Thread: Apartment Rental Guide

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  1. #15
    Question about looking for an apartment for rent was moved to thread "Looking for Apartment to Rent " by Admin.

    http://www.argentinaprivate.com/foru...ead.php?t=4358

    Thanks,

    Jackson

  2. #14

    Overpriced!

    Shane, do your homework before you post a recommendation!

    These prices are outrageous! 1

    Jackpot

  3. #13

    www. Discoverba. Com

    While marking my time in sex prison and working the internet, I came across this site. It shows a number of one and two bedroom apartments throughout the better BA neighborhoods, and all appear to have reasonable daily, weekly, or monthly rates based upon location and amenities. The website lists both a US toll free number as well as a local number. I will go by the office when I am down in early March and try to learn more.

  4. #12
    A rear facing apartment just changes the kind of noise problem. I had backside apartment one time where there was zero street noise. Unfortunately, the neighbors above and to the side left their windows open most of the time and the noise was just as intrusive as street noise until they quieted down (usually by 11pm but not always) Keep those ear plugs handy unless you are a city dweller at home.

    Hi Guys,

    My apartment in Congreso faces the street but also has rooms facing the rear of the building. The noise comes in from both directions. As noted, in addition to the usual street noise I get to hear the neighbors arguing as the conversations resonate up the building. Currently there is a teenage girl that engages in long screaming arguments with her parents at least three times a week, and another neighbor who every night at approximately 1:00pm shuts his window so strongy that it sounds like a heavy door being slammed in the next room.

    And I live in a relatively expensive building.

    I guess that's life in the big city.

    Thanks,

    Jackson

  5. #11

    The noise. The noise.

    Quote Originally Posted by Easy Go
    . I'm sure there must be some quiet apartments somewhere in central Buenos Aires but between neighbors, traffic, and construction, they are going to be hard to find one. I've stayed in 5 different apartments in 5 different areas and noise has been a problem with all of them.
    No shit. Someone posted this on Yahoo's BANewcomer list last year. Totally true, in my experience.

    The choice of what neighborhood you stay in is nowhere near as important as the choice of what room you stay in. You do not, under any circumstances, want a room that faces the street. For Buenos Aires is among the noisiest cities in the Milky Way galaxy, principally because of the street noise.

    There is an urban myth that eskimos have 23 different words for snow. The porteños must have at least that many different words for street noise. For instance.

    -The sound of a taxi driving without his lights at night beeping before he runs you over is different from the sound of a taxi beeping to indicate he has absolutely no intention of stopping for a stop sign.

    -The sound of a dozen motorbikes without mufflers delivering food on your block late at night is different from the sound of an equal number of cars without mufflers idling outside in the morning rush hour.

    -The sound of two buses drag racing each other down a street in the early morning hours is different from the sound of a bus stepping on the gas to make it though a light that turned red three seconds ago.

    (By the way, buses play an interesting part in Argentine philosophy. A essay question that first-year philosophy students in Buenos Aires are frequently asked to consider is, "If a dozen buses roar by a bedroom window at three o'clock in the morning and no one is there to be woken up, do they still make a sound loud enough to awaken the dead?")

    You have undoubtedly heard that there are more psychoanalysts per capita in Buenos Aires than anywhere else in the world. What is often not mentioned is that this is because the entire population is slowly going mad from sleep deprivation due to the street noise. This is also why porteños eat dinner so late. No one can sleep, so they just go out to eat.

    That aside, it's a great city. I go there often, and even recently bought an apartment there. I just make sure that wherever it is I (try to) sleep, it is as far away from the street as is physically possible. (And I have been known to sleep with both earplugs and Bose noise-cancelling headphones on.

  6. #10
    Senior Member


    Posts: 547
    The matter on the short term apartments rentals is that you can't develop an industry based on stuff that you can't control.

    As Byt and other agencies does, the control doesn't depends on them, depends on the owner, why?

    Ok, let's guess you rent an apartment and the heater don't work. Who's buying a new one? (if they decide to buy a new one) the agency or the owner?

    I've developed a business plan on this matter back in 2002, and realized after working 4 years now into this that when an apartment manager grows, things go bad.

    Here are some but not all of the reasons:

    - Apartments ownership:

    If you don't own the apartments, the owner will always try to make more money than before, the owner has the control, and it's easy for him to rent the apartments with another manager / website. Similar to the long term apartments rentals, to attract the owners the agencies (real estate brokers) inflates the prices.

    For a manager that makes a good work it's neccesary to have control on the apartments and make sure the bills are paid, having the keys to clean and control the apartment before is rented, and fix up any problem that may happen. So, How can the owner be sure the manager is not cheating on him? Renting the apartment and telling to the owner the apartment it's empty?

    Who decides when to charge for a broken glass or not? Etc.

    All of this has too many variables and the answer is the manager must to own (or have a very confident relationship with the owner)

    - Building control.

    If you just own one or two apartments on the same building and you rent it short terms, some of the old women on the building they will start to make complainments to the building administration about this, this is very common and you have to deal with this always, actually, as co-owner on your building at home you won't a cheap girl at your porche waiting for a monger, or late night noises.

    - Services.

    Providing extra services for an apartment it's always more complicated as long as you just can't have a staff working inside the apartment. Hotels can, they have doorman, maid, operator, etc.

    Marketing:

    An apartment it's an alternative to an hotel, many will prefer an hotel because:

    - It's more reliable as they accept credit cards, you can include an hotel in a travel package, etc. You know there are just few possibilities the hotel doesn't exist, but this is different on the private apartments, many ask for WU / paypal transfers, to a single person in a south american country.

    - You know that you will have full support, maid, etc.

    - You will have restaurant and english / portuguese room service 24/7

    - The lobby is nice, elegant, but at many porteno apartments lobbies are just ugly crap. Only those built after 1990 are decent but the gross part of the construction in BA it's previous to 1970. An exception are beautiful large flats, but the marketshare who want furnished apartments they look for one bedroom small size. Those old and classy apartments starts at 1500 Sq ft.

    - A hotel provides a standard because they have a building and rooms, some may decorate some rooms different and offer larger and smaller, but they already have a standard, apartments depends on a lot of factors, they are spreaded by the city, and each one is different to the other, no matter the same company manages the apartments, each one have a different owner, different capabilities, different equipment, maid, stuff. If the same guy owns two different apartments on different buildings each one will be different to the other.

    You know that if you reserve on sheraton chain will be quite the same in Santiago, Miami, and Buenos Aires.

    You know a 3 stars it's a 3 stars everywhere.

    Marketing II.

    You may not spend a lot of money in advertising, I guess everyone knows that when you buy a product, you also pay the price of advertising for that product, the matter is when you buy a coke, you may pay 1 peso for the coke and 10 cents for the advertising, so you pay 1,10 because they sell tons per day.

    So, small business may not spend a lot of money in bureaucracy and advertising as coca cola does. But the hotels can do it because they are large chains, even independeant hotels may have up to 250 rooms! So they can afford expensive marketing with small incidence on the final price. But, no one owns 250 short term apartments for rent, and if you think about it, you'll get crazy administrating them! (to do it good, doing it bad yes is possible)

    Price.

    That's the reason why apartments are cheaper, because it's a cheaper alternative for lodgin. More risky, unreliable and without standards.

    The thing only changes for good when you have refferences or it's your second time. Many who rent from an owner they get back to the same place when they're happy, I've readed pages and pages with the same subject: Do they will return my deposit?

    The Real Estate Issue:

    If you buy apartments to reburbish, then decorate and rent for short terms you will loose a lot of money in appliances and furniture, once this stuff is used (we call it capital equipment) there is no way to sell it again, of course the teneants doesn't care too much about this and after a few years it's neccesary to renovate the place, otherwise the place will look horrible. Many landlords know this, so they carry their own old stuff to decorate the apartment, and those are the pictures you can see for thousands on byt and other websites with dramatically damaged and tottaly out of style furniture.

    So you must balance the real estate issue as one business and the rental as another one, so, many times is hard to find both things in one single place.

    There is only one way to do the apartment rental business to satisfy clients needs and also be competitive and that's developing an apart hotel, so all of the services are centralized, and everyone in the builing are on the same conditions which is renting confortable apartments in a short term basis.

    My advise is you find to rent from owners, not agencies, otherwise have an hotel or apart-hotel and only for a longer stay (longer than 6 months) to rent from an agency.

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  8. #9

    ByTArgentina. Com

    I too have mixed experiences with apt. renting from them. Two years ago, I rented a studio apt on Carlos Pellegrini and Paraguay next door to that rip off club Imagine. The apt. Was quiet, as it faced the back and was on the sixth floor. Everything worked fine, including the phone, and was quite comfortable.

    Even the chicas from Cattos didn't mind the short walk to the apt. And commented on how nice it was. My deposit was returned on time without any problems.

    This past February I rented another studio apt. in Palermo on Guise near Charcas. The hot water heater didn't work and neither did the phone. Sondra from ByT did get someone to fix it several hours later but it was an inconvience as I had to come back later to meet the repairman. The phone never did get fixed as Sondra promised. Sondra also told me to get my deposit back from the owners on my last day, who live in the building. Didn't happen. I had to go to their office to get my money. This pissed me off as I had to catch a bus for Mar Del Plata.

    Also I would not book any tours or hotels thru them. You can do better on your own. Even in high season.

  9. #8
    I'm not sure it's all that useful to make service comparisons between an apartment that rents for $225/ week and places like the Mansion, Jackson's apartment, or one of Saint's units. You seldom get premium service (which in BA means just about any service) without paying a premium price.

    If noise is important, the Mansion is the place to go. I'm sure there must be some quiet apartments somewhere in central Buenos Aires but between neighbors, traffic, and construction, they are going to be hard to find one. I've stayed in 5 different apartments in 5 different areas and noise has been a problem with all of them.

  10. #7

    Bytargentina. Com

    My Experiance with BTY was some what mixed.

    I stayed at this apartment on Laprida from April 16th to may 2nd.

    http://www.bytargentina.com/re/propv...ose=&view=1265

    I found the Guy Sabastian to be quite nice, spoke decent english, we meet at the right time we had agreed upon at the apartment, he wasnt late.

    Checked out the apartment, it was quite nice and pleasant, a bit on the small side for me. But would work just fine for me. So we check in, go over the the apartment and agreement, spotted a few problems, so I don't get dinged for damage to the apartment, and made them write it on the agreement, Ie Broken Hinge on a cabinet, so the cabinet door didnt close properly, and just kinda Hung down to the floor, light fixtures on the ceiling appeared broken and hanging down. But worked, little shit like that.

    Sabastian then went on to tell me that I can make all the local calls I can on the phone, which was included with the apartment. Stupid me, I didn't check this to make sure it wasn't working. As this was my biggest upset. The phone never worked, as I was told it would.

    My First week was spent doing tourist shit. So I always left at 6 or 7 am in the morning, and would return by 7-8 pm at night. It wasnt until a few days into the week that I discovered my phone didn't work, I was unable to make calls out, so I called Byt to complain about this problem and was told they would cantact me in 45mins or one hour, so I waited for the call, it never came. And I wasnt about to wait a couple hours, as there was shit to do while I was in Argentina. So it wasnt until a week in, that I called them agian a 4th time from one of the ciber cafes, then Sabastian returned my call promptly, I explained to them the problem with the phone.

    Sabastian explain to me, there was probably no credits placed on the phone, and I would have to by a Telecom card to put credits on the phone, so I can call out. So I buy 2 10 peso cards, as I needed to make a lot of calls for business reasons. Guess what? They never worked, in fact, the cards I was instructed to buy by Sabastian, the company numbers did not even work on the card, these cards were sealed, and untampered with, I had some local freinds try it, agian they did not work. So the entire 2 weeks there I was left with having to run down to the local cyber cafe to make all my business calls several times I day, which sucked balls. I complained to Sabastian, and mentioned this to him, and said he would reimburse me for my troubles and expenses, but did they? Fuck no! So fuck them. I realize 20 pesos aint shit to us guys, but fuck! Having the simple convience of a phone to conduct business was part of the reason I selected this apartment. And made my job even more difficult. I have since write BYT an email about this issue, and still have not recieved a response, and I still have not recieved any reimbursement for there short comings. And my expenses. So fuck them!

    Next trip I will not use them, and instead will buy a cell phone which I am told costs only 30$ down there for a cheapie throw away to solve my phone problems.

    Also forgot to mention, if you enjoy peaceful and quiet sleep, this is a bad location, its on the second floor facing the street, and is very noisey all hours of the day, and especially at night, which made getting sound sleep difficult.

    Hi Lochdhu,

    I hear these two complaints about rental apartments all the time. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to matter if you ask the questions pointedly before you make a commitment to rent an apartment, because they will always tell you that the phone works and that the apartment is quiet.

    The telephone thing is always a funny issue. I've heard about guys who rented an apartment that was advertised as having a phone. Sure enough, when they arrived, the apartment had a phone on the premises, but it wasn't hooked up. I've heard of situations where the phone had service, but you had to buy the cards to actually make any calls. Finally, there are a lot of apartments with telephones, with regular service, but which are blocked to call cellphones, a major inconvenience when trying to contact Internet chicas.

    Here's what you need to ask: Does the apartment have a phone, with active local service, that does not need a calling card, and that is not blocked to call cellphones? As far as I know, only Saint's apartments and my apartment offer this level of service.

    Oh yes, I should add that the phones at Capt Dave's mansion are also full service.

    Another big advantage is an apartment with a Vonage phone for calling the USA. Again, Saint's apartments, my apartment and the Mansion all have Vonage service.

    BTW, in the future, when you arrive at a rental apartment and discover that the phone doesn't work (or anything else for that matter) your only recourse is to tell them that your not going to take the apartment until the problem is fixed. If necessary, check into a hotel. It's either that, or accept the apartment "as is", because in my 4 years living in BA, I've never heard of anything ever being fixed in a rental apartment after they took your money.

    Well, except of course in Saint's apartments, my apartment, and at Dave's Mansion.

    Thanks,

    Jackson
    Last edited by Lochdhu; 05-12-06 at 19:34. Reason: forgot to add something to my post

  11. #6

    Thumbs up Byt apartment rentals

    Here is the link to a rental company that has always done a great job for me. I really reccomend this company.

    http://www.bytargentina.com/index.php

  12. #5

    Smile hotel

    Hi,

    I usually rent apartments from byt. They seem to be good.

  13. #4

    Thumbs up My luxury Apartment finally ready for rentals

    Hi all,

    I purchased an apartment in Buenos Aires in the Recoleta area right accross from a park and near all the restaurants, attractions, and clubs.

    I bought it for $ 75,000 spent around $ 25,000 more to furnish it and renovate it. It has air conditioning, television, high speed internet access, voip to call America, and even a cool cell phone that you use while you are in the city.

    My apartment is A10, and its is being managed by an American and an American management company that works out of Argentina. For the months of September and October, I have had the price reduced by 20% so that people can see how nice it is, and give me good referrals.

    I acutally consider it more of an apartment hotel, since you get maid service, and airport pickup by the staff of the management company. Last time I was in town, they had me picked up by a pretty Argentina woman who also is available to conduct tours of the city and a river tour which I went on. Please contact the management company to make reservations. You can of course bring up any girls you meet to stay with you in the apartment, which is one of the reasons that I like staying in apartments since no worrys about which hotel is girl friendly.

    http://www.apartmentsba.com/home_32/...8/?id_prod=288

  14. #3
    Senior Member


    Posts: 1543
    Jackson's apartment is a good choice for a visiting monger, of this there is no doubt. Not only is it a good apartment in a good location, you also have the advantage of all the ghosts of chicas past.............

    If only those walls could talk!!!!!!!

  15. #2
    Administrator


    Posts: 2556

    Venues: 398
    Greetings everyone:

    Here's how my Recoleta apartment measures up against Waterboy's checklist:


    1. Is there TV with cable? How many channels?

    Two remore controlled TV's connected to cable. The system has approximately 60 channels, including CNN, BBC, TNT, Universal, WB, FOX and numerous others.

    2. Does the TV have aux Jack so I can hook up my dvd player? Does the stereo have aux jacks?

    Both of the TVs have front-mounted aux jacks for DVD/VCR input. The stereo has aux stereo jacks.

    3. Air conditioning? What room?

    Split system, wall mounted, with remote control. The unit is very quiet because the compressor is on the building's roof. The air conditioning unit has prooven repeatedly that it has the capacity to cool the entire apartment effortlessly through even the hottest of Buenos Aires summer days.

    4. What type of heating system? Are there electric radiators

    A central gas heater and two portable electric heaters. Personally, I've only needed the electric heaters.

    5. Microwave present? Oven Present?

    Microwave and Oven.

    6. An iron for clothes?

    Yes, although I personally have never needed it.

    7. Type of security.

    24 hour manned security. Everyone gets buzzed in and out by the security staff.

    8. Bell can someone be buzzed in?

    Only by you, presumably after you've talked to them on the telephone intercom and observed then via the security cameras.

    9. Location of bedroom? Size of the bed? Type of bed?(Avoid those couch beds at all costs)

    One bedroom, queen-size bed, very good quality mattress.

    10. How is the lighting in the apartment (Shooters of pictures and video)?

    Lots of electrical lighting everywhere, plus during the day the apartment is flooded with natural lighting from the 12 foot windows that start at floor level.

    11. How far in advance do they take deposits?

    Three months

    12. Living room with couches and chairs? How many?

    Two couches, several scattered chairs.

    13. Lamps and lighting?

    Wall sconces everywhere, table lamps everywhere, two reading lamps on the desk, spot lights over the bar.

    14. The neighbors (Get a building with old folks that never go out)

    Sorry, no old people.

    15. What the building like on weekends?

    Very quiet because there are only three residential apartments in the whole building.

    16. Refrigerator with freezer?

    Standard upright refigerator/freezer, less than 2 years old, no funny noises.

  16. #1

    Post Apartment Rental Guide

    Renting an Apartment

    I have been to Buenos Aries fourteen times in the past three years. Of the fourteen trips, I have rented an apartment eleven times. My good friend asked me for advice about apartments so I decided to do a brief write up on the subject. I live in New York and I am a property owner that has dealt with many real estate agents in the past.

    In my opinion, apartments are a good budget option if you plan. My experiences have shown me apartments are good for privacy, cheaper than a comparable hotel (When you stay long term) cooking your own meals, and parties. The major downside is the security issue, and the quality of the apartments.

    I prefer to have my privacy. I do not like being bothered with hotels checking girls IDs. I repeat with the same few girls often, I pick up most of my girls in the same bolicha, and take the same apartment- security for me is still a major issue. These girls are too poor, transient, and clannish and that’s were the danger lies. The vast majority of these girls are honest, working women trying to make the best of the situation they find themselves. Yet there is a very small minority out to get you either by themselves or by their associates. When I get robbed I just hope they just take my cameras, dvd player, and money. You need to remember unless the hotel checks the girl in and out you’re just as vulnerable as if you were in an apartment.

    The other major issue is the quality of the apartment. You cannot go by the pictures on the web site. The best way to solve this issue is to obtain prior references from former tenants. Another way is to visit apartments when you are in town for future reference.

    The upside of apartments is the cheaper price you pay if you are staying long term. The apartment can cost the almost the same whether you stay 2.5 weeks or a month. You also save money when you cook your own meals (Assuming you get a kitchen you can cook from). You will find supermarket food is very cheap in BA (Even by Recoleta standards). The biggest advantage is the privacy, there is no one to say who you can bring up or how many (of course you have the security issue).

    Let me give you some examples of apartments I have rented. The first set are from a company called BA House. The owner is Marcella. She is trust worthy as I have left deposits with her with no receipt and each time I have returned she or her assistant has always gotten the amount right. Which bring me to an important point. This is a cash business (I assume they are avoiding the taxman). You wire cash for a deposit and later you give the whole balance when you arrive.

    The first apartment is listed as A11 (http://www.bahouse.com.ar/). It is located on Vicente Lopez and Azcuenaga. It is a around the corner from Madahos. The living room has a couch in good condition and it also folds out (The fold out bed is not comfortable) into a bed. The living room is well lit and is great for taking pictures of girls. The kitchen is very small but useable. The kitchen has the hot water tank as long as you are not taking a lot of long hot showers you should have plenty of hot water. The bathroom is spacious and lovely. The bedroom has no ceiling light and only one lamp. For those of use that make videos you need to bring more light for your camera. The closet in the bedroom and has a mirror so you can see yourself fucking. The heating is centralized. They keep this building warm so no problems there. The apartment is in excellent shape overall. The exterminator comes a least once every two weeks for the building. He speaks no English, knocks on your door in the early morning. You let him in and he knows what to do. What you do not see/hear: The walls are thin. I could hear the telephone in the next apartment over. You can hear the people in the next apartment and they sure can hear you. They live boring lives in this building. I know I provide months worth of entertainment When I stay for a week. Yet I had only one complaint. The building is listed as having 24-hour security. There is someone at the front desk most of the time, but most of the time. The security is not present in the early mornings (0400-0600 hr) and from various hours the guy is outside talking to his friends but keeps a sharp eye on the building. Once they know you, they buzz you in or if the person is outside he uses his key to let you in. The building has close circuit TV so you can see who you buzz in.

    The traffic flow is strange in this area. If you want a taxi, walk to Madahos or walk one block in the opposite direction to the main avenue.

    Overall, this is a great apartment if you hang out in Recoleta. A great gym is also right around the corner.

    The second apartment is located on Calle Guido. It is between Junin and Ayacucho. This apartment is across from Affaire in Recoleta. The couch in the living room has seen better days but is useable. The picture on the web sit does not show the sheet they throw over the couch. The living room has good lighting for photos. It also has a rolling square cushion you can use to bend her over. Nice stereo (Can play my burned cds) as you can plug in you cd player into. The kitchen is in good shape and spacious. The oven is easy to light but let them show you the first time. It is different from what I am use to in the US. The bedroom has a nice size TV with cable, the building is always warm, and the air conditioning is a tad bit on the nosey side. The bedroom has a lousy view therefore, it is quiet. The surrounding buildings block out any noise. It should be noted that Guido is a quiet street. The bedroom has adequate lighting for photograph with flash but poor lighting for video but additional lamps are in the living room to use. There are plenty of towels, spare bulbs, etc. the house cleaner does a good job on the apartment.

    What you do not see: The bedspread is not washed often. Stains I left were still there on subsequent visits. The buzzer is tricky to use so I had to take the elevator down to let people in each time. The couch is worn out. The apartment is in the back and thus has no view. You must request the real estate agent set the message service on the phone!

    Final comment: This is my favorite apartment. I request this one as my first choice but is frequently rented out.

    The next apartment, I took because the apartment I originally wanted was unavailable. It is listed as A15 located on Santa Fe between Esmeralda and Suipacha. It is about five blocks from Cattos/Hooks. What you see in the photos is accurate. The bathroom is in good condition. The couch and chairs are in good condition. The bedroom has only one lamp good for photos with flash but poor for videos. It has a beautiful view from the bedroom window. I was there in the wintertime and that building is kept hot. What you do not see the owner charged me damage because the curtain rod was broken. I am a property owner in New York City I know the difference between wear and tear and damage. If you rent this apartment be sure to check everything yourself and note any damage and condition. You have been warned. What you don’t see: Despite what they tell you there is no 24 hour security. Calle Sante Fe is very noisy. In the video I shot you can clearly hear the traffic going by. Remember Santa Fe is busy at all hours of the day. This noise is heard with the metal shades drawn and the window closed. The bedroom is by the window. The TV is old and has no audio /video jacks in. The cable has the bare minimum (ie. No Sony channel). I would not recommend this apartment because of the noise from Calle Santa Fe.

    This apartment was a last minute rental because I could not get anything in the Recoleta area. It is listed as B38 on Santa Fe between R. Pena and Callo. I would say overall that this is a nice apartment. The pictures on the web site are accurate. The kitchen is small but usable. The bedroom is surrounded by windows so it is great filming in the daytime. There are lamps to shoot pictures and videos. The duplex has two TV, the stereo played my burned cds, the couch and bed are comfortable. What you do not see: This apartment is at the top of the building and it is the tallest in the area therefore there is some traffic background sound but not a lot. The apartment is not connected to the central heating and it has many windows. It was a little on the chilly side in the winter. There are two separate electric heaters to use. I am from New York so it didn’t seem cold to me, it might be cold for others. Security at night is an old man(my mother could beat his guy with one hand tied behind her back). There is no security in the daytime. The hall lobby is in a shopping area.

    I would recommend this apartment in the spring or summer. It has a little background noise, but spacious.

    On 6 October my commander informed me that I will receive orders reassigning me to the HHC, 42nd Infantry Division (This unit is now in Iraq). I quickly planned a last minute trip to BA. The last apartment I have used from BA House was A26. This place is located on M. T. Alvear between C. Pellegrini and Suipach. I picked this place because I am moving my operation to the downtown area. I did not discuss the apartment with the real estate agent (Big mistake)before I came to BA. The bedroom is adequate for photos but poor for videos. The apartment is in the back so it is very quiet. There is no background noise in my videos. You get nice sunlight in the daytime. There is no stereo in the apartment. I suggest you get the compact computer speakers and hook it up to a cd player. The kitchen is small and very worn. What you don’t see: The bathroom is a disaster. The paint is peeling from the walls, the sink leaks, the tub is painted white, all the tiles and porcelain is painted. The bathroom is “ghetto”. If you see what they do for poor people in the inner city-you know what I am taking about. The bed has that cheap foam mattress it is not good for fucking. The air conditioning is on the noise side. The worst apartment I have ever stayed in. I hope the word gets out about this apartment as it is listed on several web sites. I will give it credit as a great location. If they fix this apartment I would stay here. You can walk to Hooks/Cattos in four minutes and it is near my favorite private apartment.

    The only problem with this real estate agent I have had is based on the fact she wouldn’t take a reservation until one month before I was scheduled to arrive. She is trying to get a monthly rental be she gives it up for a week. This means I won’t know my location until 4 weeks from my arriving. She does not have too many properties in the downtown area I like so I am looking for a new real estate agent to deal with.

    General Observations about apartments:

    Telephone Service: Make sure the real estate agent resets the message service and make sure it works.

    Kitchen: Make sure the agent shows you how the light the stove and oven (Some of the apartments have been tricky). The small apartments have those tiny refrigerators with no freezer if you like ice cream like myself you cannot store any.

    Weather: I am from New York so the winter seem mild to me. The buildings have heat on when I would never turn it on, but it is something to think about.

    Security: I am in the army so security to me means someone has the capability to know when something is wrong, can react to it(Get help), someone is alert, multiple layers, and dedicated. All the security cameras and alarms do you no good if the person goes to the bathroom or takes a break and there is no back up. Most places the security is there to watch out as people go to work. When they come back from work, the “security” (It could just be the maintenance people) goes home.

    Cash Business: This is a cash and carry business. You better find someone you can trust. You can ripped when they try to charge you for damages (They have your deposit). They can take your deposit you initially send. Etc.

    Quiet Apartments: If you want peace and quiet when you sleep avoid apartments where the bedroom is facing a main street: i.e. Santa Fe, Callo, 9 de Julio, Cordoba, Corrientes. I am not saying don’t rent from these areas. You should check to see how the bedroom is situated. Is there any buildings blocking out the sound? Is the bedroom in the front or back? How high is the apartment if it is taller than the surrounding buildings you will get the noise. In general, apartments with lousy views tend to be quiet. Watchout for the places boasting a great view as they are usually facing the main street. Try to get apartments on the small side streets as they are quieter.

    I came up with a list of some questions to ask (the best way is to apartment while you are down in BA.

    1. Is there TV with cable? How many channels?

    2. Does the TV have aux Jack so I can hook p my ddvd player? Does the stereo have aux jacks?

    3. Air conditioning? What room?

    4. What type of heating system? Are there electric radiators

    5. Microwave present? Oven Present?

    6. An iron for clothes?

    7. Type of security.

    8. Bell can someone be buzzed in?

    9. Location of bedroom? Size of the bed? Type of bed?(Avoid those couch beds at all costs)

    10. How is the lighting in the apartment (Shooters of pictures and video)?

    11. How far in advance do they take deposits?

    12. Living room with couches and chairs? How many?

    13. Lamps and lighting?

    14. The neighbors (Get a building with old folks that never go out)

    15. What the building like on weekends?

    16. Refrigerator with freezer?

    My final advice: Don’t rent a place unless you have seen it yourself or you had a recommendation. Get references from past travelers on the agent you are dealing with. If you discover something wrong/broken tell the real estate agent right away. You might see if you can replace/repair it yourself- it will come out cheaper. Make sure they do an EXACT inventory of everything in the apartment before you take possession. Insure you note discrepancy in wear and tear on the apartment.

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