Deals on Apartments

[threeFiddy]

I'm looking into some places for my first mini-retirement, and I've always wanted to visit South America, specifically Buenos Aires.

In the book, Tim mentions that you can rent an amazing apartment in Buenos Aires for 550 US a month, but every site I check online is well over 1300-1400...

Obviously I am probably just hitting the sucker sites, but if anyone has some tips on how to find real deals like Tim mentions, I'd love to hear about it...

[seven]

I don't know if this is a similar situation or not, but... I've looked at buying houses in the Philippines and the only ones you find on the web are (relatively) high priced ones. It's as if since they are trying to sell to "rich" foreigners so they have the special foreigner price.

If you have a local friend there you could probably have them find a better deal for you than you could find yourself.

7

[Vagabond]

yeah its going to be hard to find the real prices for apartments online since they know thats its rich (at least comparitively) foreigners.

If you wanted to go down there for a long time you may do better going down and staying in a hostel for a week or two, befriending a local and having them help you find a place

otherwise you could try accessing online versions of local papers.. the thing is that youre gonna want to see the place before renting it out..

[Drewkerr]

When I go to Rome next year I will be staying in a hotel for the first week, then I will go look at apartments first hand to make sure they are what they said in the online ad, then make an offer in person.

As Vagabond said the Online prices are there for "Rich Foreigners". In person you can put to use some of the nego skills Tim talked about in his book.

Drew!

[threeFiddy]

Thanks for the advice, that's what I figured!. I would never rent a place site unseen online, but some of the prices I found online were really way above what I expected, so it had me curious if I could actually afford it currently...

Thanks for the help...

[travelhead]

I've found my apartments all on craigslist.com (http://www.craigslist.com)

I've gotten apartments in Buenos Aires, Cape Town, & Barcelona to name a few places. In Buenos Aires, I got an apartment for $550 on Craigslist in Recoleta - which is one of the nicest areas -- it included high speed internet and a maid once a week. That was last year. I'm pretty sure you can still find good deals on Craigslist, but like Tim said, you will pay 40% more usually (depending on the country) because some people that post on craigslist target English tourists. The best way, (again, as Tim said), is to look in the local newspapers.. However, for me, it's always been easier to just go with Craigslist, pay the extra $100/month and get the apartment in advance.

I've been fortunate enough to not have to put a desposit down before arriving into the country. I highly suggest you do not give any money upfront!

For my apartment in Barcelona, it turned out pretty good, except my room was against a wall that blocked all sunlight. Another good tip that Tim gives, which I also reocmmend, is to book for 1 month at first. Now, I know it's a bit more difficult to find someone who can handle that on Craigslist, but let's say you don't like your roommates or your apartment, then you can get out much easier. It also gives you a month to explore the city and look at other apartments.

Good luck!

[gsimd]

Hi All,

I just posted a step-by-step guide about how get a dirt cheap luxury apartment in cities around the globe. I've done this several times in Buenos Aires and I'm sure Tim uses several of the techniques. I'd love to hear any additional ideas you have.

http://www.familyhack.com/2007/08/09/dirt-cheap-luxury-apartments/

Best,
Michael

[James Grey]

You have to actually go there and make some friends and look around – it will take at least 3 months to find somewhere that you really like

When you go – stay in a cheap hotel and look for a simple one room rental – you will want to live there for a few months anyway… you may end up disliking the country, visiting and living somewhere are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT experiences.

Anyway…That’s what I did when I bought my house in Indonesia

Ether way around…Take your time, there is no hurry - Good Luck!


~James Grey

[wa1den]

If any of you are language impaired, I speak spanish & could translate a note or two back & forth if you want to negociate with folks who may not do english well.

wa1den_b@yahoo.com

[James Grey]

I'm looking into some places for my first mini-retirement, and I've always wanted to visit South America, specifically Buenos Aires.

In the book, Tim mentions that you can rent an amazing apartment in Buenos Aires for 550 US a month, but every site I check online is well over 1300-1400...

Obviously I am probably just hitting the sucker sites, but if anyone has some tips on how to find real deals like Tim mentions, I'd love to hear about it...

Any luck on finding an apartment?


~JG

[jdlk]

Sometimes that going to another country and meet friends could be a tough thing to do. My experience with hostels, although great fun, don't really introduce you to many locals. Finding someone through couchsurfing.com allows you to meet locals and have a place to stay all rolled into one.

I'd also suggest housingmaps.com where available. It's a great example of a "mashup" for those web 2.0 folks out there.

[Melch]

I've been to BA about 5 times in the last 2 years. Since 2000 the number of people trying to gouge tourists has risen considerably -- as has real inflation.

You will not get a deal online. My last trip I had a local friend rent short term for me in the heart of Recoleta @ U$S 165 a week though. That was short term pricing in a not cheap area, so it can be done. In my experience you need a local resource though, and that can take a couple of trips to develop.

All that aside, the grapevine is buzzing about Cartagena, Columbia these days. It might be worth looking into.

[James Grey]

The first condo I rented overseas took allot of learning the local market – I stayed with a friend wile looking (you could also stay in a cheap guesthouse)

I have rented a few apartments overseas and bought a few homes – I actually just closed on a new house in Jakarta, Indonesia

It is not an easy task – I always end up hiring a local to help me out

You really need to go there and spend several months looking – also you never know if you will actually like living there, lots of places are fun to visit but I would never want to live there - Europe comes to mind)

And renting a place is just 1/10 of the battle – getting the water, cable, internet, ect… turned on is 100 times a bigger pain in the bottom then signing a lease – in Indonesia it can take months to get your Internet turned on, and it costs almost 200 bucks a month just for 512

Also be advised – unless you have legal residency finding a lease can be difficult – no matter what as an Expat you should expect to pay 100% of the rent in advance, so budget for that

If you don’t want to pay everything upfront or deal with getting the utilities turned on then you can look around for guesthouses (called different things depending the country your in – in the US their called “Bachelors Apartments”) – basically these are one room semi furnished apartments.

In Southeast Asia they are mostly rented by middle class professionals just starting out (they are also popular as “love shacks” for married men) – they usually only require first and last months rent. The advantage is all of the utilities are already on and you don’t have to pay a years rent in advance. In places like Thailand and Indonesia you can find a nice one for around 150 to 200 bucks a month USD

But again – you must live in a country for a wile before you ever sign a lease – living in a country is NOTHING like visiting there



James grey

[pwebbiz]

I dont know how good this will be (no pics) but if as described - then it hits the nail on the head: ( I Love the house cleaning concept.....I really do!)

http://buenosaires.en.craigslist.org/apa/496943179.html

[Vagabond]

wow, a lot of thos elook interesting. i would try and find someone familiar with BA to make sure that those are in good areas.. i've heard there are some parts of BA that you would NOT want to live in..

but some of those places look SO nice and reasonably priced!

[pcasstle]

Hi!

I know the apartments in Argentina are about that price! But it depends on the area they are located. Some neighbours are more expensive than others and I also know that they are all equipped.

[jetpacklife]

Thanks for all the good advice guys. I'm really hoping to go to Buenos Aires soon. My biggest problem is that I get homesick after a week or two. Maybe if I had a real apartment, I might feel at home and want to stay longer.

[DaveCraige.com]

this is an interesting post. wanted to add what I am going to do.

1. find an argentinian VA.

2. have her spend about 3 hours looking and posting on craigslist.


also if anybody here would like, I don't mind sharing what I learn. I think that something like NewWorkCity (http://www.nwcny.com/) would be awesome in Buenos Aires. It would be cool to share some of our resources.

[njonow]

Agreed on the hotels part, and for some no-shame self promotion, I recommend:

www.hotelagent.org (http://search.hotelagent.org/?label=4hr)

to find the best deal. It's a meta-search engine that scours Expedia, Orbits, Hotels.com, Asiarooms.com, Agoda, Booking.com and about 25 other global hotel sites, then show you the top 5 cheapest ones for the location and time you search for.

I'm still not at the level where I can retire on this site, but getting there :-)

Once you're situated in your new city, do one or more of the following:

1. Hit up your local Chamber of Commerce and see what they know/recommend. If they do any after-work related events, go to them and ask the people there. If you are young(ish), then also attend their "Young Professional Committee" activities.

2. Find out which bar(s) are popular with the expats and check them out. Many people are willing to help and share their knowledge if you ask. Especially if you come across as someone interesting which you are bound to do if you are following the mantra of the 4hour work week.

3. Join the sports clubs that make sense to you. For instance in Hong Kong there's an incredibly tight squash community, sailing community, and motorcycle riding community. There are of course several others, but those are the ones I belong to. Once you're in with them, you will get all the help you need

Cheers,

Nick