Buckets Moved by a Developer Became the Foundation for a New Residential Area

Located one and a half hours' drive from Tallinn, Sinilahe residential area is not just another emerging real estate development, but a place where conscious choices are made based on genuine personal experience. "We do things very differently here – in the way a home buyer actually and truly needs," says Pihlak.

The simplest thing is to just sell land, but that's boring for me. If I were buying a plot myself, I would want everything to be ready and not have to search for an architect or spend a year designing, but rather be able to start digging right away.

Regiina Pihlak, Sinilahe developer

Personal experience became the foundation of Sinilahe development

Although Pihlak currently manages a residential development, she is not a classical real estate developer by background. She has studied music and works daily in the renewable energy and finance sectors.

It was personal experience as a homebuyer that led to residential development – and it hasn't been good. One of the most painful lessons comes from Regiina's boom years, when a purchased house needed major intervention just a year later. "We had to remove the entire cladding and re-insulate the house because there was a draft in the room and it was cold," she recalls. It's precisely everything she has experienced firsthand that now helps her create an environment where similar mistakes have already been solved in advance.

A more recent lesson is from four years ago, when a developer submitted a building permit application for a house with an A-energy rating, but changed it during construction and ended up with a B rating. The occupancy permit application was submitted with the building permit documents, which stated an A rating. "The municipal official didn't look at the documents and didn't visit my home, and issued an A-energy rating for the house. I contested it because it wasn't right, and my 10,000 euros were at stake. The municipal official simply issued a B-energy rating, the developer transferred their assets to another company and liquidated their firm, and I lost my money. Unfortunately, this developer is still operating boldly under another company," Regiina says.