and watch Netflix.
@@electrogestapo only netflix? Our decadent homeland is a free country and so we have Netflix, Amazon, Hbo, and Hulu....subscription because we want to be able to choose. Yes, all at the same time.
@@electrogestapo Don't speak of things you know NOTHING OF!!!! At least we have Freedom. Well, we did until "China Joe" got in!!!!
@@electrogestapo A phone charges has 4mm2 pins,so it will fit in old russian sockets.
@@libertygiveme1987 Comrade Biden will have us in high rises in the suburbs in our own Soviet apt soon.
You bring childhood memory to me, I'm not Russian, but i was living with a Russian community in my country , bcz of them I learned simplicity, efficiency and adaptation to hardship . Russian are humble and friendly.
I feel the same way, in my neighbourhood there were Russian-Germans who came back to Germany in the 90s. We even had two Russian shops in the district town where you could buy furniture and wallpaper from the Soviet era and the flats looked quite similar in style, which also reminded me a lot of my childhood.
sure they are until drink vodka
@@MRRED7777
I've had soooooo much fun and have gotten in soooo much trouble from drinking too much vodka..
@@eastfrisianguy
I'm actually friends with a few German-Russians..And my crush we've been friends for years she's German-Ukranian from Canada..
And we're both poor asf, and hate Capitalism lol
Bald and bankrupt would approve how Soviet this apt is
short answer: yes. long answer: also yes. i live in a 24 m² aparment and i pay 300€/month (germany). this place just needs to be scrubbed and new wallpaper and you're golden.
yes, it had no repairs, everything is breaking apart. Would have been much better when it was constructed
And I remember how many interesting newspapers we found during the renovation of my parents` apartment 😀
Soviet apartments are the keepers of history!
I'm 23rd subscriber of your chanel i watched all video your new video is holiday picnic and fist video is tea in Russia in easy Russian chanel
@@omeshwarmishra3231 it's so nice, thank you very much! 💙😊
Not bad for $150. I've seen worse in San Francisco for 10x as much. Could be nice with a little fixing up.
yes, it had no repairs, everything is breaking apart. Would have been much better when it was constructed
Oh man, it reminded me when I was little, I left USSR in 1990 to Australia. Me and my parents lived in an exactly the same apartment. Great video!! Bring it on!!!!
Americans: That apartment is a joke! Way too small!
Also Americans: Have you seen our new tiny house?
This is the soviet bathroom, i will clean it soon.
I cleaned the 🛀 bathtub already. It took me 1 hour. I filmed a video of cleaning
@@CrazyRussianSergey you have a great sense of humour !!! Questions pls. What percentage of miniumn wage would this apartment cost? What about curtains or blinds? I notice from both your video and others, that the windows are covered with sheets? Cheers from Canada.
This just needs cleaning to make it more like a home,many people sleeping under cardboard would like an apartment like this.
Yes.. some cleaning, bleaching, some paint... strip off old paint etc... it would look a lot better.
to be honest it needs simple inside renovation like cleaning all walls and ceiling, paint it with nice color or use wallpapers on walls, so fix and cleaning in bathroom, maybe change to modern heating system, new radiators and its pretty good to live, for whole house they need to make few renovations too with roof and balcony, with walls from outside heating leakages
Humorous, honest, and informative. Thanks! 😊
You're hilarious, lol. It's actually a good place for that amount of money, now I know that I can afford something like that if my dream of living in Russia comes true. Greetings from Mexico komrade.
Gracias!
"So talk to each other" ha ha ha. Yes it would be wonderful to even see St Petersburg!
Has this place been cleaned since Soviet times? Yikes!
except that, it's falling apart and in need of some serious cleaning, it looks was livable in those days.
Exactly what I was looking for! I was born in 1982 so this is a trip to see post cards in the era of my first memories! But my family was in West Germany and dad was in US Army in those times, but I always wondered what life was like on the other side of the wall, I have a little idea now...but I imagine the building looked a little bit newer than it's now current state, thanks Sergey!
My dad paid $10 a month for a place in Belgrade in the 80s. He’s paying more than 100x that amount rent in Toronto now. It’s crazy.
I doubt you can even rent a room for less than 400$ in Toronto... The prices are crazy. As a student I have to live with my parents because living on campus is unaffordable.
@@michaelsemyanovsky9638 pff. 60% of my friends in Russia living with their parents till 30-40 y.o., some start renting after second kid in family as it's hell experience to live 5-6 people on 45-50 sq.m.
Now in Belgrade you can not find apartment with 30-40 square meters on some districts 10-15 kilometres far from center for less then 150 euros or 170-180 dollars.
Also our payments are about 400 euros per mounts, so almost half of your payment goes to paying rent. Not to mension that you need taxes, 150 euros in average. So you have 100 euros left for food, clothes and alot more. So we live much harder then other European countries.
So,go back to Belgrade........
Way too funny 😂 this guy is a riot
Russian people are resilient and that's too be admired, but there are many people who have a little more luxury than this living in St Petersburg. I like the Russians especially the ones that are hardworking class decent people ❤️✌️
I wouldn't mind living there especially with that kind of price? I used to live in 28 sq m apartment in Seattle and I was paying $850/month.
jp man yeah, but think of the salary you made in Seattle vs here. You have to look at your buying power vs cost of living, not just the rent price
Basically this place with you russian wage would probably take the same % of you income or more as your apartment does in Seattle.
Don't forget that you can hear Everything, literally, one of your neighbour decides, how great it would be to put some cables in the wall at 5 AM. So he starts making tons of noise you can't sleep, also no A/C. Heat sucks. Everyone knows you, so if you do something, they will know. Atleast this is the case in hungary
IceCrystal 009 OP lives in the US and the walls there are made of carboard, you can punch a hole in them, so I don't think it's any worse. To me, personally, the most annoying is when neighbours decide everyone needs to hear them fuck.
jp man
Maybe safer to live in a country stronger than USA. Things are not so good at this time.
I had an office in the USA that had an echo and was definitely not soundproof, so we put a carpet on the wall and it really did soundproof the office 👍🏼❤️
Thanks for this, really detailed and authentic.
Beautiful! I really hope these apartments are preserved as a time capsule to look back on history.
I have 100 years old house in the village. Will go there to film one day
These things are NOT beautiful. Compared to western standards, these apartments are like smelly prison cells
Countless Americans would *_LOVE_* to have apartments available at this price.
This apartment must be so pretty and modern and clean when it was new..
Is always good to have a sense of humor in such situations! 😂
ah common it's a good apartment, have you seen new jork standard worker apartment's
Similar to my $585 American studio apartment. No pigeons shitting on me lol.
Very informative tour. I enjoyed it. Love the carpet!
Love your "Soviet kitsch" tour and humor! Yes, I would rename myself Natasha and be very mysterious and live in this cute apartment circa 1960s.
man, all those orange stains are OIL
you can tell a babushka cookt a lot of soup in there
borscht is in the air
My first flat 32 square metres in an old building from 1880 on the 3rd floor (4th floor for Americans), 54 stairs up, was similarly cheap and at least as noisy as a Soviet flat. Last renovated in 1982. When trucks drove through the street without permission (was forbidden), the glasses in my kitchen cupboard shook. I moved out seven years ago, nowadays the same flat costs almost twice as much rent and all they did was slap new paint on the wall and write "renovated" in the ad and idiots fall for it.
This is great! :) Very interesting and I love the humor, the big window, the cats, etc :)
You are funny
$150/mo? That's my electric bill.
Those kitchen floor tiles? My basement in British Columbia, Canada has those exact same tiles. I don't know what it is about 50+ year old buildings and those tiles, but they're EVERYWHERE.
I’ve lived in a 1 bedroom Chicago apartment with three others for $800 a month. By the time my family said “f this place we can do better” there was a giant hole in our bathroom ceiling, rotting wood, mold, cockroaches everywhere, the toilet had been ripped out for some reason, it just got worse. Our landlord demanded money plus some... and we just left. It was hell on earth. For $135 a month for this? And barely those problems..... I wouldn’t complain. But reading some of the comments it seems like $135 was a chunk of money taken out of peoples’ wages?
The ruble unfortunately does not have the same buying power of the US dollar. however. The Russian economy is very different from the US, and the function of the ruble has different value depending on what its spent towards.
The slums in Chicago are slums for the same reason that Soviet Russia was a giant slum
My previous apartment in Sofia, Bulgaria looked like that. Actually, your apartment has much more furniture than where I lived.
Thanks for sharing with us Sergey!
Looks better than the apartments I can't afford over here! 😅
Greetings from the Netherlands.
Im not Russian but this apartment reminds me of my grandmother's house, nostalgia made me smile :')
Thanks for allowing us into your apartment it looks comfortable and cozy. Your english is very good. Thanks
what?like yeah his english is good,but apartment is horrible!!who would live here? WHO!even for a free,NO
Huh. We just moved in a soviet style apartment. A little bit of tlc and they are better than new ones. I can t punch through a wall and wave to my neighbour...
That apartment could be so much nicer with very little effort. Stresses me out that the wallpaper is flaking, paints chipped, plaster is cracked, and nothings been done about it 😂 bruh that's gotta be some $20 fixes
i really love that groovy soviet postcard! awesome video.
It has it's charm. Stuff can be fixed with cheap solution.
To be honest I like the challenge of low cost improvements.
You can be happy with this place and the price. People in many countries has not such chance.
Please clean your vent covers. get a rag or napkin, wet it and then rub the metal until the 30 years of dirt comes off.
I second that. I care about Sergei's health so I'm replying in order to boost your comment.
@@ckpemac5268 Agree. :)
Thanks for the tour down memory lane
Hello from sandiego
Very interesting. A lot nicer than some of the dumps I have lived in.
I lived in a post soviet flat from 7 to 18 y old. For that price, and with my current salary? Sure ye! I would save up for land im Bułgaria in 1-2 years lol
Now im in UK and live in about 26m2 flat for 540 British pounds for rent, 140 tax, and on top of.it.i have electricity and water to pay..... At least 800 a month in winter!!!
British govt taxes you on renting an apartment? I've heard their taxes are insane.
@@GM-xo7yy the £140 is what is called Council Tax and is a once per year payment. It is used by the
local council authority to pay for street cleaning, refuse collection, sewage disposal etc.
Croatian here, 7:36 I used to have that EXACT lamp in my house before renovating it. Funny thing is, it's not a flat, it's a one-family private house. I guess the communist style spread in rural areas aswell.
I've spent my childhood in Eastern Poland in a single family house. Brick built, 1 floor (although 'sticking out' above the ground. The cellar was both partially under and above the ground so the ground floor was kinda on the 1st floor). My parents had it built somewhere in the 70s. I can see many similarities: telephone plugs, antresola, radiators, carpets everywhere and the immortal doorbell that will outlive us all.
Despite the fact that it wasn't state built, it has plenty architectural designs similar to that shown apartment. I find that quite interesting. This video really was like a trip down the memory lane.
If I had a budget to do some redecorating I would live there. Love the heating system.
I like your apartment. The heating system is great! Also, the bigger a place is, the more there is to clean and more utilities to pay. I think the price is great!
Lovely apt. Enduring hardship is good for your character.
I love it! Minimalist, simple, and modest! Definitely would live in one, preferably a Brezhnevka and not a Khrushchevka, but either one yes I would love it! Just for the nostalgia! And the price is the best part!
Very interesting and informative. Great job! I watch a lot of Bald and Bankrupt on UA-cam and you might find his content interesting too. Love the gas mask!
Haha. Thanks! I watch Bald since I went to Belarus in May 2019 and he was there and I found his channel. Maybe my favorite youtuber right now
Mine too! Even though his uploads have become less frequent this year because of the "global situation".
Get rid of the wallpaper and really scrub the place. Put down some hardwood floors, and re-tile the bathroom, and it's ok.
yes, it had no repairs, everything is breaking apart. Would have been much better when it was constructed
That is how my grandparent's house in the village looks like, if not even worse. Though they haven't lived there since 1982 where the construction company where my grandpa used to work gave him an apartment.
what shocks most is the horrible state of neglect and decay
Looks similar to my current apartment. Yes, I could live there (after a little cleaning).
I spent Childhood in one of these in the 90
Any shelter that you can sleep in safely and stay warm out of the elements is a good deal at $150. But most of your issues seem to be cosmetic. Buy the supplies and fix it up. If your landlord won't you still have to live there and look at it. So quit complaining and fix what you don't like about it. If you don't know how, there are plenty of UA-cam videos that teach you how to do almost anything. At the very least you can do a better paint job than that.
It may not look like much but it is better than alotta places honestly. Plus I love the aesthetic although it does need some new wallpaper lol. But grreat vid nice of you to post and share history.
For us this is new wallpaper. It can serve for another 50 years dont worry
Looks great if you cleaned and painted!
That apartment would be $800 a month in my town.... except it'd have been torn down years ago
Мне нравится чувство юмора )
Humor is seeing western commenters saying, 'should clean, paint, fix, repair'...to 'make it look nice'...but they don't have a clue (never met a Russian that wouldn't work hard)...the problem is like in some parts of the U.S., you first have to spend money (your money, or put in request to get approved from state) to get the items listed...then you do the work...looks like a modern home to westerners, right? Within a few days or weeks, local supervisor comes by and re-assess your rent...it is no longer $135 a month...it is now $550 a month! (some parts of the U.S. are like this in regards to property tax...as viewed by aerial photos or on-site tax assessor, looks nice, you get appraised for a $200,000 property that you have to now pay tax on, based on percentage of assessed value...yearly. So, you let the paint peel off, you let the weeds grow outside, install your own potholes in the driveway...and you get assessed at maybe 1/4 of this amount)...same principle...
Wow! Thank you for sharing that info.
For many of us, that s luxury
It could be a nice home after you spend some (large? how large?) amount of money and clean and update everything. I have no idea how much it would cost but man, strive to do it for yourself. You will feel much more comfortable. Have a good New Year 2021!
Thank you for making this video. I hope more people get to see this. Cool apartment tho
Yes, I would... looks about as nice as the apartment I pay 900 dollars a month for. And I live in Memphis, TN. USA. which is a not so great, crime is sky high kind of city. Things are getting more and more expensive here.
9:06 i love that phone socket, they are so easy to connect, it dosent give me so much problems, my home phone is a soviet made vef ta 68 with that plug, that is still working since 1976, voice is clear and it it's easy to fix
Size of this flat would be 5000 dollars in New York city
Because people want to live in nyc. Also, russians earn way less.
@Hartwig Flögh because stockholm is waaaay smaller than nyc.
That's really crazy to pays such a Price, but then again, i live in Canada. This appartement is ok for one person. My appartement is a bit bigger than that.
From my mid to late teens I lived in a camper. This is a step up from that, so yes, I would live here.
Thank you for the most interesting Soviet apartment tour!
No Tears for Moscow🦈🥃🥃
This westerner enjoyed this video. 💗 I would live there looks fine to me. And the carpets are beautiful.
Thank you for sharing
Yeah I'd share that apartment with you Sergey. No worries!
If the alternative is a blanket in the park in a Russian winter, this is just fine. Two blankets and outside looks better.
Around here if I were that desperate around here I would get arrested to avoid sleeping outside in the winter or any other season.
You are not so crazy, you are really funny! and real thank you
Nice apartment, I like it very much. It just need a good clean my friend. I really like your heating. My friend in Petrozavodsk has the same type of apartment. I like Russia, it is a very beautiful country. Thank you for your very good video, I wish you the best of health, Paul from Australia.
TY. 6:19 Wondering if that is a "Khrushchyovka" type building.
Tbh I would love in it. I like a simple life. As long as there is internet, a computer and tv a decent bedroom and I can make some good food. I am happy enough
The Soviet era heating was great whereas in U.K. old people die in their homes from the cold or just manage to heat one room.
This is better than the bedsits and flats that were in Earl’s Court in the 70s. Looks fine to me, you just have to clean, furnish and do a few repairs..like anybody else does.
I love the bold tires on his bicycle!
Great video brother
It’s not good living conditions but it’s a roof over your head !
Your dead pan jokes are too funny. Enjoyed the soviet apartment tour.
You're a funny guy! This was interesting. I'm actually from Belgium, but I live in Ukraine now. My apartment is about 90 USD/m. Obviously there's a lot of similarities, so it's all very recognisable to me.
с Новым Годом!
З Новим Риком!
The stripe singlet looks awesome
Your carpets are really beautiful.
I will clean them in a snow soon!
😂😂😂😂 I really enjoyed this video, thank you
Though my childhood apartment was nicer due to my mother's obsessive cleaning, I stayed in a rental for 3 years in Bucharest exactly like this one. Horrible, horrible place, but living alone in a 2 room apartment with my own bathroom and kitchen for 100 euros per month was heaven. That place got me out of my college dormitory where I shared a room with 5 other guys. This kind of places are like gold to poor students.