Living In A House Versus Living In A Apartment

[Pensador]

This is the closest instance of a home invasion I have experienced since moving to my present location in June of 2010.

You can see that I do not have high walls, barbed (or razor) wire or even bars on the windows. I would never consider living in a place where that was necessary to be (or even feel) safe. I do have wood shutters on the windows. The two pieces of wood forming an X in the walkway entrance and the iron chain across the driveway were enough to prevent a deeper intrusion de las vacas.

The chain across the driveway was stolen one day in the middle of the afternoon while I was home. That is the only instance of theft in 4.5 years. I now use an old coaxial cable in place of the chain. I am making traditional style gates for both entries using old wood that was here when I arrived.

I drive a 20 year old Peugeot 405 (which is the envy of all of my neighbors), but I don't wear my Ermenegildo Zenga cashmere sport coat when walking around the neighborhood (taking photos of sunrises, sunsets and wildlife). None of my neighbors would know (or even care about) the difference between a jacket made in Switzerland and one sold by Sears. I sold (actually signed off on the title) my (last) Mercedes the day I left for Mexico on November 1, 2000.

My closest neighbors are behind my property and our houses are almost 200 meters apart. There are no neighbors for over 200 meters in front and about 400 meters on either side. My dogs are my alarms. Together they weigh less than ten pounds. They occasionally bark when other (free range) dogs come near the house at night or when a frog bumps against the kitchen door when it is raining. Everyone around here assumes that everyone else is armed, including 80 year old ladies living alone.

PS: Yes, the Zegna sport coat is the one (NWT/new with a $2000 dollar price tag and one (unseen after alterations) "defect" at the end of one sleeve) that I bought for $5 (five dollars) at the Mission District Salvation Army Red Shied Store on Valencia the last time I was in San Francisco. Six years ago Zenga sport coats were still being designed for men who wanted wear clothes that were long enough in the sleeves to reach the base of the thumb as well as long enough in the body to cover the butt...as opposed to looking like something a sixteen year kid who just "shot up" two or three inches would wear: http://store.zegna.com/gb/men/jackets.

Nice place Steve. Why is that since I have lived in South America that every time I see cows I think about Asado?

 

[ghost]

Ok then. Think Steve.

 

[syngirl]

When Ceviche gets his big home he can invite us all over for dinner and we'll be sure to bring absolutely nothing in return.

 

[SarahAnn]

Security issues seem to be at point of entry, with an apartment door you are still a few locked doors away from anything worth stealing and potential with door security. Attacking someone at the point of entry of a house usually yields easier accessed rewards and less risk of detection. Similar with the entry points at a garage.

That explains the relatively low prices for PHs when compared to apartments, per m2 you will pay more for an apartment with a covered parking space and security than you would for a PH, even if that PH affords a small outside space. According to someone from Remax I recently spoke to, demand is stronger for apartments because of security issues, real or perceived. Demand is strongest in "family" areas with access to schools and decent transport into the microcentro. Belgrano, palermo etc.


ps..I am led to believe an apartment in a good area is a more saleable asset than a PH.

With real estate it all depends on the price you ask and the barrio. We live in a PH, it has the advantage of being as big as a small house and having a lovely terraza with quincho, which makes for a lot of living space and allowed us to build an extra bedroom. It was a good price, albeit in Flores, which is not that interesting.
The big thing with a PH is that no-one lives upstairs, which is sine qua non for me after living in an appartment in various European cities.
On the other hand, you get noise from the appartments that are distributed along the passage at the side. When people come home at night, it sounds like they are walking into your place, which takes some getting used to, especially if they decide to throw out their partner at 2.30 in the morning. If the neighbours are good, it is no pb; if they are noisy bastards, it is as bad as having noisy neighbours in an appartment building. After two years here, I would probably put up the extra money for a house next time. [I am a bit obsessive about noise.]
For security, you need to hire a man to install lots of iron bars with curly razor wire on top. From what I understand, its still not as bad as Mexico...

 

[steveinbsas]

Nice place Steve. Why is that since I have lived in South America that every time I see cows I think about Asado?

In this case, think milk (the vacas in the photo were milk cows).

 

[Ceviche]

When Ceviche gets his big home he can invite us all over for dinner and we'll be sure to bring absolutely nothing in return.

My friends from BA, real life friends..who have met me socially. I invite them regularly to my home for a spicy meal or two cooked by 'yours truly' and my only condition to them always is "please for god's sake, do not bring ANYTHING"

 

[Pensador]

In this case, think milk (the vacas in the photo were milk cows).

I know they are milk cows certainly not Angus or beef bread but still everytime I see a cow I think Parilla!

 

[Pensador]

My friends from BA, real life friends..who have met me socially. I invite them regularly to my home for a spicy meal or two cooked by 'yours truly' and my only condition to them always is "please for god's sake, do not bring ANYTHING"

I guess that depends on guest Ceviche I love to whip up some finger food like some roasted pepers and say a blue cheese cream sauce or some stuffed muchrooms to bring along just to add to the menu. One of my personal favorites if you like spicey....

Roast about 5 red peppers
Cook up some Paneste like bacon nice and crispy
Whip up some blue cheese with cream, garlic and parsely

Then take some toasted bread or just bread. First layer is crumbled Panseta, second layer is the fresh roasted pepers, third layer is the blue cheese stuff, fourth layer is say a splash of green spicey chilly sauce.

Ufff to die for!

 

[syngirl]

My friends from BA, real life friends..who have met me socially. I invite them regularly to my home for a spicy meal or two cooked by 'yours truly' and my only condition to them always is "please for god's sake, do not bring ANYTHING"

well if you're boasting about money not being an issue sure, why would they bring something? Are you sure these aren't fair weather friends? When the money runs out are the friends going to disappear?

 

[fifs2]

[font="Calibri""]Ceviche I lived in our house in Bsas for 9 years. We took frequent trips abroad including 5 weeks every Christmas with no security issues. The question is: do you [/font][font="Calibri""]want a gorgeous house with a small garden in Buenos Aires e.g La Lucila, Palermo chico, Belgrano R, Villa Crespo, Palermo….this is entirely posible with no hassles especially if you have a trustworthy maid popping in to add life to the place but you’ll need to assess the security of the property on a per house basis. If you have easy Access areas then you may fall victim to security issues.[/font]

[font="Calibri""]We also rented a summer house in Escobar in a barrio cerrado. Lovely big garden , pool, club house etc but I never felt quite as safe. My friends always recommended NEVER renting in a barrio cerrado perimetral..ie the houses at the extremeties or boundaries of the barrio as these are easier to rob and escape fast.[/font]

[font="Calibri""]Good luck in whatever decisión you make. I would’ve cracked up if I hadn’t had our lovely house(s) to live freely in in Bsas.[/font]