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2. Whom to Work With
2. Whom to Work With
When planning on doing a real estate transaction in Argentina, it is very important to know and trust the persons that you are working with. Many of the people involved in the sale and purchase of real estate property are in it only for the money and will do anything they can to get as much of it out of you as possible. It is important to work with people who you know that you can trust, and can be recommendable to look through friends / people from work and ask them who they have worked with and how their experiences were. One should always work with a person that speaks a language in common with you. An easy communication is crucial to the purchase of a property, since this person is going to act as a translator during the search / purchase of your future property. Some persons in the Real Estate field will insist that they speak, for example, English, but one can soon notice that this is not the case. Always have a personal conversation with the person in question before deciding whom to work with to make sure that you have a good level of understanding.
Realtor - Real Estate Agent
There are commonly two real estate agents involved in the sale / purchase of a property. One that is working for the property owner, looking for buyers and publishing the property, and one that works with the buyer, searching for properties. A real estate agent in Buenos Aires charges a 3 % commission on the sold / bought property. The buyer is also charged a 3 % commission by the real estate agent that he / she is working with, something that makes it very difficult to find real estate agents that will actually let you know when a property is over priced, since it is convenient for them that you purchase at a price that is as elevated as possible, in turn making their commission larger. In some cases, the real estate agent working for the property owner will with-hold an offer from him / her only in the hope of someone else making an higher offer and increasing their commission.
Escribano - Notary Public
This is the person that is in charge of making sure that all the paperwork of the property that one is planning on buying is in order. He / She will go over the titles of the property, and make sure that there are no pending warrants or mortgages that restrict the property owner from selling the property in question. The escribano will always be chosen by the person that is buying the property, guaranteeing that the escribano is not working together with the property owner to sell a property that is not actually legally apt for sale. The escribano will also be the one that will make the final transfer of the property from the name of the previous property owner and register it to the person that is buying the property.
In some cases when buying a property in a building that has not been finished yet, the construction company might require that you work with the escribano that is in charge of all the properties in the Building, and it will be difficult to convince them otherwise.
Escribanos charge a fee of around 1,5- to 4 % of the purchase price. In this price a range of different services can be included, so always make sure what you are paying for before starting work with any escribano.
Some Escribanos will try to charge you a Stamp Tax that does not apply to your purchase, either to make some extra money or because they have not fully understood how to apply it.
Investment Consultant
An Investment Consultant is a person that works with you throughout the entire process of the purchase of your property, and can possibly also be hired for some post-purchase advice about refurbishment and rental agents, etc. They will help you choose a real estate agent and escribano, and advice you on the different aspects of the purchase of a property. Some investment consultants will work in the office of larger real estate agencies, but should, if they are doing their job correctly, still be impartial to the gain of that real estate agency.
Since the Investment Consultant does not work on commission depending on the price of the property you are buying, finding an honest investment consultant that does not work together with any special realtor that they might be charging for their cooperation, should be able to tell you if a property is over priced and suggest an offering price. A good Investment Consultant should be able to save you more than the price that they charge you.
Investment Consultants charge a set price and will then offer you their advice over the span of a year.
The investment consultant will not do more work than you ask him / her to, but if you know what type of help you want, the consultant should be able to do everything you need.
Realtor vs. Investment Consultant
A realtor might try to take advantage of you, trying to get you to buy a property that is greatly overpriced only to charge a higher commission, while the investment consultant is working for you and has generally been paid in advance, so they do not benefit from a person buying an overpriced property, and might instead warn you that you are being charged more than a property is really worth. On the other hand, since the investment consultant gets paid regardless of if they help you to find a property or not, they will not work on their own accord, and it is necessary to keep track of them making sure that they are doing what you have asked them to as to not waste the money that you have already paid them.
