Post: #1

I spent the last two days looking for a fully furnished short term (1 month) apartment in the Chapinero area of Bogota and couldn't find anything, so I ended up back at the apartment that I rented back in January. Its a decent place but I was looking for something bigger, its a bachelor and is nicely furnished, WI-FI, flat screen TV with lots of channels, full laundry and 24/hr security. The rent is 1.5 million pesos or about $850 USD at today's exchange rate.

Its hard to believe that in such a cool neighbourhood there aren't more short term rentals available, this made me think about an American guy that I met in Cali who is doing the following to make some decent cash flow:

He's renting an unfurnished 2 bedroom apartment in an upscale part of Cali, buying nice furniture at a cost of about $5-7K and having a local property manager guy take care of it while he's back in the states. I'm not sure how much he'll charge but I was paying 100,000 pesos or about $55 USD/night in a nice 1 bedroom there, the bachelor in Bogota goes for 90K/night.

This sounds like something I may consider if I decide to set up shop in Colombia sometime in the future (probably 1-2 years), the benefits that I see would be:

-Having a nice place in Colombia to live in while I'm there
-Making a bit of money on it through short term renters while I'm back home
-Not having to deal with the risk or hassle of buying a condo in Colombia
-Apparently used furniture has a high resale value down here, another bonus

Of course this could be done anywhere, I'm doing it with my condo now in Canada, another guy is paying my mortgage, condo fees and property management fees.

Any thoughts on this guy?

Post: #2

Scotian, Wedo may be your best contact here for that, he knows a lot about real estate/condos and re-selling in Colombia.


Mixx

Post: #3

How much money would you expect to make? I don't think it's worth your while.

Let's use your Bogota apartment as a case study. You might be able to lease a similar apartment long term for about 850,000 (ask the doorman what it might rent for). Then add in 200,000 a month for utilities. A management fee and cleaning costs, and your margin is already looking pretty thin.

It's not simple to systematize something like this in Colombia to the point where you can stop devoting mental energy to it. Once you get back home and start working 12 hour days, the last thing you want is spending time on rental-related nickel and dime stuff.

There are a bunch of setbacks you have to avoid. Your stuff gets stolen or damaged. You're in a legal gray area. You have to walk a fine line with the apartment owner and the building administration. If you're too absent, your management will start to skim from you. You'll find it hard to lease in the first place without co-signers, and you'll find it hard to manage your cash flows without a local bank account. As a non-resident, you may not be able to open that bank account.

There are ways to make money in Colombia. You'll have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the visa, cedula, bank account and trusted contacts set up. I would recommend starting on a student visa next time you visit, which will let you get local accounts in your name. Only do this if you see yourself spending a lot of time in the country.

Traveling on a tourist visa and paying month to month is actually a pretty good deal if you're just staying a few months. For this first trip, I say enjoy the feeling of being in Colombia, the abundance of possibilities. Relax, see a few different cities and mack on girls.

Post: #4

Thanks for the solid advice Tigre, it does seem like too much of a hassle. I wouldn't really be doing it to make money, I was just considering it if I ever do end up spending more time here on a regular basis, it would be nice not to have to look for a furnished apartment every time I come down and be able to stay in the same place every time.

We'll see what happens, I still have over 5 weeks left here and I'm already making plans to come back, this place is growing on me!