 "Investment Property: Buying to rent"
From what I have heard buying to rent here can be more trouble than its worth unless you have good trustworthy friends/contacts here to watch over the whole thing for you. There are many reasons for this:- If you buy in the coastal regions you are looking at a very short rental season (mid December - early February). After that most of the popular coastal areas are left relatively vacant which is very attractive for thieves. Not only that but many of the houses built on the coast are built specifically to serve as summer beach homes, as such they are very basic structures, usually with a couple of steps in the construction skipped along the way to keep costs down. Further up the coast (in Rocha) there is no central sewerage system so toilets block and break very easily, septic tanks will need to be emptied etc. If you want a high quality property in this area you will probably have to build it yourself. - Property/rental laws here very much protect the tenant. If they do not pay their rent you cannot kick them out for for quite a long period of time, and even after that time there will be a lengthy legal process to go through. As such you'd want to be very careful about who you allow to move in, especially if you are renting from a distance. - Then there is also the issue of furniture. If you want to earn high rents you will most likely be aiming at foreigners/tourists, in which case you will have to furnish your apartment (which isn't very common here). Furniture is pretty expensive here, and a lot of it is of poor quality so you have to choose between investing in good stuff and risking that the tenants treat it poorly, or you buy the basic stuff and run the likely risk that it will break and you'll have to replace it. As such landlords here ask for a 4-5 month "garantia" - a security deposit against which damages are covered. - Finally there is administration. You will need someone down here to pay municipal taxes, ensure gastos comunes (communal building costs) are paid or your neighbours will not like you very much and to ensure the rent is paid monthly. If the phone line, electricity or water are in your name you'd also want to ensure they get paid. There are people who have invested in "buy to rent" apartments here so I'm sure there are advantages to be had, but there are also many caveats so you should be aware of those too. In terms of areas to buy in - it seems to be very popular to buy in Ciudad Vieja (the old city in Montevideo) and renovate, although many of these buildings really require a lot of work and at the moment this area of the city is still quite unsafe and so wouldn't be ideal if aiming at tourists. Pocitos is a very popular and upmarket area but property prices are higher, as are obligatory communal building costs because many places have all day porteros (doormen). As for Punta del Este see the first point. The rental season there is short and the off-season presents security risks. Is there anyone on the board who has rented out their property in Uruguay? What has been your experience? | 
