August 2007

Scenario one: an expat arrives in Buenos Aires and is greeted by a pot-bellied taxi driver who convinces her that the trip from Ezeiza airport (BA's international airport) to the city centre costs 60 dollars (usual price is 70-80 pesos...1$US:3pesos) because the dollar-peso exchange rate doesn't apply to cabs.

The newcomer is then delivered to her new place of residence, recommended by the cab driver, an albergue transitorio (hostel) or "telo".  her first Spanish word she thinks happily.

While helping her unload the luggage, the cabbie stealthily steals one of her bags, which represents 65% of her earthly belongings in Argentina.

Scenario two: an expat is greeted by an attractive and kind woman at the airport.
The newcomer sits back in the hired remise (taxi), and quickly falls asleep.  She is moving herself,her entire family and the contents of their five bedroomed home from the United States to Argentina, and she has never felt more relaxed.

Although perhaps a little exaggerated, scenario one is an expat nightmare and scenarion two is the experience many new residences have, thanks to a burgeoning business in Argentina called relocation services.

Lorraine Sandford and Susan Kidd and their 14 counsellors at labs Relocation Services try to make the transition for new residents in Argentina a little smoother.  They do this by doing everything.  Sandford and Kidd, founders of labs, help newcomers find a home, determine the best school for their children, give them a tour of Buenos Aires, teach them about iportant cultural characterisitcis of the Argentines and coordinated the arrival of all their furniture, clothes and other personal belongings from their home country.

Labs is one of many rellocation companies working out of Buenos Aires, but one of the few independent ones.

Many people moving from one country to another hire international moving companies.  As part of their services, moving companies often have a relocation element, meaning help with choosing a home and an introduction to the new cultre, for example.

As a result of the independence of Labs froma major international moving company Sandford and Kidd believe they are able to offer a "more personalized service at a lower price."

But lower price is relative.  The average just-out-of-college ESL teacher is not going to be able to afford relocation perks.  The services are usually reserved for middle managers and up in large, multi-national corporations.  The company usually pays for the relocation service.

A top executive at General Motors who is moving from the US to Buenos Aires would qualify for relocation services, for example, but his secretary probably would not.

"We realize it's elitist," said Cliff Williamson, president of Transpack Companies in Buenos Aires, which offers international moving and relocation services.  "Not everyone can afford to pay.  But if you can, it makes your life a lot easier.  It's a logistical challenge and it's stressful psychologically movig to a new place," said Williamson, who often hires Labs to help witht he relocation element of his business.

"It's a hard market for relocation services in Argentina, because secretaries usually do it," said Sandford.  Companies will often have their secretaries show new arrivals around the city and help them find a house in their spare time, she explained.

Labs works mainly with people in the oil business, car manufacturing sector, the service industry, the pharmaceutical sector and with software and communication companies.  Executives from these companies tend to be mostly men, Sandford and Kidd said.  When they first started 10 years ago the two said they only had one woman executive as a client.  They now have on average four or five women executives per year, out of a total of four of five families per week coming into the country.

The women's clients are from around the world, with many from neighbouring Latin American countries and the United States and Europe as well.
There are a few differences Sandford has oted between clients from the US and Europe.  For one, those from the US tend to expect larger homes.  The US family, she said, will often be looking for a five bedroomed house while their counterpart British family will be expecting a three bedroomed house.  She also noted that very few people from the US arrive in Argentina speaking Spanish.

During the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina, the US families were among the first to leave due to security concerns from their employers.  "The europeans took it a little more in stride," said Sandford.  she estimates that around 80 per cent of families left at the time.  "But'" she noted, "the Americans were the first toleave but they were also the first to come back once things cooled down."

Since 2001, given the subsequent econnomic growth, the two women have been working "non stop."

"Argentina is a volatile country and the miving business is very volatile as well," said Williamson, the president of Transpack.  The volatility also directly affects the relocation sector.  Williamson has seen his busines grow in the past few years too.  he estimates that he moves between 700 and 1,000 families in and out of Argentina per year, many of whom use relocation services.

Williamson noted there have been more entrepreneurs moving to Buenos Aires in the past few years as welkl as many from the baby-boomer generation who "are reaching the retirement age and are looking for a great place to live on a fixed income.  They are attracted to Argentina, where in many cases there is a better bang for your buck," said Williamson.

Patricia Fontanarosa, originally from the US, used Labs relocation services when she moved to Buenos Aires in 2006 with her husband who works for Occidental Petroleum.  Labs showed her the area around her new apartment, how to manouvre the grovery store, and dry cleaners and even how to use the Buenos Aires subway system.  "It would have been a lotmore difficult wihtout labs, said Fontanarosa.  "I just would have made a lot more mistakes."

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