Country Life In Argentina: What's It Really Like?

[steveinbsas]

We love the country life, the only thing that we did not account for were the security issues and the associated cost that this brings.
It can be upward of $30,000ar a month, plus the cost of another house.

I'm sure everyone who reads this will want to know more about what happened and how it could cost $30,000ar a month as well as the cost of "another" house.

I came close to a security breach one Sunday morning almost exactly four years ago when a dozen of my neighbors milk cows decide to pay an early morning visit. Two pieces of wood (forming an X in the front entry) and a chain across the driveway proved to be a sufficient barrier to keep them from coming into the property. Last year, in the middle of the afternoon (while I was home) the chain disappeared. That was the only incidence of theft at my house in four years and the cows have not returned, though I can occasionally hear them in the distance at milking time.

 

[steveinbsas]

That is very interesting and the house looks nice - very green and peaceful. The idea is interesting to me but I am an urban person and I wonder if I wouldn't get bored. Anyway, can you tell us how big the house is and what it would cost now -- and did you have to do a lot of remodeling? How expensive is it to maintain? Are you retired? How do you spend your days?

I am also curious about your idea of living in France. Don't think it is too practical for me but I'd like to know where you went for information. Thanks.

I am never bored. I do all of the grounds keeping myself, including mowing about 7500 sq meters at least once a week. When I bought the property, the back half (over 5800 sq meters) had not been cut in over ten years. It took two months to cut the knee high weeds down to a "mow-able" height and I wore out a 7 hp mower in the process. There was a lot of exposed dirt after that, but in the past two years it has all "filled in" and is now totally green. At first glance it looks like a soccer field, at least when freshly cut. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of weeds that grow faster and higher than the "grass" (which spreads naturally and eventually will prevail, but only if I continue to keep the entire area cut as low as possible. I spend a fair amount of time tree trimming as well...also moving the garden hose to water the 45 fruit and olive trees that I planted four years ago.

The house has 150 sq meters of interior space with an additional 75 meters presently under construction at the rear of the house (quincho, new kitchen, full bathroom and laundry room). There is also the 100 sq meter "galpon" (outbuilding just behind the new construction. This is the building that I am converting into the estancia style guest house. To build in the same style today, the cost of construction would be about $10,000 pesos per sq meter. When everything is finished, I will have a total of 325 sq meters of interior space. The house and galpon are on a 2500 sq meter "lot" which is densely wooded. The 2500 sq meter "lot" beside it has several rows of tamarisco trees in the front and several large eucalyptus tree at the back (which is otherwise open to the back half of the property which only has a few mature trees but is bordered on three sides by mature tamariscos.

I have DirecTV at my house and I have a wireless modem to connect to the internet. When I'm not working outside I am either posting here or on another (unrelated) website, shopping on Mercado Libre for items with which to decorate and illuminate the future estancia style guest house, chatting with friends using skype, and working on a screenplay for a movie about foreigners living in Argentina. Thanks to Mercado Libre I've been able to find almost a dozen vendors who live in Bahia Blanca. All of them have hundreds (two have thousands) of items that are not published on ML and shopping in person has resulted in purchases of a number of decorative items for the guest house that would have been cost-prohibitive (due to shipping costs) if purchased on ML. I almost always go to Bahia Blanca with an Argentine friend. Thanks to him, we always have pizza for lunch and it's the best pizza I've had since I left Chicago in 2000. Going to Bahia Blanca satisfies most of my urban cravings, but I would like to spend a month or two in Paris if and when I have someone (who is building a home next to mine) to stay in my house while I am in France.

I used google to find real estate websites for French properties for sale. They all have an English language option. French Tree is the first one that comes to mind.

Here's a photo of the open land in the back that I took over two years ago, prior to cutting down the weeds (the tamarisco trees in the distance are over 80 meters from where I was standing when I took the photo):

 

[steveinbsas]

Here's a photo of the open land in the back that I took about 15 minutes ago (the same view as the photo with the rainbow):

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Maginificent looking back yard, steveinbsas-san! Please post pics of avialble land adjacent to yours...
And how large was it?..Do you know price approximation for the available land and present building cost
of a house in that location per m2, so I will have a vague idea.

Also about security in the area. One has to rig the surrounding with mine-field in order to defend from invaders coming to rob you then possible kill you whilst at? Or is it sufficient just having a few Pit Bulls around?

Can foreigners with just a temp residency allowed to carry fire arms in your locality? have so many questions as to fill the prerequisites to planning to pay the visit in the area. And what about how to hire a security people to feed the dogs
whilst I'm off to going back home or just travelling around.?

 

[Crema Americana]

No animals on your land yet, Steve? They add a lot of work, but could give you company or something else to do. Some goats and you might not have to do as much mowing.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

No animals on your land yet, Steve? They add a lot of work, but could give you company or something else to do. Some goats and you might not have to do as much mowing.

Right on! I was thinking more like a few sheeps, goats perhaps and definitely you would need a chicken coop for eggs and meat ?.

 

[scotttswan]

Looks good, how's the fruit orchard getting on?

When I was down in Patagonia i visited a wee estancia in the outskirts of General Roca. The guy had hundreds of all different types of fruit tree's and had a nice wee side business of making jams and stuff.

Personally i'd be making Cider and Perry.

 

[steveinbsas]

No animals on your land yet, Steve? They add a lot of work, but could give you company or something else to do. Some goats and you might not have to do as much mowing.

Mowing is great exercise for me. I could certainly build a hen house, but it's much easier to buy eggs from my neighbors. If I had chickens, I wouldn't eat them. As far a furry critters are concerned, two dogs are enough and they are very well behaved.

 

[Rich One]

Steve's house sounds perfect for a B&B place I did send once a request for an option to visit???

 

[French jurist]

We have now lived in La Falda, Cordoba prov. for three years, after living in BA for 3 years. We come from a town of 1,000 in Oregon, so after retiring and moving to Argentina, BA was a great change from Oregon rural life. We rented apartments in BA for 6 months at a time, in different barrios: Belgrano Chico, San Telmo, Montsorrat, near the zoo...loved every minute. We also spent 6 weeks traveling all over Patagonia, spent time in Mendoza, Rosario area, Salta, .....but then we happened to find the Punillas in the small mountain range east of Cordoba.....lots of small towns in a string along the side of the mountains....one still finds horses on the streets, lots of vegi gardens, chickens in the road., but La Falda (due to it being a big Argentine tourist town during summer, had free wifi down town, and the ourdoor cafe society that we loved in BA, modern services) is where we decided to move to .temp .rentals were a bit harder to find than in BA ....we found word of mouth was better. we have rented 3 different properities now in the La Falda area, each one getting better and cheaper. we now rent a three story 3 year old house with a beautiful yard and garden...4000 pesos per month ....we definitely feel at home here, even though there are only a couple of other people in town that are expats. I would strongly recommend renting places instead of right away trying to buy...even in this little town, each barrio within has a whole different feel/problems/advantages that one needs to spend time in to see if its a good fit....

What are my chances finding a house to rent in your region if I have 5 dogs? (would be a rent for 6 or 24 months, don't need luxury, just a closed garden for the dogs + a safe place).