Chile Forum

I've read the articles on housing costs in Santiago and Temuco. But what about Pucon? All the answers I have found are very general in nature. Anybody have specifics? And when you say $500000 for a very nice house in Temuco what do you mean? Very nice is a relative term so how would you describe a 150000 rental to a 300000 rental to a 500000 rental. And what the heck is the deal with taking light fixtures and the like when somebody moves out of a rental????????

Hi Shane, rental housing is different in Latin American countries. Charles or other members here could explain the 'why' better than me. But I haved lived in Mexico and now in Chile. Basically you're getting the four walls the floor and the ceiling when you rent a house. In some cases the lights will not have fixtures, you will have to play junior electrician buy some then install them. I didn't have that problem in my Mexico house it had fixtures much to my relief. I only had to put in light bulbs, no big deal. But it possibly could happen in any given rental situation, I saw some there without fixtures.
In general in Chile I think you may not run into that, BUT it could happen, it depends on the owner of the property, and how they do business. For instance, in Vina Del Mar since it's a tourist town the property owners will be a little more conversant with Norte Americano rental practices since they see so many tourists. It will be somewhat familiar to you without too many odd surprises. But in Valparaiso, not likely. They will do things that may not make sense to you.
In my apartment I have put in bathroom shelves and curtain rods & curtains in the bedroom as well other minor upgrades. It's all coming with me when I move.

My advice: Any upgrades you make, save the receipts. Before you move out try to exchange your work for free rent. In other words if you have done $175.00 worth of upgrades try to get the owner to comp you that amount of free rent before you move out. That way he/she won't have to give you any cash money in return for your work, I can almost guarantee they won't pay you cash. They may comp you free rent. In the event they won't even compensate your work AT ALL, just take out all your upgrades and take them with you.

It's different

here is a real estate link:
http://www.portalinmobiliario.cl/buscador.asp?BusEn=2

Thanks for the info. Any other info from anybody else is appreciated.Oh and thanks for the lead on a rental agency. HMMM need to learn spanish.

Learning Spanish is very important. It's the number one most important thing even ahead of money. You can always get by with less money but if you can't speak the language you will not be able to integrate into the society and that is not good.
If you can speak even a little Spanish it's gonna make your life a lot more enjoyable. I study my language CD's and can speak survival Spanish, I learn a little bit more every day interacting with people here. But it's still my main regret that I didn't hit this hard before I came here. I'm going to be enrolling in a Spanish class in Santiago soon, I have to get up to speed.

A great book you should try to get ahold of is:
CULTURE SHOCK: CHILE by Susan Roraff and Laura Camacho. It's out of print but your local library may have it. You might be able to find it online at Amazon or whoever.
It has some great comments about the psychological aspects of being in a foreign country. It's the best book on Chile that I've found yet.

cheers.

Thank You , Chuck
Good Advise...
It is the best way to make friends in a foreign country.Those friends will be of great value later on....
Le linko for the book http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Shock-Chile/dp/1558684026

Visit my blog: http://itstheeconomystoopid.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the tip. I just checked online and our library has it so I reserved it. No reason to spend the $$$. Thanks for the link also. I may need it if we decide to buy it.

We really appreciate all the advice you all are giving us. We need all we can get. Thanks a million, ......or is that Poco????

you can stay in a pension or a boarding house in and around pucon for 15000 aday in the off season and about 30000 pesos during summer...there are all kind of prices in between. they will usually give you a spot in the fridge for your things and give you a room with your own bathroom or maybe she}ared in the hallway an usually breakfast or once...sometimes for extra they will give you lunch and dinner and if you stay along time they might just not charge you for lunchor dinner...it depends how you are withthem.

An apartment....kitchen dining/ling mix...bathroom and 2 bedrooms rents for 180 luca a month for a year min rent...nice means there is a doorman of sorts and things work and its safe to get inside and get to your door and your nieghbors are decent ....you can rent it for a month in pucon for 500 luca...this depends too if its available and not in lease for long term for someone...you can rent a party housefor the same but its not nice...this is where the rich kids will rent with money mand give them and they invite their friends and party...usually not sleeping there if you knowwhat i mean....a palo gets you an okay family house envirement but not really in the best part which means you have to walk alot or drive....you can rent a cabana in a nice spot...btw when i say nice i mean regular middle class and not exclusive....the cabanas are going to be 100 luca a day and up to 180 a day...they usually sleep like 5 to 12 people....the exclusive are rented for about 5000 usd in the winter for the month and 10000 usd the month in the high...7500 usd for the two monts leading into season and out of it...they usually come with servants and they are usually paid apart for that or at least a tip so that you get good service...notice that in theexclussive we go to dollars.....you can find all costs in between more or less at all different times of the year.....chile is definitely the land of ymmv...but in a good way....gifts for new friends goes a long way...

puelche out

the general rule for off to in season is double...the smart man will check prices for the off the season and double it to see the avg price...thus if you get a 15 luca for june and they quote you 45 luca for summer than they are inflating a little bit...remember too that pucan has skining in the winter so te off season is not as valid there as it used to be...good luck

I think the main reason is the value of the fixtures. If the owner put in light fixtures and the like, but only spent $1 to do it then it is more or less the same as not having them. It is kind of considered an interior decoration item like picking your own drapes.

That said, fully furnished / semi-furnished places tend to also be places that were geared towards the tourist. Cabins for instance that are rented by the month in the off season, and by the day in the high season. Pucon has a real glut of these. Now that the Feb high season is ending you should be able to find something cheap. By the end of March you should be able to find something in the 100,000 - 200,000 peso a month range if you rent for the whole off season. They generally want to get rid of you for the high season again.

Make sure to shop around. Way, way too many people have slapped together cabins in the Pucon area that are little more than shacks. You can feel the building move when the wind blows, and see through the walls. One person made some money off a cabin, and everyone ran out and built 3 cabins with the cheapest materials they could find. Same on a different level for the high-end apartments. Everyone was in a rush to cash in on the real estate / tourism boom, and now the market is over saturated except for a month or two a year. Take your time, and don't under estimate the surrounding communities for good deals, and don't let the renters / real estate agents BS you about the prices. It is a renters / buyers market in the area. Take your time, and be ready to walk away.

Now thats good info. Thankyou admin. Fantastic advice.

admin wrote:<snip>
Same on a different level for the high-end apartments. Everyone was in a rush to cash in on the real estate / tourism boom, and now the market is over saturated except for a month or two a year. . . . It is a renters / buyers market in the area. Take your time, and be ready to walk away.

Do these comments apply to all of Chile or just southern Chile?
Is the real estate market "cooling"? Do you thik the prices will stay the same or even go down a bit? Local or national trend?

Looking at real estate websites, I see lots of new big apartment building "projects" just completed or scheduled for the next year...

This is particular to Pucon. Pucon has been viewed for years by the new rich as the place that the rich go to vacation. Many of Chile's rich vacation in the area, but Pucon proper has kind of gone low rent in recent years as more low income and middle income Santiago families started vacationing there. As the middle class grew, they also set their eyes on buying vacation property in the Pucon area. The problem is that the boom and bust cycle is annual phenomena. People buy in the summer, can not afford the payments in the winter, and then dump it back on the market in the Spring. This rush to buy property, got worse and worse with more vacation properties being built, along with more people building lower quality buildings.

Add to the problems of the Pucon bubble the fact that more people are buying and vacationing in larger parts of Southern Chile. Pucon, Chillan, and Puerto Varas are no longer the only places to have a nice summer or find a nice property.

So, this is mostly a Pucon phenomena. Other parts of southern Chile are going up in value exactly because places in Pucon are no longer viewed as the only place to vacation in Southern Chile.

Keep talking I'm learning tons. And I only had to ask one question.

Okay so I thought of a question. So what you are alluding to is that if a person wanted to live in Pucon or nearby to rent until spring and then buy cheap when all the homeowners from Santiago and the like are dead broke and need the money?

Almost sounds like Chileans in general are pretty big speculators.

Chileans are not so much speculators, as they tend to follow the fad. You only have to take a look at this years suits at Riply or one of the other big chain stores, then go in to any office building in Santiago. You will find very little by way of how far Chileans are willing to deviate from the norm. Real estate is no different. This has been changing some in recent years, but the inclination is still to conform.

The problem you will find in the real estate and just about every other industry in Pucon vs. other locations in Chile is a large proportion of people from Santiago. Pucon in a lot of ways a southern subburb of Santiago. Approach it with all the caution you would buying or renting something in Santiago. Most of the locals sold out their properties years ago, and you will find lots of "real estate agents" from Los Condes and such.

There are more real estate agents than property for sale in the area now. They also poach each others properties. They will find a property that is for sale, advertise it, and not even know the owner. Once they find a buyer, they will track down the owner. You will also see properties with 2 -10 for sale signs on it from different agents. You most likely will want to go with the oldest homemade sign, as that was likely the original owners attempt at selling it themselves. If you are going to deal with real estate agents there, make sure they really know the owner.

All that said, with time and caution, there are some good deals developing in the area as the sky high prices of a couple of years come down Earth. My guess would be over the next year or two things will get much more desperate.

Just one more tip. Buy something outside the Volcanic blast zone. Those pretty new buildings in down town Pucon, are new for a reason. Don't trust the city map showing where the different danger zones are. Those red zones move with the political and economic winds. I don't think anyone bothered to get the Villarrica volcanoe's approval on those maps. Common sense says you don't buy on the side of one of South Americas most active Volcanoes. The town of Villarrica on the other side of the lake always has nice views of the lava flows through main street Pucon when it does happen.

"The town of Villarrica on the other side of the lake always has nice views of the lava flows through main street Pucon when it does happen."

Nice to know. And again, great info.

Is it possible to find property up in the hills East of Pucon or is that all reserve and Mapuche land?