Help with pricing and finding a 2 bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires
I visited Buenos Aires March 2010 and totally loved it. I want to buy an apartment but I was hoping for some ideas and suggestions on my needs for areas of the city.
I stayed in San Telmo but seemed to like a lot of different areas. I preferred Palermo to Recoletta, but I loved San Telmo the most.
So I'm looking for an apartment in San Telmo or Palermo areas. If you think I would like other areas please advise any suggestions especially if better value apartments are there. I want to use the place for Holiday Rentals so it can't be in a bad part of the city, needs to be in the main areas.
What kind of money is a 2 bedroom apartment vs 1 bedroom? Typical difference?
How much more would I pay to have a car space or garage?
What sort of money does it cost to have a rooftop pool?
In anyone's general opinion what is the best value area if I want to buy a 2 bedroom place with a car space and what kind of money range should I expect to pay?
What are some good websites to look at? I can't write or read spanish.
Thanks guys,
Wasabi
Local real estate websites
Hi Wasabi,
Not withstanding the wisdom of buying into the top of a peaked-out market on the verge of a downturn, or that you'll need to fund the entire purchase price in cash so your money won't be working for you elsewhere, or that rental rates in BA as a percentage of the property's value are less than half of the norm for most of the developed world, here are some links to some local real estate websites:
[url]http://www.inmuebles.clarin.com[/url]
[url]http://inmuebles-home.mercadolibre.com.ar[/url]
[url]http://www.argenprop.com[/url]
[url]http://www.soloduenos.com[/url]
[url]http://www.enbuenosaires.com[/url]
Thanks,
Jackson
Impact of Brazil Olympics
In addition to Stan's comment, it is possible that there might be an increase in short-term rentals to Brazilians, who are renting their homes to Olympic visitors. That won't do much for Argie props after the Olympics are gone and the Brazilians go home.
There is an operating ethos, within the Argentine ruling class, to deny any profit opportunity to those not chosen.
Why foreigners are selling and Argentinos are buying.
Wasabi,
You suggested in your previous comments that you thought that foreign investors were creating the demand that was now and should in the future be "influencing" the local property prices, a theory to which I disagree. In fact, the large majority of today's buyers are Argentinos, and for a reason that requires some explanation.
When Argentinos accumulate some measure of cash, either through an inheritance, sale of another property, or from business profits, they have a dilemma: They do not want to put their cash in banks they do not trust, and they do not want to hold their cash in ever-deprecating pesos, so they "deposit" their cash in real estate much in the same way we might buy a CD from a bank. This phenomenon is what underlies what demand for properties there is in BA at the current time. However, the strength of this kind of market demand is largely contingent on today's over-hyped "spend it all today before it depreciates" business climate, which many people believe, due to raging inflation in Argentina, cannot be sustained and thus will inevitably collapse.
BTW, the above described phenomenon is reflected in the greater demand for lower priced properties. In other words, the 20k to 40k properties generally sell much faster than the 200k properties because there are exponentially more potential buyers with 20k in cash that those with 200k in cash. Case in point: Last month I read a story of a property developer who platted a 200 lot subdivision in Pilar and sold every one of his $20, 000 undeveloped lots in less than two weeks.
Thanks,
Jackson