The story of
@Johnny buying his first property in Guadalajara is hilarious! So we go down for a guy's trip down to my property as I do once a year. I had met Johnny a long time ago at a party but didn't know him too well. Once we became good friends we started spending more time together and I invited him down to party at my place in GDL. Mind you, I NEVER talk about buying real estate with my friends. They all know I'm big into it but I actually don't like mixing business with friendships.
So we are having fun and he just told me he was coming down. Well, I already owned my first apartment there:
❤️Ultra Luxurious 3 Bedroom w/ 3.5 Bath 5 STAR❤️
airbnb.com
But I bought another off-plan apartment. He asked if he could go see it so I say sure. We are walking over (it's a block away) and then all of a sudden he says, "Mike I'm in!". I didn't know what he was talking about. We had never discussed him buying anything. I ask him, "what are you talking about Johnny" and he says I want one too. So that was my first experience with Johnny buying an apartment with me. Mind you, we aren't talking about some cheap apartment. I'm sure Johnny won't mind me sharing this but this was a $400,000+ USD property. I asked him which one he wanted and he just says, "I want the same floor plan you bought".
🤣
The rest is history. I sold mine last year as I experienced a lot of capital appreciation so Johnny also sold his and amazing that he bought the apartment next to mine so we are neighbors. It's one of my all time favorite memories.
I think with
@ravingnomad I was at a lunch and he heard me talking on the phone with Johnny as Johnny found out I bought a few units in an off-plan pozo building and he said he wanted to buy one too. So
@ravingnomad then asked if he could also buy one. Typically I never like mixing friendship with business but it's been amazing mixing business with friendships in these cases.
Most people in Buenos Aires don't have the money for a 3 bedroom or larger so the developers, especially the last decade have focused on what will sell and move. But now because there aren't many bigger properties the larger ones are sought out as they are hard to find in newer buildings.
I still remember that! What great memories. Man, I feel old now because that was a LONG time ago. It's hard to believe how fast it all went but I was only 29 years old when I moved down to Buenos Aires to do my start-up.
@JonJLA was one of my very first clients. A class act gentleman. I miss Fernando. He was a great and humble guy. He taught me many lessons. I've been through several Presidents in Argentina. De la Rua, Nestor Kirchner, Cristina Kirshner, Macri, Fernandez and Milei. The only one I didn't meet in person was Alberto Fernández.
Perhaps the one lesson that ex-President de la Rua told me was, "Michael they love you until they hate you". And that has been exactly what has happened so far with all of the Presidents in Argentina since my time doing business in Argentina. I once saw an old lady spit in the face of ex-President de la Rua in front of our office building. It was quite a sight to witness and one that I will never forget.
It was really terrible under the Peronistas. They made things very difficult but not impossible. Because we structured things properly for our clients we never had any issues exiting for hundreds and hundreds of properties that we helped our clients/investors sell in 2017/2018 and over the years. We also got retained by hundreds more that didn't have good guidance but never once did we ever fail helping a foreigner selling that hired us and exiting out of Argentina. Property rights are very respected here and I don't ever see that changing.
