Thinking Of Retiring In Ba. Have A Few Questions.

[irina]

Thanks to all for the advice. I do plan on renting prior to committing to a purchase. It does take some time to get the lay of the land (anywhere). And perhaps, renting is the only way to go. I own property now and it is an occasional pain to keep it up. Maybe it's best to leave that to a landlord. At least for a while. BTW, I have looked at some lofts to buy/rent and have saw a couple of reasonably priced lofts listed on this realtor's website. That's what intially got the wheels turning. http://www.jaimejensen.com/

I rented from Jaime Jensen via an airbnb listing for an apartment for my parent's visit last year, I recommend her. She was helpful and honest.

 

[PhilipDT]

That amount was close to US$ 6500 dollars then? well the Italalino Health Insurance Program was then US$ 500 per month..! worth taking it ?

Actually it was about 4500 at the time and I'm not trying to make a case against insurance (if I were this would be a great example though - literal once in a life time surgery for 9 months worth of premiums). Just sharing an anecdote that shows how lower priced health care here means that paying cash is an option in emergencies where as in the US, where the bill might have easily been 40000 usd, it rarely is..

 

[stefano]

I wouldn't advise moving to BA. Too unpredictable. If you buy you might not be able to sell later on. Anything can happen in Argentna. It makes no sense to me to make such a move. You could live in Spain for the same or less without the risk -- and there are other more stable places where you could go with more to offer including nicer, gentler people.

I thought about Spain but I think they don't allow non-EU citizens to retire there. I could vbe wrong and will be double checking.

 

[DerAchtundzwanzig]

I'm sorry but I don't understand why so many people here say that "if you buy you might not be able to sell in the future"? The only thing Argentines have invested in for generations as the sole stable investment option is "ladrillos". Of course, you need to know when to sell, but if you're not in a rush, you can always wait a year or 2...

I bought a new 60m2 apartment in Colegiales in 2008 for U$S70,000. Now it's worth U$S115,000. I would never have been able to make a U$S45,000 difference in just 5 years buying an apartment in Europe... Back in 2002 you could buy a 50m2 apartment in Puerto Madero for that same amount (U$S70,000), which today (or even 2 years ago, before the whole "cepo" thing started) would be worth around U$S200,000.

 

[sleslie23]

That amount was close to US$ 6500 dollars then? well the Italalino Health Insurance Program was then US$ 500 per month..! worth taking it ?

Insurance is a total waste of money. Until you need it!!!

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

You will have no problem buying OR selling your property. There is something called supply and demand. Suppose (by some power I can't imagine) overnight property decreased in value by 50%. The very next day there would be a line at Aduana a mile long of people fighting to get here to buy property. There would be lines in front of every real estate office of people begging to buy property. Higher demand + same supply = higher prices back to the original market price.

Simple math.

If I had a retirement disposable income of $1500-$2000 month I'd move here (again). I might live in Mendoza, but I'd move here.

 

[Utopos]

Saying you want to retire somewhere isn't so much saying where you want to live as it is saying where you hope to someday die. I don't mean that in a morbid sense but in a truly practical one. I would only buy property here if you were looking for a home, not an investment though.

Certainly, with the monies you mentioned, you can live very comfortably in Buenos Aires. I think that will be true for the foreseeable future regardless of whatever political/economic upheavals may come.

Other places offer other things perhaps... what will make you happy is entirely personal and up to you.

I'm retired and have top tier medical insurance with Medicus. I can --- and have --- gone to the best clinics in the city over the past year. My out-of-pocket expenses for extensive testing have been $0,00. My monthly premium is $822 pesos.

 

[Canick]

come as a tourist and hang your hat here for 6 months. see if you can live like you want to on that budget, and keep as much of your savings in dollars either in cash or outside the country for now.
after the 6 months you will be able to answer your own question with 100% clarity.

Personally I'd wait to see how the country "progresses" in the next few years before making a commitment to retiring here or buying property.

good luck.

 

[syngirl]

The issue isn't selling; the issue is whether you'd be able to get that cash out of the country afterwards if you so wished. Selling only to people with accts outside of the country limits your market, and more and more Argentines are not able to get the dollars necessary to buy a property.

 

[sergio]

Yes, Spain is in a terrible mess now but it is part of the European Union and they will not let it sink. Also there is a longstanding, mostly British,expat community there. I said too that Spain was one retirement option among others, not the only one. If people on this forum react negatively to an inquiry about retiring in Argentina it is not necessarily a gag but maybe based on experience.

By the way, do retired expats in Argentina have any trouble getting senior discounts in Argentina? I have wondered about that -- Do you need to be Argentine to get the discount, show some ID, or is the discount automatically extended? I know that there are some "jubilado" discounts but I assumed they would not always be given to foreigners.