Good Time To Buy An Apartment?

[garryl]

Few is paying the asset tax each year. People do not know how the law is going to change and how peso is going to change. You are a lot better off to pay now with a penalty than paying when peso was 4:1 to dollars a few years ago. Argentines have seen enough this BS, so they are not eager to pay tax, until the last minute. If you are a gringo property owner, do not panic like many of Yankees here in BsAs, bailing out like crazy, just relax if the money stuck in your BA apartment is not vital. Well, it $shouldn't be. it's not wise to plug all your 4 into Argentina real estate. If you can manage not to sell, what's the big deal to dump like crazy ? How do you know the situation is not in your favor in the future??
Many Americans made the hasty decision to jump in when things were cheap, they are all leaving (unless they have an AR partner) now.
The situation is really not bad now, look at it, with blue rate at 12, your building fee and utility are cheap, if your apt is attractive, you can still rent it about the same, or occupy it by yourself.
The country is still affordable and attractive, just not as many desperate people as in 2004. As a gringo, your life still can be fantastic.

Do you know what happened in SF ? The job market is booming so much, there is a big shortage of housing, my friend is working for a new rental company, they are just leasing their 2/2 apartment at $5000/month, you have to have an income of $175,000/year to qualify that apartment, other area in Silicon Valley, you need an income of $120,000/year to qualify an apartment. Which place is easier to live ? $3000 living like a king in BsAs or $6000 a month in SF at poverty line ?

US$1000 in CA can only get you 4 tires for your humble Honda CRV plus an oil change. It can do a lot more here.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I don t think the real estate market is going to be again the easy money laundry it used to be.

 

[ghost]

Please buy something now because the Argentine that sold it to you will be buying in Miami next week.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

How do you know the control is tighter and tighter ?

The farther we go down the line this government will become more desperate for Dollars. It has Dollar-denominated debts (bond payments, energy, etc) that it needs to pay. The Dollar reserves are dropping. For every foreign owner that sells their property and repatriates those Dollars back to their home country that is fewer Dollars that are in the Reserve.

Also I would think that a portion of the value of the transactions are under-reported which means that not all of the taxes are being paid. From what I've seen, AFIP has gotten much tighter on paying taxes but the current system still allows for some negotiation. If real estate is bankarized there will be very little ability to not pay taxes.

By the way, this is the way it is in almost every developed country. In the US all transactions are scrutinized - even with an inspector - and are then published in something call the Multiple Listing Service. This allows anyone with access to the service to see what was paid for properties. If I am buying a property I can go onto the service and see all properties that were sold in that neighborhood and what the sale price was.

 

[syngirl]

I wish they had the MLS here -- it would scare the sh!t out of most people though!

Right now the best deals to be negotiated, at least as far as we can tell, are on new properties -- the developers don't want to be caught with their pants down when the bottom falls out of the economy, so they are now starting to try to unload whatever they've got and get their money out. The prices for new properties near us are equal or below most of the older places -- the problem is finding one that has decent construction! We are thinking to try and buy next year, but will start looking seriously soon enough as we figure with the terrible construction we've seen so far it will probably take us about a year to find a property worth investing in! We will have a combo of dollars and a prestamo in pesos -- my husband is trying to convince me to take the highest prestamo in pesos we can get and hold back some of our dollars to pay it off -- or to try and find a cuotas in pesos deal and then convert dollars to pay off. We'll see what we find out there, but I don't think we'll buy until 2015 (our situation may be different from some others on the board: he's argentine, we have intention of staying in the country, and we'd be buying a property to live in ourselves, not for income)

 

[mariano-BCN]

Sellers here are in a dream-world.
I've euros in my pocket and have been looking for a place to buy around 120-130 k dollars since a year. I don't notice that prices go down neither, even if the market is frozen. People don't want to get realistic, you can't ask 1st world prices in a 4th world city! And look at the state of flats ...terrible! Sellers didn't do anything to improve their flats and except to sell their property here asif it was well maintained.
I'm not in a rush to buy so I keep on renting a studio for 360 dollars (expensas & light on top) for the time being.

 

[garryl]

I don t think the real estate market is going to be again the easy money laundry it used to be.

I don t think the real estate market is going to be again the easy money laundry it used to be.

many expats only use their cash to buy a real estate here, I am not sure they are here to do money laundry, there are other ways to do it if you have to laundry your money.
I did put my boleto money in my pans, and my stupid maid turned on the washing machine, my dinero was laundried once, literally.

 

[Ceviche]

so I keep on renting a studio for 360 dollars (expensas & light on top) for the time being.

what do you expect for 360 us$ be it a fourth world or a first world country. if you want to live in good building with good construction and good quality and their are loads of them...be prepared to spend serious money, dude. You aren't getting anything for 360 usd

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

I wish they had the MLS here -- it would scare the sh!t out of most people though!

Right now the best deals to be negotiated, at least as far as we can tell, are on new properties -- the developers don't want to be caught with their pants down when the bottom falls out of the economy, so they are now starting to try to unload whatever they've got and get their money out. The prices for new properties near us are equal or below most of the older places -- the problem is finding one that has decent construction! We are thinking to try and buy next year, but will start looking seriously soon enough as we figure with the terrible construction we've seen so far it will probably take us about a year to find a property worth investing in! We will have a combo of dollars and a prestamo in pesos -- my husband is trying to convince me to take the highest prestamo in pesos we can get and hold back some of our dollars to pay it off -- or to try and find a cuotas in pesos deal and then convert dollars to pay off. We'll see what we find out there, but I don't think we'll buy until 2015 (our situation may be different from some others on the board: he's argentine, we have intention of staying in the country, and we'd be buying a property to live in ourselves, not for income)

@syngirl-san, paying in pesos ? I thought anything related to real estates was all in Dollars denomination only? Everytime steveinbsas-san send me a link to a real estate for sale, it is always the asking price is in Dollars.? Are there a for sale property offered in pesos ..?

 

[Bajo_cero2]

many expats only use their cash to buy a real estate here, I am not sure they are here to do money laundry, there are other ways to do it if you have to laundry your money.

Locals do.