Affordable Dolce Vita in Buenos Aires?
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harrisonba
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Hi Dani, thanks for posting the clarification. There is all kinds of great value here, you just have to keep your eyes open. Like anywhere, you can pay anything for anything. One example is the cost of a cafe con leche. Sometimes it's AR$8 and sometimes it's AR$16 or more. Sometimes paying more means that you are getting a better product or more refined experience, and sometimes you are just paying more. If you just want to eat out at normal places, your income will be fine -- and it will also let you "splurge" occasionally when you want a 5 star experience or you want to party with the cool kids.
The moderate view on this forum often gets overshadowed/bullied by those with a more negative perspective. You're doing your research and that's great. Have a look at the menus here: www.buenosairesdelivery.com and you can get an idea of price ranges for food. I have found this website to be helpful finding good furnished accommodation: http://aviso.zonaprop.com.ar
Good luck!
The moderate view on this forum often gets overshadowed/bullied by those with a more negative perspective. You're doing your research and that's great. Have a look at the menus here: www.buenosairesdelivery.com and you can get an idea of price ranges for food. I have found this website to be helpful finding good furnished accommodation: http://aviso.zonaprop.com.ar
Good luck!
I think you have decided to try BA. My opinion is that if you do a good search you'll be able to find a decent apartment but you may not find it as good as you can get in Chicago. Also some of the food that you say is a luxury in the US is even more so in Argentina. I tend to think that BA will not be as sophisticated as what you are used to in Europe and that you will find Porteños a lot less interesting than Europeans but come and see for yourself.
weltawelta
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jb5 said:
Seems to me that you are trying to misguide him with your posts. Did you not notice that the apartment you sent is overlooking the polo field? You throw out 1 rental and claim the whole neighbourhood is overpriced.
http://www.homesba.com/depto.php?dep=214&l=1
Anyone with half a brain would negotiate and get this for less too. Come on, give accurate information. The guy is thinking of picking up and moving.
MiKe, if you read a bit more closely I did say there were less expensive apartments.
The OP started out by saying he's looking for a NICE apartment. As i've recently sought the same, I'm sharing my experience. Again, everyone has their own thoughts on what's nice. To me its not being on a major street, spacious and has a view.
What I've seen here is that many are disappointed by the reality of current prices. My college student daughter recently spent a term here. She thought BA would have similar prices to thoses she had seen the prior two years and was shocked by the increases. On a young person's budget she couldn't do anywhere near what she used to do.
So I'm simply sharing my perspective. There are better places to live well if one has $2700/mo.
The OP started out by saying he's looking for a NICE apartment. As i've recently sought the same, I'm sharing my experience. Again, everyone has their own thoughts on what's nice. To me its not being on a major street, spacious and has a view.
What I've seen here is that many are disappointed by the reality of current prices. My college student daughter recently spent a term here. She thought BA would have similar prices to thoses she had seen the prior two years and was shocked by the increases. On a young person's budget she couldn't do anywhere near what she used to do.
So I'm simply sharing my perspective. There are better places to live well if one has $2700/mo.
weltawelta
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OK granted, but the choice of apartments was not reflective of the area. For the simple fact that apartment directly looks onto the polo field it is twice the price. No that doesn't make much sense to me as there are only 2 tournaments all year, but I guess people really love polo.
Certainly there are cheaper places to live, Colombia or Peru for example, however, it much depends on what you are expecting. Las Canitas is equivalent to Yorkville in Toronto (IMHO) and I have a friend renting an unfurnished long term there for double. Last week when I actually went to polo and sat drinking a bottle of Chandon (sure it's not the greatest, but good enough for me) my Canadian friends were amazed that you could get a bottle at polo for $25CDN. Similar event would charge at least $100 there.
Some things are quite cheap and they happen to be things I like - steak, wine, beer, rent (compared to what I would get in T.O)
Mike
www.talkwelisten.com
Certainly there are cheaper places to live, Colombia or Peru for example, however, it much depends on what you are expecting. Las Canitas is equivalent to Yorkville in Toronto (IMHO) and I have a friend renting an unfurnished long term there for double. Last week when I actually went to polo and sat drinking a bottle of Chandon (sure it's not the greatest, but good enough for me) my Canadian friends were amazed that you could get a bottle at polo for $25CDN. Similar event would charge at least $100 there.
Some things are quite cheap and they happen to be things I like - steak, wine, beer, rent (compared to what I would get in T.O)
Mike
www.talkwelisten.com
MizzMarr
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Of course it's true that you can't have the lifestyle now that you could have had even three years ago for $2700 a month, but you can still do quite well supporting just a single person on that and supplementary income. For my money, my tastes would gravitate to places like these over the polo field: http://www.waytobaway.com/index.php...ct&task=showEO&id=230&limit=50&limitstart=100 or http://buenosaires.es.craigslist.org/apa/2346710715.html
But I like private terraces and gardens over sweeping vews. To each their own.
That said, when I left Seattle in 2006 we were paying $1200 to rent a charming 2 story victorian house that had a garden, garage, and jaccuzi in the back yard.
But I like private terraces and gardens over sweeping vews. To each their own.
That said, when I left Seattle in 2006 we were paying $1200 to rent a charming 2 story victorian house that had a garden, garage, and jaccuzi in the back yard.
Come down for a visit, see what you think. Then make sure you have something good to say when you're next interviewed for a job back in the USA as to why there's an X amount of blank time on your CV... and if you're +30 saying you lazed around in Argentina while living on your trust fund isn't going to impress your potential bosses back home.
Down here expect to either not get a job at all, since it's pretty hard for locals even, or when you see the salaries you may decide it's not even worth it at all. Even with your couple of passports you're not an Argentino so you'll need to get a work visa. A lot of companies will see that you need that and pass you over for a local just because it's easier. I don't know that the rentista visa would allow you to work.
As far as living the "dolce vita" the only people in their 30s that I know doing that these days are foreigners who came down on transfers with their companies and got set up in apartments in desirable areas with foreign-level incomes.
As far as the person who said "apartments are much cheaper here" than TO -- I beg to differ -- your rent may be cheaper but if you do your square footage you'll see you're paying about the same per sq ft or sq meter as you would in Toronto. Apartments here are teensy, so yes your rent is cheaper, but you're also getting a lot less space -- for the same price per sq ft that we're paying in Las Canitas for 54 m 2 -- about 550 sq ft, my sister has a 2 bedroom, living room, dining, kitchen -- about 1900 sq ft near to Ave Rd and Spadina. And we have a garantia -- when we move out at the end of the contract they are going to jack the rent on this place like you wouldn't believe.
Also, internet / cable bloody expensive for what you get compared to North America -- for the same that I pay here for crappy Digital TV (not even HD) and 6mbps internet connection I'd get HDTV / Optik connection and 25mbps. So it's a ripoff here -- and the 6mbps they can't even manage most of the time here.
So yes, bills are cheaper, but like everything here that is cheaper than back home, quality is usually less. If you want things of an equal quality that you'd find in North America, expect to pay 2 - 3x, if not more, than whatever that service or item would cost back there. This applies to foods, services (Basic 210 OSDE = 3x more expensive than Medical Services Plan of BC, not sure how much Ontario goes for these days), clothing items that are actually really good quality, furniture that will last you more than 6 mos (ie a good bed costs at least as much, if not 2x as much as in the USA), children's items, computers, electronics, etc etc etc.
Down here expect to either not get a job at all, since it's pretty hard for locals even, or when you see the salaries you may decide it's not even worth it at all. Even with your couple of passports you're not an Argentino so you'll need to get a work visa. A lot of companies will see that you need that and pass you over for a local just because it's easier. I don't know that the rentista visa would allow you to work.
As far as living the "dolce vita" the only people in their 30s that I know doing that these days are foreigners who came down on transfers with their companies and got set up in apartments in desirable areas with foreign-level incomes.
As far as the person who said "apartments are much cheaper here" than TO -- I beg to differ -- your rent may be cheaper but if you do your square footage you'll see you're paying about the same per sq ft or sq meter as you would in Toronto. Apartments here are teensy, so yes your rent is cheaper, but you're also getting a lot less space -- for the same price per sq ft that we're paying in Las Canitas for 54 m 2 -- about 550 sq ft, my sister has a 2 bedroom, living room, dining, kitchen -- about 1900 sq ft near to Ave Rd and Spadina. And we have a garantia -- when we move out at the end of the contract they are going to jack the rent on this place like you wouldn't believe.
Also, internet / cable bloody expensive for what you get compared to North America -- for the same that I pay here for crappy Digital TV (not even HD) and 6mbps internet connection I'd get HDTV / Optik connection and 25mbps. So it's a ripoff here -- and the 6mbps they can't even manage most of the time here.
So yes, bills are cheaper, but like everything here that is cheaper than back home, quality is usually less. If you want things of an equal quality that you'd find in North America, expect to pay 2 - 3x, if not more, than whatever that service or item would cost back there. This applies to foods, services (Basic 210 OSDE = 3x more expensive than Medical Services Plan of BC, not sure how much Ontario goes for these days), clothing items that are actually really good quality, furniture that will last you more than 6 mos (ie a good bed costs at least as much, if not 2x as much as in the USA), children's items, computers, electronics, etc etc etc.
weltawelta
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syngirl said:
Well, there's obviously a lot of different points of view and everybody's perspective is different, I guess this is based on what one's priorities in their overall life are. I have a lot of friends who would never consider leaving the States, and would also be complaining about the conveniences that the US offers that they cant get anywhere else. In my particular case, I have lived about 50/50 of my life between Spain and the USA, mostly in large and fairly cosmopolitian cities but also in some areas of Spain where you are lucky if you get mobile phone reception, so I am pretty much adaptable.
As far as salaries in Argentina and getting work is concerned, from what I have heard from some Spanish friends who have gone over for work, salaries for most professionals in Argentina are actually higher than they are in Spain (which doesnt have such high salary expectations in the first place, but yet does have a much higher cost of living due to the Euro, especially in cities like Madrid) but that where Argentina has the claim to fame on having low salaries is due to the very low salaries paid in more blue-collar and service-related jobs.
As far as getting work is concerned without being Argentine, aside from the fact that they may naturally just want to hire a local, it supposedly doesnt cost companies any more time or money to extend job offers to foreigners, provided that the candidate fits the bil for the job. It is then the foreigner that takes the work contract and with that the individual can apply for the work visa. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Many of my Spaniard friends have gone and have stated literally verbatim what the Consulate told me, ¨Being European and speaking Spanish natively, you won't have any problems finding some sort of work.¨
As far as salaries in Argentina and getting work is concerned, from what I have heard from some Spanish friends who have gone over for work, salaries for most professionals in Argentina are actually higher than they are in Spain (which doesnt have such high salary expectations in the first place, but yet does have a much higher cost of living due to the Euro, especially in cities like Madrid) but that where Argentina has the claim to fame on having low salaries is due to the very low salaries paid in more blue-collar and service-related jobs.
As far as getting work is concerned without being Argentine, aside from the fact that they may naturally just want to hire a local, it supposedly doesnt cost companies any more time or money to extend job offers to foreigners, provided that the candidate fits the bil for the job. It is then the foreigner that takes the work contract and with that the individual can apply for the work visa. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Many of my Spaniard friends have gone and have stated literally verbatim what the Consulate told me, ¨Being European and speaking Spanish natively, you won't have any problems finding some sort of work.¨
