Banking Credit Card real-world rate "MEP" transaction repo (Dec2023)

[Uncle Wong]

Those are my two favorite people on X for Buenos Aires related content. I can't believe how much time they must spend putting out content.

Same. Those are two of my favorite X posters. I feel like I always know what is going on in Buenos Aires because @BuySellBA posts several times a day. Not sure how they do it. Many topics on the economy, job market, prices of things, restaurant meal costs, sentiment locally, exchange rate, and lots of things.

Mike told me he and BowtiedMara are good friends now. That is neat to see.

BA sounds like therefore it would be much better from an investment standpoint, where as Mendoza or somewhere else could be better from a living long term standpoint. IE purchasing with no plans to sell. In BA you can potentially purchase and down the line sell for 1.5x or 2x where as anywhere else the chances are less likely. However, if you don't plan to sell, increased value matters less vs purchasing more and living larger.

If you're on the fence, better to go for the better returns. Even if you think you don't plan to sell, life happens and plans change. If at some point you end up moving from BA to somewhere else, or somewhere else to BA, the former would be easier.

This is what I figured out. BA is very liquid. I did an initial consultation with Mike and he explained everything in detail to me. He said he never buys outside of Buenos Aires and even in Buenos Aires only in a few neighborhoods. Sounds like his goal is always cash flow and capital appreciation and being able to exit when prices get high. He showed me examples of properties that sold to his different investors 5 different times over 23 years. Same apartment! It was making a lot of money so it is not just an apartment after you can generate cash flow.

He also showed me properties that some people he knew bought in Mendoza, Salta or Bariloche that have been for sale for a decade! No thanks! I guess if you are going to live but have no desire to live in those areas and also don't want to get stuck not being to sell if I wanted to.

Seems like buying an apartment in Palermo is a no brainer. Prices are still reasonable. I got a lot of information from him. If anyone is buying that is a no brainer. Best $300 I ever spent. I will hire them to help me decide which to buy. I am seeing many properties with their realtor they work with. Then they will manage it.

He connected me with other existing clients and some were very nice to spend an hour with me giving me their experience with Mike. Some have worked with him over 20 years! I am going over to see @Johnny 's apartment in Palermo too. And a new unit Johnny is building now. I might buy one in that same building. Only downside is it's not done until January 2028.

 

[Blockchain]

Buenos Aires is just too big of a dirty city for me, and there are too many street people who bother me on restaurant patios. i would never live there long-term, but visiting for a weekend would be fine if i had to. no plans to go back, just like one visit to NYC was enough for me (did you know NYC had trash on the sidewalks even in 2014? i was mindblown that they hadn't figured-out dumpsters yet)

regardless, new builds/pozo may be going up, but luckily the market will always be there to help us; as new apartments go up 20%, the rich Argies...and there are thousands...will list their houses/apartments/lots for sale, and supply will go up, so there will always be options for us. i love @earlyretirement and he's right about Argentina, but of course he's incentivized for you to buy something with his company @Uncle Wong so he'll even tell you to trust no one and make sure you do all the due diligence. but like asking a surgeon if you need surgery, asking a successful investor if investing in the city and area and types of investments he makes is a good idea...of course buying in Palermo/Recoleta/etc. will be the answer. but the most important part is - are you buying to get cheap in pozo, sit on it with 300 USD/month and sell at a certain price point in the future? or are you buying some place to live part or all of the year?

Comparing BA to Mendoza is like comparing NYC to Oklahoma. Just too different. NYC is always going to have strong worldwide interest in properties and turn over. Oklahoma not so much. Mendoza I heard has some nice parts but for the large part it seems like something you do for a weekend and that is it. Some people aren't big city people. Buenos Aires is world class. Mendoza and most cities in Argentina are NOT.

What I like about @earlyretirement is the guy lays it all out there FREE. I went to his website and it is all explained there free. Seriously he explains everything. What most smart people that read it figure out quickly is you would have to be an idiot to try doing it yourself vs. just paying for a consultation and using good people. I did a consultation and the guy knows what he is talking about.

Look at his past accomplishments. Had no idea how successful he was. Not just in Argentina but just about every thing he touches has gotten acquired. In multiple countries.

Just looking at his content since he started on X I am amazed at how much of what he predicted has all come true. I sure as sh*t would rather own a property in BA vs. Mendoza or anywhere else in Argentina.

 

[Johnny]

Mendoza doesn't have the turn over or interest that Buenos Aires does. Especially in the neighborhoods like Palermo that are very desirable. That's why I never buy outside of Buenos Aires. You can end up never being able to exit outside of these areas. Even in Bariloche I know people that bought and tried to sell and been years and years. Buenos Aires I've purchased hundreds of millions of dollars in properties and sold hundreds of millions of dollars in properties. I managed some properties in Recoleta and Palermo that flipped over 5 times in 23 years to different investors because they were spinning off great cash flow.

We have plenty of properties that we bought for clients that already got offers for 35% to 40% higher in only less than 2 years. In another project I got my clients in for $2,600 a m2 properties are now going for up to $3,800 USD per m2.

Construction prices have skyrocketed as I forecasted it would.

I bought even earlier this this but let's just take a price list of what we got many of our investors in a project last year at the beginning of 2024 and look at current prices now. And prices will keep going up. The cost of construction has gone up 100% from last year to this year and that isn't priced into prices yet. They are raising each month. Some of our investors have already flipped for a 100% tax free gain.

And I just bought another one this week in this project. I'm locking the price in USD for my clients with NO inflation adjustment.

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Thanks Mike! This is the building Mike recommended I get in on and I bought the 9th floor Unit #1 which is crazy because that is the same floor and Unit that I bought in the first project in Buenos Aires that I already finished. Good luck having the same exact apartment #901.

This same thing happened in the first building I bought. I had a lot of appreciation just like Mike said I would and I've been getting $2,000 USD per month in Zelle payments from the Airbnb's. My wife thinks I am a genius. But she already knows as we bought 2 apartments in Mexico with Mike's help too.

 

[Johnny]

He connected me with other existing clients and some were very nice to spend an hour with me giving me their experience with Mike. Some have worked with him over 20 years! I am going over to see @Johnny 's apartment in Palermo too. And a new unit Johnny is building now. I might buy one in that same building. Only downside is it's not done until January 2028.

Hey great talking to you Dave! We will see you at my apartment. What day you going to meet Nicolas at GyD? Let me know via WhatsApp and I will go with you. I want to go and see progress at Feel Palermo. So we can all go over together. Are you taking a look at Mike's new hotel project in Soho? I am also going to invest in that project too.

 

[Cali Baby]

4. i paid 133,000 USD sale price with Bitcoin directly, whereas G&D wanted me to sell Bitcoin for cash dollars and pay them in mostly USD cash, and also wanted me to declare a low number on the deed. the only sacrifice i had to make on my sale was declaring 40% on the title, which EVERY person insisted along the way. so, even with earlyretirement there is a good chance you'll be doing things in the black as well, which most of the time shouldn't be an issue because he'll give you the pros and cons of all of that.

Are you sure? I talked to GyD about a pozo and they had no problem at all with me declaring the entire apartment in white. They even gave me a bank account in USD and it was all legal and the entire purchase amount would be declared. Are you sure? Or maybe were you the one that wanted to declare lower on the purchase price @StatusNomadicus

Getting back to MEP rates topic. I found Mastercard and Visa purchases yesterday were much lower than official and MEP rate. I got 1,080 on purchases with my American credit card with the official at 100 and the MEP at 1143. Did the credit cards stop using the MEP rate? Any experiences with that @StatusNomadicus? Are you still tracking this?

 

[Wally]

Are you sure? I talked to GyD about a pozo and they had no problem at all with me declaring the entire apartment in white. They even gave me a bank account in USD and it was all legal and the entire purchase amount would be declared. Are you sure? Or maybe were you the one that wanted to declare lower on the purchase price @StatusNomadicus

Getting back to MEP rates topic. I found Mastercard and Visa purchases yesterday were much lower than official and MEP rate. I got 1,080 on purchases with my American credit card with the official at 100 and the MEP at 1143. Did the credit cards stop using the MEP rate? Any experiences with that @StatusNomadicus? Are you still tracking this?

Most big developers will do things in white but there are a lot of local buyers that will demand to go lower and typically there is always flexibility. Declaring only 40% on the title is a very dumb move. Sounds like a terrible decision. There is a capital gains tax on real estate here. When you sell (if you can even sell as in Mendoza you can set up properties forever as they are not liquid there) you will have a big capital gains tax. The government is moving more towards a monitoring system of seeing what property prices are listed for and noticing big differences of what is listed on title deeds. 40% is crazy. @StatusNomadicus did you consult a lawyer and accountant about that?

@Cali Baby the credit card is well below the MEP rate. Usually 3% to 8% less. It is never the MEP rate.

 

[Canada Goose]

Mendoza doesn't have the turn over or interest that Buenos Aires does. Especially in the neighborhoods like Palermo that are very desirable. That's why I never buy outside of Buenos Aires. You can end up never being able to exit outside of these areas. Even in Bariloche I know people that bought and tried to sell and been years and years. Buenos Aires I've purchased hundreds of millions of dollars in properties and sold hundreds of millions of dollars in properties. I managed some properties in Recoleta and Palermo that flipped over 5 times in 23 years to different investors because they were spinning off great cash flow.

We have plenty of properties that we bought for clients that already got offers for 35% to 40% higher in only less than 2 years. In another project I got my clients in for $2,600 a m2 properties are now going for up to $3,800 USD per m2.

Construction prices have skyrocketed as I forecasted it would.

I bought even earlier this this but let's just take a price list of what we got many of our investors in a project last year at the beginning of 2024 and look at current prices now. And prices will keep going up. The cost of construction has gone up 100% from last year to this year and that isn't priced into prices yet. They are raising each month. Some of our investors have already flipped for a 100% tax free gain.

And I just bought another one this week in this project. I'm locking the price in USD for my clients with NO inflation adjustment.

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I can totally vouch for Mike and @BuySellBA!

I hired them to buy a unit in a pozo and I was planning to move down to Buenos Aires a few years. I bought a 2 bedroom unit in Palermo and @BuySellBA negotiated a discounted price and I paid 100% up front. I was getting $500 dollars each month until the property was finished. I listed my townhouse in Canada for sale and it quickly sold. But then my mother passed away. Very suddenly. Terrible situation. I still am dealing with her estate and affairs and decided I can't move to BA.

I went over options for my place and Mike told me the value would keep going up on it until the property was finished. He told me that I could sell the property if I wanted to at any time. I kept collecting the $500 dollars a month and his office would pick it up for me each month at GyD's office. They always paid on time.

I spent $5,000 hiring Buysellba. And they did everything for me. I met with their lawyer in Buenos Aires and I paid $500 dollars to get my tax ID# and to prepare a power of attorney document. Normally it was covered if I bought a used property but this was new and I had to use the builder's lawyer. I kept getting offers for my apartment. Both from GyD and also Mike had clients that wanted to buy in the building.

My goal was to wait until the $5,500 that I paid to Buysellba and their lawyer to get my tax id # was paid for. So that was paid with rental payments from the developer. I waited a year to sell it. I paid just under $198,000 for my unit not counting the cash I got back. I got back $6,500 in cash and that more than covered the fees that I paid. I did have to hire Mike again to help me sell the unit but he gave me a break on fees since I was just flipping it. The toughest part is I had to fill out a power of attorney document in Canada and had to get Apostille on it and translated. That was expensive and a pain. I DHL'd that down to Buenos Aires and they took care of the closing for me.

I had no legal fees or closing costs. The new buyer just took over with their name on the contracts. That buyer who was a local used the same amount that I paid. I sold my unit for $238,000. So I got $40,000 from that. I did have to pay GyD a fee to handle the paperwork and changing the new name over. But all in all that was very smooth and I posted all of that tax free. They wired the funds to me in Canada.

I doubt that a property would be this liquid in Mendoza or other parts of Argentina. That process gave me piece of mind in how desirable properties in Palermo are. Now I already have my CDI # and I signed a POA for Buysellba to buy and manage for me so I will just hire them again once I settle my mom's estate issues.

 

[Uncle Wong]

I can totally vouch for Mike and @BuySellBA!

I hired them to buy a unit in a pozo and I was planning to move down to Buenos Aires a few years. I bought a 2 bedroom unit in Palermo and @BuySellBA negotiated a discounted price and I paid 100% up front. I was getting $500 dollars each month until the property was finished. I listed my townhouse in Canada for sale and it quickly sold. But then my mother passed away. Very suddenly. Terrible situation. I still am dealing with her estate and affairs and decided I can't move to BA.

I went over options for my place and Mike told me the value would keep going up on it until the property was finished. He told me that I could sell the property if I wanted to at any time. I kept collecting the $500 dollars a month and his office would pick it up for me each month at GyD's office. They always paid on time.

I spent $5,000 hiring Buysellba. And they did everything for me. I met with their lawyer in Buenos Aires and I paid $500 dollars to get my tax ID# and to prepare a power of attorney document. Normally it was covered if I bought a used property but this was new and I had to use the builder's lawyer. I kept getting offers for my apartment. Both from GyD and also Mike had clients that wanted to buy in the building.

My goal was to wait until the $5,500 that I paid to Buysellba and their lawyer to get my tax id # was paid for. So that was paid with rental payments from the developer. I waited a year to sell it. I paid just under $198,000 for my unit not counting the cash I got back. I got back $6,500 in cash and that more than covered the fees that I paid. I did have to hire Mike again to help me sell the unit but he gave me a break on fees since I was just flipping it. The toughest part is I had to fill out a power of attorney document in Canada and had to get Apostille on it and translated. That was expensive and a pain. I DHL'd that down to Buenos Aires and they took care of the closing for me.

I had no legal fees or closing costs. The new buyer just took over with their name on the contracts. That buyer who was a local used the same amount that I paid. I sold my unit for $238,000. So I got $40,000 from that. I did have to pay GyD a fee to handle the paperwork and changing the new name over. But all in all that was very smooth and I posted all of that tax free. They wired the funds to me in Canada.

I doubt that a property would be this liquid in Mendoza or other parts of Argentina. That process gave me piece of mind in how desirable properties in Palermo are. Now I already have my CDI # and I signed a POA for Buysellba to buy and manage for me so I will just hire them again once I settle my mom's estate issues.

Thank you for sharing this story! It is very reassuring. I did a consultation with Mike a few weeks ago and he told me about this case! He never mentioned it was a forum member or your name. He just gave me the circumstances and it is cool that it is a forum member.

@Canada Goose I am sorry to hear about your mother. That is tough. I can't imagine what you are going through. Hang in there.

If I am getting the gist of what you wrote above and what Mike told me, so basically a new buyer steps in and they just used the original sales price that you paid? Could they have used the higher price if you wanted? Did you have any taxes in Argentina? Did you have any taxes in Canada? So you needed to send another POA to sell? I know BuySellBA already had one to purchase.

I know that building is done but you didn't have to pay any legal fees or closing costs because you sold before the property was done? That is a great gain in a short amount of time. Congrats! Will you buy another unit? I know your goal is to move down some day but probably the last thing on your mind now.

My goal is to buy a place and move to in the future but make cash flow on it until I move down. I am going down in a few weeks. I am staying in the building that you bought in!

 

[Canada Goose]

Thank you for sharing this story! It is very reassuring. I did a consultation with Mike a few weeks ago and he told me about this case! He never mentioned it was a forum member or your name. He just gave me the circumstances and it is cool that it is a forum member.

@Canada Goose I am sorry to hear about your mother. That is tough. I can't imagine what you are going through. Hang in there.

If I am getting the gist of what you wrote above and what Mike told me, so basically a new buyer steps in and they just used the original sales price that you paid? Could they have used the higher price if you wanted? Did you have any taxes in Argentina? Did you have any taxes in Canada? So you needed to send another POA to sell? I know BuySellBA already had one to purchase.

I know that building is done but you didn't have to pay any legal fees or closing costs because you sold before the property was done? That is a great gain in a short amount of time. Congrats! Will you buy another unit? I know your goal is to move down some day but probably the last thing on your mind now.

My goal is to buy a place and move to in the future but make cash flow on it until I move down. I am going down in a few weeks. I am staying in the building that you bought in!

Thank you @Uncle Wong. Means a lot to me. Miss mom everyday. Mike is the best. He helped me with many number of things in Buenos Aires during my trip. Yes, in my case (I am not sure if they are all the same) but the title deed never went into my name. One thing I forgot to point out is that I paid 1% of my stamp taxes when I did my boleto or payment of my property. The stamp tax was 3.6% but they said I only had to pay 1% when I paid for my property. I'm not sure why. I can't forget but just remembered I had to pay that amount too. Attached is what they sent me.

I am not sure if the new buyer gets credit for that stamp tax already paid? It was great that I didn't have to do anything. Mike and his team did all of it for me. I was very happy!

They asked me to use the lower amount. I didn't care one way or another what price we used but it ended up working out better for me to say I sold it back at the original price because I didn't have any taxes! In fact, on paper it looks like I lost money. They paid me the full purchase price that I paid to my bank in Canada in USD. Then the rest of the cash I arranged to get USDT for and I got that sent to me separately. So I had no taxes at all.

As far as Canada is concerned I bought a property and then my mom died and sold it for the same amount. Actually a loss with the taxes and fees. Then in Argentina the property never went into my name. So no taxes there either. Besides we put that I sold it the same price I bought it at.

I did have to have a separate POA both to buy which I did in BA and then to sell which I did in Canada. The one in Canada was the pain with the Apostille but in BA I just met with their lawyer, Angie.

@Uncle Wong I am planning to invest in Mike's new apartment hotel project. It will be very high end building and I'll stay in it part of the year and then rent it out. The ROI projections are insane! He posted about it on X a few times. That is actually how I originally found him. If you look at his background he has had success after success. I plan on buying a 2 bedroom or maybe a 3 bedroom in his hotel project.

 

[Uncle Wong]

Thank you @Uncle Wong. Means a lot to me. Miss mom everyday. Mike is the best. He helped me with many number of things in Buenos Aires during my trip. Yes, in my case (I am not sure if they are all the same) but the title deed never went into my name. One thing I forgot to point out is that I paid 1% of my stamp taxes when I did my boleto or payment of my property. The stamp tax was 3.6% but they said I only had to pay 1% when I paid for my property. I'm not sure why. I can't forget but just remembered I had to pay that amount too. Attached is what they sent me.

I am not sure if the new buyer gets credit for that stamp tax already paid? It was great that I didn't have to do anything. Mike and his team did all of it for me. I was very happy!

They asked me to use the lower amount. I didn't care one way or another what price we used but it ended up working out better for me to say I sold it back at the original price because I didn't have any taxes! In fact, on paper it looks like I lost money. They paid me the full purchase price that I paid to my bank in Canada in USD. Then the rest of the cash I arranged to get USDT for and I got that sent to me separately. So I had no taxes at all.

As far as Canada is concerned I bought a property and then my mom died and sold it for the same amount. Actually a loss with the taxes and fees. Then in Argentina the property never went into my name. So no taxes there either. Besides we put that I sold it the same price I bought it at.

I did have to have a separate POA both to buy which I did in BA and then to sell which I did in Canada. The one in Canada was the pain with the Apostille but in BA I just met with their lawyer, Angie.

@Uncle Wong I am planning to invest in Mike's new apartment hotel project. It will be very high end building and I'll stay in it part of the year and then rent it out. The ROI projections are insane! He posted about it on X a few times. That is actually how I originally found him. If you look at his background he has had success after success. I plan on buying a 2 bedroom or maybe a 3 bedroom in his hotel project.

Thanks for explaining this so detailed. They told me if I bought a new pozo unit I could sell it any time before it's done or even after it's done. I'm looking at a studio unit and even on that if I prepay ahead of time they will pay me $300 a month until it is done. I have the cash so might just do that. Sounds like the price of the m2 will keep going up for the next 3 years so seems like a great deal to lock in the price, make some cash and I can always sell tax free.

I didn't know Mike was building his own hotel! I probably can't afford that but will ask him about it. Thanks!

 

[Johnny]

Thanks for explaining this so detailed. They told me if I bought a new pozo unit I could sell it any time before it's done or even after it's done. I'm looking at a studio unit and even on that if I prepay ahead of time they will pay me $300 a month until it is done. I have the cash so might just do that. Sounds like the price of the m2 will keep going up for the next 3 years so seems like a great deal to lock in the price, make some cash and I can always sell tax free.

I didn't know Mike was building his own hotel! I probably can't afford that but will ask him about it. Thanks!

I have already had 3 offers to buy my penthouse unit. Even before it was finished. My largest offer is 40% more than I paid for it and I just bought it less than 2 years ago. Mike told me it would be the bottom in 2023 and he was right! I had an offer to purchase my unit in the new project too but I will wait.

@Uncle Wong I am planning to invest in Mike's new apartment hotel project. It will be very high end building and I'll stay in it part of the year and then rent it out. The ROI projections are insane! He posted about it on X a few times. That is actually how I originally found him. If you look at his background he has had success after success. I plan on buying a 2 bedroom or maybe a 3 bedroom in his hotel project.

I am buying in that hotel project too! @Canada Goose I went down with him the last trip and spent 10 days in meetings. I met all of his legal team, we spent 5 days in heavy meetings with GyD, bankers and lawyers. This has been in the works for a while. I even went to him to see several plots of land in Palermo and Recoleta.

It sounds like we will be competing with one another for a 2 bedroom apartment in the project. I am buying at least one and I have a group of investors that also want to invest.

I am going down in 2 weeks with Mike to look at the new land and meet with the developers and architect. I feel fortunate to see the project.

 

[Betsy Ross]

I have already had 3 offers to buy my penthouse unit. Even before it was finished. My largest offer is 40% more than I paid for it and I just bought it less than 2 years ago. Mike told me it would be the bottom in 2023 and he was right! I had an offer to purchase my unit in the new project too but I will wait.

Wow! That is terrific. 40% offers so quickly after you bought it. You are lucky you caught the bottom in July 2023. I remember your neighbor wanted to buy it when you bought it. How are you getting these other offers if it is not for sale? I saw photos of your property and it is beautiful. Do you have the Airbnb listing you can send me? DM is fine. My sister needs a place to stay when she comes as I got a cat and she is allergic to cats. I would love to have her book your place @Johnny if it is available in July.

I am going down in 2 weeks with Mike to look at the new land and meet with the developers and architect. I feel fortunate to see the project.

Let me know if you and @earlyretirement have time to meet up for a coffee. I would love to meet the both of you. Feel free to DM me.

 

[Johnny]

Wow! That is terrific. 40% offers so quickly after you bought it. You are lucky you caught the bottom in July 2023. I remember your neighbor wanted to buy it when you bought it. How are you getting these other offers if it is not for sale? I saw photos of your property and it is beautiful. Do you have the Airbnb listing you can send me? DM is fine. My sister needs a place to stay when she comes as I got a cat and she is allergic to cats. I would love to have her book your place @Johnny if it is available in July.


Let me know if you and @earlyretirement have time to meet up for a coffee. I would love to meet the both of you. Feel free to DM me.

Hi Betsy. Sure! I am up to meet up. I'll talk to Mike. We have many meetings for his hotel project. I am really lucky that I shadowed him for a week on our last trip and I was so exhausted! I actually started falling asleep in one of the meetings because we were going from meeting to meeting non stop for days. I am not sure how he does it! I was impressed watching it all. He is a non stop machine!

I just DM'd you my Airbnb listing. I'm actually booked solid until September 22. I have only had a few single days it hasn't been booked. I had to block it out quickly to stay in my own place! Ask Mike, he owns a few in the same building so he can see what is available for your sister.

When I bought my property the neighbor offered to buy my place right away and offered me 30% more. I guess I just beat him on the offer by a few days. I joked with him and offered him the same amount to buy his unit. There are only 2 units on the penthouse floor so it's just us. Mike has many American and European clients now. 2 of them offered to buy my place with all the furniture and everything! But I wouldn't be able to find something like this even if I sold it 40% more. I don't plan to sell this. I even got an offer on the place they are building now. I bought one of the higher floor units in my floor plan and they are all sold so people are inquiring with the developer if any want to flip. The developer said I can flip any time I want. I don't think I will sell that one either as it's in a great area.

I feel blessed to have bought when I did in 2023!

 

[Betsy Ross]

Wow! That is terrific. 40% offers so quickly after you bought it. You are lucky you caught the bottom in July 2023. I remember your neighbor wanted to buy it when you bought it. How are you getting these other offers if it is not for sale? I saw photos of your property and it is beautiful. Do you have the Airbnb listing you can send me? DM is fine. My sister needs a place to stay when she comes as I got a cat and she is allergic to cats. I would love to have her book your place @Johnny if it is available in July.


Let me know if you and @earlyretirement have time to meet up for a coffee. I would love to meet the both of you. Feel free to DM me.

Hi Betsy. Sure. I just sent you a DM. I'd be happy to meet up for lunch. @Uncle Wong is also in town so I'll try to coordinate a visit. Maybe I can show you one of my apartments at Meet Palermo for your sister. I'm staying there and although Johnny's apartment is booked until the end of September we have some availability so we can coordinate. We can all meet at my apartment and then we can go to lunch somewhere in Palermo.

I'll send you my WhatsApp. Will be great to finally meet you.

 

[Avocado]

I have already had 3 offers to buy my penthouse unit. Even before it was finished. My largest offer is 40% more than I paid for it and I just bought it less than 2 years ago. Mike told me it would be the bottom in 2023 and he was right! I had an offer to purchase my unit in the new project too but I will wait.


I am buying in that hotel project too! @Canada Goose I went down with him the last trip and spent 10 days in meetings. I met all of his legal team, we spent 5 days in heavy meetings with GyD, bankers and lawyers. This has been in the works for a while. I even went to him to see several plots of land in Palermo and Recoleta.

It sounds like we will be competing with one another for a 2 bedroom apartment in the project. I am buying at least one and I have a group of investors that also want to invest.

I am going down in 2 weeks with Mike to look at the new land and meet with the developers and architect. I feel fortunate to see the project.

You are very lucky. You had good timing. Prices moved up a lot since then.

Hi Betsy. Sure. I just sent you a DM. I'd be happy to meet up for lunch. @Uncle Wong is also in town so I'll try to coordinate a visit. Maybe I can show you one of my apartments at Meet Palermo for your sister. I'm staying there and although Johnny's apartment is booked until the end of September we have some availability so we can coordinate. We can all meet at my apartment and then we can go to lunch somewhere in Palermo.

I'll send you my WhatsApp. Will be great to finally meet you.

If you don't mind meeting a "Commie" as one of our forum members labels me, I would be open to meeting you too.

 

[Wally]

Thank you @Uncle Wong. Means a lot to me. Miss mom everyday. Mike is the best. He helped me with many number of things in Buenos Aires during my trip. Yes, in my case (I am not sure if they are all the same) but the title deed never went into my name. One thing I forgot to point out is that I paid 1% of my stamp taxes when I did my boleto or payment of my property. The stamp tax was 3.6% but they said I only had to pay 1% when I paid for my property. I'm not sure why. I can't forget but just remembered I had to pay that amount too. Attached is what they sent me.

I am not sure if the new buyer gets credit for that stamp tax already paid? It was great that I didn't have to do anything. Mike and his team did all of it for me. I was very happy!

They asked me to use the lower amount. I didn't care one way or another what price we used but it ended up working out better for me to say I sold it back at the original price because I didn't have any taxes! In fact, on paper it looks like I lost money. They paid me the full purchase price that I paid to my bank in Canada in USD. Then the rest of the cash I arranged to get USDT for and I got that sent to me separately. So I had no taxes at all.

As far as Canada is concerned I bought a property and then my mom died and sold it for the same amount. Actually a loss with the taxes and fees. Then in Argentina the property never went into my name. So no taxes there either. Besides we put that I sold it the same price I bought it at.

I did have to have a separate POA both to buy which I did in BA and then to sell which I did in Canada. The one in Canada was the pain with the Apostille but in BA I just met with their lawyer, Angie.

@Uncle Wong I am planning to invest in Mike's new apartment hotel project. It will be very high end building and I'll stay in it part of the year and then rent it out. The ROI projections are insane! He posted about it on X a few times. That is actually how I originally found him. If you look at his background he has had success after success. I plan on buying a 2 bedroom or maybe a 3 bedroom in his hotel project.





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This is very common to do a boleto and then resell your unit before the building is finished or even after the building finishes. You usually have some time to put it in your name. My wife's brother does these deals all the time. He just rolls the profit each time and gets a tidy sum! He does it about every 3 years. Been doing it for decades. A good way for tax free income.

 

[Uncle Wong]

can you send some links to apartments that were much cheaper a year ago in BsAs, and now are selling quickly at higher Dollar prices? @Uncle Wong

@StatusNomadicus just check out this YouTube channel. Most realtors seem like they are slimy but this has a lot of great information on what prices have done in Buenos Aires the past year. It sounds like in most parts of Recoleta and Palermo prices went up 25% + in many areas.



Sounds like a lot more upside. Your example of Mendoza is why I don't want to buy outside of Buenos Aires and especially Palermo.

 

[Bingo]

@StatusNomadicus just check out this YouTube channel. Most realtors seem like they are slimy but this has a lot of great information on what prices have done in Buenos Aires the past year. It sounds like in most parts of Recoleta and Palermo prices went up 25% + in many areas.



Sounds like a lot more upside. Your example of Mendoza is why I don't want to buy outside of Buenos Aires and especially Palermo.

Real estate is always about location, location, location. You can get stuck never being able to sell I heard in places like Mendoza. My friend told me that a property can sit on the market for years and years without being able to exit. No thanks!

 

[StatusNomadicus]

pozo

yep, for sale price 92,300 example, 60% was 55,000 in cash from Cueva and 40% was 37,300 from declared Bitcoin. i still have my G&D consultation note...i didn't press the issue about declaring, since i was just hearing the sales pitch, but i certainly didn't ASK to pay in the Black ahahahah, why would i do that? i'm not Argentine and i don't have permanent residency or citizenship 😛

this was a building with a lot of progress, not a pozo that was still being planned and dug, so that could be the difference. it was also before all the chainsaw law-deletions, ~Dec2023, so things maybe changed. but aside from earlyretirement vouching for them, G&D didn't offer anything that different from other sales pitches in CABA. and i wanted to pay directly in Crypto, which they couldn't accept, so it just didn't work-out.

I got 1,080 on purchases with my American credit card with the official at 100 and the MEP at 1143. Did the credit cards stop using the MEP rate? Any experiences with that @StatusNomadicus? Are you still tracking this?

thanks for the data point, and yep i have been a dirtbag about my Twitter profile posts, but i'm still saving data. if you got 1080 on Visa or Mastercard, without foreign transaction fees muddling the data, that would mean +7% should have been about 1155.6 MEP posted rate, which tracks with the current 1144.11 rate right now in the AM on Monday 12May2025

like i've been posting here, with the real-world MEP rate being so low compared to Blue 1155 and banks like Santander that will same-day swap USD for ARS at 1138 right now, it doesn't make sense to use US credit/debit cards unless it's your only option (no DNI, no Cueva access), or if it's just a small amount and you don't care. but if you have 1000 USD to spend this month, you'd get in Pesos right now:

A. MEP posted minus ~7% cards 1,064,023
B. MEP Santander online swap 1,138,110
C. Blue 1155 minus ~3% fee 1,120,350

...which would mean you'd have 74,087 Pesos less from MEP versus Santander MEP this month, or about $65 USD less, or losing 6.5% on everything you spend. some people may not care, but over a year if i'm spending say 12,000 USD for my entire life in 2025, with these current rates using a credit card versus Santander, even with the current "bad" rates for ARS/USD, i would be losing $780 USD annually assuming minus 6.5%

maybe someone else can chip-in and explain better, and give their strategy for maximizing Pesos/Dollars 🙂

8% less. It is never the MEP rate.

correct, usually 6.5 to 7.0 percent less for me. the scammer banks really should be fined for not posting the true rate. it's another thing that would make Argentina more serious of a country

40% is crazy. @StatusNomadicus did you consult a lawyer and accountant about that?

i've talked to dozens of people in 3 provinces and aside from earlyretirement, zero people say to declare 100% - any Argentine is going to do what 99% of people do here, declare the lowest possible and hope for reforms in the future. as my Escribana said, i would be literally the only house in many kilometers with a value of 133k USD when every other neighbor is in the 15k-60k range. you'd stand-out a ton, and will pay more taxes, and if i had done my Title in Bitcoin they were even more worried about having ARCA/AFIP/property tax folks being more nosy about my sale. /shrug

40% is absolutely not crazy, though. many people have been doing less, like 20%, for many years. cops, judges, realtors, notaries, etc. - no one likes to talk about any of this, except for BuySellBA

mother

RIP, especially since yesterday was Mother's Day in the US, and you are a good person for pausing life to handle family stuff. we will be here in Argentina when you're done 🙂 sounds like you didn't lose much money (you made some? i'm not that interested to try to do the math), but agreed i would NEVER do any of this remotely, and wouldn't try anything at all in Argentina without a local wife or family, or in my case unless it was "free" money from Bitcoin and zero risk, UNLESS it was through @earlyretirement @BuySellBA - no one else would be honest with you and support before and after.

I only had to pay 1%

could have been the new law that deleted 1 of the 2 property sale taxes (i also only had to pay one instead of two, which saved me like 1500 USD or something)

lucky

"lucky" meaning worked hard, saved money, researched for days and days, networked, paid consultations, had enough savings liquid to take advantage, made a huge risk in a country that may have remained communist for another 4 years...yes, according to a Peronist with zero life experience, they were "lucky" lol, get the f*ck out of here...why are you on an Expat forum? seriously you and Larry add nothing here and just waste everyone's life.

Commie

see above. who would want to meet you? you literally lurk on an Expat forum and post the same "i'm poor. other evil lucky people are rich. argentina is expensive in dollars. Milei evil!" every day you post here makes everyone's life less enjoyable

Palermo

sure, i don't need to watch a Realtor's youtube video to know they are going to say "now is the time to buy, don't miss it" - i'm just giving you my perspective on moving to BsAs to buy an apartment and liking Cordoba and then Mendoza WAY more than the BsAs New York City feel. if you're an investor that buys stuff you won't ever live in, of course you're in a 1% niche category compared to an Expat moving somewhere else...sounds like you've got a good plan! as always, i just enjoy arguing the minority position. CABA really is great for short-term rentals and all of that; i just hated so many things (that i hate in all big cities) and Mendoza isn't a small town or a place where people only go for the weekends ahahahhaha, ask all the Porteños where they travel to for a week/end at a time, regularly. my dog's buddy at the park here is owned by a guy from Buenos Aires who is trying to move here, but right now just works the 4 summer months 🙂 i personally know 5 people who moved from BsAs and prefer Mendoza. it's just, like everyone else like Wally said, a completely different place. but i disagree it is like Oklahoma 😉 faaaaaaar from. the problem is that 95% of permatourists have never been outside CABA, much less outside of the province, and much less lived in the other bigger cities. i have, 11 months in airbnbs in 3 provinces aside from Santa Fe that i wasn't interested in the crime...i ran something like 400 miles in that time and saw so much of Buenos Aires/Cordoba/Mendoza on-foot, so i don't claim to know what is a good real estate investment, but i'm confident i've experienced much more of Argentina in my short time, without a car, than many people here who have lived in Argentina for years 😛

seriously @Uncle Wong - ask people you meet how they liked Mendoza when they went. Argentina is huuuuuuge and isn't just "Buenos Aires has everything and the other small poor boring places aren't worth more than a weekend" - it's like all the Latin America tourists that come to the USA and go to NYC, Miami, and Los Angeles - gross! i would never live in any of those, and have never enjoyed a visit

Your example of Mendoza

which example? no worries mang, do your thing. just gave the advice to spend a few hundred bucks to fly and visit Cordoba, Mendoza, and maybe Bariloche before investing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

My friend told me that a property can sit on the market for years and years without being able to exit.

nahhhh, here's the thing: if houses/apartments want to sell, they just need to list at the correct price. they aren't selling because they are listing too high. in Mendoza for example, a shitty house has been listed for 135,000 USD for over a year. i toured it twice. i would have paid 100k for it and remodeled myself. but the owner is a retired doctor who inherited it, and she lives there, and her bills are SO CHEAP in Argentina that she can sit on it for years. the house i bought was listed for 6 years at 155,000 then 150,000 then 135,000 and i offered 130,00 and we made a deal at 133,00 with terms in my favor. you're conflating two things:

1. smaller cities have less turnover. but turnover really only matters to people buying a place to invest in and rent, which would be 5% of buyers maybe...they are investors.

2. Argies are rich in generational wealth and the cost of living in so low in Dollars that THOUSANDS of properties will sit empty for many years because the expenses are like 200 USD a year, and they expect to sell for tens of thousands of dollars more.

very different things. if a property needs to be sold, it would happen in a month. the wealthy here have more than 1 house in their family and many sit vacant while they wait for what they want.

 

[TonyTigre]

While I disagree with @StatusNomadicus sometimes, he made many great points in the above post.

Great post @StatusNomadicus!