Dazed & Confused
Active member
Hi everyone. I have been lurking on the board for the past few months and love the format of this website. I saw there is an older forum but this forum seems funner and the posters seem more intelligent over here. Besides, every other thread over there is talking about this forum.
Dear Hubby and I are finally retiring this month. It's been a long ride but we're finally done working! We don't want to live in the USA anymore. The value on our home has exploded here in Tampa. We are going to sell it to my sister-in-law. She already got pre-approved so it should be very easy.
We like bigger cities so we are thinking about Buenos Aires. But we may be open to buying a second small condo somewhere peaceful like Bariloche or Mendoza. We have been looking at real estate for the past few years and fortunately, the prices kept going down. They seem like they are a bargain now compared to when we first started looking 4 years ago. But now prices seem like they are finally going up a little. This is the first time in 4 years we see it turning around.
I am looking at some realtor websites but I see absolutely wild and crazy commissions and fees. For example, on one realtor's site they are saying that ME as the buyer has to pay 4%? In the USA we pay 0% and the SELLER pays all the real estate commission. Is this true I have to pay 4% then it says on top of that 21% VAT taxes! This seems like it has to be an error?
Then the realtor told me there is a "legal fee" and said I can select the lawyer but she said that can be up to 2.5% fee that I must pay. I asked if there were any other fees and I felt like a game show contestant. She said, "wait there is more". Then explained about stamp taxes which seemed to be just under 2% at 1.8%. And also some other closing costs and fees.
Am I doing the math right??? Help. I'm dazed and confused.
Dear Hubby and I are finally retiring this month. It's been a long ride but we're finally done working! We don't want to live in the USA anymore. The value on our home has exploded here in Tampa. We are going to sell it to my sister-in-law. She already got pre-approved so it should be very easy.
We like bigger cities so we are thinking about Buenos Aires. But we may be open to buying a second small condo somewhere peaceful like Bariloche or Mendoza. We have been looking at real estate for the past few years and fortunately, the prices kept going down. They seem like they are a bargain now compared to when we first started looking 4 years ago. But now prices seem like they are finally going up a little. This is the first time in 4 years we see it turning around.
I am looking at some realtor websites but I see absolutely wild and crazy commissions and fees. For example, on one realtor's site they are saying that ME as the buyer has to pay 4%? In the USA we pay 0% and the SELLER pays all the real estate commission. Is this true I have to pay 4% then it says on top of that 21% VAT taxes! This seems like it has to be an error?
Then the realtor told me there is a "legal fee" and said I can select the lawyer but she said that can be up to 2.5% fee that I must pay. I asked if there were any other fees and I felt like a game show contestant. She said, "wait there is more". Then explained about stamp taxes which seemed to be just under 2% at 1.8%. And also some other closing costs and fees.
Am I doing the math right??? Help. I'm dazed and confused.