Paying for an apartment in 100 dollar bills? The bodyguarding sector must be booming, either that or people are handcuffing briefcases full of cash to their wrists.
NO actually I purchased hundreds of millions of dollars worth of properties in Buenos Aires and typically it was me and my business partner carrying around cash in backpacks believe it or not. We didn't even trust the security transfer firms. We didn't trust ANY ONE. They had limited or NO insurance coverage at the time and so corrupt you had to worry about telling their friends so we'd carry it around in backpacks. It's CRAZY and unbelievable but true. I'm writing an autobiography on my life and has many crazy stories.
Maybe 10% of our transactions were with wire transfer when the seller was selling and could accept transfers from other foreign buyers. But even when the seller offered to allow the buyer to wire, the buyer often times had CASH under their mattress!
Very very surreal. So that's why when you see prices the way they are you really have to understand how difficult things are there. It's not as easy as it appears when you see the cheapo steaks and meals. Just imagine that property owner of the Airbnb paid $100 US bills sitting across from the buyer in almost all cases.
I've purchased real estate all over the world and I own real estate in many countries in Latin America. Even though in those markets they didn't have mortgages, I could still wire in a wire. Argentina is crazy!
And there is NO trust and faith in ANYONE. I once bought a building that I turned into a hotel. The seller of the building demanded cash!! The building was $3.5 million US dollars. The closing was in the basement of a large bank in Recoleta. We were literally in the basement and there were vacuum packed SEALED packages direct from the US Federal Reserve Bank. Guess what? The seller demanded to count all the cash! It took hours and hours. Many times they don't even trust money counters as bills can be bleached with $1 bills and reprinted. It will pass money counters as the paper is real. It will pass those markers too and the quality is really great!
So think of all these poor Airbnb owners that went through all of this. When you look at this, the prices you're paying on Airbnb are super cheap.
My friend owns a transport company that arranges to pick up cash from closings. He charges a set % to move the money. Well he went to a property closing and was transporting it. He rides a motorcycle. He has been doing this 20 years without problems. The other day for the first time he got robbed at gunpoint. Obviously either the buyer, the lawyer, accountant informed their thug friends that money was going to be transported. He got robbed of $225,000 US from the closing.
THESE are the type of things most Argentines buying/selling have to deal with.
