Living in Buenos Aires!
After weeks of traveling through the US, we’re finally settled in Buenos Aires and all unpacked in our new apartment! Thankfully no nasty or unexpected surprises upon arrival. Check it out!
Finding this “departamento” however, was not easy at all. As foreigners, living long-term in Buenos Aires can be pretty tricky. To rent an apartment at local prices in pesos you must have Argentine citizenship or a "garantia", (someone who owns land within Capital Federal and is willing to sign for you using their property as collateral).
Like most travelers, we didn't have either one.
That's not a major problem though and there were still tons of apartments available for us to rent without citizenship or a "garantia"...just at insanely high prices! For example, Porteno’s usually rent decent 1 bedroom apartments for about 800 pesos ( roughly US$200) per month; the 1 bedroom places listed online for foreigners, were all priced in dollars and rented for a minimum of US$1200. That’s about $4800 pesos per month and 6x the local prices paid by Portenos!
If we were serious about sticking to our long-term travel plans and set budget, then we had to find something for much, much less.
After endless searches online, we finally came across our apartment in Montserrat, a barrio in downtown Buenos Aires, for US$730 per month. Still 3x higher than what locals pay, but without a "garantia", it was the best we were going to find! The total cost breaks down to just US$28 per day, which is waaaaayy less than we’d pay at even the cheapest hostel. Peace and privacy on budget= success! :)
Here's a list of our favorite resources for finding apartments in BsAs: