Uruguay Real Estate

Uruguay real estate. When looking to buy, or lease an apartment,
house, condominium in Uruguay you’ll notice that there are some significant
differences in the way real estate transactions happen in other parts of the
world.

Buying Real Estate in Uruguay

I always recommend that everyone rent for at least a year when they first arrive
here to familiarize themselves with the terrain, get a lay of the land, so to
speak, and generally give themselves the best chance of not getting screwed over
in their transaction. When buying
real estate in Uruguay, or buying property, you should be aware of a few
things. Transaction costs, all in, will generally add up to 10% of the sales
price. Price discovery is very challenging as different agents will tell
different people different prices. And, there isn’t a great coordinated MLS type
system for carrying all the properties on the market at any given time. In
addition Uruguay real estate agents are not licensed or governed by a realtor
association, but rather a more informal system than is found elsewhere.

Uruguay Real Estate Sites

Although there is no coordinated MLS to speak of, there are a number of Uruguay
real estate sites that I use, and are great for searching an area for
properties, homes, summer homes, farms, land or apartments that are on the
market.  The problem for many is that the sites with the most complete
listings list the homes in Spanish.

Uruguay Real Estate Agents

For those of you who decide to work through an agent — and I highly
recommend it if you’re not fluent in Uruguayan or Rio Platense Spanish.
And, even if you are, in most cases I would recommend it.  What’s
challenging is that there is no real concept of a buyer’s agent.  So in any
relationship you enter into with an agent it’s incredibly important to get
someone that you can trust — and then don’t trust them too much! If you are
smart enough to follow my advice and rent or lease for some period before you
buy, then you may also want to work through a real
estate agent for rentals.  It’ll cost you 1 month in rent for the agent
– or 10% of the first month’s lease, but at times it can be worth the headache
or opportunity to lose your deposit (which can be substantial) in a dispute.

Punta del Este Property Market

Punta del Este is the most well known “resort” town in Uruguay, and perhaps
the Southern cone of South America.  The Punta
del Este real estate market is the most active for expatriate buyers and
perhaps the most well-known outside of the capitol city of Montevideo.  The
Punta property market, and especially the condominium and summer home market is
incredibly active and attractive to part-time residents, snowbirds, and
vacationers.  It’s also got quite a bit of investment
properties for sale which are attractive to Argentines attempting expatriate
money out of Argentina.

Foreign Real Estate Ownership

Unlike the Brazil, Paraguay,
and Argentina
real estate market, Uruguay, and especially Punta del Este, Montevideo,
Colonia, the coast line and beach
community real estate markets attract a lot of attention from foreigners.
Foreigners are subjected to the same laws that govern real estate ownership of
locals — which offers much stronger protection for foreigners than many of the
other popular countries for foreign real estate ownership.

Agricultural and Farm Land

Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, and parts of Brazil have some of the better,
and most reasonably priced farm land in the world.  The rolling pampas for
Uruguay and the rest of the Southern cone have proven to be very desirable
grazing land for raising cattle.  The grass-fed beef is considered superior
throughout the world, and can fetch top prices.  Uruguay’s stability and
live-ability have unfortunately drove up Uruguay land prices and farm
land in Uruguay more than in parts of neighboring countries; both for
pasture land for grazing and also for farm land for raising crops like soybeans.
However, commercial farms and many small family farms are purchased in Uruguay
every year as it continues to be an attractive location to purchase agricultural land for

farmers and ranchers worldwide.

Uruguay Property Taxes

Uruguay property taxes are quite a bit lower than what you’re probably used
to paying if you own property in the ‘first world’, northern hemisphere.
In addition, agricultural land is subjected to even lower property taxes than
those in a primary residence (residential) property, or a property that is
developed for ‘commercial’ use.  It should be noted however, that I have
yet to figure out the zoning laws, that in some parts of Montevideo will simply
leave you assuming that they either don’t exist or are not followed, as massive
apartment complexes are erected with adjoining walls to small single family
homes.

Financing Your Real Estate Purchase

Almost all property bought and sold in Uruguay is done in cash.  There
are loans available to Uruguayans from state-run or state sponsored bank
programs.  However, a vast majority of these are focused on a particular
neighborhood, or an apartment complex where the development was either sponsored
by the government or for some reason is politically important.  By and
large, and especially in the case of expats, or foreigners, properties are
purchased in cash. Uruguay real estate loans that are available to foreigner are generally those that
are private in nature and funded by the builder for a very short period of time
during pre construction.  I tend not to think of these as real estate loans
– it’s more like a real estate loan going from YOU the buyer to the builder,
since he is effectively financing his construction with your deposit cash.

In Summary

In summary, the Uruguay real
estate market, customs, and legal requirements of transactions are all
something that takes some time to get used to.  Price discovery is a
challenge, and if you’re crazy enough to try to become a landlord in Uruguay,
you’ll have to get used to a very socialist left leaning legal system that will
benefit the renter vs. the owner of a property in most cases.

Feel free to browse the site and enjoy.