After an offer is accepted the deal goes to an Escrow company. The Escrow Company verifies all the facts, the Title/Deed and its’ condition, Taxes due, Liens, etc. The Escrow company receives the money and issues the Deed. You receive Title Insurance protecting you as the buyer. You get a Warranty Deed, and the money goes to the seller. The listing agent presents ALL offers to the owner, and handles counter offers or refusals when the negotiations have begun. 

Argentina is different.

The first point of difference is the “Listing” process. Often an agent will in effect ‘bid’ for the listing. The highest price insures getting the listing. So the price is already inflated from the beginning. An agent promising $150,000 for your property is more attractive than the one that says you could only expect $100,000. In the United States there is usually a higher price for the purpose of giving the seller negotiating room, otherwise the seller declares the price as “Firm”. From experience we expect the offer, counter-offer negotiation to reveal the actual price. We do not expect that the agent will decide whether to present our offer or not depending on what he has promised the seller, or worse on what he expects to make as a commission. I looked at a house in MeliPal a desirable suburb of Bariloche.

An agreed upon amount plus any and all documents from the seller are given to the Escribano. The Escribano investigates the Deed and checks for tax and lien issues. Everything we expect from an Escrow Company is done by the Escribano PLUS all of the paperwork production usually done by the real estate agent in the United States. The Real estate agent shows you the property and presents the offer to the sellers agent (and then he is done for his 3%.) In every case when we looked at the property the owner had to be present, to show corners and answer any questions because the agent knew nothing about the property except basic facts (and often not even the number of bathrooms). When the Escribano issues the Government guaranteed Deed you are free of claims against the property. He will subtract for back taxes and check for any Liens. He will receive the money for the property. This is a solid process and the Escribanos are legitimate people. When they say “Hecho” it is a done deal. No one gets money until the Escribano hands you Title to your property.

Still, I will always have MY Lawyer check out the details and corners etc. to make sure that I know and understand exactly What and exactly Where I am buying so that there are NO Problems later. My Lawyer has MY interests in mind so I know where the corners and property lines actually are, and local ordinances. For example in this area there are building restrictions based on construction footage per hectare(Hectare =2.47acres).

You may be planning to put an addition on to a house or Hotel, or if you are buying a lot to build your dream home it would be good to know if the dream house “fits” on the property you want to buy. You want to know exactly where the corners are so there are no disputes with your neighbors in the future where a fence should go or whose tree just fell on the car. You want to know, because things that “never happen” can happen to you. If this sounds like a complicated process, that is going to cost too much.

Remember the price for the property is still less than you would imagine paying (and far less than it would have sold for 3 years ago to anyone, Americano or Argentine). Check the listings and you will see that houses and property in general are an incredible value.

Also remember; EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE! The house someone has just told you is the “Ancestral” home of his family for 10 generations - is FOR SALE!

The ‘best’ way to buy property is to look for areas you like. Then look for houses you might want to buy in that area. Pick a few. Then send in a “spy” to talk to the owner. The spy asks if there is any possibility of selling the property. The owner ALWAYS has a price he couldn’t refuse. Now you have a negotiation started on a property that is What you want, and Where you want it. Often the first price is very reasonable. The story is; the spy has an uncle that wants to move into town. The uncle doesn’t have too much money - but is a wonderful man. Since the ‘spy’ isn’t the buyer, just the dutiful nephew, any underlying problems come easily to the surface. The spy ‘works’ the price - if this is even necessary - and gets a number. At this point, your Lawyer contacts the owner while you look at the extensive pictures the spy has taken. The Lawyer should have a good idea what the ‘real’ price should be in that area or town and he works the price as close to or under that ‘real’ price as he can finally get the actual price set. Now you can come in with the Lawyer and walk the property, if you like it, (you already know about any deficits and problems), you make your offer - which will be pretty close to the ‘set’ number. Don’t insult the owner. You want to be fair - particularly if you want to live in the house. Trying to “steal” a property will just cost you grief, exceeding the number of $$$ you can save. If you don’t like the house, move on to the next. You will like more houses than you can buy. Your savings for using this purchase system will be: inflation by agents of 10-30%, + 6% commission minus your Lawyer fees. A $100,000usd home can cost you less than $70,000usd. This is only a rough estimate - the actual savings may depend on how much you want the $65,000usd 3bed/2 bath house in a great neighborhood with a view of the lake.

Go to the Next Page