Section 4 Visiting the apartment.

Many realtors won't speak English, or just basic. Some important factors to pay attention when you are visiting the apartment is light and noise. Visit the apartment on different days and hours (not only in weekends), the traffic in some streets -and the noise it produces- can change dramatically from weekends to weekdays.

Even if you are buying a studio or a 1 bedroom apartment is important that has a complete bathroom. Some studios will have a shower only and very small bathroom.

You don't won't to live in a place like that, but also someone who is booking a an apartment to rent wants a bathtub (even if they only take showers then). Bring your digital camera and take pictures of the apartment. That will help you deciding and comparing between apartments you had seen later.

During the visit the realtor will give you the info of the apartment in some cases before, in others after seeing the unit.

He will give you the price, the conditions, commission details, etc. He also should give you a plan of the apartment. He may write everything down or not, in that case make sure you take note of the conditions, which units they have available, if they look to the front or to the back, etc.

You should ask the now what are the home association fees of the apartment (Expensas in Spanish), what does that includes (in some cases it may include the water and cable bill), approximate cost of the Municipal Tax called ABL.

5) Reserving the apartment and doing an offer.

After have decided to buy a property, you should reserve it. When you pay the "reserva", you basically block the apartment, the cannot show it anymore. They usually require from 1000 to 2000 argentine pesos as reservation deposit.

When you pay make the "reserva" you will make an offer. There is a margin to negotiate in most cases. People ask some thousands dollars more to get what they want after the bargaining process.

The seller may accept, reject or counter-offer. In most cases he/she will counter-offer. When both parties agree on the price, you will proceed to sign the property purchase contract (we will continue this contract in Section 9).