Have you or will you be renting an apartment in BA?
 

We ran an article today on the site with tips on how and where to rent an apartment in Buenos Aires.
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_3088.html

Is anyone in the middle of planning a trip currently to BA---and thinking of renting an apartment?

For those who have rented before---how many months in advance did you book your stay? My SO and I have talked about maybe going this January---I'd be interested in booking an apartment, but I'm not sure how soon I would need to finalize my trip plans in order to find a good one.

Realize my title has some grammar issues; sorry about that but you know what I mean, right?

Dear Editor:

Forum member Cindy_S is right "in the middle of planning a trip currently to BA---and thinking of renting an apartment". There must be many others out there.

I had to get some help from Yahoo to find out what SO stands for. Mind you, I got 102 meanings, but I finally realized who SO was! LOL!!

My stock answer for your last question would be to suggest a little more research in this great forum, where you can find, if you try hard enough, the answers to any and all questions about tourism in Argentina.

However, since you are the Editor, I guess that reply would be inappropriate and I feel you deserve a more helpful answer.

As I'm a local, I'm not the right person to answer your last question.

However, I'll make sure the universally acknowledged top Internet authority on tourism in Argentina, the famous drdawggy, hears about your question and you should get a qualified reply soon.

Just kidding, as I often do, Katie_H!

There's only one thing I can tell you for sure: It's pretty warm in BA during January, so the apartment you choose MUST have good A/C.

Have a great time in our town.

My advise is to make your booking at least 2 months in advance. High summer is Argentina's main holiday season and the choicest properties are booked up months in advance.

I have rented from Buenos Aires Habitat http://www.buenosaireshabitat.com
The apartments have been in the Recoleta area and have always been clean, well-equipped, and all have a private balcony.

Have a great time in BA!

Liza

Can you visit another month? Jan. is hot and humid. Not the best time to see BA.

mliza10 correctly notes this is the middle of summer vacation, which may make it tough to find an apartment OUTSIDE of Buenos Aires.....but in BA, well, more people are fleeing the city than flocking to it...Anyone who can scrape up the pesos is off to the beaches of Punta del Este, Uruguay or Mar Del Plata or Pinamar Argentina or to the mountains around Bariloche or just about anywhere other than BA....

By all means get a good air conditioner. Pay close attention to the agency you rent from. Ask for references about the agency and the landlord. You will probably be sending large sums of cash, so it is best to do your homework and check it out as thuroughly as possible.

A piece of advice contained in your article that I disagree with...one of the agencies on your list gets lots of negative reviews for poor service...hint: it starts with the letters al ....

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I am hoping to go in Feb and yes, I am now looking for flights and apartments. I feel that I have to get the flights first. I look and bookmark but don't send out any emails until I am sure I can get a flight at a price I want to pay.

The folks on the Latin American forum are just as helpful as the Europe board, only less of them.

Since it is my first time there, and for that matter my first time anywhere, I like to book a hotel/apartment so that I have a little help if need and so that I can get out of it if it is bad or I don't like the neighborhood. This has worked for me in the past in Europe and I hope it works out for BA. These apartments are always a little bit more but they will always take a credit card instead of a money transfer, but I feel it is worth it for peace of mind.

I also want to hire Isabell who is a local travel agent, her fee is very reasonable and she said if I find a private apartment to rent she would go look at it and give me feedback, priceless!

Have you tried VBRO.com. that is a great way to find lodging for very good price. Some friends and I are renting a three bedroom penthouse condo in Belize for $2,000 per week. That is great.
good luck

Priceless, is a good word to describe what Isabel, the local travel agent I usually suggest using, has offered to do for you, Susanna!

Katie_H:

Well, we got drdawggy's "qualified reply" fast enough and I must say I wondered how that list of BA apartment rental agencies Fodor's recommends had been put together.

I'm still wondering.

I think the first step in renting an apartment in BA is to do lots of homework. I started looking at websites of rental agencies beginning about Jan 1st of this year. Our trip to BA is in October 2008.
There are five of us making the trip, and that meant a 3-bedroom apartment.
I followed forums on Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor in addition to Fodors, and I looked at an awful lot of apartments on rental agency websites.
The advice I received was invaluable, and allowed us to make what I feel is a good affordable rental decision for us.
I contacted Byt shortly after we booked our airline tickets and made the arrangements.
As we often travel during the "shoulder season", I was not worried about landing our first choice of apartments, but we did have second and third choices in reserve.
Now it's just a matter of trying to wait for the trip dates, which is difficult as we are all so excited to be making the trip.
tptr

We were there in April and rented our apartment through bytargentina. We rented a place in Recoleta for less than $300 a week and we were very happy with the company. I think we rented it about 2 months in advance.

On thing.. I wrote to them, and told them our requirements and heard back within a couple of days with a few recommendations.

Isabel is indeed priceless when it comes to her services, her sense of humour, her helpfulness, knowledge...oh I could go on and on about Isabel. Don't go to Buenos Aires without her help!!

Thanks to all for the recommendations and comments.

I knew January wasn't the <i>best</i> time to visit but it sounds like it's really not a good time. I mostly have been considering that time since a new year = vacation days. =)

Maybe I should push it off to March of 09 and start really looking at the end of the fall.

Katie,

Both our trips have been in March, highly recommend, it's like travelling here in Sept., weather is still great, kids are back in school, etc. We're thinking of planning a third trip, which would be in March again.....

I agree, early March can still be warm, but much better than January.

Hi Katie,

Yes, as avrooster says, I'm in the process of planning a trip to BA (and other places in Argentina) and intend to rent an apt for my final week in the country, which will be in BA.
byt actually replied to two emails, with answers to my questions, so I'm favoring them. They also seem to have cheaper prices than other agencies. (One of the more expensive agencies responded to my email with a canned response, which was not appreciated. And I'm writing to them in Spanish, so they don't need to find an English speaker or check their dictionary before writing to me!)
I don't have much more to add. Work is busy, and I'm having much less time to work on this trip than I'd like!

Katie, exactly one year ago today I visited Buenos Aires. I gleaned a lot of info here, and looked at a gazillion apartments before I booked trough byt. I was quite pleased with the one bedroom apartment on Calle French and Scalabrini Ortiz. The place was modern, sparkling clean and conveniently located. The kitchen was small - maybe not by NYC standards - but quite functional, and the place was otherwise spacious and comfortable. The byt agent was waiting at the apartment when I arrived, and the rental even included use of a mobile phone (just had to top off the minutes which was easy to do.
In terms of timing, I think I booked about 6-8 weeks out. The first thing I did was arrange work schedules and flights, then booked the apartment. When I was planning there seemed to be an abundance of apartments in all price ranges. Byt seemed to have the best selection. I also looked on craigslist but many of the posts there are from agencies.
It was pretty chilly when I visited, in July/August though not unbearable. Next time I'd like to visit in their Fall or Spring - but if someone offered me a ticket today I'd be off like a prom dress.

maybe some time it's helpful for me

I just found a wonderful apartment online. Isabel, our trip planner (recommended by avrooster) says that it looks beautiful, is in a wonderful area and the price is very reasonable. However she has never heard of the agency. Has anyone else used them - 2rentbuenosaires?

For more photos go to :
http://www.2rentbuenosaires.com/buen...apartment1.htm
(our own web site).
For extra photos, like bathroom, etc, go to:
http://www.2rentbuenosaires.com/apartments1.htm