Only in Argentina - Realtor complains about $600 in stained bills out of $130,000+

[earlyretirement]

You have to just laugh when you're paying a realtor $16,600 USD for a commission to help buy a property and then they complain that $600 out of the $16,600 US Dollars were stained.

Granted, most people here don't want to accept marked or old bills but we paid $125,000 Dollars Cash yesterday for a "boleto" down payment on a PH and $16,600 USD to realtors and they got bent out of shape for $600 USD. Banks accept old bills but people here will always find a way to complain.

 

[Betsy Ross]

So funny. The same thing happened when I bought my apartment. The closing was downtown at a cueva that my realtor arranged and about $3,000 of my $250,000 had marks or stains on them and they refused them. The cueva had to replace them. I just shook my head how ridiculous the entire ordeal was. After all these years it sounds like nothing has changed.

 

[daveholman]

I just love when people talk about crypto being used for money laundering, when the good old USD is still the preferred method of serious launderers...

 

[old fart]

I just love when people talk about crypto being used for money laundering, when the good old USD is still the preferred method of serious launderers...

This is very true. People don't understand why so many here want to use cash. It is because of the lack of banks but also because real prices aren't typically used.

I think you would be crazy to wire in funds before the cepo is lifted and maybe even after too. My friend bought an apartment and was wiring in funds to a local who told him that there would not be any issues with the wire to a us dollar account. Well he wired in and it was held up 2.5 weeks! I am not sure why but it did not get credited to the seller's account for weeks!

The worst thing was there was a penalty clause in the contract of $200 dollars for each day it did not close. So he had to pay a few hundred dollars even though it was the seller's bank that delayed. Or maybe it was the central bank. I told him not to wire it in but he didn't listen.

 

[earlyretirement]

I just love when people talk about crypto being used for money laundering, when the good old USD is still the preferred method of serious launderers...

Ha. Very true. In Argentina it is honestly a mix of lack of trust in the banking system but also many deals a fake price is used on the title deed. Many sellers refuse to sell unless you use a fake price so they don't have to pay any capital gains tax but also they want to pocket the extra cash and don't want the government to know as Argentina taxes you on all assets.

This is very true. People don't understand why so many here want to use cash. It is because of the lack of banks but also because real prices aren't typically used.

I think you would be crazy to wire in funds before the cepo is lifted and maybe even after too. My friend bought an apartment and was wiring in funds to a local who told him that there would not be any issues with the wire to a us dollar account. Well he wired in and it was held up 2.5 weeks! I am not sure why but it did not get credited to the seller's account for weeks!

The worst thing was there was a penalty clause in the contract of $200 dollars for each day it did not close. So he had to pay a few hundred dollars even though it was the seller's bank that delayed. Or maybe it was the central bank. I told him not to wire it in but he didn't listen.

With the CEPO in place it's always a pain to wire cash into Argentina. I don't recommend doing anything with Argentine banks until the CEPO is lifted and most likely you will see many Argentines will not trust banks even then. Many of the older generation that got their money trapped in the corralito will never fully trust banks again.

You have to be very careful with penalty clauses and put caveats in them to protect against these sort of delays. I never go through the Argentina Central Bank so we don't deal with this. I've heard of people sending funds from their USA accounts to their USD accounts here in Argentina and having all kinds of delays too. I really don't trust the local banking system while currency controls are in place.