Anyone here been there?
A close friend is heading down there tomorrow for a week. He's looking to buy some property and possibly relocate - the "why" is another lengthy tome for another day. [no, he's not running from the law or anyone :-)]
I'm just wondering what it is like there if anyone knows. We had a foreign exchange student, Rexner, from there when I was in high-school but that was 35 or so years ago so I do not remember what, if any, he had to say about it.
That school didn't offer Spanish but I had taken 2 years of it in the school I was at before then. It was my first opportunity to speak with a native speaker. Far as I know we were the only ones who could speak it in that little town back then. There were differences about it I never knew about. I was taught "Spanish-Spanish" and he spoke more like a flavor of Mexican-Spanish which would be like "American-English" compared to "the King's English" or "Aussie English".
Anyway, what about Santiago?
E.
Twice last year!
Just kidding, that's my idea of humor in case you didn't get the movie reference.
Si si si
I went with a buddy of mine who is the first of his family born in the US. He has quite a few family members there.
Good stories, good times; my bad spanish allowed me to say a vulgar curse in front of his entire family at a cookout... They still like me though.
There are street performers at just about every traffic light entertaining for change. They have a coin that is like 0.01 of a peso. It's tiny, made of aluminum and they say it is so worth so little it could blow away in the wind. The highways are all privatized. Everyone is required to have a fast pass and there are wires over the highways every few miles that toll you for driving.
What field is your friend practicing? I'm not sure if any of my friend's family has real estate connections, but one is a PE.
One of the investments my friend's uncle was in the midst of making when I was there was an avocado farm. You purchase the land, hire one guy to set up the plants with a drip line irrigation. He continues to watch over the crop for the years to come. After 3 years you can sell the crop to migrant farmers who will pick the fruits. Then you should have a fairly regular investment.
spledeus at c4.net
I have been there many times, in fact I actually lived in Chile three different times in my life, although I never lived in Santiago, always in Vina del Mar.
I will try to post some info this afternoon when I get back from the field.
Santiago is a very modern city, in some ways more "modern" than cities here in the US. For example, the parking garages at the high end malls have little sensors above each parking place, you can see at a glance where an empty spot is, and there are signs saying how many spaces on each level, etc. I thought that was cool. It is like that in Mexico City as well.
Anyway, Santiago does have a traffic problem. There is a subway, but it only goes to certain areas, so there are LOTS of buses and cars on the road. Yes, some roads are toll in the city, sort of like the system in Dallas where you have to have a E-pass to use it. But, other toll roads have standard toll booths. The road to Vina del Mar/Valparaiso has regular toll booths. They do not tolerate DUI at all, I was told that they have some leeway at low levels (like below 0.05%), but once you go above whatever the limit is you are screwed. Also, they are strict about traffic laws like speeding. Gas is very expensive.
They do have a bit of a long term problem with electricity, as they do not have much if any oil, gas, or coal. What they do have is lots of hydro potential, but environmentalists are fighting the development of that.
Unlike other latin american countries the cops are honest. DO NOT try to give them a bribe when stopped for a traffic infraction (as is typical in most other LA countries).
Buying property there can be a bit of a hassle, but I think it is done to protect the buyer/seller. Get someone to help you, like a lawyer experienced in that kind of thing. Prices are cheap compared to US, you can get a great piece of land for cheap, right on the beach or in a nice neighborhood in Santiago. Lots of condos in Vina, Renaca, Concon, etc. A town I always liked is Horcon, a small fishing village, although it now has some high rise apartments. They will gladly give you citizenship if you have money. Maybe that sounds bad, I don't mean it can be bought, what I mean is that if you can show that you have assets, and won't be a burden, they will welcome immigrants.
The country is pretty safe, of course if you are careless someone will steal from you, but it is not dangerous like Quito or Monterrey or other cities. I have never heard of a strong arm robbery with a gun or knife. Just don't be careless with your things.
My dream is to have a place there where I can spend winters (summer there) and go back and forth. The only drawback I see is that it is FAR away, long flight. And they are subject to BIG earthquakes. I was in several there, one big one in 1965 or 1966, I was hurt in an aftershock (sleeping, fell out of bed) and had to get stitches in my face. Just make sure the house/apartment/condo meets seismic codes. If it has been around for years, it most likely survived several quakes.
Feel free to contact me for any other info.
Thank you John.
I wish I could have given him that kind of info a few months ago.
Any further comments are welcome.
E.
