Will the Economic Crisis in the USA Effect Argentina?

soulskier do you know how the snow is now for skiing in Catedral? I noticed the lifts are still open, i might have to make a last minute trip down there
 
Fettucini, the mountain is open until the 19th. There are just a couple lifts open, and the snow is holding up on the upper half of the mountain. Come on over!
 
Friend,
There are two ways to look at the problem. One is a crystal ball, the other reality.
The powers to be in this country, and there are two of who seem to have and iron fist to govern this country. The second important point is the majority the little people have no understanding of what is going on. Just look at the pension plan rife.
These two personally feel that if the world went into a recession that it would not hurt Argentina. I guess the male Kirshner will probably have a memory recall and return the $535 million dollars of taxpayers money he sent abroad. No one knows what happened to that dinero.
Another point is there are indications that companies here are laying off and will continue to do so.
This country has run out of places to borrow money and that is a major problem in the coming months. Like a person who has gone bankrupt and lost there good name, so has Argentina in the financial section.
Yes many people will tout the fact other oligarch are on there way here to buy up land and other good deals at sacrificial sale prices. That in itself should signal a very clear indication of what is coming.
Finally if anyone believes this governments statements about inflation, cash reserves and ability to weather any storm, they need to indulge themselves in Argentina's second popular sport, a psychologist.
I would not hesitate to say that those governing have phut. ( look it up)
 
Pericles - I know this is now a few months on since your post, but, (I am in real estate), and it is clearly evident that Real Estate prices going down here in Buenos Aires (both in Sales and Rentals)
 
soulskier said:
You obviously aren't getting it. A lakefront property with a main home and a guest house, in one of the most beuatiful settings in the world, are hard to find. And if they are available, surely not at the price of this example.

Maybe you could explain relative value? How many other Patagonia's are there in the world?

BTW, I don't think they just took the bars off the windows for the photos.
Click to expand...

Soulskier,

There are plenty of lakeside properities in the States right now that are cheaper than in Argentina. The U.S.A. is the best place to buy real estate right now (for investors).

And, you would not have to put bars on the windows in order to feel safe. Or, hire management companies (such as yours) to take care of properties when the owner is out of town (because of vandalism).
 
Its ironic that people are posting information that is completely different to their truth . I sold a property recently in Recoleta for US $ 405000 . The apartment was brought 4 years ago for US $ 220000 and with renovations of US $ 50000 made the owner a hefty return on their investment . This is the case for many sellers that brought in the last 5 years who have made excellent returns on their investment.

Buying property is a minimum 7 year investment and the time for selling is important as there will be troughs or windows of opportunity. In Argentina for most purchasers buying a property is the only investment they make . This year 2009 the real estate market is still solid for excellent level properties in well appointed locations.
These properties are selling at good prices with counter offers of 10 to 15 percent off the asking price.

The real estate market for standard properties in low quality buildings has seen a downturn and especially in bubble inflated areas of the capital like Palermo Soho and San Telmo. Prices of commercial properties have seen larger decreases.

Rentals have gone down more especially standard apartments with cheap furnishings . There are 1000s of apartments for rent in the capital federal but at best only 20 percent are recommended.

High quality Phs ( townhouses) of two bedrooms that are well furnished are at high demand and prices for rental of a two bedroom well appointed ph in Palermo Soho range from US 1500 to US 2500 per month.

In regards to projections of real estate market here it is not the USA with hyperinflated prices due to speculation of the mortgage market. 90 percent of all properties in Argentina are in cash and as stated before this is the main investment for locals who have fear of banks , stock market, and currencies.

In regards to the comments on Patagonia this could not be further from the truth as most parts are very safe with the lowest crime rates in South America. Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Fe, Tierra de Fuego are pristine with little sigh of the bars on windows that a member keeps posting here. I vist El Bolson ( Rio Negro ) El Chalten ( Santa Cruz) and El Calafate ( Santa Cruz) often and do not see the bars on windows and the fear of crime stated by some. In many towns in the south people do not even lock their doors at night .

Now to talk about the province of Buenos Aires is another story with bars on all windows and high crime rates. Also the fear of crime is paltable. I myself have never been a victim of crime on the street level and believe that if you take standard precautions you will be safe. The rates of violent crime here are lower than most USA cities eg Washington DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta etc etc etc.
 
I think the low number of responses here is telling, there is definitely a lot less interest in real estate as in investment these days, be it in B.A. or elsewhere. This thread was started back in 2006, look at the number of posts then. There is isn't a lot of good information available on the local market. No offense intended but information provided by those engaged in the sale of real estate may not be completely objective.

I agree with RC that there are probably better bargains elsewhere. Given the kind of government here the underlying economics of Argentina are unsound. This could change sometime in the future but I wouldn't be holding my breath. Given this any real estate investment here should be viewed as high risk. Five years from now prices could be up, but probably just as likely (more likely in my opinion) they could be significantly down.
 
Well, since I already own a place in Buenos Aires, and have no intention of selling in the next 10 to 15 years, some of this is less relevant to me-

But-
A "bargain" in real estate is, for most of us, kind of meaningless.
Unless you are Ted Turner, and frequently buy 10,000 acre ranches, most of us will buy one or two pieces of real estate in any given ten year period- so shopping for bargains in suburban Atlanta, or how cheap a concrete block tract house is in Kendall Florida is, this is irrelevant to most people.

If you want to live in Athens or Kendall, then, shopping for bargains there is great. But I assume most of the people who post and read here do so because they want to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Not because they are constantly flitting around the globe, snapping up "bargains" in real estate wherever and whenever one occurs.

Me, I would rather spend the next ten years in a dentist's chair than live in rural Georgia or Alabama. So whether there are bargains there is about as irrelevant to my life as you can possibly get.

I give the posters here the benefit of the doubt- and assume if they are hip, knowledgable, and discerning enough to realize what a great city Buenos Aires is, they would want to live in similar cities in the USA, or Europe, or Asia- not in one horse redneck towns in the south, or in Albania, or Kinshasha, both of which I hear are full of great bargains.

And right now, in the USA, in cities that are comparable to Buenos Aires in size, culture, charm, and interest, like San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Boston, NYC, or in cities in Europe like Barcelona, Torino, Brussels, or Berlin- prices in all those places, for equivalent, apples to apples apartments, are all still way higher than in Recoleta or even Chacarita.

Sure, if you want to compare an art deco mansion off Riviadavia like the one some friends of mine bought a couple years ago for under 200k, with a particle board double wide in east Texas, it costs more. Now compare that same house to a similar age, quality, and style one in Brussels.
Frankly, it is to laugh.

Absolutely, prices are down a bit. Absolutely, the manic expat buying boom of two years ago has slacked off. And, Absolutely, Buenos Aires in NOT Barcelona or Paris. But its still about 1/3 or less of the price for real equivalent housing.
 
We are now looking to buy a property in the province. Not as an investment, but as we want a place to spend our weekends and holidays out of the noisy city, in the country. We have been looking for a while and finally found something that we would love. Before buying we wanted to know if what we were doing is 'wise'. We don't do it to gain money but it would be really bad to loose money. So we asked around for advise and this is what several 'adivisers' told us (basicaly they all said the same);

1.The market fot that kind of properties is dead and will be dead for the next 2 years. People wait for Cristina to go.
2. if you buy and want to sell in the next 2 years, forget it.
3. if you want to be sure to get our money back in 4 years or so, buy in one of those popular 'club de campo/polo'. (which BTW we don't want)
4. if you want to buy that particular place, you should lower the price with 1/4th. ; They told us we had time, no one would run away with that property.

So we did. We didn't pay for the 'reservation' as we should have, we waited several weeks, and my husband made an offer of 60% of the initial price, for a house in perfect state ( there were a few things that had to be fixed). The man accepted...

We own an appartmemt in BA, when we look at the agencies today and look for similar appartments in the same area, we see that our appartment has amost doubled in value in 2 years. Too bad we don't want to sell (yet).
 
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