What you say doesn't sound good, and very different than what I saw from the BA youtube street walking tours where everything for the most part seemed neat and clean, restaurants seemed clean, looked like European quality, depends on neighborhood I imagine, and also read Argentina health care rating is very high. But I think what you say must be accurate as well. Of course I would need to visit first before deciding, but right now I'm trying to do the research to determine if I should visit. Do you have any other recommendations of places that might be good. Right now I'm researching Valencia, Spain.
I have shopped for real estate in both Spain (Alicante 40 min away from Valencia by car) and Buenos Aires. If you like what you see in Youtube, Spain is your country. The real estate price is about the same in the best area of Valencia and that of Recoleta and Palermo. And the apartment is bigger and street is cleaner. Valencia does not have the big city vibe like BA, but it's big enough with 1m+ people, 10 min to the beach from center by taxi.
All the problems you might run into in BA, you won't have have it in Valencia. Building expense and city tax (no city tax) is much lower, at about 50 euro and real estate tax is about 1000E. With the peso devaluation, maybe building expense is much lower now in BA, but it used to be 200 to 500 dollar a month for a small shitty apt. Medical care in Spain is great if not better. A short train ride you are in France and Paris, or boat ride to Spanish islands in Africa or Mediterranean ocean, just 1 hour from Valencia by ferry. Spain has much more food selection, better sea food, Argentina has better lomo. Valencia has 300 sunny days a year. By the way, neither city in Texas has better weather than BA, and Valencia has the best weather. Texas has shitty weather, you have to pay someone who lives in California to move to Texas (no offense to Texans ). Only people who grow up in Texas will accept the shitty weather in Texas(again no offense to Texans). Basically Valencia is like San Diego, with sunshine and things to do, and strong European flair.
Your 300k will last just as long as in BA. After you spend your 300k, good luck
. It's also much easier to find a job in Spain as a gringo. Alicante is full of foreigners who speak English(drunk aholes from UK and German tourists, who are also drunk). In terms of income and life quality, Spain is 1 to 2 notch above Argentina. Average income at small city is about 1400 euro a month, and in Argentina ? a fraction of that. Spain belongs to the developed country circle and Argentina, many Argentines call their country a third world country. But Plaermo and Recoleta are way better than average neighborood, 160k dollars can only get you a low quality or modest one bedroom, maybe just studio. And you can get a 2 bedroom in a middle class neighborhood area for 180k. Buying process is much more pleasant in Spain. Buying in Argentina, you feel all your lawyers and your agents are trying to screw you (my agent in BA was good, no problems). You can not get a loan as a foreigner. In Spain, yes, if you put 50% down and show your asset in US, you can get a loan at 2.5%, free money. If you were able to get a loan in Argentina, guess what interest you will pay ? 30% a year, and they do not even loan you. Still want to move to BA ?
If you buy a 200k apt in Spain, you put 100k down, your monthly payment is only 550 euros month. When you are not in Spain, you can rent it for 1200 euros to drunk European tourists. You save 100k cash and have some romantic fun in Europe. Hope this helps you. Usually I charge $400/hour for this kind of consulting with detailed info, but you can take it for free.
I am not saying Spain is better, you probably can have more exotic experience in Argentina. But if you expect things are nicely run like in Texas, Spain is much closer to your expectation. I have been visiting Argentina from 2002 till a couple of years ago, it changed my life. If I have to do it again, I will just rent and not buy. Buy it if you have millions of waste.
