Section 13 - Finding a short term real estate agent to rent your property.

There are tons of short term real estate agencies in Buenos Aires. Some very big which will have more than 100 apartments each one, other are smaller or newer, while other target specific audiences, like high end visitors, gay visitors, european market, etc.

The market in this case is on your side, there are a lot of agencies to choose, that can make in some cases the conditions negotiable. The commissions they usually charge are in a range between 15% to 25% of the rent income.

Some of these agents will ask you how much do you want to charge, and offer at that daily/weekly/monthly price, other will recommend you a suggested price according to the location, quality and size of the apartment.

From my experience I can tell you that there are two systems, some agents charge all the commission to the owner, while others split it, will charge 15% to the visitor, and an additional 15% to the client.

Because there is good competition between the short term agencies, sometimes you can negotiate the commissions, or have the same apartment in different agencies.

The agency will take care of the management and all the operations (check ins, check outs, control of inventories, assist the visitors in anything they need, etc). The tenant usually pays a deposit before entering the apartment. The average stay for Americans is 7 days, while Europeans for example tend to stay 10 to 15 days.

When you choose the agency, size is not the only thing that matters, this people may have lots of tourists, but if they have 200 apartments, your chances of getting yours rented most of the time maybe fewer than if you use a smaller one, with a good niche audience for example. The thing to look here is occupancy and commissions. No one will assure an occupancy rate, but they can tell you more or less their average for that kind of apartment.

You always can change if you are not happy with the agency you chose. Make sure you don't sign anything giving them exclusive rights to rent your apartment for a fixed time. In that way you have the freedom to leave whenever you want, or try more than one agency at the same time.

There is a side effect of bargaining the commission to the temporary rental agency too hard, if you agree on a lower commission that their average, they will prefer to rent other properties before yours each time there is a new client, resulting in a lower occupancy and revenue for you