Barrio Cerrado

[Churchill]

Just wondered if anybody has any experience of living in a barrio cerrado? What is it like? Do people seem more/less friendly? How is the security? Any small shops? I may be coming back to Argentina soon and having lived in Zona Oeste near Ramos Mejia before am looking for something a little more peaceful, somewhere where I can walk/run with the dog without having to worry about someone trying to thieve my phone etc. All stories welcome, even the horror ones.

 

[Redpossum]

So, are we going to tell him about the capybara invasion or not?

 

[Edu R]

Like everything else, it varies according to how much money you're willing to spend. The more expensive ones offer some of the safest living in Argentina, with essentially a similar lifestyle to affluent US neighborhoods (think children biking around and dropping their bikes wherever). Just like in the US, you get to deal with well-meaning but overbearing HOAs with varying level of dysfunction and bureacracy.

Tigre, Pilar and certain areas of Ezeiza are known for having the best ones.

As you get farther away and look for cheaper options, you will find barrios in different stages of development, with less money to spend on security and amenities, and in some cases outright broke but shuffling along in a zombie-like existence.

In most cases, due to bureaucracy and zoning issues, you don't get the luxury of a deed in your name for your troubles and will essentially hold a private contract with the developer stating that you are entitled to the land. This has been going on for long enough that as long as it's all well documented I wouldn't worry too much about it, unless you have the misfortune of buying into a project that is essentially going broke, in which case lol, good luck to you.

It is very much a caveat emptor situation so I would definitely take my time and do the research before buying into something. Run background checks on the developers, sellers, talk to your future neighbors, if possible, etc.

Good luck!

 

[jblaze5779]

Results vary. I've seen really nice and I've seen really shitty.

I often wonder if the security would really be up to task if there was an actual invasion into the neighborhood. At the end of the day would you risk your life for some other rich people for 400 dollars a month?

 

[antipodean]

Results vary. I've seen really nice and I've seen really shitty.

I often wonder if the security would really be up to task if there was an actual invasion into the neighborhood. At the end of the day would you risk your life for some other rich people for 400 dollars a month?

In terms of security:

Often when there are robberies in these neighborhoods the security ends up hog-tied and gagged on the floor in the guard house while entire families end up hog-tied and gagged in their living rooms as the thieves go about their work, sometimes even house to house. Sometimes they even drive out with the homeowners car to carry all the loot. Events like this seem to happen a few times each year at some of the smaller countries, rare enough but a reoccurring theme.

At the larger countries like Nordelta often the robberies are an “inside job”, someone renting a house inside it to rob other houses at night or a dodgy security guard in on the action etc however these tend to be less likely to be violent. However earlier this year there was an armed home invasion and shooting inside Saint Thomas neighborhood from thieves who broke in (one of the most fancy and largest barrios in south zone)

Before settling on a barrio, do a google news search for robos and assaults to see how recent and or frequent they are there and make up your own mind. Very few are completely untouched by insecurity issues - but so too are very few neighborhoods or buildings in the city.

 

[jblaze5779]

I'm talking on the interior where closed neighborhoods are little more than a fence around a couple blocks of houses. I've also heard that most security companies rotate the guards to prevent them from learning the routines of the homeowners.

Personally I prefer to live in an apt with ground level and door security. Seems a little harder to enter the building.

 

[mediotonto]

An Argentine friend of my once said, "Barrio cerrado? No, beacuse then they know there are money" in my boxing club "It´s always the guards that rat you out, if you are away, they send someone to rob your house"
From a personal note, me and my famlily suffered a homeinvasion some years ago, in a calm barrio just outside a small town, they basicly just kicked in the door and put 3 revolvers up my nose, I tried to fight them of with a drying rack, long story short, they won, big time.
Since then, I got the best insurence there are, a Glock 17, its fairly easy to get a permison in Argentina to have a gun, get it before, because you will for sure get one after wards

 

[BeraRane]

My Argentine wife and I are going for a glock 17 + Dogo Argentino + Fila Brasileño combo when we move to the province in October.

 

[Quilombo]

I got the best insurence there are, a Glock 17, its fairly easy to get a permison in Argentina to have a gun, get it before, because you will for sure get one after wards

I told my husband the only way we're moving to Zona Sur is if we get a S&W Model 686, but given his fear of guns I don't think either us moving or getting one is likely.

 

[FrankPintor]

We're planning to move to a barrio cerrado north of BA, just past Escobar, next year, so I'm very interested in reading from anyone who's had security issues. Does it depend on where you live, are some areas more problematic than others? South of BA there are some very nice developments, Haras del Sur, would you also consider a location like that to be unsafe?