Apartment buying process confusing in Buenos Aires. Do I need to use the seller's realtor?

[earlyretirement]

Holy cow, I am laughing so hard but not sure if that's the right reaction!

I'm going to share a Voicemail message with you after my trip Craig. You won't believe it! LOL. It's beyond comical. Literally I had to fly there and yell at everyone in the office. I had to go on LinkedIn and find the owner of the fricking brokerage and find him and tell him how dumb a broker was. I reached out to him and naturally he knew who I was. Everyone in the real estate industry here does. LOL.

I literally had to set up a meeting and talk them into taking $22,000. I have all the voicemails from WhatsApp. It's crazy!

 

[CraigM]

I'm going to share a Voicemail message with you after my trip Craig. You won't believe it! LOL. It's beyond comical. Literally I had to fly there and yell at everyone in the office. I had to go on LinkedIn and find the owner of the fricking brokerage and find him and tell him how dumb a broker was. I reached out to him and naturally he knew who I was. Everyone in the real estate industry here does. LOL.

I literally had to set up a meeting and talk them into taking $22,000. I have all the voicemails from WhatsApp. It's crazy!

Oh man I will look forward to that!

 

[Wally]

Realtors are TERRIBLE in Argentina. ALL of them. Compared to the USA they ALL are terrible. I could give hundreds of examples. I mostly use the same realtors for the past 23 years. But guess what? Compared to the USA they ALL are terrible! It's the most frustrating thing.

They are allergic to money! Most don't work weekends. Terrible. The other day I had to fly back from Iguazu to personally save a deal. I couldn't believe the stupidity. After I close on the deal I will publicly post about it on X and here. I had to talk a broker into making $22,000 USD. Seriously. I had to literally tell him, "You are dumb. You are allergic to money. Do you want to make $22,000!?"

I am really not surprised. The same thing happened on my first apartment purchase. In fact my first 2 that I wanted fell apart from shady realtors. People can't complain enough about how terrible they are in Buenos Aires. Probably all of Argentina. They are terrible. Most of them are thieves.

 

[FuturoBA]

That is what I couldn't wrap my head around on used properties. They are MUCH cheaper than new construction but by the time you gut the properties and deal with renovation fees, and hiring people to manage that mess I didn't want to deal with it. I would rather just have everything new.

The apartment that I bought comes with almost everything. All the AC/heaters, electronic smart lock, and stove/oven too. I just have to buy furniture. It will take a few years but I can wait and @BuySellBA locked in the price in dollars for me so I don't have to worry about inflation.

Congrats on the purchase @Uncle Wong. And a few years? When's the estimated completion date? And is it the same place I believe @Johnny is/you are investing in? Congrats to the both of you if so.

 

[Uncle Wong]

Congrats on the purchase @Uncle Wong. And a few years? When's the estimated completion date? And is it the same place I believe @Johnny is/you are investing in? Congrats to the both of you if so.

Thanks! It is done around January 2028. Yes it is the same building as Johnny and several others on this forum. Johnny told me he doesn't care if I post this but I am not sure if others so I won't speak for them. I hired @BuySellBA and they bought at least 8 in this building. I met with the developers and they were very friendly and I saw Johnny's apartment that they built. I also have rented in Palermo Uno before which the same developers built. I like that the developer has been around over 40 years.

I just wish I bought earlier! I could have at much cheaper prices but I needed to come and see things myself. I see a lot of pozos properties but I also see a lot of projects that look they have totally stopped construction. I did NOT want to buy something where I had doubts that it would ever finish. I can't believe someone like BowTiedMara would buy pozos that were not from a large developer but I heard that he purchased many units in a pozo and the entire thing went bankrupt. I read his real estate blogs but I guess I know now why he doesn't use his real name! 🤣 Like many other posters on X all anonymous I guess if I took his advice and bought in a pozo that went bankrupt I wouldn't want people to know my name either. 🤣

 

[sophos]

Realtors are TERRIBLE in Argentina. ALL of them. Compared to the USA they ALL are terrible. I could give hundreds of examples. I mostly use the same realtors for the past 23 years. But guess what? Compared to the USA they ALL are terrible! It's the most frustrating thing.

They are allergic to money! Most don't work weekends. Terrible. The other day I had to fly back from Iguazu to personally save a deal. I couldn't believe the stupidity. After I close on the deal I will publicly post about it on X and here. I had to talk a broker into making $22,000 USD. Seriously. I had to literally tell him, "You are dumb. You are allergic to money. Do you want to make $22,000!?"

I think many think people exaggerate when people complain about the realtors in Argentina. Maybe it is different now. I don't know as I own a house in the sticks that I bought long ago. I never got any comparables or really anything at all. I was spoiled in the US and even Mexico where I lived for a spell.