How do you get dollars in BA?

[nikad]

This much I realize. What are the alternatives? Wire transfers only? Would that be through Western Union, and does that mean I would be receiving US dollars? Forgive my ignorance. Thanks much.

Use Xoom! 5.53 pesos on the dollar

 

[nikad]

This much I realize. What are the alternatives? Wire transfers only? Would that be through Western Union, and does that mean I would be receiving US dollars? Forgive my ignorance. Thanks much.

OR go to Uruguay for the day, have some fun, go to any atm with your card and get dollar bills then return and pay rent

 

[ben]

As everyone seems to have more or less come around to the realization that asking for a 6 rate is neither swindling not unreasonable (just bad for the tenant), and at least that there is a legitimate case to be made either way, on to the next question: clarifying the relationship. It would be a fun exercise to count the amount of times the word 'contract' has come up in this thread.

It seems the best scenario for the free-market side of this debate would be (the possibility of) a contract in which it would be clearly stipulated that payment is to be made in USD or the equivalent in pesos at the prevailing market rate. The tenant would then be free to accept this contract or seek other quarters; if there would be no takers, things would go back to pesos, and the market would decide which way this goes.

The problem is that such a contract would likely be unenforceable. It would only serve to make clear the owner's intentions from the start. The fact of the matter is that while 4.5 is not the real rate, it is the legally enforceable one.

Any way of solving this?

 

[YanquiGallego]

Expatriado- Am glad you clarified that YOU do not charge your rentals in dollars at 6:1 and were speaking purely from a speculatory point of view, as I would have a hard time seeing how any ex pat, except for
Perhaps someone who is a very green novice or just has money to burn would pay anybody at 6:1 for something as substantial as rent when the spread between the official 4,45 and your 6:1 would have someone losing quite a bit of money on a large ticket payment such as rent.

 

[Steph170]

Thanks for all this info, The contract is a rolling three months, we have not yet agreed to anything, and when we questioned the pesos rate (4800) the woman said this is what we will find with most places. We are having real trouble trying to find a flat that is affordable enough in dollars only to be then told if we pay in pesos its a lot more, and of course we cant seem to get dollars anywhere.

 

[sarairuh]

I used to feel like that when you could get the official rate if you paid all of your taxes and worked in blanco. Now that people earning high salaries en blanco and paying every centavo of their taxes can't buy enough dollars for a cell phone I've come to recognize that the official rate is a complete fantasy rate. If nobody can buy dollars at the price, then that is not the price of the dollars and it is unreasonable to expect the owners to accept it.

To answer the OP's cuestion. I wire my money from my US account to my landlords Argentine account where, after accounting for the source of the funds (rent) and paying taxes, he has the money in dollars.

what service do you use to do that? xoom?

 

[Joe]

The fact that you're getting ripped of at the ATM isn't the landlords fault. He doesn't benefit from the shenanigans the government is up to. And he'd probably feels that you should get the market rate from the ATM machine.

I have a lot of friends in Baires, and was hoping on visiting soon, but with all this nonsense with the capital controls I'll wait a few years. I'm not interested in trading in black markets or other hassles.

 

[genialf]

With the pesification of the real estate people no longer want to sell. There are a lot more apartments for rent than there were 9 months ago, and they have cheaper prices now (and many of them asking for pesos).

 

[earlyretirement]

Stop whining people. The 4.5 rate is not a real rate. No one can get it. If you signed a contract in dollars, either pay the dollars or pay the pesos at the 6:1 rate, which is the market rate.

To answer the poster's question... $800 USD and $4800 pesos is THE SAME. You are not being cheated one way or the other. It will cost you exactly the same to either pay in pesos or dollars. Sign the contract either in pesos or in dollars and then pay what you need to pay each month. If you ask me, I would rather sign in pesos. I'm sure that long term the peso is going to keep losing value.

Stop complaining. The 4.5 rate is a totally controlled fantasy and made up rate. It's not real. If you agreed to pay the rent in dollars then pay in dollars or just move on to the next owner. It's really that simple.

I don't have any problem at all with owners charging the true rate they want to get in a stable currency. Most expats want to get it at both ends. They want to get the highest blue market exchange rate in dollars because it benefits them to get the blue/black rate. But yet when an owner wants to simply be paid in a stable currency, expats bulk because it doesn't benefit them. It's hypocritical.

You have to go into this realizing that the 4.5 rate is a totally false rate. I don't fault owners that want to charge in US dollars as long as they give people a way of conveniently paying for the rent whether it's paypal.com, credit card or bank wire transfer to a bank outside of Argentina.

Owners bought and paid for their property with US dollars and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to charge US dollars for rent, especially with the peso being so unstable.

And tenants can just pass on those owners that want to charge rent at the lower, artificial, false, fantasy, controlled, made up exchange rates.

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

You have to go into this realizing that the 4.5 rate is a totally false rate. I don't fault owners that want to charge in US dollars as long as they give people a way of conveniently paying for the rent whether it's paypal.com, credit card or bank wire transfer to a bank outside of Argentina.

This seems to be the issue. If landlords want to paid be in USD, they should make it easier for tourists to do so. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not comfortable carrying three-six months of rent in USD around with me, nor am I comfortable with paying this amount of rent in advance.

Here, I am talking specifically about landlords who advertise to the tourist market and who are obviously aware of the problems we face in obtaining dollars each month.