Monthly Cost of HOA & Buenos Aires utility bills

As if the cash flow from rentals and the capital appreciation potential weren’t enough, another amazing benefit is the monthly expenditures of owning a property here are extremely low. In fact, my company has been contacted by several REIT’s (Real Estate Investment Trusts), corporations and individual investors throughout the world. Although my company initially specialized in purchasing real estate to use as short-term rentals for foreigners, these investors realized that my company is highly respected in the real estate community in Argentina. We understand the real estate market and are able to evaluate fair prices for a particular property. A realtor’s goal is to get you to spend the most money possible. After all, they receive a percentage of the total purchase price. My goal is to help you save the most money possible.

Many investors and corporations that purchase real estate around the world have been flocking to Argentina and purchasing real estate. These investors have made it clear to me they have no plans on purchasing expensive furniture and lighting and furnishing their apartments. They have no desire to rent them out. Their goal is to simply purchase the underlying property for the capital appreciation potential. They are just starting to see what I realized several years ago. The real estate market here has tremendous upside potential for capital appreciation. The beauty is that because the utility rates are so low and the property taxes are only 1.25% per year, they can simply buy and hold for a few short years and then sell at a nice profit.

Property owners in the USA and UK have experienced tremendous capital appreciation on real estate they bought several years ago in places like London, New York, California and other cities. They believe the upside potential is limited and have sold their properties and now are looking for the next good real estate play. It’s no coincidence that they all are coming to Argentina.

Remember that all utility bills and monthly expenses are in Pesos. The exchange rate will NEVER go back 1:1 against the u$s. The peso has drastically weakened over the past 20 years. In 2003 when I moved to Buenos Aires it was 3 pesos to $1 US. In August 2023 it reached over 730 pesos to $1 US.

All apartments in Buenos Aires have a monthly maintenance fee. A sort of “condo fee”. The monthly fee covers any building repairs, security or doorman expenses, upkeep of the building or painting of general areas, cleaning the building, insurance and any other general fees. The apartments are individually owned but the tenants all split the expenses based on how big their property is. If you own a garage, you will be expected to pay more than someone that doesn’t have a garage. Condo fees on a one bedroom property are typically less than $150 US dollars per month in buildings with amenities and can be much lower for no amenities.

Some utility bills like the telephone, cable bill, and high-speed Internet bill (if you choose to get that service) come every month. Other utility bills like the water, gas and electric bill come every two months. There is something called an ABL tax that all property owners pay. It comes 5 times a year. You have the option of paying it once a year if you prefer. There is also a property tax that I will go into in a separate section.

A phenomenon very strange here in Argentina is that many utility bills come in the name of the previous owner maybe 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Since there is no credit system in Argentina, people aren’t worried about leaving their name on their utility bills. If you don’t pay for a utility bill, they simply shut it off. That simple. I have changed many utility bills in my name once I buy an apartment but several still don’t have my name. Why? Because these utility companies make changing them a nightmare. You have to wait in line personally for up to hours. I can’t send an employee to change some of them. I have to do it myself. I don’t have time to wait in line hours.

The system has been like this forever so people never bother to change their name on their utility bills.

These companies make it impossible sometimes. Case in point, dealing with the phone company is a frustrating process. When I first moved here, even though I had met some local friends that could do things for me, I purposely did everything myself so that I could learn how the system works here in Argentina. Simply put…it doesn’t work. The system is broken. Just to make a simple change like getting a controlled line you would think you could request that over the phone. That would be logical. Right? Very few things are logical in Argentina. You must go to the Telecom office where you don’t even talk to a representative.

You go to their office and guess what? They send you to stand in line so you can use their phone to call in to their office and request the change. YES, you heard that right. You can’t call to request the change from your home/office but you must go to Telecom’s office to get on a phone. Ridiculous but this is how many things are done here in Argentina. It’s manageable if you know how to deal with these companies and know what to expect. Many foreigners are deluded into thinking everything will be the same as their country. They couldn’t be more wrong.

You will notice on almost all utility bills there is a code to pay electronically. As a non-resident you won’t be able to open up a bank account so you could stand in line waiting to pay bills.