Debate on Craiglist on Expats in BsAs

[mariefer]

For most argentines, if you can afford an airplain ticket, you're already rich.

 

[diego7david]

as someone who rented out my apt in santiago de chile, one needs to remember that a lot of renting people are "on vacation" and here to party or at least enjoy their free time here and dont live by a working schedule. i had students who i met with their parents in usa before renting. they still jumped the contract early and ruined stuff. every guest ive had in santiago brought people home at night from bars or ?, stayed up late with music and generally bothered my neighbors. it is a problem with renting so i dont think all landlords are necessarily evil for being cautious. i sold that property because it wasnt worth the aggrevation. or the little bit of money renting brings in. in ba i wont rent as i have my possesions in place and i live in a small building with professional neighbors who go to sleep early so they can get up for work and wouldnt appreciate someone coming home late every night and turning on the stereo, running the elevator, and making noise. which is not to say every expat or renter is this way, but hey, when im on vacation i try to have fun, dont you?

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

The situation in BA is a bit different because unlike in most of the rest of the world properties here are not bought as an investment but as a way to protect yourself against economic turmoil, devaluations, etc

Because of this a typical homeowner owns many properties and does not care about the ROI, they won't even do the necessary maintance, etc. That's why there are so many sub-par properties on the rental market.

This eventually will backfire, the foreign arrivals so far this year are about 20% down, many Argentinian students from the interior are not studying in BA. Within a year or maybe 2 Argentina will be back to a situation in most of the 90's where many properties were empty. In my opinion it will be like in the south of Spain where you can be very lucky if you can rent out your property 2 or 3 months a year. And with the constant price increases they are going to suffer.

Right now the temporary rental market has an occuptation rate of about 30 to 40% and this have to go down.

What???? You can´t be serious. Properties in BA are not purchased as an investment? Argentinians typically put their investment money into real estate. And, an enormous amount of apartments are for sale in Recoleta Palermo, etc., originally purchased by foreigners who were looking for "investment income" which has now plummeted significantly. Why are foreigners bailing out? The people who were looking for a steady stream of monthly income are just not getting it. Those days are over at least for now.

 

[Joe]

There is one key difference between Argentina and the USA. Some countries like the USA and UK went crazy with lax lending. So the bubble in the countries with really lax lending is going to be proportionally worse. Since Argentina is mostly a cash based system for real estate, I expect the bubble is not nearly as bad here.

Of course as Recolta Carolina suggests the expat part of the BsAs market is going to be hurt by expats from the USA and other countries pulling back.

It's really not a bad thing. High prices in the end only benefit banks and real estate brokers. The rest of us become debt slaves. Thank god it's over.

 

[BlahBlah]

What???? You can´t be serious. Properties in BA are not purchased as an investment? Argentinians typically put their investment money into real estate. And, an enormous amount of apartments are for sale in Recoleta Palermo, etc., originally purchased by foreigners who were looking for "investment income" which has now plummeted significantly. Why are foreigners bailing out? The people who were looking for a steady stream of monthly income are just not getting it. Those days are over at least for now.

I was not talking about foreigners but locals and I do think that Argentines dont buy properties as an investment but just to safeguard there money, to launder there money and to prevent them from having a lot of cash in there homes.

the ROI in a country like Argentina does not even keep up with the inflation figures so it does not make sense to buy an appartment, it does however when you are 1) Laundering money, 2) own a business that generates lot's of cash or both.

I have met many tennants and some Argentines have bought a second home to rent it out, someday return from abroad or are looking for a temporary home for there vacations in Argentina and wanting to make some extra cash once they return to there country abroad.

But in general I would say that Argentines who rent out properties have various appartements and really don't care about the ROI, they just have those appartements for the 2 above stated reasons. They welcome the extra money but they just don't care, they also wont invest to maintain the appartement at a desired level.

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

There is one key difference between Argentina and the USA. Some countries like the USA and UK went crazy with lax lending. So the bubble in the countries with really lax lending is going to be proportionally worse. Since Argentina is mostly a cash based system for real estate, I expect the bubble is not nearly as bad here.

Of course as Recolta Carolina suggests the expat part of the BsAs market is going to be hurt by expats from the USA and other countries pulling back.

It's really not a bad thing. High prices in the end only benefit banks and real estate brokers. The rest of us become debt slaves. Thank god it's over.

Actually, even though people do not have mortgages in Argentina people who have nice apartments in Buenos Aires have gotten a few big suprises in recent years in the way of an enormous increase in the monthly maintenance fee, ABL, taxes, and a few other things. The apartments with 24/7 security are actually pretty expensive to maintain. More so than many places that I know of in the States.

 

[Joe]

I saw the HOA expenses for my apartment in Palermo with 24 hour security and it is indeed expensive. The place I am in now is a one year old gleaming glass tower but built really shoddy. I can hear every footstep of the neighbors and hear the tinkle when they pee.

But I looked at some new condos in San Diego last summer, and even after the steep price correction, for a new building with 24 hour security, you can expect to pay $500 dollars in HOA - even for a studio! And the poor bastards that bought those places can't even meet their mortgage payments, much less a $500+ HOA - even after selling off the Hummer...