I'm trying to rent an apartment but I see the SAME property listed many times with different realtors. Normal?

[Ashley Madison]

I am new here in BA but it's very frustrating looking for a long term apartment. I am doing Airbnb's at the moment but getting expensive. Most of them aren't available for a long enough stretch so we are looking for a long-term lease of preferably 12 months. We are trying for Palermo Hollywood but most aren't available that we like. We found a few options but it's weird but I see the SAME listing several times with different realtor agencies. Is this normal?

So, we spotted this place we kinda dig, and it's been like, empty for, I don't know, forever? It's been thrown out there on Zona Prop like 5 times by 5 different brokers, and the prices they're throwing around in USD are all over the place. I guess it's because of, like, rental laws, elections, and inflation messing things up in the last 4 months. Ugh, typical bad luck for us. When we moved here before the elections there wasn't anything at all!

But seriously, is it normal for an apartment to be up for grabs with multiple realtor agencies at the same freaking time?

We asked one realtor and they sent us a copy of the rental agreement with price and terms but we asked to see it and they don't even have the key and need to arrange with the owner to show it. Is this normal? We saw it with the owner but the realtor said to do everything through them. We agreed to pay the price they were listing it for but now they are asking to increase it $500 USD per month!

We asked a local friend and she said this is normal and owners are totally flaky. Why would they list it with so many people? Are they not really interested in renting it out? To make things worse now we see it listed for sale as well. Maybe that is why they are hesitant to rent it? So annoying!

 

[Vince]

I am new here in BA but it's very frustrating looking for a long term apartment. I am doing Airbnb's at the moment but getting expensive. Most of them aren't available for a long enough stretch so we are looking for a long-term lease of preferably 12 months. We are trying for Palermo Hollywood but most aren't available that we like. We found a few options but it's weird but I see the SAME listing several times with different realtor agencies. Is this normal?

So, we spotted this place we kinda dig, and it's been like, empty for, I don't know, forever? It's been thrown out there on Zona Prop like 5 times by 5 different brokers, and the prices they're throwing around in USD are all over the place. I guess it's because of, like, rental laws, elections, and inflation messing things up in the last 4 months. Ugh, typical bad luck for us. When we moved here before the elections there wasn't anything at all!

But seriously, is it normal for an apartment to be up for grabs with multiple realtor agencies at the same freaking time?

We asked one realtor and they sent us a copy of the rental agreement with price and terms but we asked to see it and they don't even have the key and need to arrange with the owner to show it. Is this normal? We saw it with the owner but the realtor said to do everything through them. We agreed to pay the price they were listing it for but now they are asking to increase it $500 USD per month!

We asked a local friend and she said this is normal and owners are totally flaky. Why would they list it with so many people? Are they not really interested in renting it out? To make things worse now we see it listed for sale as well. Maybe that is why they are hesitant to rent it? So annoying!

Owners here are total freaks and strange. When we were buying a place we encountered the same type of thing. Some flaky owners list it with many realtors and first one that brings an offer. Some properties are for sale for many years! We went through the same ordeal. We offered the asking price many years ago and they agreed and then ghosted us for a while and then asked us for $20,000 more. We passed.

I also heard some realtors make fake listings. Did you try contacting all of them? LOL. See what they say. Are all the prices the same on all the listings?

 

[Avocado]

Not completely normal but some owners will do this with desirable properties. Some owners can't make up their mind to rent it out or sell it. Also, market just opened up for USD rentals that are legal so some are just coming on the market and the owners might not know what fair price is and realtors here many times are desperate to get listings so can't ask for exclusivity.

 

[Wally]

yikes! Avoid. Typically things with owners that are crazy don't go from bad to better. In BA they go from bad to worse!

 

[Finance Prof]

Totally normal here. I own an apartment and have a few realtor friends and list with all of them. Some owners however are not reasonable. Many list but don't care if they rent it out or not. I have friends that own like 5 properties and they just wait for the right tenant. I'm not sure though what they are holding out for but if you saw it empty for many months maybe they aren't motivated to rent it out or probably want to sell it instead. The market has been dead for months but since election activity is picking up.

 

[Flamingo]

yikes! Avoid. Typically things with owners that are crazy don't go from bad to better. In BA they go from bad to worse!

Well it depends. This may not be true. Really unique properties are in high demand. In Recoleta and Palermo Soho or Hollywood. My partner and I own another unit whether than where we live. We listed on ZonaProp and we got many realtors that offer to list it for no commission. They say they will charge the buyer and we won't have to pay anything to them. We had our property listed during COVID with 4 different agencies.

Here is what they send:

“Ofrecemos Publicar sus propiedades en todas las Redes Sociales, Páginas y portales Inmobiliarios pagos a cargo de nuestra empresa. Nuestra Gestión NO ocasiona ningún gasto a usted y tampoco le exigimos exclusividad.“

I'm guessing you have to pay 1 month of commission. So it's not necessarily a scam but usually the price is the same. Sometimes during COVID we noticed is some agencies would list it for less but we think it was a scam.

 

[earlyretirement]

Well it depends. This may not be true. Really unique properties are in high demand. In Recoleta and Palermo Soho or Hollywood. My partner and I own another unit whether than where we live. We listed on ZonaProp and we got many realtors that offer to list it for no commission. They say they will charge the buyer and we won't have to pay anything to them. We had our property listed during COVID with 4 different agencies.

Here is what they send:

“Ofrecemos Publicar sus propiedades en todas las Redes Sociales, Páginas y portales Inmobiliarios pagos a cargo de nuestra empresa. Nuestra Gestión NO ocasiona ningún gasto a usted y tampoco le exigimos exclusividad.“

I'm guessing you have to pay 1 month of commission. So it's not necessarily a scam but usually the price is the same. Sometimes during COVID we noticed is some agencies would list it for less but we think it was a scam.

^^This is correct ^^

It's not uncommon that some owners will list with multiple realtor/broker agencies. Some property owners are strange. Some don't even know what they wanted. Back when I had a big company dealing with hundreds of buyers/sellers I refused to work with local Argentines. I'd only work with non-resident foreigners. Locals are a pain in the ass. We would get many locals that purchased properties that we listed for sale but we never worked with locals.

In the early days I did but it was almost always a hassle. They are very non-committal. Sometimes I'd ask them how much their dream price was. I'd get that and then they wouldn't sell it. So I stopped working with locals early on.

The email that @Flamingo posted is one that all the agencies will send. What I noticed is happening is that many agencies will either just copy the listing even without permission trying to get leads of their own. Or maybe they would ask the owner and then they would low ball the price on the rent. Not to actually get actual clients but they would get leads and then try to push them into other listings they might have had. Or both!

The market there is severely unregulated. That's why you see a realtor agency on every corner. Many went out of business during COVID but there are still a lot. Most locals are a hassle to deal with on rentals. Realtors as well.

 

[Ashley Madison]

^^This is correct ^^

It's not uncommon that some owners will list with multiple realtor/broker agencies. Some property owners are strange. Some don't even know what they wanted. Back when I had a big company dealing with hundreds of buyers/sellers I refused to work with local Argentines. I'd only work with non-resident foreigners. Locals are a pain in the ass. We would get many locals that purchased properties that we listed for sale but we never worked with locals.

In the early days I did but it was almost always a hassle. They are very non-committal. Sometimes I'd ask them how much their dream price was. I'd get that and then they wouldn't sell it. So I stopped working with locals early on.

The email that @Flamingo posted is one that all the agencies will send. What I noticed is happening is that many agencies will either just copy the listing even without permission trying to get leads of their own. Or maybe they would ask the owner and then they would low ball the price on the rent. Not to actually get actual clients but they would get leads and then try to push them into other listings they might have had. Or both!

The market there is severely unregulated. That's why you see a realtor agency on every corner. Many went out of business during COVID but there are still a lot. Most locals are a hassle to deal with on rentals. Realtors as well.

Thanks for the advice. It seems a bit crazy to list with multiple realtors, but I'm not really familiar with local regulations or norms. My realtor that I saw it with initially said they are still in contact with the owner but that they are traveling in Punta del Este for all of January!

I don't see it as a big red flag, more like an annoyance. We asked a question last week on thursday, but we told the broker we wouldn't be able to do anything until today as we were seeing another 2 properties and they were dragging their feet. When they said the owner was gone all of January and wouldn't know if they would respond we had to look for other stuff too.

I'm thinking about reaching out to the other brokers since their listings got updated recently. We would be offering less than their new price. I've seen them list it $500 less a few times with no takers. Maybe the idea of guaranteed income for 12 months would be tempting enough? But then again if they are selling it then maybe all of this is a moot point?

Most of their old listings are gone, but we've been keeping an eye on properties in the area. It looks like the short-term rental market is two buckets. Cheaper stuff with bad furniture that has a lot of competition and the really nice stuff is staying booked.