Selling Armenians on Armenia
Condos lure expatriates back home
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
June 20 2004
GLENDALE — Forget Hawaii, Aspen or the Caribbean. How about buying
a time share in … Armenia?
It may sound like a tough sell — mainstream attractions are few
in this arid, agricultural country of 3 million. But builders of
Western-style town homes just outside the capital Yerevan believe
they have ready buyers among the more than 8 million Armenians living
outside the country.
“Come Home to Armenia” beckons the marketing campaign of East
Coast-based Hovnanian International Inc., which has just begun to
market the time shares in Glendale, home to the largest population
of Armenians outside Armenia.
“To local Armenians, I say, It’s your land, it’s your responsibility,
to go back and see how magnificent it is,” said Hovnanian
representative Hilda Grigorian, who staged the first time share meeting
this month in Glendale, drawing more than 100 prospective buyers.
Armenian-Americans have flocked to visit Armenia since its independence
13 years ago from the former Soviet Union. There they encounter a
land of great natural and historic beauty — and Third World living
conditions.
Running water in the capital city is sometimes limited to a few hours
in the morning and evening, phone service and electricity are erratic
— elevators break down in high-rise buildings. No building codes or
inspections exist despite the pattern of earthquakes — a reality in
a place where the average monthly income is about $24.
But for those willing to plunk down $4,500 to $6,000 for a 20-year
lease on one of Hovnanian’s fully furnished 1,500- to 1,800-square-foot
town homes, the one-week-a-year time shares provide an old-world
setting without its nitty-gritty inconvenience.
In fact, Hovnanian’s enclave, which at build-out will have 500
single-family homes, looks much like homes in planned communities in
Irvine or Santa Clarita — only with Mount Ararat as a backdrop.
“Our goal is to get the Armenian diaspora to return and to return
frequently — if not every year, but every other year,” said Arthur
Havighorst, vice president for Vahakni (Hovnanian) Homes and Timeshare
Resort.
The pull of family and culture is similar to the concept behind time
shares in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the United Arab Emirates
— not necessarily considered the top vacation destinations for the
average traveler.
La Crescenta resident Leonig Shekherdimian already visits Armenia
once a year to see family and take in scenes from her homeland. She
typically rents a Yerevan apartment, with its trials of broken plumbing
and sweltering accommodations with no air-conditioning.
A time share would mean that “I don’t have to worry about no water
or no heating or no air conditioning.”
La Crescenta resident Gagik Alagozian visited Armenia for the first
time two years ago, and that was enough for him to decide to invest
in the country.
“I opened up a small business there — I have cattle — and I want
to expand,” said the aerospace engineer who moved to America from
Iran 27 years ago.
He also plans to invest in a home.
“We go to Big Bear to see nature, but in Armenia, there are places
absolutely untouched that you can explore.”
There is also an effort to market the time shares to retirees and
tourists.
More than 41,000 visitors come to the country each year, and tourism
is now the second largest part of the country’s GDP.
“Armenia is a beautiful country. It has a strong, ancient history,
and it was the first Christian nation,” Shekherdimian said. “Just to
visit the churches there says a lot about our country and culture.”