US Citizen Interested in moving to Buenos Aries

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Trying to live in Argentina with US conveniences and quality stuff is an exercise in frustration. Spent quite a few years feeling frustrated, but am finally learning to live with locally available things only, like most Argentines do. After a while, it does not hurt.

You are 100 % correct don't pay attention to some Gringos that want Argentina to be like Dallas ,,LOL

More than ever the saying " Love it or Leave it" Prevails as they use to tell me in good Ole Texas..! Country of the biggest Fly Swats..!
If you want to understand Argentina look at the picture below.. What do you see?



1595866627937.png
 
You are 100 % correct don't pay attention to some Gringos that want Argentina to be like Dallas ,,LOL

More than ever the saying " Love it or Leave it" Prevails as they use to tell me in good Ole Texas..! Country of the biggest Fly Swats..!
If you want to understand Argentina look at the picture below.. What do you see?



View attachment 7163
Cordero asado?
 
You are 100 % correct don't pay attention to some Gringos that want Argentina to be like Dallas ,,LOL

More than ever the saying " Love it or Leave it" Prevails as they use to tell me in good Ole Texas..! Country of the biggest Fly Swats..!
If you want to understand Argentina look at the picture below.. What do you see?



View attachment 7163

Is that a llama? Those are very cute.
 
For those frustrated with Argentina's lack of choices and poor merchandise, I recommend a short stay in Uruguay. After a couple of months there, Buenos Aires feels like Paris.
 
For those frustrated with Argentina's lack of choices and poor merchandise, I recommend a short stay in Uruguay. After a couple of months there, Buenos Aires feels like Paris.

The tone and feel of BA seems attractive to me based on videos I saw. I also saw a few videos and walking tours of Uruguay and Chile but wasn't as attracted for some reason.
 
For starters, chilean females are fugly.
Uruguayan are gold diggers.

;)

Iz
 
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.

Thanks for sharing. Spain sounds interesting, but am concerned about the higher income tax and distant time zone from US. Something I'm still looking into.
 
For those frustrated with Argentina's lack of choices and poor merchandise, I recommend a short stay in Uruguay. After a couple of months there, Buenos Aires feels like Paris.
I never really understand this point here. Sure, you dont have 50 different types of beers, your favourite sauce might not be available, and certainly there is no Amazon Prime. But 1) in my case it is not an issue (if i have one or two decent beers available i am ok), and 2) i never expected to have here the full range of products as in the US or in Europe. The only thing that is a bit poor are milk products (cheese, yogurts etc). But its not a big thing either
 
For starters, chilean females are fugly.
Uruguayan are gold diggers.

;)

Iz

Saw some Chilean females in a military march, looked interesting and attractive:


Interested to know why the outfits look so similar to WWII Germany.
 
EE UU is the materialist world capital. (My opinion. It's what you'd expect within the world's largest economy.)

There is an ongoing advertising campaign hell bent on conditioning people to want more than they can afford or need. It's quite effecive.

The funny thing is, the people who have the most in terms of possessions seem to be the least satisfied group of people you can run into or know.

Over time, I have embraced minimalism. I did it because I learned most things do not make me happy. And of the things I do have, and of the ones that do give me pleasure, they have something in common ... They are of high, impeccable quality, generally used quite frequently because they are associated with my most serious interests in life. I have leaned that less is more and that more has a DILUTIVE, controlling effect on your quality of life. After I have my necessities and a few treasured personal possessions I prefer a well stocked bank vault full of freedom rather than loads of crap. To me, this is the framework of living a great life.

I am and I can be happy in a place like Argentina. My only adjustment is to relinquish one of my treasures. (Exotic Italian sports car.) It's neither practical or wise to have it, or something similar there. If you have freedom ... that is code for considerable assets, Argentina is a place to keep a low profile. Being a target is a pain in the neck at best and ending up the victim of a robbery gone bad (DEAD!) is AVOIDABLE!! Why invite trouble into your life?
 
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