Where to live with our family?

vamonos2012

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We want to move to greater BSAS and are looking for the right area to live. We think about Zona Norte: Tigre, San Isidro, Pilar, Del Viso, etc., or Zona Sur. Hereby some more detail of our wishes. Maybe you can let us know what you think fits best.

> 2 kids (3 and 4), they need to go to school, Spanish or English/Spanish
> we don't need to work in BSAS, but will work outside the city
> we want a house with garden and pool for app USD 1500 - 2000
> sufficient restaurant choices in the area
> daily grocery shopping close by
> within 1h drive or by public transport from BSAS
 
I only know Zona Norte where I live (Pilar/Del Viso).

For this budget, it might be a little just to find a really nice house in San Isidro, with pool+garden.
In Tigre (slightly further from the city), it might be a bit easier but still, it might be a bit just but Tigre is really lovely (the loveliest imho among the places you named).

Pilar & Del Viso (they are very close) : Here, you can definitely rent a big house with a big garden and a big pool (I have 2.400 square meters of garden with a two floor house + a big pool of about 10x6 + a paddle court which is unfortunately in a poor shape = 3.500 pesos charges included = about 850 USD).
There are bilingual schools around. Daily grocery shopping is always close. 35 minutes from the city by car (if no traffic) and 1h05 by train up to Retiro (safe).

Difficulties you will encounter :
- there are not so many rental ads online for such properties. You need to be on the spot and discuss with people.
- If you intend to start renting during december-february that's going to be very tricky for you to find something because many owners like to rent their house short term during the summer vacations (for instance, my 3.500$ house would likely rent for 10/15.000$ in january).
- If you have no "garantia" you still can negotiate but better do it with someone who knows a bit how to deal on such things in Argentina.
 
vamonos2012 said:
We want to move to greater BSAS and are looking for the right area to live. We think about Zona Norte: Tigre, San Isidro, Pilar, Del Viso, etc., or Zona Sur. Hereby some more detail of our wishes. Maybe you can let us know what you think fits best.



Ultimately only you can answer this question and within six months after you "move" to any one of the areas on your list you will probably wish you had chosen one of the others. You should still be able to get answers about restaurants and shopping for these areas in this thread. I shopped for houses in Tigre and San Isidro five years ago. I liked Tigre but it was too far from the city. I couldn't find anything I liked in my price range in San Isidro, but I liked it's proximity to the city. San Isidro definitely has a better choice of restaurants than Tigre and the shopping is better as well. (I ended up in Recoleta.)


I think you will have to live here for a while to know what "fits" best. It isn't clear if you have ever visited and there are several important things you ned to consider before moving here. Perhaps you already know all about these isuses, but just in case you don't here are the first two that came to mind when I read your post:


1. Do you know about the guarantia that most properety owners require from renters? It will be far more difficult to rent a house for more than six months without a garantia and short term rates will probably exceed your budget. An ageny can help you rent without a garantia but you will have to pay the equivalent of at least one month's rent as a commission.


2. Do you plan on getting temporary residency in Argentina and the DNI for each member of you family? Without the DNI you neither you or your spouse can get an Argentine driver's license and if you buy a car your insurance company could use this as an excuse not to pay a claim even if you have been paying the premiums. As long as you have a valid 90 day tourist visa you should be OK with your foreign license, but after that its a bit more risky (with the police as well). Having international driver's licenses (vaild for one year?) is probably a good idea, but be sure to check with your insurance company.
 
Castelar in the West Area, there is shopping, houses with gardens and pools, I don´t know about bilingual schools, but with all those middle-high class population, there must be those also. It is some 25-40 minutes from downtown by highway (28 km away more or less). In general the West area should be cheaper than the North, but I don´t think there are many expats in the West, and the North have a lot more houses like that (look in Google Maps, in the Satellite view, and you will see it, both areas are distinctly greener than the surrounding neighborhoods and the houses are bigger).
 
Steve, are you saying a one month commission replaces a garantia?

After months of looking at rentals, we are still confused about garantias. Successful companies outside of AR don't suffice, bank account statements seem useless as do brokerage accounts. Passive income works for resident status but not rentals.

All that seems to work is all cash upfront, which everyone tells us is dicy. We thougth the commission was something everyone paid.
 
I'm not Steve but the one-month commission doesn't replace a guarantia. I think he is just saying that a broker might know of places that don't require a guarantia or can find the OP a shorter-term rental. However if the OP users a broker, s/he will be paying a commission.

The only thing I've ever heard of that an owner will take in lieu of a guarantia is a large payment up front (6 months of rent or a year). But in the higher end, the owner probably won't want to negotiate that.

You can buy a guarantia but I have no experience in that or how effective it is.
 
Garantias : indeed Steve didn't mean a one month commission replaces a garantia. Just that an agent can help negotiate if you have no garantia.
It really depends on the owners, some may prefer to have 6/12 months in advance (what better guarantee than getting paid upfrond ?! Another argument you can use : paying upfront is a EV+ when considering the rampant inflation).

Buying a garantia is risky (risks of getting scammed) and is somehow not too legal (you are misrepresenting something in some sort of way).

Owners like to rent to foreigners because, right or wrong, they have a better reputation as "payers" than Argentineans.
 
steveinbsas said:
Ultimately only you can answer this question and within six months after you "move" to any one of the areas on your list you will probably wish you had chosen one of the others. You should still be able to get answers about restaurants and shopping for these areas in this thread. I shopped for houses in Tigre and San Isidro five years ago. I liked Tigre but it was too far from the city. I couldn't find anything I liked in my price range in San Isidro, but I liked it's proximity to the city. San Isidro definitely has a better choice of restaurants than Tigre and the shopping is better as well. (I ended up in Recoleta.)


I think you will have to live here for a while to know what "fits" best. It isn't clear if you have ever visited and there are several important things you ned to consider before moving here. Perhaps you already know all about these isuses, but just in case you don't here are the first two that came to mind when I read your post:


1. Do you know about the guarantia that most properety owners require from renters? It will be far more difficult to rent a house for more than six months without a garantia and short term rates will probably exceed your budget. An ageny can help you rent without a garantia but you will have to pay the equivalent of at least one month's rent as a commission.


2. Do you plan on getting temporary residency in Argentina and the DNI for each member of you family? Without the DNI you neither you or your spouse can get an Argentine driver's license and if you buy a car your insurance company could use this as an excuse not to pay a claim even if you have been paying the premiums. As long as you have a valid 90 day tourist visa you should be OK with your foreign license, but after that its a bit more risky (with the police as well). Having international driver's licenses (vaild for one year?) is probably a good idea, but be sure to check with your insurance company.

We have been visiting BSAS and Argentina before, but are now thinking about moving for 1 - 1.5 yrs. We will get temporarily residency. Can you explain how we can get the Guarantia and the DNI and why we would need it?
 
Has anyone been scammed when paying upfront?

Has anyone bought a garantia? If yes, would appreciate the details.
 
jb5 said:
Has anyone been scammed when paying upfront?

Has anyone bought a garantia? If yes, would appreciate the details.

I wouldn't recommend buying a garantia.

I don't have any garantia but I paid upfront (one year in advance). If you do things the right way, there "shouldn't" be any problem : if you pay 12.000 or 30.000 US$ in cash in one time, it's obviously better to sign a rental contract in front of an "escribano" to make things right.

The OP should also find a way to check the ads in the local newspapers (those ads won't appear on the internet for the most part) :
DSCN2692.jpg

DSCN2693.jpg
 
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