The ' home brief '

As you can imagine, this has been a matter of much debate!!

We have settled on this;
- definitely an apartment (husband does not want responsibility for gardening beyond balcony potted herbs & the mandatory gardenia plant);
- must have either a balcony &/or a terrace
- must have a security car-parking space for 1 car
- we need 3 'bedrooms' (1 as a study where husband's family global financial management activities can be contained!)
- we need 2 full bathrooms (that's for all you guests!)
- we need a real kitchen, with enough cupboards, preferably gas cooking appliances
- we need a laundry within the apartment (many buildings have just a communal laundry)
- we need a definite dining area (open plan living/dining or dining room)
- we need an 'ample' living area (to fit the large scale old furniture we have)
- target budget is USD$300,000

Bonus additionals;
- a low-rise building
- 24 hour security
- a kitchen with enough space for a small breakfast table?
- any extra storage space
- an inner balcony/courtyard space
- any facilities, especially a pool!

The trick is to find this property in our chosen area, for somewhere near our targeted budget! Now, that doesn't seem so difficult, does it?? Not even asking for a view! Well, there's not much of what we'd consider a view around here anyway, so we're not fussed.

We know that there will be limited properties that meet this brief for this budget in Hollywood, where there's a 20% inflated value for the trendy aspect at this time. In fact, it's unusual to find a 3 bedroom apartment in any of the new developments in Hollywood at all, many built specifically for the 1 bedroom yuppie crowd & for the high-yield rentals market to expat visitors (yep! that's us right now!)
So we're not holding out much hope for Hollywood. The developments in Hollywood tend to divide into 2 groups - those with car-parking spaces/garages & those with 'facilities'(small pool &/or a rooftop communal terrace entertaining space &/or a small gym). It is rare to find a block with all these amenities in Hollywood.

Colegiales has almost no 3 bedroom apartments at all we're told :(

Belgrano 'R' is the most promising prospect, however we've been told to expect to have to do some renovations before moving in. Most of those buildings have not been renovated since they were built, now coming up 20-24 years & need some work done. They were well built but there's a lot of 'brass fittings' a la mode at that time. Plus the average age of the well-heeled owners from that decade meant there's a dominance of wallpaper too. Thankfully we're assured that renovation costs here are very affordable & top value. Phew!