If you are interested in buying a new home or apartment in Medellin Colombia, your very first "must to do" step is to surf the internet looking for some classifieds portals ( Ex: propiedad-raz.com, elinmueble.com.co, inmobiliario.com.co, concasa.com.co, inmuebleguia.com), These are in Spanish, but you can use some web translation services.
If you are in Medellin, do not forget to pick up the free magazines listing all the new constructions on offer, that contains used properties classified ads too, or consult the online versions ( Ex: propiedades, informeinmobiliario, inmuebleguia, guiainmobiliario) for the Medellin area, These are available at bank branches and supermarkets.
Other way is going to real estate agencies. There are no laws preventing foreigners from owning real estate in Colombia and it is possible to get revenue up to 1% per month for renting properties, mainly in VIS homes (properties valued up to $79.6 million pesos in 2013 or 40.000 USD). VIS homes have government subsidies to lower income families. Medellin real estate is enjoying a recent boom as the city has won the prize as most innovating city in the world. Luxury buildings and middle class buildings are being built at accelerated paces. The city's economy is pretty good, and currently is expanding even more rapidly than Bogota the capital city, with new construction at an all-time high. Some of the best neighborhoods to live in or invest in property, are the El Poblado, Laureles, Envigado, El Retiro and Llanogrande for luxury homes or Buenos Aires, Robledo, Calazans, Los Colores and Caldas for low prized high rental revenue in middle class neighborhoods. However there are plenty of attractive opportunities in the city's downtown area as well as in the metropolitan area (Bello, Itagui; La Estrella and San Antonio de Prado). Although property prices continue to increase, Medellin Antioquia is still more affordable than many other Colombian cities such as Cartagena and Bogota and it would be a good option for an investor.
Prices in Medellin Antioquia are from $45 million pesos ($22,500 USD on 2013) for subsidized units to over $400 colombian million pesos ( $200,000 USD ) for luxury real estate in one of the best neighborhoods, with $150 million pesos for one in a medium or upper medium class neighborhood (75.000 USD). For new VIS properties, units would be offered unfinished, which means concrete floors and walls with lack of closets and any garage. For over VIS units will be finished normally, and may be garage included in the price, no communal parking spots. Parking spots are typically included in properties over $112 colombian million pesos, and additional ones can cost $13 million pesos ($6500 USD) or a little more. Finally, closing costs can be estimated more or less in three million pesos ($1450 USD). In addition, could be applicable some monthly community fees, which will probably run 64.000-340.000 pesos/month (32 USD to 170 USD/ month).
For investing, Propiedad-Raiz thinks that cheaper apartment will have the best return. Not only taking into account the amount for what they can be rented, but the easy and fast way to sell them if it were necessary. Many of the cheaper apartments may claim to have three bedrooms even though the total floor space is only 40-55 square meters, but there are furniture that fit these areas. Studio / bachelor apartments are the least common and are not recommendable for investing which is something you have to keep in mind if you want to put the unit on the rental market.
If you are mainly interested in the secondary market, the best sources are the major Colombian newspaper classifieds for Medellin, such as El Colombiano (elcolombiano.com), El Mundo (elmundo.com), and qhubo, among others. On line Classifieds websites like propiedad-raiz.com are very good sources.
As mentioned earlier, foreigners enjoy the same rights as native Colombians in purchasing properties, but financing could be a problem. It is not possible to finance a property through a bank in the homeland, and no Colombian bank will lend any money unless buyers have a credit history in Colombia or have an active Colombian bank account which shows off incomes. Note that opening a Colombian bank account requires to have a "passport" and "cedula de extranjeria" that you can get in a few days for foreigners that live in Colombia or "cedula" as it is the national identity card. If you do arrange local financing, know that interest rates are 9% annual in Colombia (year 2013). Most foreigners do 100% cash transactions, and they resort to wiring funds directly to the real estate agency and / or seller from their bank abroad. Needless to say, be sure everything is airtight before handing anybody vast sums of money! You can have financial advising from Propiedad-Raiz.com on real estate investment and Andres Marquez Gamboa who has 18 year experience in banking in Bogota and Medellin Colombia, lately as branch manager of and important bank.
Transferring or 'wiring' money to Colombia is very simple. You will need to provide your foreign bank with: a. Details of an 'Intermediary' bank that will facilitate the transaction between the bank in Colombia and your foreign bank. b. Details of the bank in Colombia where the money will be received. C. Details of an individual account at the bank in Colombia. Andres Marquez Gamboa from Propiedad-Raiz.com can guide you through the entire process so your transfer goes pretty fine.
The best suggestion for foreigners I can make is that before you invest in real estate in Colombia, come to live here in a rental property, get established, then after look for advising or find professional advise that you can get for an affordable cost, avoiding to manage these business directly with the owner in Colombia being you abroad. It is very important that at least you have someone who represents you in the Colombian city you consider to make your investment. We strongly recommend Medellin as one of the best places for this purpose.
Global and important investor Sam Zell selected Colombia for real-estate investments as the "next best" in L.A. market. Real Estate prices in Colombia are rising strongly in last few years and expected to keep on rising due to the economic growth prospects (3.8% annual expected for 2013).
The costs you would incur as an owner of real estate in Medellin Colombia are the following: a). Government taxes (Predial Tax): Are based on your real estate value appraisal. Compared to United States, are very low in Colombia. For example, real estate valued at $220,000,000 pesos will cost approximately 110,000 pesos per month in taxes. These are paid tri-monthly. b). Administration: If real estate is into an apartment block or gated community, may incur an administration fee. This community fee covers security costs, and maintenance. This fee can go from 0.12 to 0.24 percent. c). Utility bills: Vary according to the 'strata' rating given to the home and can go from 1 (low end) to 6 (high end). So, for example, it can be say that the total costs for owning real estate in Medellin Colombia, valued at 200,000,000 pesos, are approximately 550,000 pesos per month in year 2013 (approximately $275 US dollars).
Finally, If you are Colombian and you live abroad you can buy real estate in Colombia and arrange local financing. All process is made with international brokers which work together with banks in Colombia. If you are a foreign investor we recommend that you work with a lawyer, who can make sure all laws and regulations are complied with, so when you sell property you can take your investment back with no issues. We invite you to contact Andres Marquez Gamboa as well for advising and arrange local financing in this case either through mortgage credit, housing leasing or real estate leasing for commercial property. Contact details can be found on Propiedad-Raiz.com.
If you are in Medellin, do not forget to pick up the free magazines listing all the new constructions on offer, that contains used properties classified ads too, or consult the online versions ( Ex: propiedades, informeinmobiliario, inmuebleguia, guiainmobiliario) for the Medellin area, These are available at bank branches and supermarkets.
Other way is going to real estate agencies. There are no laws preventing foreigners from owning real estate in Colombia and it is possible to get revenue up to 1% per month for renting properties, mainly in VIS homes (properties valued up to $79.6 million pesos in 2013 or 40.000 USD). VIS homes have government subsidies to lower income families. Medellin real estate is enjoying a recent boom as the city has won the prize as most innovating city in the world. Luxury buildings and middle class buildings are being built at accelerated paces. The city's economy is pretty good, and currently is expanding even more rapidly than Bogota the capital city, with new construction at an all-time high. Some of the best neighborhoods to live in or invest in property, are the El Poblado, Laureles, Envigado, El Retiro and Llanogrande for luxury homes or Buenos Aires, Robledo, Calazans, Los Colores and Caldas for low prized high rental revenue in middle class neighborhoods. However there are plenty of attractive opportunities in the city's downtown area as well as in the metropolitan area (Bello, Itagui; La Estrella and San Antonio de Prado). Although property prices continue to increase, Medellin Antioquia is still more affordable than many other Colombian cities such as Cartagena and Bogota and it would be a good option for an investor.
Prices in Medellin Antioquia are from $45 million pesos ($22,500 USD on 2013) for subsidized units to over $400 colombian million pesos ( $200,000 USD ) for luxury real estate in one of the best neighborhoods, with $150 million pesos for one in a medium or upper medium class neighborhood (75.000 USD). For new VIS properties, units would be offered unfinished, which means concrete floors and walls with lack of closets and any garage. For over VIS units will be finished normally, and may be garage included in the price, no communal parking spots. Parking spots are typically included in properties over $112 colombian million pesos, and additional ones can cost $13 million pesos ($6500 USD) or a little more. Finally, closing costs can be estimated more or less in three million pesos ($1450 USD). In addition, could be applicable some monthly community fees, which will probably run 64.000-340.000 pesos/month (32 USD to 170 USD/ month).
For investing, Propiedad-Raiz thinks that cheaper apartment will have the best return. Not only taking into account the amount for what they can be rented, but the easy and fast way to sell them if it were necessary. Many of the cheaper apartments may claim to have three bedrooms even though the total floor space is only 40-55 square meters, but there are furniture that fit these areas. Studio / bachelor apartments are the least common and are not recommendable for investing which is something you have to keep in mind if you want to put the unit on the rental market.
If you are mainly interested in the secondary market, the best sources are the major Colombian newspaper classifieds for Medellin, such as El Colombiano (elcolombiano.com), El Mundo (elmundo.com), and qhubo, among others. On line Classifieds websites like propiedad-raiz.com are very good sources.
As mentioned earlier, foreigners enjoy the same rights as native Colombians in purchasing properties, but financing could be a problem. It is not possible to finance a property through a bank in the homeland, and no Colombian bank will lend any money unless buyers have a credit history in Colombia or have an active Colombian bank account which shows off incomes. Note that opening a Colombian bank account requires to have a "passport" and "cedula de extranjeria" that you can get in a few days for foreigners that live in Colombia or "cedula" as it is the national identity card. If you do arrange local financing, know that interest rates are 9% annual in Colombia (year 2013). Most foreigners do 100% cash transactions, and they resort to wiring funds directly to the real estate agency and / or seller from their bank abroad. Needless to say, be sure everything is airtight before handing anybody vast sums of money! You can have financial advising from Propiedad-Raiz.com on real estate investment and Andres Marquez Gamboa who has 18 year experience in banking in Bogota and Medellin Colombia, lately as branch manager of and important bank.
Transferring or 'wiring' money to Colombia is very simple. You will need to provide your foreign bank with: a. Details of an 'Intermediary' bank that will facilitate the transaction between the bank in Colombia and your foreign bank. b. Details of the bank in Colombia where the money will be received. C. Details of an individual account at the bank in Colombia. Andres Marquez Gamboa from Propiedad-Raiz.com can guide you through the entire process so your transfer goes pretty fine.
The best suggestion for foreigners I can make is that before you invest in real estate in Colombia, come to live here in a rental property, get established, then after look for advising or find professional advise that you can get for an affordable cost, avoiding to manage these business directly with the owner in Colombia being you abroad. It is very important that at least you have someone who represents you in the Colombian city you consider to make your investment. We strongly recommend Medellin as one of the best places for this purpose.
Global and important investor Sam Zell selected Colombia for real-estate investments as the "next best" in L.A. market. Real Estate prices in Colombia are rising strongly in last few years and expected to keep on rising due to the economic growth prospects (3.8% annual expected for 2013).
The costs you would incur as an owner of real estate in Medellin Colombia are the following: a). Government taxes (Predial Tax): Are based on your real estate value appraisal. Compared to United States, are very low in Colombia. For example, real estate valued at $220,000,000 pesos will cost approximately 110,000 pesos per month in taxes. These are paid tri-monthly. b). Administration: If real estate is into an apartment block or gated community, may incur an administration fee. This community fee covers security costs, and maintenance. This fee can go from 0.12 to 0.24 percent. c). Utility bills: Vary according to the 'strata' rating given to the home and can go from 1 (low end) to 6 (high end). So, for example, it can be say that the total costs for owning real estate in Medellin Colombia, valued at 200,000,000 pesos, are approximately 550,000 pesos per month in year 2013 (approximately $275 US dollars).
Finally, If you are Colombian and you live abroad you can buy real estate in Colombia and arrange local financing. All process is made with international brokers which work together with banks in Colombia. If you are a foreign investor we recommend that you work with a lawyer, who can make sure all laws and regulations are complied with, so when you sell property you can take your investment back with no issues. We invite you to contact Andres Marquez Gamboa as well for advising and arrange local financing in this case either through mortgage credit, housing leasing or real estate leasing for commercial property. Contact details can be found on Propiedad-Raiz.com.
About the Author:
Looking to find the best deal on Real Estate Medelln Colombia, then visit www.propiedad-raiz.com to find the best advice on how to buy real estate in Colombia and get access to hundreds of property listings and opportunities in Medellin. Visit this Classifieds Real Estate Portal and watch from basic to luxury homes for sale in Antioquia.
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