Last Tuesday "my people" and "their people" culminated my four-month apartment search by sitting around a big conference table in an elegant office in Puerto Madero, signing contracts and handling thousands of dollars in cash.
No, I wasn't buying a six million dollar building, but simply renting an unfurnished 2 bedroom apartment in Boedo--the ancient Barrio de Tango in Buenos Aires.
As many of you know from reading my desperate posts around the internet, as a foreigner wishing to rent an unfurnished apartment in el centro for longterm without a garantia, it was almost impossible, even though I could pay one year in advance, two months commission, and two months deposit (hence the "thousands of dollars in cash").
I posted ads everywhere I could--The Herald, Craigslist, YesBA, etc.--but almost all the replies I received were for expensive furnished apartments for short term, or way, way out of town. A foreigner with her own furniture looking to rent is not too common here, I guess.
I spent every weekend with Clarin's classifieds, but almost all insisted on the garantia. I did find two or three apartments that I liked, but there was something fishy about the agent who was showing them and asking for deposits. You know, anyone can have a key to an empty apartment; it doesn't mean they are either the owners or the official real estate agent. We've all heard horror stories about scam artists who take everyone's deposits and then vanish.
So my chase finally ended, and I'm sure I'm going to very happy in my new place. There's a great terrace with a fabulous L-shaped view, and even a parrilla! Phoebe the Cat will be happy that she will have her own personal cat door to go in and out at will. And I'll be happy that finally I have a place to live again in Buenos Aires.
I just hope I don't have to go through all of this again in two years!!
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