Apartment Hunt - Advice needed

[evesal]

Hi there - I will be moving to Argentina in February for a grad program and am currently discussing apartment options with a gated community in walking distance to campus. I want to make sure I know what to expect before talking to the property manager over the phone. I will most likely only need it from February until December (the length of the first part of the program). The place I am looking at has furnished monoambiente (studio) apartments. There is an additional cost for monthly expenses (water, gas, taxes, security, laundry, and amenities). This does not include electric and internet. In total, for all mentioned in monthly expenses we are looking at about $6500 pesos on top of the monthly rent. For utilities, this seems a bit high to me but maybe this is average?

My main questions revolve around my options. I have an option of a studio with air heating/cooling and an option with "loza radiente", heated floors. Loza radiente is a bit pricier both in rent and expenses. Are the cooling/heating options of preference or would it be best to have the loza radiente option? Also, is there room to negotiate the price of rent or this a no no? For example, I can pay my rent in American dollars, I could even pay it all up front for the 10 months (scared to do this but I could). Would it be of benefit to see if I can get a lower price since I can pay in dollars? I wouldn't even know how much lower to ask for but it's a start.

Any advice regarding the rental of apartments is helpful for this newcomer!

Thank you so much!

Eve

 

[camel]

My opinions: Heated floors is really nice in the winter, although not necessary if the place has other adequate heating

The risk of paying all up front is that the landlord has no incentive to fix problems if they occur. In Brooklyn I might do that, but in Argentina, hell no.

 

[evesal]

Thank you, Camel for your reply!

My opinions: Heated floors is really nice in the winter, although not necessary if the place has other adequate heating
Great point. If I can save a bit here, I may as well go with the less expensive as long as I'm warm in the winter, and cool in the summer.

The risk of paying all up front is that the landlord has no incentive to fix problems if they occur. In Brooklyn I might do that, but in Argentina, hell no.

That's a great point and something I did not consider. Perhaps just offering the option of paying in US Dollars would be sufficient for a discount.

 

[Rich One]

If the dollar parallel/Blue goes up the roof, you will find that you would be better off paying in pesos...Exchanging your dollars every month in the parallel market..!

 

[gostomper]

Hi there - I will be moving to Argentina in February for a grad program and am currently discussing apartment options with a gated community in walking distance to campus. I want to make sure I know what to expect before talking to the property manager over the phone. I will most likely only need it from February until December (the length of the first part of the program). The place I am looking at has furnished monoambiente (studio) apartments. There is an additional cost for monthly expenses (water, gas, taxes, security, laundry, and amenities). This does not include electric and internet. In total, for all mentioned in monthly expenses we are looking at about $6500 pesos on top of the monthly rent. For utilities, this seems a bit high to me but maybe this is average?

My main questions revolve around my options. I have an option of a studio with air heating/cooling and an option with "loza radiente", heated floors. Loza radiente is a bit pricier both in rent and expenses. Are the cooling/heating options of preference or would it be best to have the loza radiente option? Also, is there room to negotiate the price of rent or this a no no? For example, I can pay my rent in American dollars, I could even pay it all up front for the 10 months (scared to do this but I could). Would it be of benefit to see if I can get a lower price since I can pay in dollars? I wouldn't even know how much lower to ask for but it's a start.

Any advice regarding the rental of apartments is helpful for this newcomer!

Thank you so much!

Eve

www.zonaprop.com.ar will have listings. look at Temporal lisitings. note that Argentina is a bit different than other places where you can say 6500 pesos now and that will still be the same later. It will certainly not be the current exchange rate in Feb. Look for stuff listed in pesos it's usually cheaper. You could ask the landlord to pay them in dollars later or change the money and pay in pesos. If you pay rent a peso listed property you can ask to just pay in dollars and do it at the "dolar blue" rate. if you don't know about the unofficial currency market in Argentina just look up dolar blue. It's not a huge difference now between using your debit card but could change soon, who knows. It was a huge difference before Macri (the president that just lost reelection).

 

[evesal]

If the dollar parallel/Blue goes up the roof, you will find that you would be better off paying in pesos...Exchanging your dollars every month in the parallel market..!

Great point!

 

[evesal]

www.zonaprop.com.ar will have listings. look at Temporal lisitings. note that Argentina is a bit different than other places where you can say 6500 pesos now and that will still be the same later. It will certainly not be the current exchange rate in Feb. Look for stuff listed in pesos it's usually cheaper. You could ask the landlord to pay them in dollars later or change the money and pay in pesos. If you pay rent a peso listed property you can ask to just pay in dollars and do it at the "dolar blue" rate. if you don't know about the unofficial currency market in Argentina just look up dolar blue. It's not a huge difference now between using your debit card but could change soon, who knows. It was a huge difference before Macri (the president that just lost reelection).

 

[evesal]

Thanks for the reply! You make some great points. So instead of converting to the official rate, I would convert US dollars to the blue dolar rate. How could I pay in dollars using the blue dollar rate and actually save money in dollars? For example, my apartment would be $14,500 pesos a month which officially converts to ~$243 US dollars. You're saying I should convert the $243 to the blue dolar rate? Sorry if this is a silly question! Still learning about the blue dollar!

 

[sts7049]

they're saying keep your dollars in your pocket, and exchange them for pesos when you need to pay rent. if the blue rate goes up, you will need less dollars to get to 14500 pesos

 

[milanesas]

Totally agree with the other commenters, get a rate in pesos, not dollars! Bring USD cash and change as needed on the blue market. I would guess that a lot of brokers/owners will at first say you have to pay in USD cash, but with the current market they will probably settle with pesos if you are firm.