How do you avoid pitfalls when renting an apartment in Colombia? Which characteristics do you need to be aware of when observing the person renting the apartment to you?
How do you avoid paying “gringo prices” so that you won’t get exploited as a foreigner and entrepreneur in Colombia? In this article I will answer all these questions and more.
My Personal True Story
The first occasion I was on the path to renting an apartment in Colombia occurred in Medellín. I had arrived a few weeks before and I had been staying at a hostel up until this point. The hostel was located in an area with a relatively high degree of foreign travelers.
I wanted to find an apartment in order to be able to leave the hostel, but I didn’t really have any idea how to go about it. I had arrived in the country with little knowledge regarding how to find such things in Colombia.
What websites should I look at? What are the prices levels? Which parts of the city are safe and which ones are unsafe? And what about access to public transportation?
The Bad Way of Renting an Apartment in Colombia
While going for a walk one day I saw a painted sign on the street written in English saying “apartments for rent” together with an arrow. I followed the arrow and not before long I came across the agency that had painted the sign on the street. After entering the building I saw that was a large pool outside and the whole place itself looked quite fancy.
At this point it seemed like the process of renting an apartment in Colombia wouldn’t be all that difficult.
I was quickly presented to the manager who was a Colombian woman in her 40s or 50s who spoke perfect English, and she had earlier been living in the US. I got the impression that she earlier had been working with business in the US for quite some time and then had decided to return to Colombia in order to apply her business- and marketing skills there.
During our discussion she showed me several different apartments which I thought had pretty high price tags. The price tags were not high in relation to the apartments themselves. On the contrary, the prices seemed reasonable for these apartments which but they looked quite fancy.
However I was looking to lessen the cost if I could.
Initial Confusion
Now this is where my lack of preparedness about renting an apartment in Colombia came into play. I knew very little about the price levels and I was quite unfamiliar with Colombia in general. I had arrived by myself to see how things were, and didn’t really understand at the time to what extent the country’s violent history still was having an impact. In other words I had no clue.
This experienced businesswoman probably understood that I was totally green and hence decided to take advantage of it. The price level she offered me for the apartments she showed was around 2 million pesos. As mentioned it seemed like quite a bit, not for the apartment itself, but I could make do with something less fancy.
I asked her if there was something cheaper and she said that she might be able to give me something for 1.5 million in the center of the city, which is pretty much the worst part. Little did I know at the time that this was a total scam (or at the very least exploitation).
But I also think I had myself to blame for not doing enough ground work when it comes to the research.
She played the fear-mongering card with me and said that if I went below 2 million I would have to live at a quite insecure location. Today I know this was totally and utterly absurd.
The Deal
During lunch time she took me to see a 2 million apartment. It looked quite nice indeed. It had two floors, two luxurious bathrooms, a spiral stairway to the second floor where the bedroom was. The apartment had a huge window where I could look out over the entire city.
The fridge was quite large and the kitchen itself as well. I asked if I could rent month by month, since I had the hunch that I wanted to see if I, in contrast to her information, could find something cheaper later on.
During the drive back to the office she said that she knew that I would take the apartment, kind of commending herself for being an agent that “knows so well what her customers want”.
She was kind of trying to appeal to my emotions in conjunction with my personality on our way back saying that she understood what type of person I was and what I wanted. She also “warned” me saying that she didn’t know how long that apartment would be available.
At the office I signed the contract, paid and then was of to my new place in the afternoon. The first night was really nice. I took a cold shower and they had even placed some small soaps for me. They had arranged it like a hotel, even with the towels.
I went to sleep thinking that “Ok, this is a bit above the price tag I had in mind at first but at least I get my money’s worth”.
The Horror Begins
The next day I woke up at 7 am from a loud drill. It turned out there was a construction just in front of my building. I hadn’t noticed this. I wasn’t happy about this since it looked rather unfinished and I knew I needed peace and quiet in order to do my online work.
Nevertheless I went to a nearby supermarket and bought home some groceries to put in the fridge. I hadn’t turned on the fridge the night before, since I had been dining outside. After I had gone to sleep I woke up at around 2 am from a loud, electric noise.
It was the fridge that was basically screaming all the way from the first floor. I thought “this can’t be happening”. After a while I had to basically turn off the fridge, which meant my groceries would not last long.
The next day I called the agent and complained about the different things that had occurred. She said she would look into it. The days went by and I heard nothing from her. I finally decided to go see her in person at the agency.
When I arrived I was let in by one of her assistants, since she wasn’t there herself at the moment. Her assistant also said she was going to call the manager to see when she was gonna come in.
After waiting in a chair for almost an hour I finally managed to get a hold the manager who told me that she was “at the hospital and didn’t know when she was gonna come back to the office during the coming days”. The whole thing seemed quite convenient.
Something Seems Fishy
The assistant had first said she was gonna check when she came back that day. But wouldn’t her assistant have been aware that she was in the hospital? The whole thing seemed fishy.
When I told her that I didn’t like the place at all and that they needed to do something about it she criticized me for “not caring about her health”.
The following days I made new attempts in order to visit the office to try to get my money back. To move to some new place due to the mentioned inconveniences could also have been an alternative. I did not see the manager anywhere.
I then tried to ask the assistant from yesterday, who also spoke perfect English by the way, if she could help me with the matter since her boss wasn’t there.
She smiled and said that she was gonna look into it. When she went back to the office where her colleagues were saying some….let’s say “less flattering” things about me in Spanish, which I guess she thought I didn’t understand. Or perhaps she just didn’t care.
After repeated attempts I finally got a hold of the manager again in person. I managed to negotiate in order to get some of my money back. I was then quickly shown the door.
Important: Be Aware of the Warning Signs When Renting an Apartment in Colombia
We are now going to go through the warning signs from this story so that YOU won’t have to make the same dumb mistakes which I did:
- I don’t know if I should call this a warning sign really, but I had done very little background research about the country and the city. In order for you not to make the same mistake you can read the various Colombia related articles I post on this blog.
- Sign in English next to a hostel with many foreigners. The target group is obviously the foreigner, and hence there is a strong risk of getting the “gringo prices” when renting an apartment in Colombia. Also, the manager spoke perfect English. There is a reason that they hire a person with perfect English. If companies can get away with it they generally don’t want to pay for more than they need. If the person attending you speaks perfect American English, then be on your guard because she might be specialized in exploiting naive foreigners.
- Fear-mongering. Throughout the discussions she kept fear-mongering, implying that something might happen to me if I “stay at a bad place”. This is manipulation 101.
- They showed me the apartment during lunch time, when most workers are…..well…at lunch, or perhaps they go home early in order to continue the construction early the next day. If you are going to see an apartment make sure that you visit it on a non-holiday weekday between around 8 and 10 am.
- The horrific fridge. Check all appliances and equipment before signing the contract. Don’t assume they won’t cause you problems just because they look nice.
- The person seems way to friendly, claims to know you and tries to appeal to emotions. When this happens be on guard, because it is also manipulation 101 in order to get you to sign the contract.
- She “warned” me that the she didn’t know how long the apartment would be available. This is a classic sales tactic where you create a sense of urgency in order to get the person to go for the deal.
- Oh yeah, and the big fancy pool. You are paying for that.
The Good Way of Renting an Apartment in Colombia
After I had gotten out of the way too expensive luxury apartment and had returned to the hostal, I realized I needed to change my approach. If you manage to get something too quickly in Colombia, just be on your guard.
Things usually don’t work fast in Colombia, as in many Latin American countries, and if you get something or are offered something way too fast, in an overly friendly way, then there is often a lot of money involved and you are paying.
I then decided to try “less visible” agencies. I managed to find several web pages where all the ads were in Spanish and looked a bit more….let’s say “rustic”. It is also good to have looked at the prices before actually visiting an agency in order to have background knowledge and also to not have to make hasty decisions when renting an apartment in Colombia.
Less Price, More Value
I found one apartment at 850 000 pesos, and another one at 750 000 pesos. They were both in the same building. The building itself was rather new and I think I was the first person staying there. I chose the slightly more expensive one.
It was one large studio apartment, fully furnished with two bathrooms. It also had a washing machine and everything else which you might need.
Since the building was new it took a week or two in order to get the internet properly installed, but after that it worked fine. When I arrived at the agency I also noticed that nobody spoke English at all.
The people were friendly, but not overly friendly in a fake way trying to appeal to your emotions in order to manipulate you into signing something that is not good for you.
More Down to Earth Office When Renting an Apartment in Colombia
The office itself was just a regular office, without anything fancy about it. The door was protected by those standard Colombian security grid doors and everything was on ground level.
I had to wait a bit before I was shown the office; there didn’t seem to be any sense of urgency. It also took a bit more time than expected before the contract was sent to me (this agency sent it by email first in order for me to be able to go through it properly).
A Better and More Serene Apartment
The apartment itself was fine and I really didn’t have any issues with it. I never once got the impression that the area was unsafe and nothing ever happened to me at all. Now let us go through the lessons learned here when renting an apartment in Colombia:
- Avoid places where they speak perfect English when you are on the path to renting an apartment in Colombia. If the person speaks perfect American English and has international business- and marketing experience, just watch out. It doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is going to exploit you, but just be aware of this. You might be setting yourself up for the gringo prices.
- Instead take the time to learn good Spanish. Spending time in a foreign country is also a lot more fun and advantageous if you learn the language. This is especially true if you are going to conduct some kind of business venture in Colombia.
- Avoid places where they in any way portray a sense of urgency or scarcity and are fear-mongering. They might “seem” that they are looking out for you, but be aware of who pays their salary. Do your own research first prior to renting an apartment in Colombia.
- Never go see a place during lunch time. Pick a time when construction workers are likely to be working in order to avoid unpleasant surprises.
- Any agent who claims to “know” you or who tries to appeal to emotions should be avoided. The same goes for anyone who uses misleading semantic questions and/or statements. When you are having a genuine conversation with someone you will know. When there is manipulation involved your spider sense will be tingling (hopefully).
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