Possibly selling an apartment in BA

[Davidglen77]

I moved to Buenos Aires a year and a half ago for work and things were going so well that I decided to buy an apartment. However suddenly my job went "poof" so here I am looking for a new job, however if I don't find something that I like to do here, in the next few months, I will probably move back to the U.S. even though I love Buenos Aires. My question is, how complicated is it to sell and send the money back to the U.S.? Contrary to what I've read here, it wasn't that difficult to wire money here for the purchase, I used HSBC to wire the money for the purchase, however they didn't ask me for anything that was unreasonable. I had to show proof of where the funds were coming from and I supplied Bank Statements for the past 12 months and they were fine with that. Any advice for selling and sending money back to the U.S. would be greatly appreciated.

 

[soulskier]

Why not have the buyer deposit funds in your US bank account?

 

[Stanexpat]

If you want to sell in the next few months you need to price it right and you better have it on the market now. When you sell you could have the buyer do a wire to your U.S. account. I did this a couple of weeks ago with no problems. Keep an on on the banking situation as things can and do change without notice.

 

[Davidglen77]

When I purchased the apartment my funds were transferred 100% legally into the country. I have an HSBC account in New York and HSBC opened one for me here so I could complete the transaction. They told me what the requirements were and even put me in touch with their departamento de comercio exterior so that things would go the way they were supposed to. Since my apartment is not in an area where a US citizen might purchase (Villa Urquiza / Belgrano area) an Argentine will probably be the purchaser so they will already have their money in Argentina.

 

[Stanexpat]

steveinbsas, you are quite right and I regret ever having bought a house there(not an apartment). I`m very happy it´s sold and the money out of there. After reading these posts on all the hassles and problems people can and do encounter just to get your own money back why would anybody ever, for any reason, want to buy property there is beyond me.

 

[steveinbsas]

To use one poster's favorite euphemism, I was "effing" lucky to get residency the day before I actually transferred the funds to buy my apartment (through the Banco de la Nacion!). I received the "residency precaria" on the 19th of the month and I was told to return in three weeks. My papers were processed in just four days and I was "officially" granted residency on the 23rd (now the renewal date of both my visa and DNI). I transferred the funds on the 24th, not really knowing what was "proper" (though the bank had copies of the residencia precaria and said it was all OK). I am far more comfortable that the money transferred occurred when it did. If anyone at AFIP ever looks at the dates, there shouldn't be any issue of my residency status.

 

[Stanexpat]

steveinbsas, glad you have this all thought through but as the rules change without warning any advice you give today may be totally wrong tommorrow.
If David has to leave in a few months then getting the apartment on the market at a price that it will sell at quickly might be the best thing he can do now. Once he has an offer he needs to discuss in detail what he needs to do with his escribano.
I think you will find that buying is actually easier than selling here. I know people who have had properties on the market for years without any takers. Good luck to David in selling and perhaps he can let the forum know how it goes.
It would be interesting to hear from expats that moved back and sold. I haven´t heard any people relating their experiences and I think it would be nice to hear how many had positive or negative experiences.

 

[RichardP]

Davidglen77,
you might post some information about your apartment. There may be an interested buyer on this forum.

 

[Davidglen77]

I don't know if anybody on this forum would be interested in the area where my apartment is located. It's in Villa Urquiza, which is right next to the residential neighborhood of Belgrano 'R', which are not tourist areas at all. The building is brand and has only 6 apartments. It´s about 60 m2, 2 bedrooms with big closets, livingroom dining combination, terrace, kitchen with granite everywhere and stainless steel appliances, 1 full and 1 half-bath, as well as a secure deeded parking space behind an automatic gate behind the building. There is also a 120 m2 roof deck with parillas for all residents use, laundry machine (no coins). It's 2 blocks from the L.M. Drago train station that brings you to Retiro in 20 minutes for $0.65 cents, (5 stops) and 7 blocks from a new subway station that is going to open in December (Villa Urquiza). The main shopping streets are Avenida Monroe and Avenida Triunvirato (which is like Cabildo) which have every kind of store you can imagine, restaurants, as well as supermarkets, many buses, etc. Ideally I would love to stay here but that depends on the job situation. If anybody has any job leads, I have 10+ years of U.S. business experience (New York City) in mortgage banking, technology and marketing. If I can find somewhat of a decent job I would totally stay here and not even consider selling. I am also fully bilingual in Spanish and English.

 

[Fishface]

In
the next four to eight years there could be thousands of "rich"
Americans searching for quality health care that they can "buy" in a
free market. Private health care here is superb and you don't have to be "rich" (even by Senator Obama's definition) to afford it. Those who come to Argentina will need places to live. They will want nice areas close to health services. Some of them will choose Recoleta. Some of them will also buy apartments.

...and you can bet your boots the AR medical health insurers will adjust their policies to $ 'x' amount with DNI and $ 'y' amount for those without.
...same as the local airline.