The evolution of the CEDIN in Argentina

At the beginning of July, the Argentine Government launched a new Certificate, called “Certificado de Depósito de Inversión”, alias CEDIN, in order to promote investments in the Real Estate Business. In addition to these certificates, CEDIN, the Government also launched a new Law which allows the declaration of (undeclared) money that people have in foreign countries, without having to pay any penalty, so they are encouraged to invest it in Argentina.

As every process, in order to analyze the results of the launching of the CEDIN and the impact over the economy in Argentina, time is the key, so we will need more time in order to make conclusions. The president of the "Camara Inmobiliaria Argentina" (Real Estate Organization in Argentina), Roberto Arevalo, mentioned that at the end of July some conclusion could be made, in order to analyze how the CEDIN is evolving, and the response it had over the people.

For the time being, the CEDIN are already available and many people have been investigating on how it works. During the first 5 days since its launching, in the City of Buenos Aires, 22 CEDIN Certificates were issued, which equaled to a sum of 1.04 million of dollars. The Argentine Government expects to sum 4 billion dollars in CEDIN Certificates by September, so the amount is not very convincing for the time being. Still, since the CEDIN Certificates have been launched only a few weeks ago, it will take time until people start trusting and investing in the CEDIN certificates. For starters, people and real estate agencies have already started to publish in the agencies and in the papers that they accept CEDIN Certificates for the real estate transactions.

In some provinces, like Mendoza, people are waiting to see the results that the province of Buenos Aires show, before jumping into investing in the CEDIN Certificates. After analyzing the results and checking the benefits of investing in the CEDINs, Mendoza and other provinces may start investing as well.

To conclude, it is still a bit early to see how the CEDIN Certificates evolve, but for the time being, they are apparently starting to work positively; it is only a matter of waiting some time before jumping into conclusions.

Madrid vs. Buenos Aires: Rent Prices

These days, Spain and Argentina are going through an economic crisis, just as most of the countries around the world are. Still, the economic crisis in Spain is not the same as in Argentina and vice versa. According to the information provided by different media in both countries, the rent prices variations in Madrid and Buenos Aires is completely opposite.

During the last year, there has been a fall in the rent prices of Spain, including Madrid, (which has always been considered one of the most expensive cities to live in). On the contrary, during the last year, Argentina has shown a raise in its rent prices and the city of Buenos Aires and its surrounding localities have felt said raise.

According to the information provided by the Spanish website fotocasa.es, the price variation in percentage over rent at the beginning of 2013 in Madrid has been of 7%. That is to say, that in the beginning of 2013, rent prices have fallen 7% in the city of Madrid.

On the contrary, in Buenos Aires the raise over rent prices has been calculated in 20%. This percentage was higher in some of the wealthier neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires.

Nevertheless, although the prices over rent in Buenos Aires have gone up, the truth is that the income that said rent leaves to the owners of the property does not equal said raise, due to the inflation that Argentina has.

To conclude, during the last year, Madrid has been going through a fall in the rent prices and Buenos Aires has evidenced a notorious raise. Still, in both cities (Madrid and Buenos Aires), due to the economic situation, the increase and the fall of the prices have proved not to be beneficial to the owners or tenants (respectively).

Price comparison for house sales in Madrid and Buenos Aires

During the last few years, Madrid and Buenos Aires have gone through different economic situations, and its real estate panoramas have also been totally different. In Buenos Aires, during the last few years (and even the last few months) the real estate and construction boom has made prices go up when it comes to buying a house or an apartment. This, plus the increase in the dollar exchange (in Argentina the real estate transactions are generally done in dollars) have made the prices go even higher. On the contrary, in Spain, due to the economic crisis, prices have gone down. This is because there are more people interested in selling their houses than buying one. Still, in Madrid and a few other localities, prices have gone a bit higher (but not much). Nevertheless, if we compare the raise percentages, the rising tendency over the real estate prices in Buenos Aires is higher than those in Madrid.

According to some information give by the website “fotocasa.es”, the average price of a house in Madrid in April 2013 is €2483 per square meter. It should be mentioned that Madrid is considered one of the most expensive cities of Spain.

In Buenos Aires, according to an index provided by the website zonaprop.com, the average price of a house during May 2013 in the City of Buenos Aires was of US$2072 (a bit less than €1590).

As we have mentioned, although the prices in Madrid are still higher than those prices of a house in Buenos Aires, during the last few years, prices in Buenos Aires have gone higher in percentage than those prices in Madrid.

Likewise, the economic situation and the income per person of each country should be considered in order to see how difficult it is to earn that money in each country in order to be able to buy a house (both in Madrid and in Buenos Aires.)

Still, if we just look at the numbers, at this moment it is more expensive to buy a house in Madrid than in Buenos Aires.

5 ideas to organize your wardrobe

First, before organizing your wardrobe, we need to do some cleaning. Even though, it is sometimes hard to get rid of the clothes we don't wear too much (although they seem new), the truth is that if we don’t use it much, is because we probably don’t need it. For this reason, many experts say that if you haven’t worn that shirt, jean (or whatever) in two years, you need to get rid of it. If you give away the clothes you don't wear, you will be helping someone who does need it, and, at the same time, it will help you have more space in your wardrobe.

Once you get rid of all those clothes you don't need, a second idea to organize your wardrobe is to separate (the wardrobe) into different sectors. For example, you may use a drawer for your underwear, another one for t-shirts (you may also have one drawer for those t-shirts you wear to go to work, another one for those you use for doing exercise...), etc.

A third idea to organize your wardrobe is to use boxes (there are boxes made of carton, wood, or linen, for example). These boxes may be good to put accessories in them (necklaces, scarves, belts, handbags, etc.). This way, your wardrobe will look more tidy and organized and it will be easier to find what you need.

A fourth idea to help you organize your wardrobe is to buy those vacuum packed bags to put all those things you don’t wear too often. One example may be the blankets. If you have spare blanket in your wardrobe, you may use these bags, and so they will occupy half the space they regularly occupy. You may do the same thing with the pullovers during the summer. The good thing about these types of bags is that not only do they make things occupy half the space, but they are also good to avoid dust getting in the clothes.

Lastly, another idea to fully organize your wardrobe is to solve the shoe issue. Shoes tend to take up a lot of space, especially in women’s wardrobes who tend to have more than two pairs. For this reason, nowadays there are some elements that help you keep your shoes organized: there are piece of cloth with big pocket to put the shoes in them -you may hang this in the inner side of your wardrobe; There are also shoe organizers that are kept under the bed; there are special drawers for shoes; and, also bars to put your shoes. You should choose which shoe organizer adapts best to your needs and throw all those shoe boxes that take a lot of space in your wardrobe.

These are 5 ideas to organize your wardrobe, so you can find everything you need (when you need it).

Vertical gardens in buildings

The vertical Gardens appeared a few years ago, and they started spreading all over the world; today, they have become really popular. Vertical gardens are the solution to many problems, since not only do they make the spaces more beautiful but they also take care of the environment, improve one’s health, and they are also a good solution to those who live in apartment buildings and don’t have space for a horizontal garden.

Even though a vertical garden may cost quite a lot of money, especially if you hire a specialized person who installs all the things that a complete vertical garden must have, there are some “home-made” ways of installing your own vertical garden. For example, there are some easy ways of installing your vertical garden if you buy a special material (like a special piece of cloth with pockets to grow plants there). This is just an example of an easy and cheap way of having your own vertical garden at home.

Still, there are some more elaborate methods and structures that are good to install a vertical garden in your whole building. This method means putting a special structure with a substrate that have many qualities, that include filtering the air (in a natural way), acclimatize the environment (and reduce the use of the conditioning systems), etc.

In many parts of the world, the vertical garden systems are being used since not only do they make a place look nicer, but they are also useful to take care of the environment and they also help reducing costs.

For those buildings in the city that don’t have enough space to have a regular (horizontal) garden, the vertical garden could be a tempting and nice way of having your own “green area”.

Before installing a vertical garden, remember to check which plants are good to grow in this type of garden, since not all types of plants may survive. And, if you don’t have enough space to grow your own garden, now you have a nice option with a vertical garden.

Will the CEDIN reactivate the real estate business?

Even though they have just been launched, the “Certificados de Deposito de Inversion” "CEDIN” (for its Spanish acronym) –Deposit certificate of investment-, specialists on the area are already giving a few ideas on what they think about the new method of investment and how it could affect/benefit the Argentine economy.

Even though there are still no real or exact numbers or conclusions, many specialists of the real estate business are having high hopes on the new CEDIN launch and its possible economic reactivation effect.

The CEDINs are launched with the idea of reactivating the economy and the real estate business which has gone down for the last year in Argentina. The idea of the CEDIN is to allow people to have savings in other countries other than Argentina to declare them and bring them into the country to use them as investment. In exchange, instead of giving this people dollars, they get these CEDINs which may be used in real estate transactions.

According to the Director of “Bullrich Inmobiliarias” (a real estate agency), "the CEDIN will work more than this ‘zero functioning’. The market is completely frozen. It is not a matter of politics, but a ‘spread effect’”.

Nevertheless, according to José Rozados, the Director of the website “Reporte Inmobiliario”, the CEDIN will “hardly reactivate all the real estate segments”, and he adds that this specially applies to the medium and small-sized operators which are the most affected business at the moment.

As you can see, each person has its own beliefs and conclusions about the new launching of the CEDIN.

As we have mentioned in other opportunities, during the last months (or year), the real estate business has retracted, which has caused a big uncertainty among the real estate agents. The new launch of the CEDIN into the market could be the solution or the beginning of the reactivation of the real estate business. Nonetheless, it is a matter of waiting and analyzing the results, once they come. Many people are already asking about the CEDIN and how they work as a way of payment, so time will tell, and later in time we will be able to see what happens with the investments and the reactivation of the real estate business in Argentina.

Roofs in garden: How to avoid loosing light

If you are thinking about installing a roof in your garden, you may be wondering if it could take light out of your house. Even though putting a roof in your garden has its advantages, you need to check that (in fact) it doesn’t take light out of your house. Nevertheless, there are different types of roofs you may install in your garden or patio which are prepared to avoid this complication. How? Here, we will mention some ideas that may be useful when it comes to installing a roof on your patio.

For starters, in order to put a roof in your patio without taking any sun light, there are many roofs made of glass or different crystal materials that could be used. Nowadays, you may find from plastic materials to glasses (double, simple, thicker, thinner, unbreakable, etc). The type of material you may choose to put in your patio as a roof will depend on the type of roof you may want to install and have. Installing a roof made of glass or (transparent) plastic is ideal if you don't want to loose sun light and close your patio.

On the other hand, those who still believe that putting a roof in your patio will take you all the light, even if the roof is made of glass or plastic, these days you may find many movable roofs. This type of roof allows you to take it away if you want more light or put it if you want to be in your patio and it is raining or it’s too cool.

Having a roof in your patio made of glass or plastic that allows the light to pass into your house may be perfect so you can enjoy your patio or garden in winter, despite the cold, and the sun and its heat (and the light of course) in a cozy environment.

Moreover, besides choosing to install crystal, glass, or plastic materials specially made to use as roofs in your patio, there are different types of materials that you can use in its structure so they support the glasses. These can be thicker or thinner; it's up to you (and your budget). According to the type of structure you choose, this may take more or less sun light out of your house.

To conclude, putting a roof in your patio may be a good option if you want to enjoy this part of your house all year long, or if you need more space at home. Putting a transparent structure as a roof will let you use this area as an extra room or as a patio as well (even in winter).

Pros and Cons of having electric blinds

Even though there are some opposite opinions on whether if it’s a good idea to install electric blinds or not, the truth is that many people have chosen to install them at their houses. For those who are thinking about installing electric blinds at home, we will mention some pros and cons of doing it.

Let’s see the pros / advantages first:

- Many people have old blinds which are heavy and big. These types of blinds may be hard to pull up and down every day, especially for those people who have back problems or some kind of pain, or even for older people. This type of "exercise" of pulling the blinds up and down may be detrimental for them.

- Installing electric blinds is comfortable and practical, especially if you have many blinds at home.

- Electric blinds generally work better than the regular ones, since its structure tends to be stronger.

- Many blinds allow you to install a timer in order the blinds go up and down alone at a certain time. This way even when you are not home, blinds will close, and it may be safer and keep the cold outside when the night comes.

Now, let’s see some of the cons / disadvantages of having electric blinds at home:

- Electric blinds need electricity, which may raise your electricity bill.

- When the light are shut off (this usually happens in Argentina), you won’t be able to pull the blinds up and/or down.

- In case the blinds have a problem, we must call a specialist. Instead, if you have regular blinds, you may ask a friend to help you solve the problem, or call a specialist (there are more people who know how to fix regular blinds, and not electric ones -again, in Argentina).

- Clearly, a downside of having electric blinds at home is that they are more expensive to install (and to buy); and also its maintenance is more expensive.

Still, having electric blinds could be a comfort that worth the investment, and if they really last longer than the regular blinds, it could be a good option.

Now that you know the pros and cons of having electric blinds at home, you can make up your mind an see what type of blinds you choose for your house.