Buenos Aires Apartment Hunting: A Game of Collateral

A LOT has happened since the last post, I don’t even know where to begin. Firstly, Kip and I had moved out of our previous apartment into a new one. Our arrangement at the old apartment was only a one-month stay since someone had already paid the deposit for the month of September. During our overlap of having to sleep on a mattress on the questionable floor of the upstairs game room, we had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with Philip, the German gent who took over our room. We had agreed to be roommates with Trevor, a guy from Tulsa, Oklahoma (old stomping grounds of Chandler Bing) who we met through our first set of roommates. Finding a new apartment had proven to be much more challenging than expected, and here’s why: Trevor has a Puerto Rican dog named Coqui, but she was never the problem as practically everyone in BsAs has a dog and you’d be hard-pressed to find a place that doesn’t allow pets. The problem was that we were looking for an entire apartment, not a room in an already-occupied house, so unless you’re an Argentine with something called a Guarantee (putting up property in Buenos Aires as collateral for rent), you’re faced with having to pay massive fees in commission and/or deposit. The struggle was trying to find a place with the least amount of both and the cheapest rent at the same time that wasn’t asking for a Guarantee.

After massive searches online and in classifieds, through which I am now somewhat more knowledgeable in reading Spanish classified abbreviations, and after walking through apartments of all shapes, sizes and smells, we finally found the right balance and settled into our new apartment in the Palermo/Barrio Norte area. We’re 2 blocks away from the main Avenue of Santa Fe, where you can find many subways stops, shops, restaurants and cafes and 6 blocks away from the famous and beautiful Recoleta Cemetery. Trevor has been an awesome roommate so far and the addition of Coqui always makes the apartment feel homey. Trevor is fluent in Spanish and absolutely hilarious and his love for hot sauces and peanut butter has only brought him more acceptance from both Kip and I. We threw a housewarming party the first weekend in our new apartment and themed it American Night where we (and by ‘we’ I mean Trevor and I) cooked buffalo wings, loaded potato skins and made all sorts of dips with chips for our handful of international friends. ‘Twas a hit!