Finding a great 3 month rental apartment

[tmetzger]

Hi folks! I'm a Canadian, planning to move to BA for three months starting Nov 1 this year.

I'm looking for tips about the best way to find an apartment. Looking online, the prices are wild, from 88k pesos up to millions.

I was thinking of getting an airbnb for a few days or a week, looking around and finding a place (somehow), and then paying in USD.

Got any suggestions for me?

 

[julia_en_ruta]

As much as I dislike AirBnB as a company, if you'll only be here for three months, they're probably your best option. If you want to go through the process of coordinating apartment viewings and potentially having to pay your rent up-front in physical US cash, we used ZonaProp (https://www.zonaprop.com.ar/) -- you can filter for "temporal".

 

[Neil]

Hi folks! I'm a Canadian, planning to move to BA for three months starting Nov 1 this year.

I'm looking for tips about the best way to find an apartment. Looking online, the prices are wild, from 88k pesos up to millions.

I was thinking of getting an airbnb for a few days or a week, looking around and finding a place (somehow), and then paying in USD.

Got any suggestions for me?

The temp rental markets trending upwards ,as we approach spring,summer...I wouldn't wait too long to secure even an Airbnb at these $$...

 

[PatriotsFan]

I have had a lot of good rentals through 4rentArgentina
Jolieta is an agent: They are at Billinghurst 1833

 

[tmetzger]

Thanks everyone. I got some great tips and wound up booking three months in a nice suite in Palermo, through Airbnb.

 

[NomadTrader]

Every time I try to use Airbnb in Argentina I run into the same problem:

I pay in USD with my US credit card and the host receives Argentine pesos. AirBnb seems to convert everything at the 'official' currency exchange rate rather than using MEP. This results in the host receiving only half the value of what I'm paying.

Often times, the host will request that I pay more upon arrival in pesos. That is fair from the Argentine host's perspective, but I wind up paying 1.5x the value of the rental.

The host or I usually cancels the reservation and I just pay the host directly in cash pesos. This works out fine for me and the host, but I would think that Airbnb would find a legitimate, workable solution so everything can just be done through their system.

Has anyone else experienced this or have a better solution?

 

[RinoG]

Every time I try to use Airbnb in Argentina I run into the same problem:

I pay in USD with my US credit card and the host receives Argentine pesos. AirBnb seems to convert everything at the 'official' currency exchange rate rather than using MEP. This results in the host receiving only half the value of what I'm paying.

Often times, the host will request that I pay more upon arrival in pesos. That is fair from the Argentine host's perspective, but I wind up paying 1.5x the value of the rental.

The host or I usually cancels the reservation and I just pay the host directly in cash pesos. This works out fine for me and the host, but I would think that Airbnb would find a legitimate, workable solution so everything can just be done through their system.

Has anyone else experienced this or have a better solution?

This is not true. Airbnb is a US-based company and their prices are set in USD. How the host gets paid depends on how and where he choose to be paid out. If they set up a bank account in Argentina, they receive the equivalent amount in pesos at the official rate, and this is not Airbnb's fault. There are other methods to get paid in USD from Airbnb and bring the money in at the blue rate, but it is up to the host to set up his payout method to take advantage of these alternate payout routes. They are discussed daily on FB groups for Airbnb hosts in Argentina-
If the host cancels the reservation through the platform, they are stupid as there is a penalty for the host and it brings down their listing and reputation on Airbnb. It seems your host have not been very savvy.

 

[NomadTrader]

Well, it may not be true, but I have run into it at least a dozen times.

I love airbnb and have used it for at least 1000 nights world wide, but I tend to avoid it here in Argentina.

As a guest, there is no easy way for me to tell if the apartment host is saavy and has a US bank account or if they are less sophisticated and just set it up with their Argentine account.

On my last attempt to use Airbnb in Argentina, I contacted a host with questions, they sent me an invitation to book, and I accepted. Shortly before my scheduled arrival, the host contacted me and asked me for more money. I refused to pay the extra and mentioned that I would only the pay the price agreed upon previously. They told me the the price we agreed was a mistake. They wrote that I was being an cheapskate and that I was taking advantage of them and that I was insulting them by refusing to pay the higher price. I told them the exact price in US dollars that I was paying for the rental, and they thought that was a fair price, but that the price I said that I was paying was double the price Airbnb was giving to them. I contacted Airbnb customer service, I told them that the host had just contacted me and wanted me to double the price. The reservation was cancelled within a few days.

I believe you that sophisticated hosts can easily manage a rental unit, but from the perspective of the customer, the process is too error prone and it is a pain in the @ss to have to cancel a booking and try to set up another rental on short notice. In my experience, Airbnb is less than helpful or understanding of the customer's predicament when they have made travel plans and their lodging falls through at the last minute. When something happens like this -especially in a tight apartment rental market-as a customer I feel that Airbnb has wronged me. yes, I get the money back, but the whole point of a website like Airbnb is that you can plan in advance. When something falls through, the customer is basically just screwed.

So in short, its just not worth it, when other avenues for short term rentals like zonaprop, argenprop, mercadopago, and instagram are available.

 

[Rich One]

The temp rental markets trending upwards ,as we approach spring,summer...I wouldn't wait too long to secure even an Airbnb at these $$...

You are correct the market will be very tight..! mostly dollar rentals. In my building 7 units were purchased for Airbnb listing. Most of the new owners are from small cities in Argentina Provincias,they want to benefit from the CABA Tourist Trade, since in their locations the tourist traffic is negligible. Except for Bariloche, Mendoza, and other high tourist Traffic areas.. .

 

[Redpossum]

Well, it may not be true, but I have run into it at least a dozen times.

I love airbnb and have used it for at least 1000 nights world wide, but I tend to avoid it here in Argentina.

As a guest, there is no easy way for me to tell if the apartment host is saavy and has a US bank account or if they are less sophisticated and just set it up with their Argentine account.

On my last attempt to use Airbnb in Argentina, I contacted a host with questions, they sent me an invitation to book, and I accepted. Shortly before my scheduled arrival, the host contacted me and asked me for more money. I refused to pay the extra and mentioned that I would only the pay the price agreed upon previously. They told me the the price we agreed was a mistake. They wrote that I was being an cheapskate and that I was taking advantage of them and that I was insulting them by refusing to pay the higher price. I told them the exact price in US dollars that I was paying for the rental, and they thought that was a fair price, but that the price I said that I was paying was double the price Airbnb was giving to them. I contacted Airbnb customer service, I told them that the host had just contacted me and wanted me to double the price. The reservation was cancelled within a few days.

I believe you that sophisticated hosts can easily manage a rental unit, but from the perspective of the customer, the process is too error prone and it is a pain in the @ss to have to cancel a booking and try to set up another rental on short notice. In my experience, Airbnb is less than helpful or understanding of the customer's predicament when they have made travel plans and their lodging falls through at the last minute. When something happens like this -especially in a tight apartment rental market-as a customer I feel that Airbnb has wronged me. yes, I get the money back, but the whole point of a website like Airbnb is that you can plan in advance. When something falls through, the customer is basically just screwed.

So in short, its just not worth it, when other avenues for short term rentals like zonaprop, argenprop, mercadopago, and instagram are available.

AirBnB is the devil, and I dislike it very intensely. I would urgently desire it to be banned from Argentina altogether.