½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

I just sent my wife thru Cartagena in the last few weeks, she stayed with her niece who just bought an apartment there, I think she invested around 35,000 USD for it. I noticed that the hotel prices are up about 20-40 percent depending on the hotel versus 2 years ago when I was there. The last time I had her check on apartments there it seemed like 400 usd was a good starting point per month. Been my experience there that some folks put a sign in the window to rent the unit. You might want to also look at the A/C situation, Cartagena is miserable trying to sleep without it. I have a 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment in Funza with walled in security, landscaping, and gym for 250 USD a month. That is about 10 miles from the airport in Bogota. The security situation is good, the prices for bakeries, coffee, food are cheap and quality is good. I found that Bogota and Cartagena are US prices, plus you have to really watch your back in Cartagena if you leave the Bocagrande area. Bogota is also unsafe. With kids you really got to be aware. Just to give you some context, I stayed at the Hilton in Barranquilla in Sep 2022 for 14 days, cost me 50 USD a night. I think right now at the Hilton in Cartagena is around 140 USD. My wife told me that starting 1 Jan they were going to start enforcing the 19 % VAT on hotels, not sure if the 90 day tourist visa will be impacted. I don't know if the weather and road closures lately are a major factor but my wife tells me that the cost of everything she is buying has really taken a big hike, could be that the strong dollar is impacting Colombia paying her loans back in US dollars. I get the feeling that the government will be looking hard for tax money.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to ½ûÂþÌìÌà @Osaya !

Your thread is now on the Cartagena forum.

@loaferln, thanks for sharing your experience and piece of advice.

Cheers,

Cheryl

½ûÂþÌìÌà team

in most places in Colombia, apart from Bucarramanga, it is difficut to find a rental,(unless you know an owner who trusts you) as mostare rented by agencies, they want at least 1, if not 2, and as many as 4 (if you can believe it) Fijadores .. persons who own property and accept liability for you. Or, they expect 6 months rent tied up in a 1 year CDT (term deposit) which you cannot touch until the contract ends.

This is because Colombians are used to other Colombians wrecking the place, or just staying months or years withot them leaving. It is impossible or at least very difficult to get people out of your property legally if they choose not to leave ..best way is with two guys on a moto

No, not that!

I have personally seen what two moto guys can do.

To a witness, it becomes evident why Medellin

outlawed two males from riding on a single motorcycle

for years.

An Expat hiring two guys on a moto and then things

go sideways .. that's a recipe for disaster.

cccmedia

update.

We ended up Using a combination of Airbnb and dealing with the owner direct. we were having a hard time getting in touch with the owner of the place we are staying in currently so we went with Airbnb. once we booked her place on there it got her attention. We spoke to her and will let Airbnb run its course but after that we will deal directly with her and her husband to avoid paying the extra airbnb fees. I'm 100% sure we are over paying however I don't mind due to the peace of mind we get here at the edificio we are staying in.

Also we were in the middle of negotiations with a couple on VRBO for renting their place in bocagrande.

@Osaya***

Two guys on a moto...  Reminds me of one of my idiotic pastimes while riding as a passenger in vans, taxis, and, buses. MOTO YATZEE. I would assign various categories to combinations of MOTO passengers. You know two police on a moto might be one category, two girls on a moto another. A family of three, a family of four, a family of five. Two persons and an animal of any kind. My favorite was when I saw a drop-dead gorgeous girl sitting backward holding her baby. Apparently, she HAD been nursing the baby and it had come unlatched. I waved at the girl and was pointing downward to the baby, and she apparently thought I was flirting and just smiled back. Meanwhile her boob bouncing around and the baby bouncing around trying to latch back on. Probably my most unusual MOTO sighting.

lpd