Can't show appartment.

[runner]

I made inquires with Idearental about renting an apartment that they advertised on the internet. I asked if I could see the apartment before commiting to rent. I was told " I´m sorry but we can´t show apartments, because in this case the owner is not in Buenos Aires and a friend of him could do a check in, but we cant make an appointment just to show the apartment" It makes me a little suspicious. Is this common practice for short term rentals? Does any one know of a rental agency that will show an apartment before committing?
Thanks, Craig

 

[nikad]

It is common practice, unless you are renting for several months ( 4+ ) imho.nik

 

[rmartinbuenosaires]

Yes it is common practice because this way, once you pay and then you don't like the apartment, its too noisy or the photos are misleading (which they often are) its too late and they have your money. Believe me, once they have it, you won't get it back. Thats they Argentine way.I live here and wanted to look at some apartments for friends who would be visiting and I had the same ordeal.Sadly most of these agencies are only out to take advantage of foreigners and charge as much as they can for some noisy, poorly furnished dump.Enjoy your stay...

 

[chris]

I opened a thread asking for information about idearental. They are not only difficult with potential renters but are almost impossible to contact if you are an owner. I don't know about the integrity of idearental but there is some truth to the comment that quite a few owners do not care about customer satisfaction. You may find it better to deal with an expat who owns a flat.

 

[Elpanada]

The dishonorable Argentines VS the Honest expats... No it's not like that at all really, everybody tries to fatten their pockets as much as they can.Renting out a place can be a bitch, meeting waves after waves of people who sometimes even dare make rude remarks about your place, there you are not having recieved a penny from these stupid filthy fucking worthless people, you drove half an hour to show out the place(Edit now you've got to drive half an hour back home), cancelled other activities to be able to do so and these morons dare talk shit to you, it's not like you're going to force the morons to rent anything, if you like it take it and if not then just say thanks and get lost.Then there's the people who sound like "I'll take anything, we're not just gonna see it tonight but we're also going to pay" on the phone, you go thinking to yourself "ah nice that takes care of this" and what happens the fucks don't even show up.(Edit all that waiting, rescheduling, driving back and forth.. Great)
And lets not forget the people who come see it and say "Yes I'll take it" you wait for them to call again saying that they've deposited the $ into your account and that they want the keys telling others who call "No sorry it's already gone" but then that phonecall simply just doesn't come so you yourself make a call only to hear "Ahh we reconsidered sorry, but thank you very much".Trusting an agency for your keys isn't sometimes the most intelligent thing to do, sometimes they'll simply give the keys to anyone who wants them cause they're either understaffed, greedy, stupid or incompetent, unprofessional, they're just bastards really and there you'll have people coming to your place unescorted able to do what ever they please, that's a Really nice thought right there and then something ofcourse goes missing and what you get is either a "No that never happened", a "We don't know anything" or a list of names and numbers that's going to do you a whole lot of good obviously. Besides even an employee of the agency could pay a visit to your place and help himself to some of your things.So if you don't have the time to show your place to people you often just simply don't, there's always another call coming, always another person interested, always another day tomorrow so if you don't have the time you dont' have time and that's all there is to it.
(Edit) Likewise to you people looking for a place, drop the desperation, there's always another place out there, always another owner, always another agency and always another day tomorrow.

 

[chris]

Elpanada, obviously there are going to be people who do not show up for appointments, who express interest and then change their minds, etc. That is just part of business and anyone who has worked in sales knows that. The fact that people can be unreliable does not justify unwillingness to provide customer service. Your experience may be different however I have found customer service to be a problem here, in almost all areas. Let's consider real estate. Open houses take place here on Saturdays and Sundays. I can not tell you how many times I have shown up at the scheduled, published hour and there was no agent to open the door - or he/she showed up late. This is just not a good way to do business. There is a problem with the business culture here, in particular a lack of attention to customer service as well as little interest in repeat business. I disagree with your reducing the issue to black and white terms. If a potential renter is in Buenos Aires and looking for an apartment it is only reasonable that he should be able to see it. You are right that there are other apartments available however that does not justify the unwillingness of the owner or agency responsible to make the effort to show the property.

 

[Elpanada]

Express interest? No I am talking about shaking hands here, making a deal and then not keeping your end of it.There is no need for a justify the actions of an owner who does not want to show his apartment. It's his place an he can do whatever he wants with it. There's also no need to justify the actions of an agency that doesn't want to show an apartment that it's managing. They're the ones managing it and if they fail to serve the interests of the person who owns it properly then they won't be managing it for a very long time.

 

[Elpanada]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the inconvenience of having people call you at 00:30 am expecting you to say "Yeah I'll come show it to you" instead of "I was sleeping, do not call me again".

 

[nikad]

ElPanada, I absolutely agree to everything you said, however it is important to note that sometimes it is impossible to show a property if it is still occupied, especially on short term rentals, when the tenants are vacationing an do not want to be disturbed. When I was working on real estate, I always took pictures of all properties myself and in large quantities, just so at least you would see what you were getting, also described the neighbourhood, blocks, stores, etc. I never commited to manage a property without visiting it personally ( some agents and agencies just grab old pics and have never actually see the place ). Temp rentals can become a pain for both the tenant and the owner for various reasons. Best thing to do is follow word of mouth or rent from reputable people.nik

 

[chris]

Of course you can not show an occupied property unless the tenants are willing and even then the owner/rental agent has to use a great deal of discretion so as not to disturb the tenants. As for refusing to show an apartment, this sort of conduct could be considered discriminatory in the US and illegal. During the days of segregation it was common for owners and real estate agents to avoid showing property to potntial buyers on the basis of color or by a manner of speech that was interpreted to be other than Anglo-Saxon. There are now strict laws to prevent this type of behavior. There may not be equal protections in Buenos Ares. If not, there should be.