Hi!I am so glad I found this message board. I am a US citizen. My question: how easy is it for a non-Argentine citizen to buy property? I am interested in buying an apartment in BsAs in the $100K - $140K range. Are there any risks I should be aware of?Cheers!
Buying an Apartment in BsAs??
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steveinbsas
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If you search the board for related topics you will find a lot of information!Then ask more questions...LOTS of them!
Fettucini
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We've had various foreign clients buying offplan and never had a problem. One of them bought a couple of offplan apts in Palermo two years ago at the project start and sold on completion a few months ago and made a nice profit without having to do much at all. The only thing to be aware of buying offplan is that when you're paying in installments, the price will generally always be higher than they told you, due largely to inflation in Argentina. Nevertheless you should make an easy profit if you're in a project from the beginning.... unless a major economic crisis hits the country which is of course is a risk to be aware of in Argentina. There's been a lot of histeria lately in the press that the country is heading for another crisis although it was nice to read in the Economist magasine that ran an article last week which said "Fears of another economic collapse of the kind that Argentina has made its speciality are, in fact, overblown".... I hope they are right!
Fettucini, I read the same Economist article as well but they went on to say they thought another crisis could be avoided if the government took steps to correct some obvious problems. Unfortunately, changing course doesn´t seem to be a strong suit with this government.
There is no reason (except the government) Argentina shouldn´t be going through an economic boom with it´s main exports at near record levels. The prudent investor looking at Argentina should be asking the following question.
If Argentina cann´t be successful with the current favorable economic conditions what´s going to happen in the future when conditions aren´t as favorable?
My view is that the current government probably won´t take the neccessary actions to avoid a crisis. Only time will tell and they could surprise me. If you are sure you want to live here rent first (at least a year) to make sure you like it. The potential for an economic crisis should become clearer with time.
I could be wrong but I think we are at or close to the end of the current real estate cycle here. Most of the stuff I´ve read in the local news is that prices appear to be flattening out. My guess is that a year or two from now prices will be about the same assuming there no big meltdown of the economy. If a meltdown does occur I would think prices would fall.
You could argue that by buying now, you are buying at the top of the market, with limited upside but unkown and significant downside risk due to mismanagement of the economy by the current government.
There is no reason (except the government) Argentina shouldn´t be going through an economic boom with it´s main exports at near record levels. The prudent investor looking at Argentina should be asking the following question.
If Argentina cann´t be successful with the current favorable economic conditions what´s going to happen in the future when conditions aren´t as favorable?
My view is that the current government probably won´t take the neccessary actions to avoid a crisis. Only time will tell and they could surprise me. If you are sure you want to live here rent first (at least a year) to make sure you like it. The potential for an economic crisis should become clearer with time.
I could be wrong but I think we are at or close to the end of the current real estate cycle here. Most of the stuff I´ve read in the local news is that prices appear to be flattening out. My guess is that a year or two from now prices will be about the same assuming there no big meltdown of the economy. If a meltdown does occur I would think prices would fall.
You could argue that by buying now, you are buying at the top of the market, with limited upside but unkown and significant downside risk due to mismanagement of the economy by the current government.
steveinbsas
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Just stopped in the Barrio Norte office of one of the higher profile apartment developers (new construction).The prices they quoted ranged from $2650 to $2940 per sq meter - 3rd floor versus 8th floor - for a (ready to move into) 2 bedroom, 84 sq meter (incuding 12 meter balcony) apartment in Alto Palermo...plus 3% commission....plus the escribano's fees (usually about 2%)..plus the cost of transferring the money (from 1 to 2%).The rep with whom I spoke had two questions: "Is the price good for you?" and "Where is your money?" I said yes, and then added that the funds were in the US. I then asked if it was "difficult" to send the money to Argentina.The rep gave me a painful look and said, "It can be done, but NOT with a bank, NOT with a bank." They didn't want to go into details until after I have seen the apartment and am serious about buying.
It will be interesting to see what they tell me next.
It will be interesting to see what they tell me next.