Moving to and living in...Argentina

Psst Want to know how to move to Argentina? All about life in Argentina? excerpt of Chapter 6 from my ebook

I've been asked several times to post an excerpt from my ebook so here it is:
From Chapter 6: Real Estate and Rentals...

Garantias - Remember how the owner can take years to get someone to pay back rent, or get them out of their property? Well the guarantia is what makes them feel secure.

                A guarantia is essentially a type of lien whereby someone’s property is put up as collateral should the tenant default on the lease or destroy the property. Although never 100% guaranteed to work, it gives the landlord more legal power to try and recoup their losses. It can be difficult to find someone to give a guarantia because they may be uncomfortable risking their property or they may already have given one to another person. Even if you are successful in getting a guarantia, there is no guarantee that the owner will accept it.

Employers can also provide a guarantia. For instance, many of the foreign companies or embassies who send their workers to

Argentina

will provide a guarantia for the property rental. If you don’t have a guarantia, don’t worry, there are other options that are available, such as paying the rent up front or pago adelantado, which is essentially what is happening in the tourist rental market. And you needn’t feel like you’re alone in securing a guarantia because many Argentines also have trouble securing guarantias.

If you choose to use the pago adelantado you need to be aware of one thing, unless you work it out with the owner or agency, you will be paying your entire rent up front and should you have any problems or need to break the contract, you will have little recourse. One way to avoid this is to try to do a contract broken into segments – for instance a two year lease that has four separate contracts, all prepared at the same time, but as each contract ends and the next begins, you pay the next rental period. This protects you in the case that you absolutely need to leave or begin to hate the place…or the owner.

 

Alternative forms of education in Buenos Aires: Waldorf and homeschooling

I've mentioned several schooling options in the past in Buenos Aires - from private, traditional American and British English schools to public schools to private bi-lingual schools such as the French Lycee.

Other options for families looking for the non-traditional would be either the Waldorf school or homeschooling.

The Waldorf school in Martinez would be a great idea for someone whose kids already have some Spanish language skills as most classes are taught in Spanish. I have a good friend who has had her kids at the Waldorf school in Martinez for two years now and loves it. She thinks that it has been as great as if not better in many ways than their last Waldorf school in California.

The other possibility, particularly for someone who doesn't want to go through the headache of getting all the papers for their child to go to school is to homeschool. There is a great forum Homeschool World Forum that is helpful if you're considering homeschooling overseas. 

Any comments about your experiences with Waldorf or homeschooling in Argentina please be sure to contact me or post your comments for all to hear!

Here are a couple of other useful sites/forums/groups as well:
Expat Homeschool
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/expat-homeschool

Bilingual Homeschool
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bilingualhomeschool

Expat Kids
http://www.ori-and-ricki.net

Moving to Argentina - How to Move to Argentina

I just want to make quick post to clarify on my Ebook Moving to Argentina. My ebook is a result of my more than two year old blog, Moving to Argentina, and my adventures in Argentina which include moving myself, my French husband, our two dogs and two cats to Argentina, as well as going through an entire pregnancy and birth of our daughter in Argentina.

So if you are looking for Laura Zurro's ebook Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina (also applicable to Argentina in general) look no further, you've come to the right place!

New Ebook Comments

I've been receiving such great feedback on my Ebook that I wanted to share some of the new comments. I am really happy to see that readers are finding it so helpful and having it make the research/relocation process easier!

Rob in Capitola, California - BTW, this is fantastic document and well worth the price. I've enjoyed learning about BA and your experience relocating.

From London, England - I found your book on the internet, as I have been researching a possible six month move to Buenos Aires.  My husband and I have 4 children, and have moved and traveled extensively (2 overseas moves).  Your book is fantastic -- it sounds as though the way that you research something is quite similar to mine! I am enjoying the book, and am finding it quite helpful.

Lara in Canada - Laura - we loved your book and found it incredibly inspiring!

Ebook - the real story... Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club - a great fiction story

My ebook Moving to Argentina takes a less novelistic approach to Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentin, focusing more on a how to book with our experiences woven into the mix. But, for a fun chic lit about Buenos Aires try the debut novel from Jessica Morrison,  "The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club"
  about how Buenos Aires helps the main character of the story  get her "perfect" life back on track.

  The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club (Paperback)
by Jessica Morrison (Author)
List Price:  $12.99
Price:  $10.39

  Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Obsessive-compulsiv e Seattle Web worker Cassandra Moore has a life plan (and many meticulous revisions thereof), but that's before she loses her job, apartment and fiancé in one fell swoop. One martini-induced revelation later, Cassie books a planless six months in Buenos Aires. Though a formulaic tale of rejection rebound, Morrison's debut is firmly digital age: Cassie blogs her heart away, collecting a global network of similarly emotionally bruised souls, giving birth to the Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club. There will be handsome men (Argentinean and American), sage girlfriends and even a melancholic political group of mothers whose cause Cassie champions. Finally, after a series of predictable misunderstandings, sensitive local artist Marco will attempt to teach Cassie to trust in love again.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  Book Description
28-year-old Cassie Moore has always played it safe, living
life according to a meticulously organized Master
Plan. But when she loses her Perfect Job and finds her
fiancé in bed with his ex on the same day, it's clear that
The Plan has failed her. She awakens the next day from
a drunken stupor to discover that she's booked herself
on a six-month trip to Buenos Aires. She speaks not a
word of Spanish, but she's already emailed the news to
everyone she knows, so there's no turning back. Once
in Buenos Aires, Cassie is reluctantly seduced by this
glorious city. Her exuberant landlady introduces her to
the handsome but haughty Mateo, a man Cassie clashes
with right from the start. She soon befriends other
lovelorn travelers and together, they start a "Brokenhearts
Club" at a local bar, attracting a cast of characters
that includes Dan, a sweet handsome man who lives as
carefully and predictably as Cassie. Before long, Cassie's
making a new plan: 1. Learn Spanish. 2. Stop obsessing
about impossible Mateo and fall for perfect-on-paper
Dan. But staying on track isn't so simple anymore and
Cassie finally realizes that sometimes life--and love--
defies her best-laid plans.

Marketplace article on Expats in Buenos Aires

So the latest round of teasers has begun.  It's been awhile since an article has run touting the perceived cheap cost of living Buenos Aires. This latest one, Soho on the Cheap, was run on Public Radio's Marketplace, and featured Alexandra Salas, an expat from NYC who I provided a lot of moving  information to last year. For her and her husband, BA is a relative bargain compared to prices in NYC. But if you're not living in the land of the closet sized apartments, you might want to rethink just running down here, at least check out cost of living/food/utility comparisons such as those I've tabled out in my book on becoming an expat in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Costs are slowly rising, particularly food and housing, and there's always the problem of obtaining a garantia if you're planning to rent instead of buying. Keep all these things in mind when you hear about how cheap is to live in Buenos Aires.

Ebook Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina

If you're considering a move or are already actively planning to relocate to Buenos Aires, don't forget to make Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of your resources. If you like the information that is available in Moving to Argentina, then you will definately find the ebook even handier.

Ebook Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina is finally finished!

I started my blog Moving to Argentina one year ago when we began the physical process of preparing to move to Buenos Aires. The blog has since evolved into a huge resource for readers, but I received so many emails asking for more comprehensive guide to the process of moving here that I finally decided to write this book.

I would have been done months ago except for my pregnancy and the fact that I just never seemed to have enough information in the book, but I finally realized that I just couldn't possibly add any more information or it would grow to be longer than the 100 pages that it already is. So without further ado...

If you are considering moving to Buenos Aires for work, school, or just to enjoy the good life, then this book is for you. Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, will answer many of your questions about how to go about moving to Buenos Aires and what it's really like to live here on a day to day basis. Once through the book, you will have plenty of information under your belt to continue your preparations, or perhaps you will decide Buenos Aires is not for you, either way you will be much more informed.

Although the book's focus is on Buenos Aires, there is also ample general information that will apply to relocating to greater Argentina, so if you are considering heading to another area of the country, you will still find the book very useful. The breakdown of chapters is as follows:

Chapter 1: Why We Moved to Buenos Aires
Chapter 2: Research and Planning - Planning the move
Chapter 3: Visas - In depth explanation of visa types, how to qualify, necessary documents
Chapter 4: Working in Buenos Aires - The reality of working in Buenos Aires and how to make it work for you
Chapter 5: Moving Your Belongings - What you need to know about bringing your personal belongings to Buenos Aires by container or by suitcase
Chapter 6: Real Estate in Buenos Aires - Detailed information on the best places to live, amenities, how to rent a property, how to obtain a CDI, purchasing a property
Chapter 7: Kids - What to expect if you want to move to Buenos Aires with kids
Chapter 8: Healthcare - Detailed explanation of health care available in Buenos Aires, including a discussion on maternity and alternative health care
Chapter 9: Pets - Step by step explanation on preparing and moving your pets, and what to expect for them once you’re living in Buenos Aires.
Chapter 10: Settling In - Furnishing your home, daily house routines, utilities, paying bills, banking
Chapter 11: Keeping in Touch Back Home - Bill pay, Internet, phone, business
Chapter 12: Food and Drink - What to expect about food, groceries, shopping
Chapter 13: Cost of Living - Detailed cost of living comparisons
Chapter 14: Social Life and Recreation -  What is available for social life and recreation
Chapter 15: Security - How to stay safe in Buenos Aires
Chapter 16: Transportation - Getting around by public transportation, driving safely
Index: Real estate abbreviations and terminology

Testimonials:

"Hola Laura, I just finished reading your book! Thank you so much!! You did a great job putting this book together. You should seriously think about translating it into Spanish. We don't have this kind of information available to us. People just assume that because we speak Spanish is all we need to move to a Hispanic country. GRACIAS Laura. Your book will help me a lot. I love the way you organized the chapters and that you cover things like food, banking, pregnancy, etc; things that other books never cover. Reader,if you need, want to move to Argentina this is the Bible you need to read and to take with you!" -- Abigail T, Mishawaka, Indiana

"Laura, the book is great! My wife, Gerri,  and I have both gone through it and are on our second time to pick up additional details. It is an excellent collection of well-organized information and is proving very helpful in our planning to vacation (and maybe live for awhile) in Buenos Aires. Thank you for making the information available." -- Gayle and Gerri R. - New York

"My wife and I have been researching the move to Argentina for over a year.  We've consulted dozens of websites, travel guides, friends, etc etc.  But this book did for us in a few hours what had been taking us weeks of research.  It is easy to read, intelligently organized, and full of practical suggestions that you have to string together from multiple sources without the book.  If your time is worth even a few dollars an hour, the investement in this book will pay immediate dividends if you've already made up your mind to move, and if you haven't decided yet, it can help clarify things for you pretty fast." -- Hugh A. - San Francisco, California

To order click on the following link Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina: A Guide for Expatriates or you can order from the Paypal link at the top of this page.

I hope you enjoy it!

Update on blog and pregnancy

I've received so many encouraging emails from all of you which I really appreciate so much. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought my blog would be so popular and that I would also make so many new friends. It's been worth every last bit of my time and I'm thrilled that so many of you have gotten good information from it.   

On that note, I just wanted to let everyone know that I promise to start posting lots of information again very soon. Unfortunately, lately between finishing my ebook and the impending birth of our little girl who is due right around Christmas), I haven't had much time to devote to the blog, but I haven't gone away! I'll be back!!

So, as I go down to the the last four weeks of my pregnancy, keep an eye out for at least a few posts I promise.

Ebook delayed one week

Unfortunately, it will be approximately another week before my book will be ready to get into everyone's hands. Speaking of hands, that's the reason for this delay. Pregnancy is known for aggravating carpal tunnel syndrome and causing major swelling - well I've got both in my hands, including completely numb fingertips. Have you ever tried typing when you can't feel a think in your fingertips? It's no fun.

Anyway, I will post as soon as it's done and ready to go.

Thanks for your patience.