On Monday you could hear Hugo Chavez recounting this or that rebellion. On Thursday, Evo Morales might be caught outlining the merits of his brand of socialism.  Or over the weekend you might read that one of the Kirchners was embroiled in a new scandal with old colonial powers.

These stories may emerge first before the traveler, as they did for me, and remind us that this is a place where history still lives, challenging conceptions of peace and war.  Perhaps you’ll get past it and let the daily routine take hold.    We can draw a blind eye to greater issues, but this only allows the smaller ones to seep through.   For me, I couldn’t help but notice the things that usually go unnoticed, that are so easily taken for granted.  The doors, the portals to the culture in which I wander, have begun to amaze me.

• Puente del Inca in Mendoza, Argentina
• Buenos Aires Writing Competition Only for Over Sixty-Five
• Argentina and Brazil the Teams to Beat in Olympic Soccer
• Buenos Aires to Prohibit Vehicular Traffic in Parts of City
• Patagonia a Trekker’s Dream, Says Travel Blogger

More and more travelers are choosing the ease of renting an apartment during their stay, especially in the bustle of Buenos Aires. An apartment offers all the conveniences of a hotel but with less cost, the freedom to cook and the chance to stay in an authentic location complete with colonial architecture.

It’s important, however, to CHOOSE an Apartment with CARE. Why? Because this is your dream trip to Argentina. Where you stay is crucial to your trip.

Here’s our hard won and researched tips:

* GET A RECOMMENDATION
Argentina’s Travel Guide has met and vetted the owners of property management companies in Buenos Aires and Patagonia to ensure the highest standard for our clients. We work with only two, out of dozens of companies in the city. (Email us at reservations@argentinastravel.com to find out how to find the perfect apartment for your trip).

* STUDY THE POLICIES
If you read the fine print, you may be surprised by the fees charged by some agencies for simply arriving on Saturday or Sunday, such as $15 to $30 per person! Some companies charge a fee for simply meeting you at the apartment.

* TALK TO SOMEONE
Many apartments may look fabulous in pictures but what you really want to know is whether or not the street is on a major bus route. It won’t matter how great the colonial French style architecture is in your San Telmo apartment if you can’t sleep at night.

* KNOW WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
Lose the keys? Break a wine glass? Need extra sheets or pillows? Make sure you know you have someone who can be of service, and cares about your experience, during your stay.

* CHOOSE THE BEST LOCATION
Buenos Aires is known for its diverse neighborhoods. Talk to someone who can help you chose not only the neighborhood but the street you want to be on during your stay. The extra mile is worth it.

Email us with questions, your dream apartment specs and we will be pleased to pour over maps to help you find the perfect place for you.

• The Quest for an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Buenos Aires: The Quest for an Apartment
• Booking in Buenos Aires – Apartments Versus Hotels
• How to Rent an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Architecture in the Once neighborhood of Buenos Aires

The best thing to do first is to explore neighborhoods in order to find one feels like the best fit for you. (Reading descriptions of the neighborhoods from travel books will not do, for that is like ordering clothes that will not fit from a catalogue. Instead you must try on the neighborhoods as if they were dresses or slacks, making sure they fit well for your style and your sense of self.) I spent my first week in Buenos Aires walking the streets of various neighborhoods and figuratively trying them on, noting how each one of them made me feel. Of course, this was overwhelming as well, due to the fact that I fell in love with every place I went. Palermo, with its tree lined streets and darling shops, made me feel classy and luxurious; La Boca made me feel colorful and stripped down; San Telmo, with its antique shops and wood-paneled corner cafes, made me feel authentic and European. I eventually settled on San Telmo, known as the ¨Bohemian¨quarters, which struck me as the most real of the neighborhoods in my initial explorations.

There are a few ways to go about finding the apartment itself once you have narrowed down a location. You can use tourist websites such as Stay in BA or Departamento Turismo(in spanish) which will provide you with fully furnished and equipped apartments that are meant for shorter stays (anywhere from one week to six months) and are often reasonably priced. Another option is visiting a local real estate agent (you can find these by simply walking around and looking for pictures of apartments hung in the window of the store). This will allow you to sit with an agent (sometimes it is nice to actually talk to a person instead of corresponding via email) and discuss housing options in the neighborhood of your choice. Although you will be charged a fee for renting through an agent, you will have the opportunity to view a variety of places and have a better handle on your options. Another great way to find a place is by making friends. By talking to local Argentines you will gather much useful information about apartment hunting, and many people even have friends or acquaintances that might rent you a place.

Much of finding that gem of an apartment comes down to luck, of course. I went through all of the motions of real estate agents, Craigslist emails, and awkward phone calls in Spanish, and I found my apartment via a random internet posting for an 8 person house in San Telmo filled with people from all over the world: one of a kind, really. In this sense, finding my perfect place in Buenos was like finding the perfect seashell: a combination of luck and of keeping my eyes open.

Once settled in my apartment, with its high ceilings and tall windows, I felt a little less overwhelmed by Buenos Aires. With a place to lay my head and a feeling that I was part of a neighborhood, I felt free to explore my Bohemian quarters at my leisure: systematically discovering who served the best cafe con leche in the area, peeking into art galleries and strolling through the local San Telmo market on a Sunday, and starting to call my new (although very old) apartment my home.

• Buenos Aires: The Quest for an Apartment
• Tips to Renting an Apartment in Buenos Aires the Easy Way
• Booking in Buenos Aires – Apartments Versus Hotels
• Architecture in the Once neighborhood of Buenos Aires
• Where to Find Books in English in Buenos Aires

Hotel rooms tend to run about half the price you’d pay in a US or European metropolis. There are some great boutique hotels smattered throughout Palermo, Recoleta, and San Telmo including Home, Soho, and Art Hotel that range from $65 to $250 USD per night. There’s the glamorous Faena Hotel for celebrity spotting. A private room at a hostel will run you between $20 and $35 USD. However, for $200-350 you can get a nice one-bedroom apartment for a week’s stay. Whether you’re traveling as an individual or as a family, renting an apartment can really be a boon to your budget.

Contacting an agency to find a temporary apartment for rent can be a help or a hindrance, depending upon whom you work with. Land In Argentina and Stay In Buenos Aires are two agencies with bilingual websites that offer apart-hotels in the city by the week or monthly. A friend recently booked an apartment for a week’s stay with Land in Argentina, and found their service to be really helpful. Apartments come replete with amenities from WIFI to cleaning service and cell phone rental. The agent meets you with maps and information, escorts you through the apartment, takes your deposit, and you have your own apartment in Buenos Aires. It’s a great way to feel like a traveler with benefits – like staying with friends but without the claustrophobia of staying in someone’s family home.

Locals and foreign landlords alike list apartments direct to tourists via CraigsList. The downside is, of course, not having the security of renting from a business but rather having to go it on faith and negotiate with an individual. An agency can confirm an online reservation with a contract and can offer alternative dates and locations. StayinBuenosAires.com, for example, contracts with over two hundred fifty apartments – seventy-five in the neighborhood of San Telmo alone.

Renting an apartment for the week has been a popular option in Europe for some time. With tourism in Buenos Aires at an annual growth rate of 15%, savvy investors are taking advantage of the stylish interior design and architecture popular in this new hub of Latin America and they are decking out apartments to rival a top-notch hotel stay. An apart-hotel can be a great alternative to pumping up Paris Hilton’s pocketbook. Opting to rent an apartment through a reputable agency can turn the city into one big hotel with a full menu of amenities.

• Tips to Renting an Apartment in Buenos Aires the Easy Way
• The Quest for an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Buenos Aires: The Quest for an Apartment
• How to Rent an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Hunting for Antique Treasures in Buenos Aires

I had a few friends in Buenos Aires, and within two days of landing, I decided that Palermo Viejo or Recoleta would be great areas to rent for a month. The plan was to learn some Spanish and to get to know the Buenos Aires’ nightlife intimately.
The most logical place to begin a search for accommodations (short-term or long-term) is, naturally, a real-estate agent. And lo and behold, there are several scattered about the streets of Palermo Viejo with appealing photos of apartments on their windows. I am adept at dealing with real estate agents in my home country (I believe that the attitude ‘never falter’ springs to mind). However, I was just about to learn a few lessons in the art of negotiating an apartment, Latin-American style.

Initially I dealt with a front-of-house letting agent, and before I knew it I was walking up with her to a place near to Palermo Square on Av. Gurruchaga. I was also just about to learn how far dollars really do go in beautiful Argentina, which has been battered economically in the previous decade. The apartment in question was part of a large apartment building set just off of Av. Gurruchaga. There was a complex security system at the front of the building, but before I knew it we were on the tenth floor of the apartment building in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, complete with a balcony overlooking a back garden, a tennis court, and a swimming pool. When I was looking around the apartment, I also met the landlord who happened to live in the apartment directly next to the rental.

I knew that I wanted the place, but there was one hurdle – the real estate agent, who was demanding (somewhat rudely I thought) a $300 US up-front payment for their services, on top of the $900 US being asked for the apartment. It was nevertheless a steal, but I’m one for bargaining. So back at the office, I did a bit of face-to-face negotiation, with little effect.

“What is the $300 US for?” I asked the leasing agent.

“You must pay that amount for the cost of the utilities during your stay.”

“$300 US seems awfully steep for gas, water and electricity!?” I exclaimed.

To which there was no response. So I offered her the $900 US for the apartment, to which she outright refused.

So I took it upon myself to enter into a bit of creative negotiation over the lease of this apartment. Any bilingual person with good negotiation skills would have been in a great position. Unfortunately, I was neither. Nonetheless, I decided to speak to the landlord directly and cut out the middleman.

I was a little concerned that I would not get passed security upon my return to the apartment block, however I should not have been. Taking on an air of assumed presence, like an underage school-kid trying to get into a nightclub, I managed to walk straight through three guards with a mere nod of the head.

Soon I was face-to-face negotiating with the landlord over a local cerveza. Luckily, the landlord spoke English, almost better than I did.

“Look”, I began in what I hoped was a persuasive tone, “I will offer you the month’s rent directly, cutting out the real estate agent’s fee that I would owe and also cutting out the commission that you would pay. I’m ready to move in tomorrow, and clearly the place is going unoccupied.”

The landlord was not overly impressed with my proposition at first, but I think I managed to finally convince him by the end of the conversation. He still wanted to sleep on his decision.

The next morning he told me that he agreed with my proposition, and more importantly so did his wife, and that I was to approach the real estate agent to sign some papers and pay the cash. I went there and soon found myself in the smoke-filled, timber-lined office of the director’s office.

The director Juan looked at me like I was an object of amusement, and as if I was part of a performing freak-show at a circus. Here I was, ostensibly a long-haired backpacker, negotiating directly with one of his clients. He was not overly impressed with my ways, especially given that I had managed to shave nearly one-half off his commission.

“So you are here on vacation?” he asked me.

“Yeah, I’m traveling the world for a year.” He looked at me like I was an alien.

“Right, sign here”, and after I had blessed him with my money and signature, I found myself the proud tenant of a rock-star apartment in the heart of one of the most sociable areas of Buenos Aires.

So I learned a thing or two about Latin American negotiations whilst finding an apartment in Buenos Aires. In the United Kingdom and Australia (and no doubt the United States of America), as a tenant you get used to being at the behest of real estate agents with no room for negotiation and utter compliance with whatever the real estate agent tells you to do. Rules and regulations dominate every potential or actual transaction.

However, the Latin American way and more importantly the Argentinean way leave more room for creativity, and potential face-to-face negotiations between tenant to landlord. And when those options are available, somehow everyone feels like a winner when agreement is finally reached (well… almost everyone).

For those travelers out there who are after short-term accommodation options, I would probably not recommend my way of finding an apartment. Well, maybe if you are as relaxed as I am on the road, with plenty of time up your sleeve. That being said, and despite my relaxed attitude, I somehow managed to organize an apartment within 24 hours, and the process felt more the satisfying than paying a large fee to an agent ever would.

• The Quest for an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Group Lists Top 10 Resources for Buying Vacation Property in Argentina
• Overseas Investors Look at Buying Argentine Estancias as Next Property Boom
• Study Shows Apartment Prices Rising, Particularly in Bariloche
• How to Rent an Apartment in Buenos Aires

Now, I’m pretty passive and relaxed so at this point I wasn’t too fed up; I was excited to be looking at apartments in Buenos Aires to call home for a few months. But not everyone is like me, thankfully, so some advice is in order.

First, getting an apartment in Buenos Aires is a worthwhile alternative to hostelling or hoteling even if you are here only a week. And the longer you are staying the more it makes sense, especially if you aren’t planning on running around the country to check out other regions. It’s not that shared bathrooms and bunk beds aren’t sweet, but in many cases a furnished apartment can be just as cheap while coming with the mental health benefits of peace and quiet, space and privacy, and a semblance of rootedness. Heck, you can unpack the suitcase and leave the seat up.

Secondly, the amount of time and energy it takes to find an apartment in Buenos Aires is entirely up to you. The market for short and semi-short term rentals (weeks to months) has exploded. And this market is directed specifically at foreign travelers coming to the city, mainly from the United States and Europe. The easiest place to begin the search is online. There are a plethora of sites advertising apartments for rent. Most provide pictures, prices, and availability. After a day or two in Buenos Aires you will be able to recognize neighborhood names and find an area that you think is suitable for you.

Thirdly, one thing that certainly makes the process simpler is direct contact with agents via phone or office visits. A cell phone is great because you can arrange meetings while gallivanting about to meet other realtors as well. However, a land line from a friend’s house or hostel/hotel is still much more efficient than playing email tag.

Now, if you aren’t picky or simply just a ¨yes¨ person you can probably find an apartment in a day, more or less. However, given the market, if you like comparing options you could easily find yourself bogged down. Afterall, there are many options to consider: full kitchen vs. European kitchen, number of bedrooms, full bathroom or not, in house broadband, balcony, and building amenities (24 hour security, pool, gym). For people coming from the United States and Europe these might sound pretty costly, but comparatively priced you are looking at a lot less than cities back home. A friend and I finally decided on a two bedroom with balcony, full kitchen, full bath, heating, air conditioning, washing machine, and spacious living room in a great neighborhood and all together it costs about the same amount as my old apartment in Boston I nicknamed ¨the coffin.¨ And we take that price and split it.

After we stopped wasting our time with our first bullroar peddler, we saw a few nice apartments being shown by an American who came to Argentina, met a woman here, and helped start her real estate rental business. He showed us some nice places at reasonable prices, but thanks to a random search on buenosaires.craigslist.com, my friend and I found a cheap place that three students were leaving. We did have to wait ten days for them to leave, but we took that payoff because the place was so nice. But this just goes to show how much there is out there and that looking for deals could go on endlessly.

The most useful websites that were given to me by hostel owners were www.alojargentina.com and www.4rentargentina.com. Both of these sites offer well organized databases with available apartments and more, all searchable by a number of variables. Another useful site is the Buenos Aires Craigslist (above). When it has loaded look under housing in the category you want. In addition to apartments for rent you can also find sublets and people looking for a roommate, which is often much cheaper. Another resource is this article on Buenos Aires apartments by Buenostours.com. 

When you are finalizing your decision be sure to be very clear about the details of price. Often times the advertised price does not include the realtor fee or some of the amenities, such as cable or broadband. For all rentals make sure the inventory and condition of the apartment match the descriptions in the contract so you don’t get charged for damages or shortcomings that already existed. For long term rentals it is worth while to check the status of the owner’s payments of AV tax, which is a building tax in Argentina. After the economic crisis many owners stopped making the payments and could potentially try to tack the substantial debt onto your bill through some technicality. The record proving that the owner has been paying on time is easily retrieved from an online database, so don’t let a realtor tell you anything otherwise.

• Buenos Aires: The Quest for an Apartment
• Booking in Buenos Aires – Apartments Versus Hotels
• Tips to Renting an Apartment in Buenos Aires the Easy Way
• The Quest for an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Architecture in the Once neighborhood of Buenos Aires

Unfortunately, you will quickly learn that this is not the case in Argentina. In fact, no one is ever in a hurry in Argentina, and the rental companies do not work during the weekends. Therefore, if you arrive on a Saturday or Sunday, you can begin your apartment search and emails, but don’t expect responses until Monday morning at 10 or 11am. One thing you will learn for sure in Argentina is patience. The locals are very relaxed and move at their own pace. It is a lifestyle many Americans could take note of.

The quest began Monday morning. My boyfriend and I had walked through the neighborhoods during our weekend free time, so we had narrowed our search down to a few neighborhoods. Having target areas will save you a lot of time and energy. We also quickly figured out that email was not our best tool. If you want immediate results, you need to call the rental offices. Many of the offices have a decent English speaker, but you will definitely get some Spanish practice during your apartment search. We then scheduled times to meet with the company to see the places.

Sounds easy, right? Well…it is far from easy! We saw old apartments, unattractive apartments, small apartments, and many nice apartments. Unfortunately, many of the apartments we liked were free at the time, but had a renter coming in tomorrow or next week. Therefore, you either have to stay at a hostel for an extended amount of time or rent a different apartment temporarily. Overall, it is a challenging task. Begin your search before you get here, but you might want to wait to see the place. They don’t always look as nice as they do in the pictures.

If you are willing to take the risk, find an apartment while you are still in your home country and rent it for a month. If you hate it, you have a month to deal with it while you look for another place. All of the apartments on these rental company websites are targeting foreigners who can pay a lot of money. Therefore, they are all quite decent, but get ready to pay an arm and a leg (in comparison to what the Argentines pay anyway). Where there are tourists, there is a market.

By and large, my advice is to utilize modern day man’s best friend…the Internet. Have patience, make phone calls, walk through the neighborhoods, talk to people, ask questions, and educate yourself. The more you know about yourself as well as the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, the more capable you will be in finding a place you will be happy in. I stayed in a hostel, a temporary apartment for a week and another apartment for a month before I ended up in a place I love! It takes time, so don’t worry if you are getting frustrated. Remember…you are in the Paris of South America!

• The Quest for an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Tips to Renting an Apartment in Buenos Aires the Easy Way
• How to Rent an Apartment in Buenos Aires
• Booking in Buenos Aires – Apartments Versus Hotels
• Renting Short-Term Accommodations in Buenos Aires – A Step-by-Step Guide To Unorthodox, Argentine-Style Negotiations