Hi all,
Firstly apologies I know you must get a lot of new registrations to the site, post one thing and never are to be seen again. I can assure you that if I do make the plunge I certainly intend to become an active member of the community here.
A potential opportunity is on the horizon with work to come to BA for a couple of years starting early next year. There is no doubt it would be fantastic move from a career perspective. Equally I see this as potentially a fantastic life experience but of course not without risks.
Current situation is early 30's living in UK, married with two kids come May eldest will be 3 and youngest 1. Whilst in BA I'll be the only wage earner and wife would be with the kids during the day whilst I'm at work. The main advantage to now for me is that we'd back without disrupting eldest from a school perspective too much so I kind of feel its a bit of a now or never situation.
My three main area of focus at the moment are around security, location and cost of living.
Security
From what I'm reading it seems pretty straight forward, stay out of bad areas, keep your wits about you/belongings and don't be flashy. Is this fair a statement? If so I did a bit of time in Manila and it was much the same so fairly comfortable. However what about my wife? I don't want her to feel house bound all day with the kids and want her to feel comfortable to be able to take them out and about whilst I'm at work?
Will a 24 hour security manned apartment be essential for us?
Having read through a lot of threads on here I'm reading talks of constant attempts of being ripped off. Could I have some examples? I'm assuming trying to charge more than going rate in taxis, giving a bad rate when trying to pay in dollars etc. If this is the case fairly used to this from my travels but wanted to see if I was missing something.
Location
The office I'll be working at is currently located Riobamba & Lavalle (not sure I'm writing that correctly but you get the idea). So from what I am reading obvious choices are Recoleta or Palermo.
Up until recently I was of the opinion that Palermo was the obvious choice as despite the longer commute to work it would be better for the wife having plenty of greenery on her doorstep to amuse the kids during the day, the buildings also seem more in keeping with what we are used to. However I'm now wondering if it's good for a young family as it maybe seems better suited to singles or couples without kids due to the large amount of bars and clubs etc.
So that leads me to Belgrano which I don't know much about realistically does anyone know how much extra time this would add to my commute vs Palermo? Do people see this as better base camp given the family situation? Are there many expats there for my wife to socialise with? Is it safe?
Any where else I should be thinking? I'll be working long hours so would like to keep the commute down to 45 mins or below if possible so have ruled out the like of San Isidro for that reason.
Cost of Living
Done a fair bit of research here. I won't need to send money home as we will rent our house and comfortably cover mortgage and expenses. So essentially anything I earn whilst in BA I intend to spend on making our lives as comfortable as possible and hopefully also travelling to some local countries. Will also bring some start up money with me in the form of dollars.
Equally I get a fair bit of support from work in the form of Spanish lessons, shipping,rental agency fees etc. but above that will be relying on my salary and my salary only. I'd look to bring as much as possible with us to try and keep our monthly costs as close to rent, bills, getting around and food as possible.
Any way a few questions,
Short or Long Term - I'd be able to get a guarantee through work on a long term lease so it is an option but wondering if it's just simpler to go short term and have everything included? This would save me on having to ship my furniture over and whilst I know you pay more seems straight forward in having all your bills included, maid service etc. I've seen it mentioned that it's pretty common for 6 month leases to keep getting renewed? And I guess worst case scenario we have to find another place but I'm not sure why a landlord would want the stress of sourcing a new tenant. Am I missing anything here?
Nanny / Kindergarten - I'd like my wife to have some support so she has some time for herself and also so we can have some nights out. What are the current going rates for a nanny? Are they generally only full time or is part time an option too? If we wanted to do Kindergarten for the eldest what are the costs and are there dedicated ones that cater for expats?
How much - Given the above how much do you think I need to be netting to live comfortably. Ideally we'd want a 3 bedroom apartment with a terrace. Wages will be increased at work when inflation hikes occur so that is not a huge concern. I saw mention in another thread where a woman was suggested she'd net 50,000 a month and people seemed to think it would be doable. Given I'd not have schooling to worry about but looking at some form of child care do people think that 50,000 would be a good base level to work with? I don't know what the net salary would yet so just trying to get an idea of what is workable.
I'm not expecting a better life than what we have today but equally I don't want to making too many compromises.
I'm sure I've got more questions but I think they are the main ones. Any guidance people can give would be great very keen to hear from people with a similar family set-up already out there and hearing the rough as well as the smooth!
Thanks!
Firstly apologies I know you must get a lot of new registrations to the site, post one thing and never are to be seen again. I can assure you that if I do make the plunge I certainly intend to become an active member of the community here.
A potential opportunity is on the horizon with work to come to BA for a couple of years starting early next year. There is no doubt it would be fantastic move from a career perspective. Equally I see this as potentially a fantastic life experience but of course not without risks.
Current situation is early 30's living in UK, married with two kids come May eldest will be 3 and youngest 1. Whilst in BA I'll be the only wage earner and wife would be with the kids during the day whilst I'm at work. The main advantage to now for me is that we'd back without disrupting eldest from a school perspective too much so I kind of feel its a bit of a now or never situation.
My three main area of focus at the moment are around security, location and cost of living.
Security
From what I'm reading it seems pretty straight forward, stay out of bad areas, keep your wits about you/belongings and don't be flashy. Is this fair a statement? If so I did a bit of time in Manila and it was much the same so fairly comfortable. However what about my wife? I don't want her to feel house bound all day with the kids and want her to feel comfortable to be able to take them out and about whilst I'm at work?
Will a 24 hour security manned apartment be essential for us?
Having read through a lot of threads on here I'm reading talks of constant attempts of being ripped off. Could I have some examples? I'm assuming trying to charge more than going rate in taxis, giving a bad rate when trying to pay in dollars etc. If this is the case fairly used to this from my travels but wanted to see if I was missing something.
Location
The office I'll be working at is currently located Riobamba & Lavalle (not sure I'm writing that correctly but you get the idea). So from what I am reading obvious choices are Recoleta or Palermo.
Up until recently I was of the opinion that Palermo was the obvious choice as despite the longer commute to work it would be better for the wife having plenty of greenery on her doorstep to amuse the kids during the day, the buildings also seem more in keeping with what we are used to. However I'm now wondering if it's good for a young family as it maybe seems better suited to singles or couples without kids due to the large amount of bars and clubs etc.
So that leads me to Belgrano which I don't know much about realistically does anyone know how much extra time this would add to my commute vs Palermo? Do people see this as better base camp given the family situation? Are there many expats there for my wife to socialise with? Is it safe?
Any where else I should be thinking? I'll be working long hours so would like to keep the commute down to 45 mins or below if possible so have ruled out the like of San Isidro for that reason.
Cost of Living
Done a fair bit of research here. I won't need to send money home as we will rent our house and comfortably cover mortgage and expenses. So essentially anything I earn whilst in BA I intend to spend on making our lives as comfortable as possible and hopefully also travelling to some local countries. Will also bring some start up money with me in the form of dollars.
Equally I get a fair bit of support from work in the form of Spanish lessons, shipping,rental agency fees etc. but above that will be relying on my salary and my salary only. I'd look to bring as much as possible with us to try and keep our monthly costs as close to rent, bills, getting around and food as possible.
Any way a few questions,
Short or Long Term - I'd be able to get a guarantee through work on a long term lease so it is an option but wondering if it's just simpler to go short term and have everything included? This would save me on having to ship my furniture over and whilst I know you pay more seems straight forward in having all your bills included, maid service etc. I've seen it mentioned that it's pretty common for 6 month leases to keep getting renewed? And I guess worst case scenario we have to find another place but I'm not sure why a landlord would want the stress of sourcing a new tenant. Am I missing anything here?
Nanny / Kindergarten - I'd like my wife to have some support so she has some time for herself and also so we can have some nights out. What are the current going rates for a nanny? Are they generally only full time or is part time an option too? If we wanted to do Kindergarten for the eldest what are the costs and are there dedicated ones that cater for expats?
How much - Given the above how much do you think I need to be netting to live comfortably. Ideally we'd want a 3 bedroom apartment with a terrace. Wages will be increased at work when inflation hikes occur so that is not a huge concern. I saw mention in another thread where a woman was suggested she'd net 50,000 a month and people seemed to think it would be doable. Given I'd not have schooling to worry about but looking at some form of child care do people think that 50,000 would be a good base level to work with? I don't know what the net salary would yet so just trying to get an idea of what is workable.
I'm not expecting a better life than what we have today but equally I don't want to making too many compromises.
I'm sure I've got more questions but I think they are the main ones. Any guidance people can give would be great very keen to hear from people with a similar family set-up already out there and hearing the rough as well as the smooth!
Thanks!
