Great Airbnb rental in Palermo

[JonJLA]

Yes, it’s pretty much all due to @earlyretirement- I just let him make all the decisions and manage everything. His secrets formula is to buy really high quality furnishings, electronics, 1Gbps WiFi and most importantly- mattresses. I think one of the biggest complaints from guests staying at other, cheaper Airbnb’s is that most of them cheap out on the mattresses and get rock hard ones. You’ve got to list all those benefits in the description- I’ve noticed that most of my guests are well seasoned travelers that I believe, know exactly what to look for when selecting a good Airbnb and are willing to pay for quality.

I was originally going to cash out of this house to possibly fund a bigger one, Mike had a client interested at around $300k but ended up taking it off the market since the cash flow was so good. Then I had 2 offers (I think for the same person) several months apart for $340K.

That is what I did too back in 2003 when I hired @BuySellBA to buy 2 units for me in Soho. From the first meeting he was very clear what he would do. He didn't promise me any ROI and the first thing he said was I can't promise you anything but he opened his books and showed me their rentals and I also stayed in some of their properties to see.

But the property that I ended up buying was sight unseen. I didn't even know the areas too well and back then Recoleta was THE place to buy. But he told me why he thought it would be a strong investment and I liked the fact he owned so many properties in BA. In fact, in the building where I bought my 2 units - Palermo Uno, Mike bought 4 units himself which I loved.

I also trusted him to furnish it how he thought. It was expensive compared to the US but prices have come down. TV's were about $1,500 back then. They are probably at least half that now with the reduced taxes. I spent over $2,200 USD for my mattress.

Yes! So I actually met him 15 years ago outside of the Buenos Aires space when he first moved here to San Diego and we’ve been good friends ever since- the only reason why I’ve even bothered to invest with him was I got a detailed behind the scenes look for over a decade at his successes- basically I got to see how the sausage was made😂. In fact, it was me that approached him about investing, not the other way around!

That is so neat. Was this your first property purchase in BA @ravingnomad? What made you decide to buy when you did? You had great timing. I contacted him when I saw he jumped back in Buenos Aires real estate in 2023. On his advice I sold one of my 2 apartments in 2017 which turned out to be amazing timing. He sent me the units in your building and I regret not jumping back in. For the price of your 2 bedroom I sold a 37 m2 studio.

I come down to San Diego every now and again. I will have to ask him to arrange a lunch meet up @ravingnomad. It is good to see that people are having success just following the same formula as 20+ years ago in BA.

 

[Betsy Ross]

Yes! So I actually met him 15 years ago outside of the Buenos Aires space when he first moved here to San Diego and we’ve been good friends ever since- the only reason why I’ve even bothered to invest with him was I got a detailed behind the scenes look for over a decade at his successes- basically I got to see how the sausage was made😂. In fact, it was me that approached him about investing, not the other way around!

Wow! That is some luck. A good friend to have!

 

[ravingnomad]

Wow! That is some luck. A good friend to have!

Yes, very fortunate indeed! Prior to meeting him, I didn’t know anything about Argentina. I always tell him that if some person I just met told me about an opportunity to invest in real estate in a bankrupt South American country and that I would just need to wire the money to a 3rd party and then transport the cash via armored truck in crisp $100 bills to the closing, I would go tell him to ‘F’ off, lol.

 

[MikeAnton]

Buysellba had a good post on X yesterday about this.

Very interesting. I was wondering if people would be getting out of short term rentals. Electricity was almost free before so it must be a shock to people. I guess great for the remaining players.

 

[MikeAnton]

Yes, very fortunate indeed! Prior to meeting him, I didn’t know anything about Argentina. I always tell him that if some person I just met told me about an opportunity to invest in real estate in a bankrupt South American country and that I would just need to wire the money to a 3rd party and then transport the cash via armored truck in crisp $100 bills to the closing, I would go tell him to ‘F’ off, lol.

This is what is annoying about real estate here. But I heard that a few developers will let you wire directly to US accounts to avoid the cash.

 

[Johnny]

So I’m one of the other forum members Mike mentioned that has a unit in the building: Condo in Buenos Aires · ★4.97 · 2 bedrooms · 3 beds · 2 baths Just like Johnny’s apartment, the occupancy has been incredible- it’s constantly around the 90%+ rate. In fact I don’t think it’s dipped below the mid 80% mark since it was first listed last year in February! I bought it for around $200K and have gotten 2 unsolicited offers for $340k. If any forum members are interested in booking a stay, let me or @earlyretirement know. Big thanks and kudos to him making it all possible!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/129216...0-afaf-dda6ff613a61&viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

Great to see all the other units in the building stay busy. It really is a great building. I also got a few offers. I never was listing. Even before the building was finished the developer asked me a few times if I wanted to sell. I couldn't believe my luck the penthouse was still available.

Yes! So I actually met him 15 years ago outside of the Buenos Aires space when he first moved here to San Diego and we’ve been good friends ever since- the only reason why I’ve even bothered to invest with him was I got a detailed behind the scenes look for over a decade at his successes- basically I got to see how the sausage was made😂. In fact, it was me that approached him about investing, not the other way around!

@ravingnomad wow I also live in San Diego. I am surprised we never met. I have a similar story than you.

I was in Guadalajara many years ago just on a guys trip to Mexico with our other friend and I saw how great his place was. He was going down to close on another new place and I asked to tag along. I ended up buying in that development and now I just closed on the apartment next to his. I'm so happy. We will all have to meet up some time.

 

[ravingnomad]

That is what I did too back in 2003 when I hired @BuySellBA to buy 2 units for me in Soho. From the first meeting he was very clear what he would do. He didn't promise me any ROI and the first thing he said was I can't promise you anything but he opened his books and showed me their rentals and I also stayed in some of their properties to see.

But the property that I ended up buying was sight unseen. I didn't even know the areas too well and back then Recoleta was THE place to buy. But he told me why he thought it would be a strong investment and I liked the fact he owned so many properties in BA. In fact, in the building where I bought my 2 units - Palermo Uno, Mike bought 4 units himself which I loved.

I also trusted him to furnish it how he thought. It was expensive compared to the US but prices have come down. TV's were about $1,500 back then. They are probably at least half that now with the reduced taxes. I spent over $2,200 USD for my mattress.


That is so neat. Was this your first property purchase in BA @ravingnomad? What made you decide to buy when you did? You had great timing. I contacted him when I saw he jumped back in Buenos Aires real estate in 2023. On his advice I sold one of my 2 apartments in 2017 which turned out to be amazing timing. He sent me the units in your building and I regret not jumping back in. For the price of your 2 bedroom I sold a 37 m2 studio.

I come down to San Diego every now and again. I will have to ask him to arrange a lunch meet up @ravingnomad. It is good to see that people are having success just following the same formula as 20+ years ago in BA.

Yes, very first one (but not the last) for me. So I met Mike when he first moved back to the US in 2011. Over time I got to know him pretty well and heard about all his successes in BA- saw his HGTV episodes where he was on House Hunters Intl and all the other print media, like the NYT and WSJ. Just through osmosis, I learned about the workings of Argentina real estate and visited BA with him in 2012. During this whole time, I never thought about actually investing there myself- after all, he had pretty much pulled out at the top of the market. Then in 2023, I saw him jump back in the game, create BuySell BA and read all his posts on X about how the market had bottomed, and that now was the time to get in. So I decided to take the leap and reached out to him- I know the safest thing to do was to just keep my money in a safe index fund and it let compound over many years, but I realized that in order to make bigger returns sooner, I would have to do something that moest people either couldn't, or wouldn't do. All the credit is due to Mike for all the success- the only thing I did was to force myself to get out of my comfort zone and take action.

Yes, next time you're down in SD, it would be great to grab lunch together with @Johnny and Mike!

 

[ravingnomad]

Great to see all the other units in the building stay busy. It really is a great building. I also got a few offers. I never was listing. Even before the building was finished the developer asked me a few times if I wanted to sell. I couldn't believe my luck the penthouse was still available.


@ravingnomad wow I also live in San Diego. I am surprised we never met. I have a similar story than you.

I was in Guadalajara many years ago just on a guys trip to Mexico with our other friend and I saw how great his place was. He was going down to close on another new place and I asked to tag along. I ended up buying in that development and now I just closed on the apartment next to his. I'm so happy. We will all have to meet up some time.

I'm jealous of all of your other properties in your portfolio- I wish I had more resources to purchase a couple of more immediately, but I'll have to wait a couple of years or so for my next one! Unfortunately by that time, prices will have risen quite a bit, so it would be mostly for the cashflow rather than capital appreciation. Yes, we should all get together some time, it would be great to get to know everyone and hear about your own experiences- We should all get together with Mike and grab lunch or dinner.

 

[Wally]

Yes, very first one (but not the last) for me. So I met Mike when he first moved back to the US in 2011. Over time I got to know him pretty well and heard about all his successes in BA- saw his HGTV episodes where he was on House Hunters Intl and all the other print media, like the NYT and WSJ. Just through osmosis, I learned about the workings of Argentina real estate and visited BA with him in 2012. During this whole time, I never thought about actually investing there myself- after all, he had pretty much pulled out at the top of the market. Then in 2023, I saw him jump back in the game, create BuySell BA and read all his posts on X about how the market had bottomed, and that now was the time to get in. So I decided to take the leap and reached out to him- I know the safest thing to do was to just keep my money in a safe index fund and it let compound over many years, but I realized that in order to make bigger returns sooner, I would have to do something that moest people either couldn't, or wouldn't do. All the credit is due to Mike for all the success- the only thing I did was to force myself to get out of my comfort zone and take action.

Yes, next time you're down in SD, it would be great to grab lunch together with @Johnny and Mike!

Great story. Argentina real estate is not for everyone. My wife's family owns a lot of real estate in Argentina. Most successful families here do as it is a good store of valuable and steady cash flow. Over the years a few friends bought here and they loved Argentina but it was a nightmare on property management. I remember reaching out to Apartmentsba which was the previous company and they never took on any properties for management unless you hired them to buy it. I thought that was a good model. The people they got to manage were terrible. The battle isn't find a good property. The battle here is finding a good manager.

 

[Digital Nomad]

I'm jealous of all of your other properties in your portfolio- I wish I had more resources to purchase a couple of more immediately, but I'll have to wait a couple of years or so for my next one! Unfortunately by that time, prices will have risen quite a bit, so it would be mostly for the cashflow rather than capital appreciation. Yes, we should all get together some time, it would be great to get to know everyone and hear about your own experiences- We should all get together with Mike and grab lunch or dinner.

I'm jealous of ya'll for pulling the trigger. I am probably younger than all of you. I tried to buy last year but didn't have the cash. I asked my old man to give me a loan and he almost did but then found out it was literally cash and felt odd about it. I still want to but prices keep going up. Thanks guys for posting the links. It helped to see how great the occupancy rates are. I may try again with my dad. I'd love a small unit that I can come down and use and rent it when I'm not using it.

 

[earlyretirement]

Thanks everyone for the very kind words. It's been an honor and privilege to have many of you as my friends and clients over the past 24 years. I'm the lucky guy.

 

[import export]

No actual 3 bedrooms but we have this unit which is a 2 bedroom apartment next to a 1 bedroom apartment. They have separate entrances but you have the benefit of being in the same location and having your own privacy. You can see the floor plan below. Our guests have really loved it.

It is ranked as the Top 5% of all apartments in Buenos Aires by Airbnb.

Condo in Buenos Aires · ★5.0 · 3 bedrooms · 5 beds · 3 baths

Skyline• 3 Balconies• 1Gig WiFi• King Bed• Palermo

airbnb.com

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Why is it that there aren't many 3 bedroom apartments in Buenos Aires? It's clever how you made this 3 bedroom using 2 apartments but is there a reason why developers don't make more 3 or 4 bedroom units?

 

[Wally]

Why is it that there aren't many 3 bedroom apartments in Buenos Aires? It's clever how you made this 3 bedroom using 2 apartments but is there a reason why developers don't make more 3 or 4 bedroom units?

It's because the economy has been struggling here for a while now. Developers build what they can easily sell and most people don't have the money to buy a larger apartment. Now there is more demand and some are starting to build larger units but most new buildings are studio or 1 bedrooms. Sometimes smaller 2 bedrooms but prices are by the sq. meter and not many locals had the money but now many want bigger places for their families so it is becoming more popular. But still hard to find on new buildings. They can more easily sell the smaller apartments.

 

[MikeRoss]

It's because the economy has been struggling here for a while now. Developers build what they can easily sell and most people don't have the money to buy a larger apartment. Now there is more demand and some are starting to build larger units but most new buildings are studio or 1 bedrooms. Sometimes smaller 2 bedrooms but prices are by the sq. meter and not many locals had the money but now many want bigger places for their families so it is becoming more popular. But still hard to find on new buildings. They can more easily sell the smaller apartments.

That totally makes sense. Most of the projects I am looking are only studios and 1 BRs with the occasional 2 bedroom. On Airbnb when I look there aren't too many.