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| Monte Grande, Argentina. My new home. |
- $1,800 Move in cost: 3x the rent, deposit, first month, and guarantor fee
- Monthly rent now: $550, it was $600 but the contract is in pesos, so now it's cheaper since the peso sank
- Utilities: $100-$150 a month
- Internet: $10 a month, included installation (had to put it in my girlfriends name)
- Furniture: I probably paid about $3k. I didn't go budget, higher end appliances, nicer bed, sofa, etc. Big stuff from local vendors, smaller/medium items from Mercado Libre. Probably could have done it for $1.5k if I wanted decent but not terribly expensive. I plan on doing a whole music/art section soon, but that probably is not a standard expat budget item!
Early January 2026, a short time before I would move to Argentina I was sitting with my laptop in my home office in Scottsdale, AZ. My house was about to become an Airbnb and rake in tons of money (or at least enough to pay my Argentina rent!), I was about to retire from the fire department, and according to all the listings I had seen on zonaprop, living soon in Argentina was going to be a breeze!!! But then life hits you.
I had set up my first Airbnb for a month, I thought it would be sufficient time to find an apartment, secretly I was hoping to be like many expats and have the luck of the Airbnb host offering me their place as my long term apartment... Then life hits you more. My first Airbnb was nice, but it would no way be home. The host even gave me a problem about having someone help me with the bags into the unit (exceeding maximum guests). When asked why I was in Argentina I told her to look for an apartment and live here. She had several closets locked, so it was clear this was not going to happen as a full time apartment. So lesson 1, don't bank on the first Airbnb.
Next problem that was clear from the get go, was my neighborhood. I am not in Buenos Aires, I am in Monte Grande. I chose Argentina for many reasons, but my girlfriend lives here in Monte Grande, so not gonna lie, that was why I chose this neighborhood to be my home. The things we do for love! Ok, kidding aside, it was clear that my neighborhood, like many outside of CABA, Buenos Aires center, is not foreigner friendly, I don't mean racist, I mean it is not set up for expats. There are far and few furnished short term rentals, if there are Airbnb's, many lack the essentials for long term, cooking, laundry, etc. Apartments in my area are 20-50% cheaper than Buenos Aires center, but Airbnb's are 200% more than the center! Imagine paying more to live in the suburbs of New York City while Times Square is cheap, welcome to Argentina!
So it was clear I would go a "normal apartment route", I started touching base with realtors as well as the typical back door apartments, i.e. facebook marketplace, a friends place etc. The back door options weren't that good. I am not rich, but in this particular area my salary is pretty decent so I wanted an apartment that was pretty decent. I kept an eye on everything but decided a traditional realtor was the path for me.
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| Too much time on Zonaprop, too little time getting to know Argentina |
But alas, I am a foreigner. Some realtors never even replied to me with my out of country phone number, some would reply and I'm gonna be frank, they were absolutely lazy or inefficient. many people in the process were. I know it's American standards, I am a snob blah blah blah.... But I couldn't believe how hard it was to get a hold of realtors, add to this that the apartments I were looking at were by far the most expensive in the neighborhood, and in this neighborhood which is a lower/middle class neighborhood, if I wasn't going to rent the apartment, there weren't 10 other potential candidates behind me. I am writing this article in July, not some, but many of the apartments I had seen on the listings in January, are still vacant! Which gets to the next amazing element, that I do not recommend anyway!
I was rejected when I offered the entire contract up front.
For several apartments I was asked about my immigration status, understandable. I am an owner as well. To put them at ease I offered the total contract up front if there were a problem. And we are talking two year contracts! No one wanted my money! If someone offered me a year up front of cash for my Airbnb in Scottsdale I would kiss the ground they walk on and give them a month free, in Argentina, it was a straight up rejection. This turned out to be a dumb idea anyway, because the apartment I am living in now had a few major plumbing issues right from day 1. Luckily they hadn't taken me up on my offer!
The efficiency and overall work ethic was terrible. I know I'm being an arrogant American again here, but I can't describe it any other way. Many of the agents only worked 4 hours a day, 10am to 2pm. If you couldn't get a hold of them then you wouldn't get them. One of them I had actually told them I wanted the apartment and they never replied (it's still listed), as far as I can tell from Whatsapp, they still haven't even read the message. Too many people wanted cash only, the rent isn't that expensive, but being that in general the highest bill is the 10,000 peso ($7), once in a blue $20,000 ($14 as of today), the idea of walking around with 850,000-1,000,000 of pesos didn't seem to keen to me. Lets get to that story!
Finally the day arrived, I found an apartment, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, a balcony, and a private terrace. It was also in the corner of the building so my guitar playing wouldn't bother the neighbors, great price as well. I was in! I went to the adjacent city about 10 kilometers away to make a deposit/reservation, from there they gave me the contract... Thank God I speak fluent Spanish. They wanted me every month to pay the rent, in cash, at the realtors office, 10 kilometers away! I laughed it off and got my money back ASAP. Life keeps hitting you.
The inefficiency was getting worse with no replies, or delays, no information, etc. It was so bad that when one person who was extremely efficient, I assumed she was a scammer! Luckily she was not, I didn't use her for my apartment, but I wrote a 5 star review on google for being one of the few good ones in the process. But that's how bad it was, when someone responded promptly, I didn't think, wow she's a good employee, I thought.... Shit... Could be a scam.
I had another place that wanted $950, cash, in dollars, monthly, for a two year contract! You can only bring $10,000 into the country, so I would have to go to a cambio every month to find dollars, to pay them. My job is not to find your money. I have had property for 15 years with renters in the USA. If you want someone to pay you, you make it easy for them. I had all sorts of apps over the years, paypal, venmo, cashapp, zelle, etc to make my renters lives easier, they were trying to make my life harder.
Mid May, reality set in... Hard. After a solid month of apartment tours, my Airbnb was up. I set up a next Airbnb for the same day, but of course you have the check out period. I had two big suitcases, and two guitars. Easy to walk from the taxi to the check in desk at the airport, but not too easy to walk around the downtown area for 6 hours. I talked to my girlfriend, at 10am we checked out and I put all my stuff in her tiny place. We sat down for lunch there... I was defeated... Technically homeless at this point too (2nd time in my life homeless, thankful I always had good friends to help). It was time to step it up. I decided to go to the next Airbnb, with just my carry on. She would be nice enough to hoard my stuff for the time being. Oddly enough that made me feel a lot better, because I realized, I know nothing about apartment hunting in Argentina and moving around with lots of luggage, I don't know how to do that. But traveling around with just a backpack? I know how to do that very well! One might even say I have a blog about it ;)
I was being arrogant since I had a bit more money than the competition, I wanted my ultimate Argentina pad, big living space, guitar area, comfortable bedroom, parking spot, beautiful balcony, and a very high floor over looking the country below. There are only 10 or so high rises in my area, so that would be eliminated, and honestly help quite a lot. I also at this point had my CUIL (Argentina social security number & Precaria (document that shows I am in the immigration process). This was a huge help against the constant no DNI (national identity card) problems. This is a huge immigration issue for me down here. I am not joking, when I finally got my apartment, one store, would not sell me a refrigerator with 100% payment up front, because I didn't have a DNI! I am not kidding. But with the Precaria and CUIL, the wheels were in motion... Not great motion, like a Fred Flinstone car, but in motion. Life was still hitting, but a bit less now.
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| Duplex |
There was a duplex I really liked, it had all of the above except the high floor, it's where I am now, floor 3 and 4. I called the realtor, he told me they actually had lowered the price because the lack of applicants, no surprise there. I wanted it. But I would need a guarantor to rent it. This would mean I needed someone to send their paystubs, their ID, and sign off that if I didn't pay the rent, they would. Welcome to Argentina. I offered the whole contract up front instead, which luckily they didn't accept. My girlfriend signed up as my guarantor. The internet is also her name because I can't do anything here without a DNI (a whole other blog post).
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| Future jam/art area |
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| New apartment essentials |
I am a stubborn man, I hate asking for help. It was dark period in the adventure. But sitting there in her kitchen with my whole life in 2 suitcases, it was time to not be stubborn. I can't thank her enough for the help. We went to another city 10 kilometers away to sign the contract, but had agreed long beforehand rent would be paid in transfers! We celebrated on the spot with Milanesa and of course Malbec. I arrived in the country April 18th. Finally May 30th, I had the keys! Now the adventure, the journey, and the new life, could truly begin. Sometimes life hits you hard, and sometimes life hits you to wake up and live.
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| What does Picasso and a Samurai sword have to do with Argentina? Absolutely nothing, just a personal apartment touch. |
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