Argentine Real Estate

[QUOTE=SteveC;448641]I bought and sold two apartments while I was living here. I made a good return both times, but would never buy here again. I was lucky to get my money out the country without paying a huge sum in taxes. AFIP told me each year "No taxes to pay on an apartment of your value", until I came to sell it. It would have cost me upwards of $10k dollars to exit. Luckily my accountant arranged a $500 'fee' to a friend working in AFIP and my problem was solved. Its so unpredictable here; rent not buy. Long term airbnbs can get around the guarantor problem.[/QUOTE]I don't understand or maybe it is just not clear why taxes would be a hindrance. In California, the amount of capital gain over $250000 is taxed at 15% federally and 10% by the State on a owner-occupied single family house. You would have missed out on some nice gains in the real estate market if you worried about the tax payment. In fact, the more taxes you paid on the deal the better.

The fact that the AFIP is open to bribes is more of a reason not to invest in my opinion. I want to invest in places where there is rule of law.

One of the biggest problems here in Argentina concerning real estate sales is the lack of bank financing. In order to sell a property you need to find a buyer with cash. When the buyer has cash they expect and almost always receive a very large discount. Or you the seller need to become the "bank" also. Major problem is when the people stop paying , the law does not work like you would expect it to. It can take years to remove a non payer and even then the courts might order you to repay all that buyer has already paid. This amounts to the buyer living rent free for years at your expense. While there is money to made, you need to be lucky and patient. It is not as easy as in the states.

[QUOTE=BigBossMan;448642]I don't understand or maybe it is just not clear why taxes would be a hindrance. In California, the amount of capital gain over $250000 is taxed at 15% federally and 10% by the State on a owner-occupied single family house. You would have missed out on some nice gains in the real estate market if you worried about the tax payment. In fact, the more taxes you paid on the deal the better.

The fact that the AFIP is open to bribes is more of a reason not to invest in my opinion. I want to invest in places where there is rule of law.[/QUOTE]Your statement seems a bit inconsistent with a person choosing to live in California where the rule of law is frequently not applied.

[QUOTE=Rocky2;448644]Your statement seems a bit inconsistent with a person choosing to live in California where the rule of law is frequently not applied.[/QUOTE]Well California is booming. You should see the under thirty guy driving a Lamborghini to the local gym. Either he is [URL]dot.com[/URL] millionaire or connected to the Marvel Studios which are right across the street from the gym. Heck maybe he owns Breitbart. Why is Breitbart located in Los Angeles?

I guess that is why we voted 70% to 30% to stay the course. When Trump and O'Connell talk about getting America's economy back on track, the message doesn't connect. And yes I live in LA County which is probably ground zero for illegal immigration to which I think you are referring. About 1 million of the 13 million residents are illegal. There was a time in the beach towns where most of the bartenders were Canadians. Most of them were illegal as they had overstayed their visas.

I do think that under Trump California's economy will slow. Under Republican tax cuts, personal income tax will grow for Californians because of the elimination of Schedule A deductions. Republicans need California's economy to slow because it is the counter-example to all their economic modeling. For example, high taxes discourage entrepreneurship. You notice that so far Trump has only visited places that voted for him. And Trump is still talking about Hillary Clinton who I think is irrelevant now.

[QUOTE=BigBossMan;448646]Well California is booming. You should see the under thirty guy driving a Lamborghini to the local gym. Either he is [URL]dot.com[/URL] millionaire or connected to the Marvel Studios which are right across the street from the gym. Heck maybe he owns Breitbart. Why is Breitbart located in Los Angeles?

I guess that is why we voted 70% to 30% to stay the course. When Trump and O'Connell talk about getting America's economy back on track, the message doesn't connect. And yes I live in LA County which is probably ground zero for illegal immigration to which I think you are referring. About 1 million of the 13 million residents are illegal. There was a time in the beach towns where most of the bartenders were Canadians. Most of them were illegal as they had overstayed their visas.

I do think that under Trump California's economy will slow. Under Republican tax cuts, personal income tax will grow for Californians because of the elimination of Schedule A deductions. Republicans need California's economy to slow because it is the counter-example to all their economic modeling. For example, high taxes discourage entrepreneurship. You notice that so far Trump has only visited places that voted for him. And Trump is still talking about Hillary Clinton who I think is irrelevant now.[/QUOTE]And ice cream melts in the sun.

[QUOTE=BigBossMan;448642]I don't understand or maybe it is just not clear why taxes would be a hindrance. In California, the amount of capital gain over $250000 is taxed at 15% federally and 10% by the State on a owner-occupied single family house. You would have missed out on some nice gains in the real estate market if you worried about the tax payment. In fact, the more taxes you paid on the deal the better.

The fact that the AFIP is open to bribes is more of a reason not to invest in my opinion. I want to invest in places where there is rule of law.[/QUOTE]Sorry, I maybe didn't make it very clear. When I sold the first property it was below the limit where taxes would have to be paid, so I paid none when I sold it to buy my second property. That was more expensive, and when I went to my local AFIP office to check whether I needed to pay any annual taxes, they said no, and none to be paid if I sold it. When I was about to sell, I double checked, and I was told (by the same guy I'd spoken to for the previous 4 years) that there was a tax to pay, plus I owed taxes for the previous four years, plus a penalty, plus interest. That was when I thought fuck them, I'll pay a bribe.