10 Questions for Geoff W. in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz

EDITORS NOTE: This is another post in our series of Expat Interviews. Let us know if you know someone who would be a good person to interview and we will try to do it. Geoff is from Alabama (US) and currently lives as an exchange student full time in Santa Cruz province with an Argentine host family, he is a full time student.

1. Where were you born, where else have you lived, and where are you living now? I was born in Huntsville, AL, I have lived in Seoul, Korea, Washington D.C., and Portland, Oregon. I now live in Rio Gallegos, the Capital of the Provincia de Santa Cruz in Southern Patagonia.

2. Who did you move to Argentina with? When? I moved to Argentina by myself as a university exchange student. I have been here since the beginning of August.

3. What made you pick Argentina? I had studied Spanish in High School for 4 years and wanted to take the leap towards fluency. I had the option of studying and living with a host family in either Panama or Argentina. I chose Argentina for its geographic and cultural diversity.

4. What is the best part about living in Argentina? The worst? The best two parts of living in Argentina are the people and the food. The people are very warm and open and asado is delicious. The worst part of living in Argentina is the unreliability of absolutely everything. Although I've learned to not take hot water for granted, I sometimes find it difficult to get things done with so many strikes.

5. How do you make your living? I am a student so I am not currently earning a living.

6. What is a typical day like for you? A typical day usually goes like this: 10 AM: Wake up, eat breakfast, 11 AM: Head to the gym, 1 PM: Eat lunch, 2 PM: Begin working on homework, 5 PM: Drink Mate with my host family, 8 PM: Go to class, 11 PM: Eat dinner, 12 AM: Go out with friends if it's Friday!

7. How has living in Argentina changed your life? Living with an Argentine family has taught me to be more patient and accepting of others. Also, I had never really realized how fortunate I was to have had been born into the life that I was born into. I guess that fits into not taking things for granted but there have been a few moments when I've thought "wow this person works just as hard as me for half of the reward, and they're still grateful for what they have."

8. How does living in Argentina differ most from living in your home country? At an orientation I attended before heading down here we discussed the iceberg cultural model where the tip of the iceberg represents the cultural differences that are immediately apparent (e.g. food, clothing, architecture). Once you get beyond the tip you start to notice true cultural values. In regards to these big differences I would have to say the biggest is the pace of life. Everything is sped up in the United States. We buy pre-prepared meals, check e-mail on our phones while we are traveling, and we speed through the grocery store line rapidly. In Argentina more time is spent with family and friends and multi-tasking is driving down the road and drinking maté at the same time. Argentines are also much louder and much more expressive than Americans (it's got to be the Italian roots).

9. What are your future plans in Argentina? When are you planning on leaving? I'll be finishing the school year up at the end November. In December my family from the United States will join me to visit El Calafate and Buenos Aires. After that I plan on spending January and February traveling with my host family through Argentina and perhaps to Santiago de Chile. I'll resume school in March and head back to the U.S. in July or August.

10. What one tip would you pass on to a future expat moving to Argentina? The best tip I can give to an expat headed down south is to come informed, yet without expectations of what your life will be like. If you come with expectations of what life will be like down here and then it doesn't turn out to be true you're bound to be disappointed. I always have a mental picture of what a place will be like before I travel there. It's never correct. However, it doesn't hurt to talk to someone that has traveled or, better yet, has lived here.

Phases of the Expat Experience

This blog is about the expat experience as it relates to Argentina. That includes both what it takes to become an Expat in Argentina, and what it takes to live in Argentina as an expat. For purposes of categorizing the content on this blog, I saw the opportunity to label the articles according to how they fit into the different stages of life as an expat. Here are the three phases of life as an expat that we will use on this site to categorize posts in the future (along with other keywords). Posts and articles will be searchable by these keyword labels through new links that will be posted soon in the left navigation bar.

Three Phases of the Expat Experience
1. Pre-Move Preparations (in home country, before you move),
2. Transition Phase, moving to and setting up your new household in Argentina,
3. Living in Argentina as an expat.

It's really two major phases, Pre-Move Preparations and Living in Argentina as an expat. The Transition Phase is really a sub-set of Living in Argentina, but it focuses on the first few months of the expat experience which is quite distinct in many ways. There are so many issues to deal with in the Transition phase that it is worth taking these issues on in a more detailed way. That is why I think it's worth defining this Transition phase as a separate part of the expat experience. Many of these issues will be done once or just a couple times during your whole stay as an expat in Argentina. Chores like leasing an apartment, dealing with garantia issues, buying real estate, getting your all your government IDs and numbers, getting your residency paperwork approved on arrival, getting a bank account opened, getting utilities on in your new place, importing possessions through customs, etc. Whereas the items discussed in the third phase, Living in Argentina as an expat would include things like the issues of living abroad for years at a time, travel tips, restaurant guides, child-care recommendations, communication advice, things to do, places to see, expat interviews, etc.

Over the next few weeks we will be introducing some new blog contributors, and welcoming their posts. A big reason why we will introduce more new contributors on this site will be to bring you more fresh content across all three of the different phases of an expat's experience.

Have a Question or an Idea for a Post? Send us your questions and ideas for posts as comments. We will do our best to answer questions that we can, and when we can't, we will call upon our panel of expats on the ground in Argentina who can help out the Expat Argentina Community. Send us a post if you can help out in that regard, by answering an emailed question every now and then. We are eager to hear from people in the interior of the country in addition to the B.A. residents. We welcome your help in making suggestions for blog posts that will improve the site. You can submit your questions or ideas as a comment by clicking the comment link below any post.

New Home Buyers Beware

This post is just a warning for all expats out there that are buying new apartments in Buenos Aires... your experience will be dramatically different than what you're used to back in the U.S. Unlike U.S. builders, the Argentine builders don't even hook-up the electricity before they finish. You have to hire an electrician to come out yourself. The light fixtures are not installed either and your closets won't be installed. The apartment is generally left in an unlivable state without additional work.

At first I thought this just happened to me, but from what I've heard from other buyers, it happens the same with everyone. The builders don't exactly finish the job.

Plan Before You Make Your Move

I've gotten a few comments lately from readers who, after a vacation to Buenos Aires, are anxious to come and live here, but quite frequently they fail to plan adequately. The owner of ApartmentsBA made a very good comment about this that I'd like to share and then discuss.

Reader's Comment

Keep reality in focus. It can be 'romantic' or exciting to just walk away from life but have a solid gameplan. I can't emphasize this enough. I see so many foreigners (especially Americans) moving to BA to live out some fantasy. Most of them live here just a few months and reality sets in. They have no prospects for a job or making money and have to move back home.

Unemployment rates have drastically fallen from their highs but keep in mind that salaries are extremely low here and cost of living is going up. There are many bilingual, educated, English-speaking college graduates here. They aren't making a lot of money, so why would someone pay you more? You have to look at things in terms of that. Most Americans I talk to that want to live here can't speak any Spanish (let alone decent Spanish) yet they still think somehow they will find this great paying job and live their dream life.

The reality is that you have to plan well. Honestly, look around and you will see that most foreigners fail here. In fact, El Expatriado is one of the only ones that I know that has succeeded and it's because he had a solid foundation and good business plan and planned things out.

The Reality of Argentina

Most of us are not independently wealthy. We need income to survive. Right now Argentina is cheap enough that, if you bought a place to live, you could live well on $1000-1500 USD per month. Could you live on less? Sure, but you'd need to be frugal and watch your budget closely. Lots of things we have in the United States and take for granted are luxuries here. If you want to try and replicate the lifestyle you had in the United States, you'll need more money.

All the Americans (and Argentines) I know here that are doing well financially are either selling their products / services abroad or working in the tourism / hospitality industry here, earning their money in dollars. If you get a job here, expect to be paid between $400-1000 USD monthly, depending on your skills. And that's only if you can find a job that is somehow working with foreigners where your skills would be needed.

The Buenos Aires Labor Market

The point ApartmentsBA makes about having to compete against locals is a good one. I could potentially hire an American here to work customer service for my U.S. clients, but the Argentine that I hired speaks English, Spanish, and French. His English accent is very good, so it doesn't bother my U.S. customers much. Since he's a local, he can also help me with whatever I need done locally as well - odds & ends. I also wouldn't be paying anywhere near $1000 USD per month for that position.

The only way I'm paying someone $1000 USD per month here is if they're brining in business or they're such an effective manager that they can run the business for me and I don't have to even think about it anymore. The point is, you'd only pay a salary like that to a very special person. So, it is unrealistic for an American to think they're going to come here and earn that.

The Importance of Good Planning

I had a software development center here in Buenos Aires a full year before I even gave one thought to moving here. It was only through my repeated trips to Buenos Aires that I realized how much I liked it here. Since I do most of my selling over the internet and through word of month, I rarely met my clients in person. So, for me, it didn't really matter where I lived. That's not a normal situation for most people.

Don't think it'll be easy to just come here and start a business either. I've had an office here for 2 years and today my Argentina sales add up to about 3% of my business. Don't expect anyone here to pay you in dollars for your services. Also, the reason I have Argentine partners is that they need my help to sell to people from the U.S., not the other way around. People are going to be much more receptive to entering into a partnership with you if you can drive sales to people in your country, not the other way around. Don't expect to find someone who will magically help you sell your products and services here. Your Argentine partners will expect you to be working the magic.

So, it isn't impossible to come here and live well. It does take good planning, however. Think things through. Your best bet may be just to stay in the U.S. a little longer and work on that nest egg. If you really save and be very frugal, you can work up the savings required to live here. Remember, with just $1500 USD in income per month and owning a property you'll be well off. If invested properly, that doesn't require such a huge amount of savings.

Good luck, and I hope to see you all soon in Buenos Aires. Just be smart about it!

Renting an Apartment Can Be Difficult For Expats

Now that my own apartment will be used as a vacation rental (it can be seen here) I have to move out. This means trying to find and rent an apartment here in the city. Unfortunately for me, this has not been as easy as you might think. After going through this process, I can see why the furnished apartments offered by ApartmentsBA and many other rental agencies are so popular here with foreigners. Rental agencies just don't make it easy for expats to rent a place.

What You Need to Rent

Just like back in the U.S., to rent an apartment, the owners will require you to show proof of income, evidence of employment, etc. They'll also want something known as a "guarantee". A guarantee is someone who owns a property who is willing to use their property to vouch for you. Usually this is a family member. If you don't pay your rent, the landlord can begin proceedings against the guarantor.

This puts expats in a particularly tricky position. Since they don't have family here, it is very difficult to find someone to give you a guarantee. You'll have to know someone really well, and they will have to trust you completely, because they are literally putting their property on the line for you. When I rented my office for the first time, my local business partner, who I knew for 2 years, was my guarantor.

Now, if you work for an international company, usually the company acts as your guarantor. However, if you are moving here as an individual, you won't have a Fortune 500 company standing behind you. That means finding your own guarantor. In my case, I figured it would be simple. I own property in Buenos Aires, so I can guarantee myself.

Wrong! Apparently you can't serve as your own guarantor. This makes things a bit more complicated. So, I'm back in the same boat as all the other expats here who don't own property -- searching for someone to provide me with a guarantee. Luckily, I do have someone who can do this, so that problem is solved.

So, assuming everything goes OK and there's no paperwork issues, I'll be able to rent the place. What a hassle, though. The first place I was going to rent turned me down flat out. I even offered to pay them a year's rent up front and they still wouldn't rent it to me. It seems some owners just don't want to deal with foreigners at all -- even if they do have all their paperwork in order.

If you're here without a DNI, it'll probably be next to impossible for you to rent a place. And if you don't have someone to be your guarantor, you're probably out of luck as well. After going through this experience, it is obvious why so many foreigners just rent the short term apartments. It's a whole lot easier than having to go through all this rigamarole trying to rent long-term.

Note to readers: I think someone could make a good business here providing guarantees to foreigners renting here. If you're someone who has a background in evaluating someone's credit risk, it could be a good opportunity.

Long Term Rentals

Even though there are vastly more long-term unfurnished rentals in Buenos Aires than short-term rentals, it can be harder for expats to find one. The vast majority are published in Spanish language newspapers with cryptic abbreviations that mean nothing to an English speaker. For example, did you know that "c/dep" means it has a maid's quarters and "PH" means the apartment is in a small horizontal building with just 1 or 2 stories?

A reader wrote in with this question today about how to best locate a long-term rental. Since I'm doing this right now for myself, I thought I'd share my tips about how best to approach this.

Reader's Question

I have been in BA for 3 weeks and it looks like things are going to work out business wise, so I am going to start looking for a long term rental - 1 year preferred. I am currently in an apartment for about 6 more weeks with Reynolds. My initial impression is that the short term rental agencies are pretty weak as regards long term rental solutions. Any advise or referrals would be appreciated. Thanks Expatriado for allowing me to use the blog in this manner!

What Not To Do

Some real estate agencies that specialize in working with foreigners and relocation companies will do a search for you. For this, they may charge you 10% of the entire contract value, which is outrageous when you realize you'll have to be paying a commission to the real estate agent that is offering the apartment as well.

Find an Apartment Like an Argentine

Your best bet is to just use classified ads in Clarín and La Nacion or the online editions of both these papers. This is how ordinary Argentines search for their apartments and this is how you are going to find an appropriately-priced apartment in pesos.

There is another advantage to using the ads -- you have the possibility of finding an apartment that is offered by an owner, without a real estate agency. This will let you skip out on paying the agency commissions, which is a big plus. That's right, both landlords and renters have to pay the real estate agency commission -- stupid, but that's how it works.

The downside is that you're doing all the legwork yourself. It takes a lot of time to search through all the ads, call them up, ask them to describe the apartment so you know if it fits your criteria or not, then make appointments to go and view the apartments. This is further complicated if you don't speak Spanish that well or not at all. Sometimes the owners get nervous when you can't speak well and just tell you on the phone they're not interested in renting to you.

Some Help For Fellow Yanquis

If you would like to go this route, I can offer my personal secretary to help you out in your apartment search. She is doing this for me right now and doing a very good job of handling my own search. She'll take your apartment criteria, look through the newspapers, call the owners, and make appointments for you -- one after another, every 20-30 minutes. For me, this is just as good as using a real estate agent and you don't have to pay 10% to anyone.

There's also the added benefit of an Argentine voice on the other end of the line when she asks for the price. In the ads where the price is not listed, she always asks the price before giving out my name to make the appointment. Once they hear a gringo name, the price goes up by 30%, so be careful.

If anyone out there needs someone to help them, feel free to e-mail me and I'll see to it you have some help with your apartment search.

Bringing Money Into Argentina

A reader recently left a comment on a discussion about bringing money into the country. There was some confusion over this, so I wanted to try and clear things up.

Reader's Comment

So, it seems no one has a solution [to the problem of bring money into Argentina] besides bringing in cash under $10,000 [when traveling]? I am involved in a business that requires money to be transferd to Argentina. Money that can not go down with a person. Any suggestions, comments, contacts would be greatly appreciated.

This is really sad for Argentina.

You Can Bring Money In

There is no problem bringing money into the country. If you're a legal resident you can transfer money to your bank account. The problem is that property here is priced in dollars and that's what people are usually bringing the money in for.

This presents a dilemma. The Argentina Central Bank converts all incoming wires into pesos. You can't wire-in dollars. That means when you convert the pesos back to dollars, you've lost 7-10% of your money, depending on what rates you get. That's a huge sum of money to lose on a wire transfer. To further complicate matters, the central bank sometimes withholds 30% of the amount of the transfer for a year, to make sure you are not a speculator.

There are various financial firms, private parties, money brokers, etc. out there that will let you do a wire transfer in dollars. They maintain a bank account in the U.S. and let you make a transfer into that account. After receiving the sum in the U.S., they give you cash in a bag here in Argentina.

Even though the financial firm you are dealing with may be a well respected legal entity here in Argentina, the operation they just carried out for you is extra-legal. The law of the land is that all transfers must go through the Central Bank. Someone told me the term for this is "blue money" -- not quite black money from drugs or something else illegal, but not exactly 100% legal either.

Despite this, virtually everyone transfers their money using one of these firms. But since this service is typically unadvertised, you'll need to have a contact or a referral. Usually this will come from your real estate agent or from your Argentine business parter (they all know someone), etc.

If you're operating a business, however, you should check with your accountant before using something like this. I've heard from people in the real estate industry here and they say that eventually the government may ask people to document the source of the income used to purchase the apartment. This would probably happen when you sold the apartment. They say there might be some hoops to jump through if you can't show that you transfered the money in a legal way, but no one really knows. Its all speculation at this point.

Argentina's Unfriendly Banks

Although probably obvious by now to any expat who's already here, I felt I should point out to newcomers that the banking system here in Argentina is pretty terrible. It is an ordeal just to open up an account. And if you don't have a visa and DNI, forget about it. Bank accounts come with outrageous fees and taxes as well. The interest rates paid are well below the inflation rate and forget about accessing any type of credit product -- whether it be a mortgage loan or even a credit card.

To top it all off, the attitude is pretty terrible as well. Banks act as if they're doing you a favor just by letting you have an account with them. In fact, the vast majority of Argentina's banks have a Moody's rating of "E", the lowest possible rating. Banks rated "E" have very weak intrinsic financial strength, financial fundamentals that are seriously deficient, and a highly unstable operating environment. That pretty much sums up the banks here.

The banks should be clubbing each other over the heads trying to secure more depositors, but it seems as if they're doing everything they can to turn away business. It is a very odd situation, especially for an American expat who's used to vigorous competition for his financial business back in the states. You can't walk into a bank in the U.S. without them trying to give you a toaster, a Home Depot gift certificate, or a T-shirt of something or another to get you to open a no-fee checking account with free online banking and bill pay.

Here you'll wait in a queue for 10 minutes just to talk to someone to open your account. Then he'll direct you to another 10 minute queue to make your deposit. You'll also pay for the privilege of giving someone else free use of your money. And when the end of the year rolls around, you'll find out the government taxes you on the balance of your bank account, which causes a mini bank-run around late December each year, as people withdraw their cash from the banking system so they don't get taxed on it. It is truly a screwed up system all-round.

Its no wonder there's no credit in this country. With the rich sending their cash abroad to Miami and Europe and the middle class putting their savings under their mattresses, there's nothing to lend. It seems to me that the government could do a lot to improve the financial situation of the country by first working on improving the banking system.

Meanwhile, expats should expect frustrations. Make sure you have a very good relationship with a bank in your home country. First because you'd be nuts to put your savings here and second because you'll never get a loan here either. You'll have to rely on your homeland for the vast majority of your financial services, which is really too bad for Argentina and expats.

My Apartment is Finished!

After four months of renovations, my apartment was finally finished today! Only a few details remain, but I'm happy that it was finally done. For the last 15 days, I've actually been living in my apartment as the construction was going on. When I bought my apartment back in July, I had the naive notion that maybe it would take a month or so to finish all the work. I also figured on spending about half of what I ended up spending.

In the end, though, I'm very pleased with the way everything turned out. Just like every software projects, construction and renovations hinge on three different variables -- time, cost, and scope. My apartment suffered from a very bad case of "feature creep", as we say in the software industry. I started with the expectation of adding wood floors in the bedroom, replacing the maid's quarters with an office, and buying decorations. In the end, I finally finished by:

• Replacing & resurfacing everything in the master bathroom
• Changing every surface in the kitchen
• Tearing down and then rebuilding 1/5th of the apartment, which would become the office
• Replacing the plumbing, hot water heater, etc.
• Replacing every electrical outlet in the house, adding U.S. & European plugs to the Argentine ones
• Adding a 5.1 surround sound system and home theater
• Adding a home bar
• Replacing all the lighting fixtures

The Cost of Renovations

Even though I spent about twice as much as I thought, in the end, I was very happy with how things turned out. Much of the expense was related to my home theater, which I was very keen on having here in Buenos Aires.

In general, the cost of renovations here was far less than what it would cost for something similar in the United States. There is plenty of labor expense that goes into a project like this and there is a big benefit of paying in pesos for that labor rather than in dollars. Throughout the project, I also tried to use locally-produced goods whenever possible, to avoid the costly imported furnishings.

I was very impressed with the work of my architect, who is also an interior designer. As such, she was able to manage the entire project, from the construction all the way through the purchasing of all the decorations. Having someone to take care of all this for me was a godsend. I couldn't imagine trying to do all this myself. If anyone plans on renovating a property they purchase, I can highly recommend her.

Pictures Coming Soon

I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and I'll be gone for two weeks, but I'll try to have pictures online of the apartment when I get back, so you can all see how it turned out. By the end of the year, the apartment will also be available for rent, so if anyone is looking for a very nice place to stay in Recoleta, you'll be able to rent out my apartment.

Argentina and Private Property

As part of this continuing series of questions, we move on to the next one about private property in Argentina.

Reader's Question

Does Argentina respect private property like it says in the Constitution? No taking of property, or is this a "wink-wink" unless somebody who has money and power wants the property, or a person commits an unpopular crime? Is it common for people to loose their homes because they can't pay property taxes?

In General, Property is Respected

Argentina has not seen the kind of nationalization and redistribution that is going on in Venezuela and Cuba. An ordinary person or small to mid-size business could come here, invest, and not worry about losing their home / business to government confiscation. Foreigners are legally permitted to purchase property and if you have a DNI, you are entitled to all the same rights as citizens (except voting), which includes the right to private property.

Probably the two biggest mistakes you can make is to either not pay your property taxes or not use a good notary when closing on your property purchase. If you don't use a good notary and there is a problem with the title that comes up later, you can lose the property. A good notary will do his research and find out anything funny with respect to the property.

On the other hand, if you don't pay your property tax, then you'll also be in trouble. Property tax is about 1% of the property's value and is paid annually. Where people get in trouble is that they forget to pay this. Unlike the U.S., you don't get a property tax bill in the mail here. You have to hire an accountant to submit a property tax return for you.

Just like all taxes, you get interest and penalties if you don't pay your property tax on time each year. So, suppose you bought a property, didn't pay property tax for 10 years, and then you go to sell it and oops, you have a mountain of penalties, interest, and late fees to pay that have totally eaten up the value of your property. It may look like "confiscation", but you wouldn't have owed all that money if you would have paid your taxes every year.

The Largest Private Property Confiscation

The largest confiscation of private property happened during the economic crisis when caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde confiscated $17.8 billion dollars of foreign reserves from the Central Bank of Argentina. These foreign reserves did not belong to the government, however. They were the legal property of all peso holders, who had the right to exchange their pesos with the Central Bank for dollars at any time they chose.

This wasn't the worst of it, however. The government later confiscated all dollar deposits at all banks and did a forced conversion to pesos at an artificial exchange rate. This action was later overturned by the Supreme Court and the government was ordered to pay back the dollars. The Supreme Court did not overturn the devaluation, however, despite the fact that it was legalized theft.

This is why I advise all foreigners here not to put their nest eggs in Argentine banks. Keep your money back in the U.S., where it is safe. In summary, I think its safe to say that there won't ever by mass confiscations of real estate -- people wouldn't stand for it and you couldn't cloak the taking of real estate as a financial austerity measure designed to spur a nation's economy.

I'll also point out that Title 22, Section 2370 of the U.S. Code provides for the total suspension of U.S. assistance to any country that seizes property owned by U.S. citizens. So, I do think this provides another measure of protection. If your goal is simply to buy some property here, an apartment, a vineyard, a farm, or just a place to call home, I wouldn't worry. Just make sure you have a good notary and pay your taxes and you'll be fine.

Bringing Your Gun, Pets, Furniture, Car, etc. to Argentina

This is a follow-up to yesterday's question about gun ownership in Argentina.

Reader's Question

As regards gun ownership in Argentina, do you know of laws/regulations applicable to foreigners bringing guns in to Argentina ? I own a handgun and would like to bring it with me when I relocate to BA in the next few months. I assume, after reading your comments, that I would have to acquire a DNI, and then meet the other qualifications prior to owning a handgun in BA. Any light you can shed would be appreciated. Thanks!

Work With A Professional

My best advice to anyone considering bringing in items like your gun, pets, furniture, a car, etc. to Argentina is to get the advice of a professional. Bringing things to Argentina is very different than bringing things to the United States. This is not a free-trade country.

As a foreigner with a residency visa, you are entitled to bring certain things into the country without paying the staggering 50% customs tax. The one thing I do know is that you will need to get professionals working on your side if you want any hope of taking advantage of these laws.

I also know for a fact that if you try to bring things into the country without a visa, they'll be quarantined and held in customs indefinitely until your residency visa is processed. In the meantime, you'll be racking up storage charges and with every day that goes by, the possibility that something gets stolen or broken increases. This is one of the reasons I got my visa and DNI a full year before I actually moved to Argentina -- so there wouldn't be any possibility of problems or delays.

If you haven't already, contact ARCA and let them know your situation. They can handle your visa and DNI and they'll refer you to reputable companies here in Buenos Aires that can import your belongings (including pets, guns, cars, etc.) without problems. Don't just put your stuff on a ship or in a suitcase and hope for the best. There is customs paperwork that needs to be done here if you ever want to see your stuff again. You can't just bring a gun into the country, since it'll have to go through whatever import procedure has been established so that the serial number can be registered in the national database. Good luck!

Bought My Apartment

Well, its been a long time since my last entry, but I finished the purchase of my apartment last week and received the keys. I actually felt like I was in a B movie during the closing -- it was quite hilarious. The seller literally sat across me and we both watched as someone counted the huge stack of cash for the amount of the purchase.

The money left with a guard in a bulletproof vest and went straight to an armored truck that was waiting outside. I can't stress enough to anyone considering buying an apartment here that it is very important to have the closing at your bank. This lets you take the money right out of your account or safe deposit box and give the cash directly to the seller right there in the bank. If you close somewhere else, you'll have to either carry the cash yourself to the location or hire someone else to carry the cash for you -- not a good situation.

In the end, everything turned out fine and it was a smooth closing for all parties. Now I just need to furnish the place and I can move in.

Returning to Argentina

A few days back a reader wrote in with a question about returning to Argentina. I'll do my best to answer this.

Reader's Question

I was born in Argentina, but my parents moved us to Miami when I was two. Luckily, I'm a US citizen and and Argentine citizen. I do have to get a DNI when I get there and renew my Argentine Passport. Do you have any information on whether things will be eaiser for me as far as renting/purchasing property, starting a business, etc. because I was born there and I speak fluent Spanish?

My Response

I do know that there is a law that states Argentine citizens must enter the country using their Argentine passport. This is very common throughout the world -- citizens are always requested to enter their country using their country's passport.

In reality, I doubt this is enforced. You said yourself that you've been several times to Argentina before. Nevertheless, you may want to contact the Argentine consulate to see if they could get you your documents before you go. I do remember when I was back at the Argentine consulate a year and a half ago, I overheard someone who was in the same situation as you. His parents moved him to the U.S. and he had no connection with Argentine. Well, now he was trying to travel outside the country and needed a passport. Since he wasn't a U.S. citizen, he was there trying to get an Argentine passport.

The consulate made him fill out some paperwork and informed him that he must get his DNI first and only then would they give him the passport. I imagine its the same thing for you. You'll need to apply for your DNI and then get your passport. If you need help, I'd recommend you contact ARCA and I'm sure they'd be able to look up your status with the National Registry and tell you what to do.

Starting a Business

As an Argentine citizen who speaks fluent Spanish, I can say that you will surely have an advantage over us yanquis who don't. I'm forced to rely on my staff to deal with a lot of the people I would rather be interacting with directly. If I had the ability to speak fluent Spanish, I'm positive things would be much easier and quicker for me here.

Business Review: ApartmentsBA.com

One of the things I'm going to be doing is reviewing local businesses that I think expats or travelers should either patronize or stay away from. I'll let you know my experience with them and then either recommend them or not. There are a few places that I've done business with that I want to warn people about and a few other places that I'd like to recommend. This will be an occasional column, much like the restaurant reviews column that appears here every once in a while.

ApartmentsBA.com - Furnished Apartment Rentals

• Website: www.ApartmentsBA.com
• Phone (USA): +1 (646) 827-8796
• Phone (Argentina): +54 (11) 5254-0100
• Address: Callao 1564 5°B, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• El Expatriado's Rating: 5/5

This morning, I just checked out of one of their apartments at their building on Las Heras & Junin. I rented this apartment for a month and it was easily the best apartment rental experience I had in Buenos Aires. To show the reader the difference in service, I'll contrast the experience I had with ApartmentsBA with the experience I had the week earlier with an apartment from ByT Argentina.

When I checked-in to both apartments, I only received one set of keys. When I asked for a spare set, ByT threw a huge fit and one of my employees had to call and yell at them to finally get someone to help me. To be fair, the guy who finally helped me did a great job. There was a problem with one of the doors and so he had a locksmith come over and change the locks and give me my extra copies.

ApartmentsBA, on the other hand, sent someone over the next day with the keys. No arguments needed. Additionally, I was missing about $400 for the security deposit on check-in (thought my office had paid that already) and they didn't throw a big fit about it and trusted me to make good on the money.

The real nice thing about staying with ApartmentsBA was the amenities that were provided. They give you a cell phone, a USA phone to make/receive calls to the US, high speed Internet, cable, DVD, a stereo system, weekly maid service, and even little business cards with the phone numbers and address of your apartment (great for giving to friends and co-workers who want to know how to reach you here).

You'll spend a little more to stay with them than you would ByT or some of the other companies, but its money well spent.

Furnishing an Apartment in Buenos Aires

One thing that I learned after deciding on a property to buy was that the furniture market works a little differently here. Now that the seller has accepted my offer on the property, I was starting to think about moving in and how I'm going to decorate the place. Strangely enough, the furniture here isn't actually produced until you go and place the order!

No Furniture Inventories

It was quite a shock for me to learn that furniture stores here don't actually carry inventories. Perhaps this is due to the economic crisis or the devaluation of the peso. In any case, you don't typically go to a store and pick out the furniture and then have it delivered. Instead, you go to the store, pick out the pieces you like and then leave a deposit. It then takes 30-60 days for them to build your furniture.

A very interesting upside to all this is that you can get things custom made at pretty much the same price as getting a stock piece. With all the stores operating in a job-shop fashion, it costs them just as much to make something custom as it does making something from a catalog, giving you additional flexibility.

Interior Designers / Architects

I pride myself on having a good eye for design. All the commercial websites I've built always look great and clients are always pleased with the results they get. However, I am not a designer by any means -- I just know what I like and what I don't. Therefore, I'm going to enlist the services of an interior designer or architect to handle the interior design of the apartment I'm buying.

I was quite surprised to learn that many of the architects here do interior design as well. While they may be two entirely separate fields in the U.S., here you will find an architect can also handle the decoration of your home in addition to tearing down walls, enclosing balconies, etc. So, I'm going to be interviewing both architects and interior designers and getting quotes (and hopefully some concept sketches) from all of them.

I'm not normally the type of person to enlist the help of a professional to furnish my personal living space. However, since this apartment will eventually be used as a rental, I want to make sure it can compete with any of the finest hotels in Buenos Aires. I'll make sure to let everyone know how the process works out.

Buying A Property In Argentina

Today I accepted the seller's counter offer and bought my first property here in Buenos Aires. Assuming that there are no complications, I'll be able to move in about one month from today. I thought I'd share some of the strange quirks I experienced and let everyone know what to prepare for when they decide to buy here.

Issues With The Title

It turns out that the people who owned the apartment previously did some unauthorized modifications to the apartment -- they enclosed a large area in the rear of the property that used to be a balcony. When they did this construction, they did not get approval from either the city or the building association.

Needless to say, I was concerned about this initially. I'm buying a property that is being marketed as a 70 square meter property (about 750 square feet), when the title deed specifies that the apartment is in fact a 53 square meter apartment. I didn't want any complications down the line.

I checked with the lawyer who will be handling my closing and it turns out that it shouldn't be a problem after all. It appears that modifications made to the back of a building do not typically raise eyebrows. However, a modification to the front of a building, where it will be in plain sight of everybody, should go through the proper channels and approvals.

I was also relieved that this modification has "aged" somewhat. It was done before 2001 (when the current owners bought the property), so apparently the building association hasn't raised any fuss for the last 5 years or so. After considering all this and on the recommendation of the lawyer, I decided to go forward.

Two Types Of Closings

When you purchase an apartment, there are basically two ways to close. The first is with a "boleto" and the other is by going straight to "escritura".

The "Boleto" Process

With a boleto, you typically pay 30% of the closing price to the seller (usually to allow them to purchase a new apartment) and the notary handling the closing will hold the deed in escrow. The boleto is the point of no return. If you back out, the seller keeps your money. If the seller backs out, they have to not only return your money, but also double it to get the title back out of escrow.

Going Straight To "Escritura"

When you go straight to escritura, you accomplish everything in one transaction. You deliver the entire sum of the purchase and the seller delivers the deed directly to you. The notary, of course, supervises the transaction and ensures that everything is accomplished legally.

My Choice

I decided to go straight to escritura rather than using the boleto process. Each day that I don't have an apartment is a day that I have to pay to rent one. I'd much rather move into a place of my own as quick as possible. My realtor also advised me to use the boleto as one thing that we could negotiate on. If the seller came back and asked us to use the boleto, we'd ask them not to make a much higher counter offer. Every month that I don't have an apartment costs me $1000+ in furnished rentals, so it makes sense for me to try and close quickly and also demand that the seller close quickly as well.

In addition, I've bought and sold property in the U.S. and I've always found that the longer the escrow period lasts, the more likely there are to be problems. I have no idea whether that's the case here, but all my instincts tell me to try to close as quick as possible and avoid delays, while still taking enough time to do all the proper inspections and due-dilligence, however.

A Little Bit of Good Karma

Yesterday was easily the best day yet for apartment hunting. I saw three fantastic places and could have imagined myself purchasing any of them. After the awful time looking for apartments last week, I was due some good apartments. I spent all the day looking, and after deciding which was my favorite, I went ahead and made an offer on one of the apartments. I offered 8% less than what they were asking and this time they agreed to start negotiations at that price. So, we'll see how it goes.

No Enemies Here

Reader's Comment

I am in danger of making an enemy out of El Expatriado (which would unfortunate because I like his blog very much) but I cant leave it alone:

I am not sure how your real estate dealings took a moral turn...I believe one poster did mention a gringo may pay more and I am afraid this person is right some of the time. However, I was never defending or being rightous about RE here.

My Response

First, let me say that we can disagree without being enemies. I assure you that I do not have an enemies list. I just respond very passionately to defend my positions when I believe I'm right.

I'll tell you how my real estate dealings took a moral turn. When a seller advertises something in the morning paper and then asks a different price when they see the nationality of someone walking through the door, that's a moral choice on their part. Like I said in my example, I hope we would all agree that it would be immoral to ask a Jew to pay more for a home, just because of their race/religion. Well, I believe the same is true with national origin.

Why is it that, as Americans, we're perfectly comfortable saying that when in the United States, there should be no discrimination based on national origin (a principle that has long been codified in our anti-descrimination laws), yet when we step outside our country we accept others doing the same to us? We write it off as "cultural differences". Morally, I believe that practice to be wrong.

If I put an ad in the local newspaper in the U.S. and I advertised a property at a certain price, yet I quoted a different price when individuals of a certain national origin walked in the door -- I would be breaking the law. In my view, I'd also be an immoral person. That's what I'm saying. That's how my real estate dealings took a moral turn.

If you disagree with me, that's fine. All I'm saying is that it is my moral belief that discrimination based on national origin is something that is wrong. When I was living in the U.S., I also didn't believe in profiling people of Middle Eastern origin at airports and I didn't believe in INS roundups of Latin Americans at construction sites either. All of that is discrimination based on national origin. I believe its a moral wrong.

Wow, Lots of Moral Relativists Here

After seeing all the comments on my real estate posts, I have to admit that I'm a little shocked. It seems that living here in Argentina for awhile has turned all of you into moral relativists.

Selected Comments

New expats tend to spend a lot of time comparing things from home with the new experiences they are having in the host country, that is natural. Be be weary of judging everthing as better, worse right, wrong. You state the US RE paradigm is "right", I would agree that for us it is a lot more explicit and clear how business is done, is it "right", maybe not, its just culturally coming from a different place than Argentina. Is Argentina's wrong? maybe not, just confusing and ambigious and random, difficult for us to navigate but familiar to Argentines.

I hope you dont feel ganged up on, but I have to agree with the other posters...This is what they call cultural shock and changing expections or at least trying to understand how and why things work differently will make your transition more positive. Although everyone has issues and moments when it is beyond comprehension (my trial was buying a used car and accounting for taxes paid by someone else years ago)and difficult to not say the Argentine way is "wrong". Its a big deal doing what you are doing and buying a home is a huge financial and emotional investment. Your frustration with the new culture is natural and will ebb with time.

I totally agree that if you look like a gringo, smell like a gringo, and act like like a gringo, you will be charged as a gringo. Fact of life that you cannot avoid without going through some long term "hazing". Enjoy, becuase it's only money, and frankly, the exchange rate is such that it's certainly not alot of money for a guy like you.

My Response

There is such a thing as right and wrong. There is such a thing as better or worse. I'm not talking about "cultural differences" here. A cultural difference is something like the food. I may prefer American food, but I would never say that American food is better than Argentine food. Its just different.

What I'm talking about is a totally different thing. Think about what you are all saying for a minute. Just suppose that we were back in the United States and I had a house for sale, listed at $140,000. In walks a Jewish couple and I tell them the house costs $145,000. After all, they're Jews, they can afford to pay more, right?

Wrong! How is it different for me here? Just think about it for a minute. I think all of you are so used to trying to fit in and trying to avoid becoming that stereotypical whiney expat that always talks about how things are so much better at home that you've lost all common sense. There are certain things that are bad and good, better or worse. We have something called the Fair Housing Act in the United States, which was designed to address the very issue I'm talking about.

Clearly here in Argentina real estate is less regulated and we see the results of that. I gather from your comments that several of you have gone through this process yourselves, so I'm sure you must know what I'm talking about. Like I said earlier, I'm a very patient person and my experiences thus far are not going to deter me. I have no intention of changing my mind and renting, for example. I'm not going to stop talking candidly about my experiences either.

In addition to providing advice and hopefully fostering conversation, this blog is, from time to time, a psychological outlet. So, every once in a while you might see a rant or two as a way for me to release my frustration. Believe me, I'm not spending my whole day stomping around Buenos Aires cursing at real estate agents. I just felt like airing my frustrations in the blog. I really am a pretty easy going person.

That said, as I continue to write about my experiences here, they are of course going to be tainted by my own culture and upbringing. Right now I'm viewing Argentina through the lens of a twenty-something American, so that's my point of reference. Of course, I do have a bias. But I was never one to buy into moral relativism and there are certain things that are right and wrong, good and bad. I do believe there are certain absolutes in life and I can say absolutely that real estate doesn't work as well here than it does in the U.S. I'm not saying the U.S. is the perfect model either, only that real estate there works better than here.

Let's be honest, everyone. Can you really say the real estate system is only different in Argentina when it is near impossible for a middle-class family here to even get a home loan to buy their own place?

Real Estate Agents in Argentina... They Don't Measure Up To Reators

Thus far, I have not been impressed with the quality of the real estate agents here in Argentina. Before you say, "So fire your agent then," please realize that I'm not talking about my own agent here. I'm talking about the sellers' agents. These are the people who are supposed to be motivated to sell the properties of the homeowners they represent. Yet, I find their professionalism lacking.

Consistently Late to Viewings

I've probably viewed 10-15 apartments so far. In all but about four cases, the seller's real estate agent was not on-time. In two extreme cases, the other agent failed to show up entirely and couldn't be contacted by my agent at all. We were left waiting at the apartment and no one appeared.

Just today, for example, we showed up at an apartment at 11:00 AM, as scheduled, and waited outside for 10 minutes. This, sadly to say, was not unusual. Even the good agents here seem to always run 5-10 minutes late. Well, after 10 minutes my agent tried calling the seller's agent... nothing.

After trying on the cell phone for another 10 minutes, my agent finally got in touch with her at 11:20. Now, I don't speak much Spanish, but I heard, "Where are you? We've been waiting here 20 minutes. What's the problem?" Was she running late at different viewing? Closing a sale? Something else important? Nope. Her reply was, "Oh, it was at 11:00 AM? Oops, I'm getting dressed right now." She was still at home and hadn't even put her clothes on yet! I'm sorry, but how lazy is that? Get out of bed and get down here at the time you agreed to be here. These people are supposed to be professionals. Come on!

Little Effort In Presentation

Today, I walked through two apartments that were so cluttered and messy that I had to literally step over things to avoid tripping. In both cases the agents warned me about the clutter beforehand. They asked me to visualize the the apartment without all the junk. While I'm willing to do that, I should point out that its a lot easier to do when you actually clean up the place a little.

I've also walked into places that had the curtains drawn or blinds shut and the lights turned off. These apartments were dark. My agent actually had to tell the other agent, "How about opening the blinds?" And this is in city where every apartment listing advertises about how bright it is -- "muy luminoso" they all say. You'd think that if people are so obsessed about brightness in the apartments, they'd actually have the curtains opened up when a potential buyer walks in.

Lying Straight To Your Face

I asked an seller's agent today, "So, how much is this property going for?" The reply, "$145,000, but you could offer $142,000." My agent was with me and said, "No, I think its $140,000." The seller's agent said back, "No, it is $145,000." Well, at this point my agent pulls out the clipping of the apartment that was published in today's edition of La Nacion and shows it to her, "No, its advertised at $140,000."

Just amazing! Give me break! Even if I liked the apartment, I wouldn't have made an offer if I had to deal with people like that. I may be a foreigner, but I know how to read a newspaper. I wasn't born yesterday and don't think that I'm going to pay extra for your apartment. Yes, I do know how much apartments in this neighborhood should be selling for. I did my homework, so don't think you can cheat me.

Sorry for the rant, but today was not a good day apartment hunting. Its a good thing that I'm a very deliberate and patient person. Still, I think expats should know what they are in for when they look for apartments here. If you thought finding a place was tough in the US, just wait until you get here. A good amount of patience is definitely needed. And learn the going rate per square meter in the neighborhoods you're interested in before you even start looking. You need to be able to tell what is overpriced and what is fairly priced. I was seeing a lot of overpriced apartments today.