Foreigners with property in BA

[Granadaiscool]

It is because of all the reasons that I stated above in my post...but to reiterate: it's breaking the laws of two countries and being forced to falsify docuements which to most people would be a moral dilemma; it's putting myself at risk for no personal benefit at all; it is potentially a huge detriment to me in terms of having to pay taxes upon reselling of possibly 10 times the actual profit that I might make. The IRS is a little less understanding and, shall we say, less "flexible" than the Argentine gov't when interpreting and prosecuting violations of tax laws. Of course people break the laws in the US also, but I can only control my own actions and prefer to keep things "above board". If a real estate agent or owner in the US were to try something like this, they would have a lawsuit slapped on them so fast it would make their head spin. The majority of Argentines I have asked about this tell me that I am correct not to want to participate and the gov't is clamping down on illegal activities like this, so hopefully things will be handled more professionally in the future. I must admit that, although I have been lucky enough to have travelled all over the world (70 + countries), this is my first real case of culture shock.

Make them pay 10k less, then you have personal benefit.
Bu I can understand it makes less or little sense if you want to stay long term and have the cash earned in a legit way

 

[SimNYC]

Yep, that might work. I have also heard from other people that the problem may be that it is a new building (only 6 mths old) and so the builder/owner probably has a line of people who are willing to go along with his plan to save himself from paying taxes. In other words, if I don't agree, there are plenty of people who will. Many people have also said that the legal risk is minimal and it is a very common practice, but obviously the biggest problem for me would be having to explain the difference in what I paid and what the apt was valued at (for capital gains or even losses since if I lost money on the re-sale, I could take a US tax deduction but only if I could prove how much I actually lost). Also, being a foreigner, I would be worried that if the politcal/economic tide turned at some point and the gov't decided to start auditing property sales, I could have problems applying for residency or repatriating my money after selling, for example, since I cooperated in the deception with the seller, even though it was not for my benefit.

 

[JG]

My friend in mendoza has warned me about this over and over again. Ive been direct with each of the hundreds of agents ive dealt with (this is argentina, you deal with countless agents and agencies). So, if anyone tried to pull this on my at the last minute, id just say no. period. i dont see how they could sneak it past me. Its not a country with any efficient whistleblower system so you cant get anyone in trouble. in fact, the law seems to mean little here, you can do what you want, at least the drivers nearly killing me at the pedestrian crosswalks each day seem to think so. This is argentina they often say with a shoulder shrug.
so just dont go along with it. you cant get anyone in trouble though, people rarely pay for illegal behavior in argentina.

 

[Granadaiscool]

Yep, that might work. I have also heard from other people that the problem may be that it is a new building (only 6 mths old) and so the builder/owner probably has a line of people who are willing to go along with his plan to save himself from paying taxes. In other words, if I don't agree, there are plenty of people who will. Many people have also said that the legal risk is minimal and it is a very common practice, but obviously the biggest problem for me would be having to explain the difference in what I paid and what the apt was valued at (for capital gains or even losses since if I lost money on the re-sale, I could take a US tax deduction but only if I could prove how much I actually lost). Also, being a foreigner, I would be worried that if the politcal/economic tide turned at some point and the gov't decided to start auditing property sales, I could have problems applying for residency or repatriating my money after selling, for example, since I cooperated in the deception with the seller, even though it was not for my benefit.

Who valued your appartment?
How big do you think the chance is you will be selling your home within 3 years? From what you wrote down, you are in it for the long(er) term

 

[SimNYC]

The seller just arbitrarily slapped a value on it of US$60k. I hopefully won't be selling the apt for a long time. The problem is that the story is always the same no matter how many selllers, lawyers, real estate agents, etc we have spoken to about it since. They just tell us that's its no big deal and everyone does it. So it looks like if we want to buy here, we will be basically forced to break the law. I wish that we could find someone law-abiding in Argentina, but it seems like an impossible task. I suppose that we could rent, but that sort of defeats the purpose of having a rent-free, mortgage-free home base for travel. We were also considering buying in Colonia, but we will probably face the same issues in Uruguay.

 

[Granadaiscool]

With the amount of homes for sale there, I doubt it

 

[SimNYC]

Well, the good news is that I found out from the IRS that I don't have to pay capital gains taxes on a primary residence if I make under US$250k ($500k if married) in profit even if my primary residence is outside the US as long as I live in the place for two of five years of ownership.

 

[Granadaiscool]

Well, the good news is that I found out from the IRS that I don't have to pay capital gains taxes on a primary residence if I make under US$250k ($500k if married) in profit even if my primary residence is outside the US as long as I live in the place for two of five years of ownership.

So that means that you ´can´t´ sell within 2 years?

What happens if you sell after 6 years?

 

[perry]

To find good quality properties for sale in the desired areas of Palermo, Recoleta. San Telmo is actually very difficult.
The older style. high ceilinged apartments with beautiful facades are rarely being offered for sale. If they are the prices are high.
I do beleive that their is no bubble here and with 95 percent of all purchases done in cash it is a very safe investment.
Will the prices continue to rise . I beleive they will as the demand is unparalleled for premium areas .

 

[Granadaiscool]

Can somebody give me the average selling price per square meter in Puerto Madero?
What is most likely to be the price per m2 that the AFIP will accept for an appartment in Puerto Madero?