Selling Property

[peterp]

I understand there is a 3% seller and a 3% buyers commission when dealing with real estate agents here in Argentina. Is the sellers fee negotiable, does anyone have any experience with this and what could I expect to negotiate it down to? What can be removed from a property and what can be taken when selling...ie. is the oven & extractor fan part of the property or can they be removed, what's the standard practice here?

 

[Gringoboy]

Generally speaking people leave cookers and extractor fans as they make up a large part of the kitchen, however it's all negotiable much like aircon units.
I was surprised that people remove light fittings actually and ceiling fans. I suppose it's all down to what you agree with the buyer.
We're thinking of moving and are looking at solodueños which we've used before. They charge a one off fee for you to advertise your house for 1, 2, 3 or 6 months, thus avoiding the greedy agents' fees.
It's worked twice for us now and the trick is to sell via that method and hopefully buy in a similar way, which can also be done.
I would advertise the house fully specced out to attract buyers first and negotiate from there.

 

[garryl]

removing everything makes it hard to buyer and seller. many items do not fit seller's new home, and buyer is pissed off that he/she has to find these items which are not easy to replace, I would sell most of the stuff to the seller. seller usually leaves AC and extractor, water heater, stove, radiator behind. usually they take lights with them, some of them are personal, like antique lights, and they usually leave the recess lights in the house.

 

[steveinbsas]

The buyer's commission is usually 3 or 4%. The seller's commission can be 0-2%, depending on the agent, so if you are selling you should be able to find an agent who will not charge a commission.

Leaving the stove and ventilator is common (almost universal). So is leaving the hot water heater (especially if it uses gas). Everything else is negotiable. When I sold my apartment in Recloeta and PH in Nunez I included the air conditioners in the listing. I took the light fixtures from the apt in Recoleta (at least the three antique "colgantes" (chandeliers) that I had installed, but left the curtains (which are rarely included). The seller of the PH included the light fixtures in the sale and I did not remove them when I sold it, just over one year later. I also left the window air conditioner that was in the bedroom when I bought the PH as well as the mini-split a/c that I had installed in the living room.

 

[mbw]

I can't find any more recent information in the forums on selling property and know that a lot has changed since last year. We own an apartment in Buenos Aires that several local Portenos would like to buy. We do not have a DNI. We do not need (we think) a realtor since we have buyers. We have been unable to get approval from AFIP to sell. Do we need a DNI? What is a Certificado de Non Retention? Any recommendations for an attorney/escribana who has experience selling property owned by foreigners?

 

[steveinbsas]

I can't find any more recent information in the forums on selling property and know that a lot has changed since last year. We own an apartment in Buenos Aires that several local Portenos would like to buy. We do not have a DNI. We do not need (we think) a realtor since we have buyers. We have been unable to get approval from AFIP to sell. Do we need a DNI? What is a Certificado de Non Retention? Any recommendations for an attorney/escribana who has experience selling property owned by foreigners?

You don't need a DNI to sell but since you don't have one you are selling as a non-resident. The buyer gets to choose the escribano and you probably don't need a lawyer. What you really need is an accountant.

 

[mbw]

We have a good accountant (we think) who also has our power of attorney for selling. The accountant has paid our taxes so knows our property well. What does the accountant do in regards to selling?

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

All of your questions would not only be answered, but handled completely by a good real estate agent. The seller's commission is 3%. The good ones bring much more value to the sale than you would pay in commissions - ie they keep you from getting the short end of the stick, save you money in taxes, get you a higher sale price, make sure the buyers don't screw you at the closing - you are at a serious disadvantage because you are not Argentine and you don't know the system. The excellent ones do all the work with AFIP for you and make sure you get your money transferred to your overseas account. They have established relationships, protocols, etc.

GS

 

[nikad]

All of your questions would not only be answered, but handled completely by a good real estate agent. The seller's commission is 3%. The good ones bring much more value to the sale than you would pay in commissions - ie they keep you from getting the short end of the stick, save you money in taxes, get you a higher sale price, make sure the buyers don't screw you at the closing - you are at a serious disadvantage because you are not Argentine and you don't know the system. The excellent ones do all the work with AFIP for you and make sure you get your money transferred to your overseas account. They have established relationships, protocols, etc.

GS

He is right. If you were local or knew exactly how things work it might not be a bad idea to go solo, but if I was you I would get a reputable realtor.

 

[mikic007]

We had support of escribana, family friend. Without is possible, but you are in constant doubt if all is OK. Especially if you are handling things with incompetent buyer/agent, which is usual here.

If you decide for agent, get really food one. I was dealing with some and all were less competent than me, which is bad...

Important is also to get information from your bank, how to move money out, before you actually sell. Now is possible with escritura directly without changing to pesos, but there is procedure you have to follow (you can send only amount written in escritura, money has ti be placed on usd account on the day of escritura, you have to sign 7 papers...)

And never completely trust anyone, you have to always know, what is going on..