' Gastos comunes' Real Estate  

Gastos comunes

Oregon Woodsmoke from Bend, Oregon, USA -

I am looking at real estate listings for sale and the apartementos list "gasto comunes"

I am hoping that apartementos are condos. I think maybe the gastos comunes are the association fees which pay for the maintenance and gardening.

The price of the gastos comunes just about knocked me off my chair. A $(US)150, 000 apartemento has gastos comunes of $12, 000! Yikes!

But then it occured to me that maybe the price is in US dollars and the gastos are in pesos? I hope?

Is the price given for gastos usually by the month or the year?

I can speak a small amount of Mexican Spanish, and I can read (barely)the real estate listings, except I can't figure out some of the local idiom.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Comment #1 Steve Bowman from Piriapolis & Savannah, Ga -

Woodsmoke-

I feel like you have it figured out. The common area fees are in Pesos, annualized.

About US$S578 or $58/month for the 12, 000.

Steve

• Coastal Uruguay

Comment #2 Wilbur Corncob from Punta del Este -

You need more of an explanation of what the gastos comune include (or not).

In *SOME* buildings it included the HEAT. Sometimes it is higher in the winter, sometimes the winter heating costs are amoritzed over the year.

In *SOME* buildings it includes a doorman and/or security guard. That may be a few hours a day to 24/7.

It always includes the general building costs, elevators, cleaning the common area, often water.

You (we've) always gotten a detailed accounting every month and the total building costs (whatever they include) are divided porportionally across all the apartments in the build.

That means if you have a building of 1 apartment per floor you'll generally have the total cost divided by 7 to 10. If you have 4 apartments per floor it would be the total divided by between 28 and 40.

We lived in an apartment on the Rambla and the gastos comune started at 2, 000 something and went up to about 3, 000 and included heat!

So before you say yikes, see what that cost includes... I think the 12, 000 pesos per month tend to be the 1 apartment per floor type buildings.

Some building have swimming pools, gyms and other common areas that maybe costly.

I would watch out for the places with radient electric heat. Unless someone shows you actual electric bills that heated the place to a comfortable temperature I would not believe that it is the same or cheaper than gas or disel based heat.

I have never seen gastos comunes listed for any period other than monthly, except when they have two figures, one for the summer and one for the winter.

I would read "$(US)150, 000 apartemento has gastos comunes of $12, 000!"

As US150K for the apartment and 12, 000 pesos (US)$578 PER MONTH!

Comment #3 Joanna (76.245.210.180) - Tue May 20 12:24:21 2008

I am interested in the property/houses under $50, 000 or so in Uruguay. I would like to plan a Search trip soon. I, of course, would like to locate where i can get the most for my dollar but also in a nice place.

any details on property would be wonderful, the areas.

Muchas Gracias! Joanna

Comment #4 gypsygirl1925 (64.40.51.36) - Thu May 22 12:36:58 2008

Hi Joanna,

You will find tons of information on buying property and good places to relocate on the website UruguayLiving.com. Go to the forums and start with Canalones, Maldonado, and Hiding out in La Floresta. Lots of people to connect with that are already living in UY and have lots of advice.

I just got back a month ago from my research trip and can't wait to move there. I am a single lady and want to retire there. It's beautiful. You can find properties under $50K along the coastal beach towns, but finding an English speaking realtor is a challenge.

Look for me in the blogs, my handle is gypsygirl 1925. Good luck and get on down there!

Candy

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