Investing in Russian Real Estate

[Kyle W.]

I have a very unique opportunity to "invest" in Russian real estate. My friend recently took over her mother's mortgage on an apartment but is now making payments. There is approximately 200k in equity with 100k left on the loan; if she hadn't taken it over the bank would have gotten the apartment and all the equity would have been lost. According to my friend, someone would have to have 100k in cash in order to buy it, since in Russia they do loans differently than the US and someone couldn't take out a loan without having the deed in hand, or something like that. She said since she wasn't expecting this to happen and can barely make payments on the loan, that she would be willing to give someone a 50% return on their 100k investment, assuming they could sell the property at a reasonable rate. So I would essentially pay off the loan so they would have the deed, then they would sell the apartment (ideally around 300k) and I would get back 150k and she would get 150k as well.

Just seeing if anyone had experience in Russian real estate and would know how to even start going about setting something like this up. I initiated the paying it off so I don't believe my friend would try to scam me. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks :)