earlyretirement
Moderator
My First Real Estate Purchase in Buenos Aires in 2002 after the Corralito
Ok, I researched the real estate buying process for a few years. I built up relationships. I understood the laws and I looked at about 50 apartments before I bought my first apartment. I told myself that I wouldn’t get cheated or conned. After walking into a loft apartment in Recoleta I knew I would purchase it.
I was accompanied by my realtor, the seller’s realtor and the owner, Carlos was also there that morning. It barely had any furniture in it. The owner was a young bachelor in his mid-30’s. He was very friendly and he spoke perfect English. We started talking and I found out he was also an entrepreneur like me. He also quit his corporate life to start his own company. I looked at the apartment and we happened to exchange business cards.
I saw a few more apartments that day but I knew I would be making an offer on the loft apartment that I saw. Still, I asked to see the apartment at the end of the afternoon the following day to see how much natural sunlight it got. This is something that is important. If you are seriously interested in purchasing an apartment. Go see it at various times of the day so you can gauge the level of natural sunlight.
A few days later I had my realtor make an offer on the apartment. They were asking close to $100,000 including a covered garage space. They offered the option of not buying the garage for around $94,000. Garages in a good part of Recoleta sold for about $7,000 – $10,000 at the time (now they sell for around $25,000+ dollars).
I wasn’t buying this to live in. I was buying it as an investment for a luxury short-term apartment rental so I didn’t need the garage. I made an offer for $90,000 which I deemed to be a fair price. I was there in the realtor’s office after I signed the offer and they faxed it to the seller’s realtor. I gave them 5 days to think about it.
Imagine my surprise 2 days later when the seller’s realtor informed me that the seller rejected my offer. I was a bit surprised since the seller seemed very motivated when I talked to him in his apartment. He mentioned he was starting a “start up” Internet company and needed the money to fund it. His realtor said my offer was too low. This puzzled me. Luckily I had the business card of the owner because we had exchanged business cards. I emailed him telling him it was a pity that he didn’t want to sell his apartment for that price as I thought it was fair.
He shot me back an email almost immediately telling me that his realtor told him that my offer was for $84,000 instead of $90,000. We were both furious. His realtor had lied to him. My realtor did things properly and never was unethical. I went on to use them many times for many other purchases.
The rest of the story:
https://buysellba.com/my-first-purchase-in-ba
Ok, I researched the real estate buying process for a few years. I built up relationships. I understood the laws and I looked at about 50 apartments before I bought my first apartment. I told myself that I wouldn’t get cheated or conned. After walking into a loft apartment in Recoleta I knew I would purchase it.
I was accompanied by my realtor, the seller’s realtor and the owner, Carlos was also there that morning. It barely had any furniture in it. The owner was a young bachelor in his mid-30’s. He was very friendly and he spoke perfect English. We started talking and I found out he was also an entrepreneur like me. He also quit his corporate life to start his own company. I looked at the apartment and we happened to exchange business cards.
I saw a few more apartments that day but I knew I would be making an offer on the loft apartment that I saw. Still, I asked to see the apartment at the end of the afternoon the following day to see how much natural sunlight it got. This is something that is important. If you are seriously interested in purchasing an apartment. Go see it at various times of the day so you can gauge the level of natural sunlight.
A few days later I had my realtor make an offer on the apartment. They were asking close to $100,000 including a covered garage space. They offered the option of not buying the garage for around $94,000. Garages in a good part of Recoleta sold for about $7,000 – $10,000 at the time (now they sell for around $25,000+ dollars).
I wasn’t buying this to live in. I was buying it as an investment for a luxury short-term apartment rental so I didn’t need the garage. I made an offer for $90,000 which I deemed to be a fair price. I was there in the realtor’s office after I signed the offer and they faxed it to the seller’s realtor. I gave them 5 days to think about it.
Imagine my surprise 2 days later when the seller’s realtor informed me that the seller rejected my offer. I was a bit surprised since the seller seemed very motivated when I talked to him in his apartment. He mentioned he was starting a “start up” Internet company and needed the money to fund it. His realtor said my offer was too low. This puzzled me. Luckily I had the business card of the owner because we had exchanged business cards. I emailed him telling him it was a pity that he didn’t want to sell his apartment for that price as I thought it was fair.
He shot me back an email almost immediately telling me that his realtor told him that my offer was for $84,000 instead of $90,000. We were both furious. His realtor had lied to him. My realtor did things properly and never was unethical. I went on to use them many times for many other purchases.
The rest of the story:
https://buysellba.com/my-first-purchase-in-ba
