Buying a House

[sesamosinsal]

Well if you have chosen to start a business while we're in a time of 30% inflation, expected annual raises of 25-30%, corp income tax of 35%, onerous employment laws and a slowing economy - you are either incredibly brave or foolish.

Let's put it this way - if I were ranking risky/difficult things in Buenos Aires on a scale of 1-25 (with 1 being the worst), I'd put buying a house or apt at around 20.. Starting and running a business - #1.

So if you're willing to start a business, why not buy a house? It will be a lot less of a headache in the long run and you even have a chance to make money on your house.

Will you and your business partners be calling it quits soon, citygirl?

 

[steveinbsas]

I assume you know how expensive furniture and appliances are correct? Especially for good quality?

Even the best brands of appliances burn out fast, literally. I had a fire in my Ariston washing machine shortly after arriving at my present location in the south of Prov. Bs. As. I sold my Ariston lavasecorapos (with over two years left on an extended warranty) to a friend just before I moved from CF. It quit working about six months later. He recently gave up trying to get service under the warranty and bought an identical model from anther expat who was fleeing Argentina.

At least now he has a lot of spare parts, but he also has a dead washing machine in his lavadora.

 

[steveinbsas]

My philosophy (when I bought my apt): I didn't approach it like an investment; it's not obvious or clear in any way that a real estate investment in Argentina will be profitable for you.

However, when I bought my (awesome!) apt, I took into account to a significant degree the non-financial factors: I can never be kicked out, I never need to hunt for another place to live, I can paint or knock down walls or anything reasonable I want to at all and no one will ever tell me not to (I just did knock down a wall a few weeks ago btw!), I can finally, after years of searching, have a place I call "home".... now, lets say I value all of these things at $X,000 (fill in "X" with whatever value you would place on all of those, and any other psychological/emotional factor) -- therefore, even if the value I paid decreases by $X,000, I still come out ahead!

Economics isn't about money; it's about happiness. (Or "utility", which is basically the economist's way of technically talking about something that approaches the fluffiness of happiness.)

This is a wonderful post.

I have a university degree in economics. This post makes more sense than 99% of what is "taught" about economics at the university level!

 

[Johnno]

Damn - there is a bit of expertise here in this thread so I'll butt in and temporarily hijack it (if I may?) My plan is to try and buy - in the next 6 months or so - a 3 bedroom apartment in Belgrano - and I'd like to do this for around the 120,000 US mark - just HOW doable do you guys think this will be? I could go a bit higher but I'm being realistic about how much cash I think I will have to play with once my affairs are settled back in Oz - and (obviously) I don't want to push myself to a point where I have nothing left in reserve - I always like to have a safety net...

I don't care if it will need a bit of work on it - but I'm not talking about a complete dump either - it needs to be a decent apartment that we would be able to move straight into and then do up over time...

AM I being overly ambitious here or is this still doable ?

Thanks in advance, Johnno.

 

[citygirl]

Will you and your business partners be calling it quits soon, citygirl?

Not to sidetrack jb5's thread but yes, the decision was made to let the existing project sunset here & not put any new projects here. Not worth the headaches & hassle trying to do business here.

And Johnno - I think for a 3 BR your price range is way too low. 3 BR, you're probably looking at double that, if not more.

 

[Johnno]

Thanks Steve - when it comes down to it and the time is right I guess I'll just have to ''cut my cloth to suit my purse'' - but the game plan is to try and stay reasonably close to Belgrano because I feel pretty comfortable here and if something has to go (i.e. go for two bedroom and smaller and further away from Cabildo or whatever) then it will have to go - there is still time yet however - at this stage I'll be staying put where i am for another 6 months - my first 6 months in this apartment runs out at the end of June and the owner has given me the okay to have another 6 months - and whilst the present place is not perfect its not bad - it has 3 bedrooms - its high up - its reasonably secure and suits my needs...

 

[jb5]

Citygirl, I hope to run into you and others who have run businesses here. Our business model works here better than most, but we know there are issues.

Are there ever business centered meet ups?

Johnno, based on what we've seen in Belgrano, I have a hard time imagining a decent 3 bedroom there for anywhere near that price. And many parts don't seem that nice.

 

[fifs2]

The beauty of some of the homes (and the small kitchens making me long for my own place to build a bigger one) and the high rent prices made us reconsider for a minute, but the original plan seems on target.[/quote]

Oh JB you summed it up beautifully. My husband bought our house for many reasons but the 18m2 kitchen was the winner. If you`re here for 2 - 5 years maybe just learn to hire staff and enjoy the vacation from cooking..except from the parilla of course

 

[marksoc]

I know that you all seem to dislike the suburbs, but as a comparison: 3 amb appartments in a middle to upper-middle class area (Ramos Mejia), sell by USD 80k to USD 160k. Weird enough, houses are not so much expensive, look at this:

http://www.inmuebles.clarin.com/Pro...sa-de-4-Ambientes-en-Venta-en-La-Matanza?hb=1

Of course, it all depends if you have a car and how much close to BA do you want to be. My old town of Ituzaingo is better if you want empty leafy streets to play soccer and big brick houses:

Big house with swimming pool etc, in Parque Leloir (some local celebrities live there): USD 290k --> http://www.inmuebles.clarin.com/Pro...asa-de-5-Ambientes-en-Venta-en-Ituzaingo?hb=1

House near the "center" of Ituzaingo: between USD 120-250k. This one for 180k comes with an 1000 m2 lot--> http://www.inmuebles.clarin.com/Pro...asa-de-4-Ambientes-en-Venta-en-Ituzaingo?hb=1