Wednesday, September 15, 2004
apartment saga
sorry again for the long silence. i've been meaning to write something for the last couple of weeks, but i'd already let things get so backed up (in terms of what i wanted to talk about) that i always felt i wouldn't be able to address everything at once. so instead of just writing about something, i decided no to post at all. great logic, i know.
whatever, i've been sitting around pretty much all day trying to get my apartment situation figured out with a local immobilaria (real-estate agent), which has been anything but fun and easy. i realize that by virtue of the fact that i'm in a different country, things aren't going to be as smooth & easy as they would be for me back home, if for nothing else then because i'm a foreigner and that's just part of the game. it's always harder for a foreigner to get things done than it is for a native. there are always extra rules, extra forms, extra work, and lots of times a language barrier. that's just the way things go. perhaps it's a vestige of xenophobia leftover from our pre-postmodern "enlightened" society that does not want to recognize the differences between anything because that would lead to some sort of stratification and division into good and bad, which they (postmodernists) don't want. but i'm gonna stop the philosophical rant before that takes over everything.
back to the apartment....i found this place at least 3 weeks ago and decided that's where i wanted to be pretty much on the spot (the new guys are just gonna have to deal if they dont like it, but i think they will). the reason this had taken FOREVER to get done is that, while i wouldn't really consider argentina to be a model of efficiency in any area, their real estate system just boggles my american "let's get this done and over with as quickly as possibe" mentality. to start with: unlike in the states, where a co-signer is usually a sign that you're not really on your own yet and the institution doesn't quite completely trust you to pay everything off (unless it's a big expense like a car or house, that's understandable), in argentina everyone who wants to rent a place must have at least one co-signer/guarantee who will put up property or at least prove they have a certain level of income. ok, whatever, i can deal. but then they have all these nitpicky rules like you can only have certain types of guarantees and from certain places.
naturally, i ended up with the almost impossible task of finding two co-signers who owned property equal to the value of the two year contract i have to sign (i know i'll only be here for one year, but whoever comes next takes over), which has a value of about 36,000 pesos (U$12,000 at the moment). they wouldn't take a paycheck stub from me and the three other guys proving that, combined, we'll make almost 9,000 pesos a month (not a lot back home, but plenty to pay our 1,700/month rent), nor would they take a pay stub from the parents of a number of students i work with. for some reason, it just had to be property.
on top of that, it had to be property within the province of buenos aires (where la plata is), but couldn't be property from a certain city (buenos aires) that's in the middle of the province and just happens to be the capital of the nation. but it's ok for people who live in b.a. to have guarantees from outside the city. and just to top it off, there's this inheritance law that applies to certain pieces of property (which ones & how that's decided, i have no clue) which says that said piece of property can not be sold, rented, or put up as a guarantee until the youngest child in the family is 21 years old. sort of like inheritance insurance for the kids. i can understand that, but it made my life a whole lot harder.
if you can't see from the simple fact that i've spent the past four paragraphs rambling about this, let me make it clear that i was more than a little frustrated by the whole situation. we ended up negotiating with the agent (because pretty much everything here is negotiable, which can be both good and bad, depending on your outlook & intentions), and she agreed to speak with the owner about accepting the one property guarantee i'd been able to come up with (my national director who lives in b.a., it's like having bill bright or billy graham co-sign for me in the states), along with an income pay stub from one of my friends' mom, who makes a good amount monthly. that was friday morning, so i was thinking i'd hear something by the time i went in monday afternoon to put down the deposit. but that would require some sort of expediency on the agent's part, which i was a bit of a fool to expect.
to make a long story short and save y'all from the boredom/anxiousness of the past 3 days spent sitting by the phone, i just finally heard from the agent lady around 5:30 today. and though i'm pretty much fluent by now, it's been a while since i brushed up on my real estate lingo, so i'm not completely sure if i got it all correctly, but from what i understood the owner had given the ok and she was just waiting to hear back about some requisite details (i assume this refers to apt. condition, deposit money, etc). so i'm a lot happier now than i was an hour ago, but i'm not ready to jump up and down yet, and i probably wont be until we get the actual contract signed and no one can change their mind. then i will jump. and post some pictures of the crib. but i wont brag until it's ours, cuz we could still end up with nothing and this whole post will just be a reminder of it all. how much would that suck?
oh! and the reason this is even more pressure packed is that the new kiddies arrive TOMORROW. as in 6:40 in the freakin madrugada (dawn/sunrise/early morn'). which means i'm gonna have to leave la plata at 6 to arrive in time to greet them. man, it hurts just to think about getting up that early. but amongst the newbies are three guys, which means more american testosterone for me to hang with. and they'll be staying the whole year, which means more to me than you could possibly understand. anyway, so as of now all the guys are gonna have to sleep in my place which has two beds and a couple of futons, but no hot water (cuz my "water heater" is a piece of crap), and not really enough space for four grown men. we'll deal though, as long as it's not for too long.
symphonic melodies: jet - look what you've done
brain eats: 'nowhere to roam' (about wild cats) by terry mccarthy & andrea dorfman in time
sorry again for the long silence. i've been meaning to write something for the last couple of weeks, but i'd already let things get so backed up (in terms of what i wanted to talk about) that i always felt i wouldn't be able to address everything at once. so instead of just writing about something, i decided no to post at all. great logic, i know.
whatever, i've been sitting around pretty much all day trying to get my apartment situation figured out with a local immobilaria (real-estate agent), which has been anything but fun and easy. i realize that by virtue of the fact that i'm in a different country, things aren't going to be as smooth & easy as they would be for me back home, if for nothing else then because i'm a foreigner and that's just part of the game. it's always harder for a foreigner to get things done than it is for a native. there are always extra rules, extra forms, extra work, and lots of times a language barrier. that's just the way things go. perhaps it's a vestige of xenophobia leftover from our pre-postmodern "enlightened" society that does not want to recognize the differences between anything because that would lead to some sort of stratification and division into good and bad, which they (postmodernists) don't want. but i'm gonna stop the philosophical rant before that takes over everything.
back to the apartment....i found this place at least 3 weeks ago and decided that's where i wanted to be pretty much on the spot (the new guys are just gonna have to deal if they dont like it, but i think they will). the reason this had taken FOREVER to get done is that, while i wouldn't really consider argentina to be a model of efficiency in any area, their real estate system just boggles my american "let's get this done and over with as quickly as possibe" mentality. to start with: unlike in the states, where a co-signer is usually a sign that you're not really on your own yet and the institution doesn't quite completely trust you to pay everything off (unless it's a big expense like a car or house, that's understandable), in argentina everyone who wants to rent a place must have at least one co-signer/guarantee who will put up property or at least prove they have a certain level of income. ok, whatever, i can deal. but then they have all these nitpicky rules like you can only have certain types of guarantees and from certain places.
naturally, i ended up with the almost impossible task of finding two co-signers who owned property equal to the value of the two year contract i have to sign (i know i'll only be here for one year, but whoever comes next takes over), which has a value of about 36,000 pesos (U$12,000 at the moment). they wouldn't take a paycheck stub from me and the three other guys proving that, combined, we'll make almost 9,000 pesos a month (not a lot back home, but plenty to pay our 1,700/month rent), nor would they take a pay stub from the parents of a number of students i work with. for some reason, it just had to be property.
on top of that, it had to be property within the province of buenos aires (where la plata is), but couldn't be property from a certain city (buenos aires) that's in the middle of the province and just happens to be the capital of the nation. but it's ok for people who live in b.a. to have guarantees from outside the city. and just to top it off, there's this inheritance law that applies to certain pieces of property (which ones & how that's decided, i have no clue) which says that said piece of property can not be sold, rented, or put up as a guarantee until the youngest child in the family is 21 years old. sort of like inheritance insurance for the kids. i can understand that, but it made my life a whole lot harder.
if you can't see from the simple fact that i've spent the past four paragraphs rambling about this, let me make it clear that i was more than a little frustrated by the whole situation. we ended up negotiating with the agent (because pretty much everything here is negotiable, which can be both good and bad, depending on your outlook & intentions), and she agreed to speak with the owner about accepting the one property guarantee i'd been able to come up with (my national director who lives in b.a., it's like having bill bright or billy graham co-sign for me in the states), along with an income pay stub from one of my friends' mom, who makes a good amount monthly. that was friday morning, so i was thinking i'd hear something by the time i went in monday afternoon to put down the deposit. but that would require some sort of expediency on the agent's part, which i was a bit of a fool to expect.
to make a long story short and save y'all from the boredom/anxiousness of the past 3 days spent sitting by the phone, i just finally heard from the agent lady around 5:30 today. and though i'm pretty much fluent by now, it's been a while since i brushed up on my real estate lingo, so i'm not completely sure if i got it all correctly, but from what i understood the owner had given the ok and she was just waiting to hear back about some requisite details (i assume this refers to apt. condition, deposit money, etc). so i'm a lot happier now than i was an hour ago, but i'm not ready to jump up and down yet, and i probably wont be until we get the actual contract signed and no one can change their mind. then i will jump. and post some pictures of the crib. but i wont brag until it's ours, cuz we could still end up with nothing and this whole post will just be a reminder of it all. how much would that suck?
oh! and the reason this is even more pressure packed is that the new kiddies arrive TOMORROW. as in 6:40 in the freakin madrugada (dawn/sunrise/early morn'). which means i'm gonna have to leave la plata at 6 to arrive in time to greet them. man, it hurts just to think about getting up that early. but amongst the newbies are three guys, which means more american testosterone for me to hang with. and they'll be staying the whole year, which means more to me than you could possibly understand. anyway, so as of now all the guys are gonna have to sleep in my place which has two beds and a couple of futons, but no hot water (cuz my "water heater" is a piece of crap), and not really enough space for four grown men. we'll deal though, as long as it's not for too long.
symphonic melodies: jet - look what you've done
brain eats: 'nowhere to roam' (about wild cats) by terry mccarthy & andrea dorfman in time
