Real
Estate In Buenos Aires - Looking For Bargains In Buenos Aires
EscapeArtist.com
Staff Article
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| Note: This article only evaluates
the real estate in Buenos Aires. Argentina is a big country and there
is plenty of land in Argentina that is not Buenos Aires. The citizens
of Buenos Aries tend to be secular and to ignore the land outside of Buenos
Aries as being in the 'sticks' - The expatriate investor is not handicapped
with such stigma. There is plenty of great real estate outside of
Buenos Aires and much of it is available at bargain prices. Read
this article and thereby learn to understand the real estate market of
Buenos Aries, but also look closely at other areas of Argentina for the
excellent bargains that abound. View the Argentina
Real Estate Marketplace for a full view of real estate in Argentina. |
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Buenos Aries July 2003
We arrived at night.
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| After the wide open
spaces and the endless golden beaches of Brazil; Buenos Aires on first
impression seemed an endless city of medium size high-rises without a horizon.
Another Los Angeles, I thought to myself. The fifty-five minute ride from
the airport passed through district after district, made discernible as
separate districts by their slight alteration in architectural style.
The ninth largest city in the world, covering 75 square miles of the earth’s
surface, (stretching from the Rio del Plata to the famous fertile lands
called the pampas,) Buenos Aires is the political, economic, and cultural
capital of Argentina. This city called Buenos Aires, as we were soon to
discover is a city of style, both genuine and affected; but real or artificially
enacted, the style of the Porteños doesn’t have any counterpart
in the outer world and its uniqueness in itself is probably worth the price
of admission.
A friend recommended the Trianon
Residence as being a good place to stay. It was a good recommendation
and as it turned out for us, it was wise choice. The Trianon is very centrally
located in downtown Buenos Aires and the suites lacked for nothing.
Close to shopping, dining, and all the major sights, we found the Trianon
to be a great place to stay and a perfect base from which to explore Buenos
Aires. Located in the heart of the Recoleta on Callao Avenue between
Alvear and Quintana Avenues, the Trianon features large fully furnished
two and three bedroom apartments, (vintage, old money, stylish apartments,)
complete with kitchen, living room and a wide verandah that overlooks a
tranquil patio. [see resources for details]
Over the next few days we discovered
that Buenos Aires is a city of style not just in architecture, but in all
manner of things. The style of dress of the Argentine runs from the precise
perfectionistic overdone Italian style of dress to the slightly raunchy
but hip style of the Californian. It's a cafe culture, and a culture
of cafe talkers; where making the right appearance holds sway. Not being
interested in social appearances, some of the cock of the walk posturing
left me wishing I was back in Brazil. But we weren't here to evaluate appearances,
we were here to look at the real estate market. Word was out that
the recent Argentine Monetary Crisis had reduced real estate prices in
Buenos Aires, and if this rumor was true I knew it was something that my
readers would want to know about. |
| One of the
world's greatest and most exciting cities; Buenos Aires seems to have it
all; great architecture, great food, a complex and interesting culture,
tango, excellent artists, good theater, the world's best opera, an opera
house second only to La Scala in Milan. Buenos Aries is city in which it
is impossible to be bored. Considered the Paris of the Americas, Buenos
Aires has excellent real estate, but there are few bargains. Real estate
in Buenos Aries is very expensive. Is it worth the price? Read this
article and decide for yourself. |
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Buenos Aires is broken up into a
number of distinct neighborhoods, each neighborhood having its own ambiance
and lifestyle, I was told that the city has 47 such barrios or discernible
neighborhoods Our base in the Trianon placed us in the Recoleta,
one of the wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods in Buenos Aires.
The Recoleta has fine restaurants, stylish galleries, high class antique
stores, a large park, and is a very happening place every hour of the day
and night. There are no real estate bargains in the Recoleta. While
I had heard rumors that prices were down in the Recoleta due to the monetary
crisis, these rumors were not borne out in fact. Prices were not
even slightly off, and this is a fact corroborated by others I knew who
were also visiting Buenos Aires looking at real estate.
Despite the drop in prices in Argentina
created by the recent financial mess, most Argentines were not anxious
to sell their real estate, as real estate in Buenos Aires tends to hold
its value in all situations. Buenos Aires is a city of tradition
with traditional neighborhoods with traditional and unwavering lifestyle.
Many residents have lived in the same apartment their entire life and they
are not going to sell their apartment simply because there is yet another
political or financial crisis. Another tradition in Argentina is
having one crises after the other. The value of real estate doesn't
overreact to political and financial disasters, they happen much too often
to have them cause much of a ripple in the real estate market. It seems
that the bargains that I had come to find were not going to be found in
Buenos Aires.
"Our image of the city is always
slightly out of date." said the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges referring
to Buenos Aires.
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While we didn't find any steals
we did find very reasonable real estate prices in the San Telmo neighborhood.
San Telmo is sort of the Greenwich Village of Buenos Aires, filled with
cafes, antique shops, jazz clubs, tango clubs, art galleries and an ongoing
street fair that gets jammed on weekends. The hodgepodge of European architecture
in San Telmo, much of it covered with graffiti, does have a certain scruffy
appeal. There is a ruinous quality to the neighborhood that gives the impression
of once rich royalty down on its luck. For a certain kind of person it'd
be a really great place to live, perhaps the greatest place of all.
My daughter fell in love with San
Telmo. I suspect she envisioned herself living a Greenwich Village
Bohemian lifestyle without the Greenwich Village prices. Her romantic
sensibilities aside, I also felt a scruffy fondness for San Telmo.
In San Telmo I saw a 1,000 square
foot two bedroom apartment for US$70,000. It had a very large sunny
terrace, with a decent view. Compare that with a 870 square foot
two bedroom apartment in the Recoleta for US$90,000. In fact those prices;
$70 a square foot versus $103 a square foot are a good yardstick to use
for the entire city. In the better neighborhoods the prices are $100
a square foot and up and in the more bohemian neighborhoods $70 a square
foot would be the norm.
I did see some neighborhoods in the
outlying area towards the airport where apartments could be had for around
$40 a square foot. How exciting it would be to live in these outlying
neighborhoods is another question.
The higher prices in the Recoleta
and Barrio Norte area are justified by those areas being the best areas
in which to live, and despite the fact that there are no steals, the values
of these properties have demonstrated their staying power through the worst
of times, which would certainly seem to indicate they will continue to
do so far into the future.
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Like Paris - Like Rome -
Like nowhere else - Buenos Aries is unique
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Wine, Dining & Entertainment
In Argentina you'll drink some of
the worlds best wines, all of them from Argentina. Very few of Argentina's
superb wines are exported, so you'll have to go to Argentina to drink them.
Even though Argentina is a major wine producer, there is such a high level
of local demand that it isn't necessary to export the wine; it's all consumed
locally.
I tried several different wines.
When I found one I liked I returned to the store to buy three bottles of
it. I asked the sales clerk if they had anything else as good as
the bottle I had picked. "There is the next category up," she replied.
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I tried the 'next category
up.' Being a rank amateur that merely drinks and enjoys good wine
and doesn’t pretend to know the complicated judging system used by the
wine connoisseurs, I am unwilling to describe these wines in terms of stars.
I’ve found that many of those who write about wines and consider themselves
authorities will award three stars or more to a wine I wouldn’t bother
to drink twice, so I won’t pretend that I know something about the esthetics
of wine when the so-called experts don’t seem to know much themselves. |
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With that said, I will go out on
a limb and state that the 'next category up,’ to which the sales clerk
referred consisted of such great wines that they exceeded almost anything
I had previously consumed.
Two of the Argentine wines that stood
out were Finca La Anita’s 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, and Domingo Molina’s
2000 Cabernet Sauvignon. The Finca La Anita is from the Mendoza region
and the Domingo Molina is from the Salta region. These wines were
in the US$15-20 price range. I don’t have the superlatives to describe
these wines. They were simply among the best wines I have every consumed.
If you get to Argentina look them up and say hello for me. It would be
worth having an apartment in Buenos Aires just to drink these fine wines.
…and of course I didn’t drink every wine in Argentina, so there are many
more waiting to be discovered.
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| Buenos Aires is famous
for its dining. Meats dominate the menu, and the meats are superb.
Raised on the Pampas without the use of injected hormones, the beef of
Argentina is among the richest and purest in the world. Before going to
Buenos Aires I purchased an excellent book of Argentine recipes - La Cocina
Argentina, The Argentine Kitchen. The book is only available in Español,
but I will provide a link to it in the resources as reading a recipe doesn’t
require a profound understanding of Español. A Spanish/English dictionary
should allow anyone with a rudimentary intelligence to follow the recipes.
I did not see many of the recipes
listed in La Cocina Argentina in the restaurants that we went to.
Of course we were only in Buenos Aires one week, and one week doesn’t give
you an insider’s knowledge of a place, especially a complex city the size
of Buenos Aires.
My daughter is a vegetarian, and
she made a point of telling me that she didn’t find a great deal of variety
in the restaurant offerings. Another problem I had was the strangeness
of the names of the dishes. I did not bring the above mentioned cookbook
with me, so I didn’t know the names of three quarters of the dishes on
most menus. The Español of Buenos Aires does not resemble
the Español of Panama except on the most rudimentary level. |
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My daughter is a vegetarian,
and she made a point of telling me that she didn’t find a great deal of
variety in the restaurant offerings
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Entertainment in Buenos Aires is
a serious affair, as the Porteños tend to take themselves seriously.
Tangistas, (Tango musicians) dress completely in black, and there is a
certain tragic quality to the Tango, both in music and dance. Jazz
is available in Buenos Aires, and the city sports one of the best Opera
houses in the world. Buenos Aires is also known for having some of the
best Spanish language writers in the world. Among the souvenirs that
I returned with 90% of them were paintings which I purchased on the street
from the artists themselves. Buenos Aires is clearly a highly cultured
city with much about it that is agreeable. Its serious and sometimes
humorless nature requires a bit of an adjustment especially when coming
from a very happy place like Brazil. But Buenos Aires is unquestionably
one of the greatest cities in the world, and while real estate is not a
steal it is probably a bargain, as the real estate has great value based
on where you get for what you pay.
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| Resources
Trianon Residence - Avda.
Callao 1869 (1024) Buenos Aires - República Argentina - Trianon
Residence - Staying at the Trianon Residence greatly enhanced the
enjoyment of our trip. Excellent accommodations in an excellent location.
Real Estate In Argentina - Real
Estate In Buenos Aires - Real
Estate In Argentina - Real Estate In Buenos Aires - Current
real estate listings for Argentina & Buenos Aires with color photos
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Vacation Rentals - Vacation
Rentals Including Buenos Aires - Vacation
Rentals worldwide including Vacation Rentals in Buenos Aires -
JR Reynolds Argentina Real Estate
& Relocation homes - JR Reynolds
Argentina Real Estate - A reputable company that has a wide selection
of real estate in Buenos Aries.
La Cocina Argentina - The
Argentine Kitchen Cookbook - An
excellent and expensive Argentine cookbook, available only in Español.
Internet access is excellent,
at least in Buenos Aires. I noted that there is no end of Internet
Cafes in the city; sometimes one on every block - One should have no problem
getting warp speeds in Buenos Aires if one lived there; and no problem
finding an internet cafe in city center. I have heard reports from
other parts of Argentina that imply that warp speeds are available as far
south as Bariloche. Argentina is connected.
The best book I've found on Buenos
Aires, is 'At Home in Buenos Aires' - At
Home in Buenos Aires - Excellent
color photographs of the architecture and lifestyle of the Porteño.
Artists, expatriates, and a cast of interesting people and their houses
in Buenos Aires. Highly recommended.
Finca La Anita Vineyard - Finca
La Anita Vineyard - The Finca La Anita Vineyard is one of the two
vineyards mentioned in this article, the other, the Domingo Molina Vineyard
doesn't seem to have a website. I did note from searching on the
internet that some Domingo Molina wines are being sold in the USA, but
apparently not the Cabernet. |
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Friday, February 20, 2004
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1
US Dollar = 2.93600
Argentine Peso
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1
Argentine Peso = 0.34060 US Dollar
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| This makes that the current value
of the Argentine Pesol is approximately U.S..34¢ - See my article
Exciting
Real Estate Opportunities In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for an explanation
of how the fluctuation in currency prices effects real estate acquisition. |
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Insight Guide Buenos Aires (Insight
City Guides) - Insight
Guide Buenos Aires -
The Insight Guides present the best explanation of a city, nation or place.
Many hippy style readers prefer Lonely Planet, but Lonely Planet only supplies
you with the bottom end; places to smoke a joint, places to stay in a hostel,
how to save money on a bus trip.... to find the essence of a place
from the perspective of someone who doesn't want to sleep in the mud, the
Insight Guides are unsurpassed. Great color photos, great history,
with an emphasis on explaining a place, not from a tourists perspective,
but from the perspective of the place as a place worth knowing. Insight
Guides also has a guide on Argentina, the Insight
Guide to Argentina gives you the entire nation with excellent color
photos.
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| History of Buenos Aires
- The city of Buenos Aires was first founded in 1536 by a Spanish gold-seeking
expedition under Pedro de Mendoza. However, attacks by indigenous peoples
forced the settlers in 1539 to move to Asunción (now the capital
of Paraguay), and in 1541 the old site was burned. A second and permanent
settlement was begun in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who set out from Asunción.
Although Spain long neglected Buenos Aires in favor of the riches of Mexico
and Peru, the settlement's growth was enhanced by the development of trade,
much of it contraband.In 1617 the province of Buenos Aires, or Río
de la Plata, was separated from the administration of Asunción and
was given its own governor; a bishopric was established there in 1620.
During the 17th cent. the city ceased to be endangered by indigenous peoples,
but French, Portuguese, and Danish raids were frequent. Buenos Aires remained
subordinate to the Spanish viceroy in Peru until 1776, when it became the
capital of a newly created viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, including
much of present-day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. - More
History of Buenos Aires - |
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