Shopping for furniture at Fabricas Unidas
Note: This is the fourth part in a four-part series. Read the first part here, the second part here and the third part here.
Part four in this series looks at my costs for renting unfurnished apartments over the past three years in Medellín, plus the costs of furnishings and utilities to enable making a comparison to the cost I would have paid if I continued renting furnished apartments.
In addition, I cover my lessons learned in renting unfurnished apartments in Medellín.
I made the decision in June 2011 to rent an unfurnished apartment in Medellín after four months of trial living in Medellín in furnished apartments located in El Poblado and Belén.
I decided to do this as I believed renting an unfurnished apartment and furnishing it would be cheaper in the long run compared to continuing to rent furnished apartments.
The following table outlines my actual costs to furnish my three-bedroom apartments in Medellín:
Note that I brought some items from the United States such as two DVD players, pillows, sheets, towels and some kitchen items, so these aren’t included in my above furnishing costs.
I also upgraded some items from what I originally purchased in my first apartment in Colombia. I was able to sell these items for about what I originally paid for them as I had bought them on sale for a good price.
The Colombian sofa I originally purchased wasn’t very comfortable so I upgraded to a leather sofa imported from Canada. When I moved to my second apartment in Medellín, I also upgraded the kitchen table and chairs I originally bought to a higher quality set.
The following table outlines my monthly average costs over a 36-month period for my three-bedroom unfurnished apartments in Medellín, plus furnishing costs and utilities:
Not as many three-bedroom furnished apartments are available for rent in Medellín as are smaller one or two-bedroom apartments. The three-bedroom furnished apartments that I am aware are available in Medellín cost $1,200 to $2,800+ per month.
In comparison to my unfurnished apartment costs, the least expensive three-bedroom furnished apartment I found in Medellín rents for $1,200 per month based on a search on Airbnb and other Medellín apartment rental sites, but there may be cheaper available.
1. You can overcome the fiador requirement
Fiadors (cosigner guarantors) are not just a requirement in Colombia, they are also required for apartment rentals in several other countries in Latin America like Brazil, Mexico and Peru.
There are three ways to overcome the fiador requirement in Medellín if you don’t have one:
(a) A few real estate agents in Medellín are willing to lease apartments without a fiador but these agents can be challenging to find. Plus you will have to pay rent in advance as I have done for my apartment rentals in Medellín over the past three years.
(b) You can bypass real estate agents and deal directly with apartment owners in which case everything becomes negotiable and some owners will lease without a fiador.
(c) You can find a company that will act as a fiador for a fee. I refuse to pay a fee for someone to be a fiador, which I understand can cost as high as a month of rent.
2. Understand the estratos
In Colombia residential properties are classified by socioeconomic stratifications known as estratos ranging from 1-6 (with 6 being highest).
Properties in lower estrato neighborhoods pay lower rates for gas, electric, water, telephone, TV and Internet services. Those in higher estrato neighborhoods with higher incomes pay more for services to enable those living in lower estrato neighborhoods to pay less.
There is some correlation between the estrato of an apartment and rental pricing with apartments in lower estratos (1-3) costing less to rent than higher estratos (4-6). Also coming into play is apartment size, age, features and location/view.
The majority of apartments in Medellín are located in estrato 1-3 neighborhoods. El Poblado is primarily an estrato 6 neighborhood, which is why the most expensive apartment rentals are located in this area.
Most foreigners tend to rent apartments in Medellín located in estrato 4, 5 or 6 neighborhoods.
3. Use a real estate agent to help
You can try to search yourself to find apartment owners and bypass the real estate agents in Medellín. Some foreigners have had success with this method. But this takes time and can be a frustrating process.
A good agent with many years of experience can save you time and can find many apartments that meet your needs that you may never find yourself. With an agent you can potentially save yourself a significant amount of unnecessary stress.
Since there are few exclusive agent property listings in Medellín an agent can also show you most available apartments. However it is important to do some research to know market prices to ensure you are not getting overcharged with a “foreigner” price.
I have now worked with my current real estate agent for five apartment lease contracts in Medellín that total over three years – without the need for a fiador.
4. Prioritize your needs
From my current apartment in Belén, I can walk to the Los Molinos shopping mall two blocks away with an Exito, Cine Colombia movie theater and many shops plus a food court.
I am located one block from a Metroplús station that provides access to the metro to get around Medellín. There is a pharmacy in my building and many small restaurants nearby with inexpensive typical Colombian food.
In my apartment building there is also a pool and small gym and the building has 24×7 security. I am also located on the 14th floor in an apartment with two balconies providing a fantastic view of the city.
However, it takes me 30 to 40 minutes on the metro each way to Universidad EAFIT where I take Spanish classes For me this apartment is perfect. However, for others the commute to Spanish classes would be too far. Or maybe for others there is a desire to live in the ritzier El Poblado neighborhood.
Or perhaps there is a need for an even lower cost apartment. Decide what is most important for you and use this during your apartment search.
5. Shop outside of El Poblado to furnish an apartment
Prices are the highest in the stores in El Poblado so if you shop in other areas of Medellín you can save money.
A good place to find furniture in on Autopista Sur in Itagüí where you will find a few large furniture stores.
This includes Fabricas Unidas, which is one of the largest furniture stores in Medellín where you can buy entire rooms of furniture, which can enable fast furnishing of an apartment.
Fabricas Unidas has frequent sales and I purchased several items there on sale. Other smaller stores with Colombia produced furniture with good prices are found on Ochenta – near the Los Molinos mall and just north of the Fatima metro station.
Mattresses in stores in the large shopping malls Medellín are typically overpriced. You can find small mattress stores near the Homecenter store near the Suramericana metro stop that sell mattresses about 40 to 50 percent cheaper. Make sure to negotiate.
For appliances and televisions look in the Jumbo and Exito big box retailers, which regularly have sales.
6. Use multiple methods to search
Many available unfurnished apartments in Medellín are not advertised on the Internet or in newspapers, so the only way to find them is via real estate agents or by walking around looking for signs in windows.
During my last apartment search, I used a combination of walking around, my real estate agent and the Espacio Ubano website.
I looked at over 20 apartments before I found one that was a perfect fit for me. The apartment I ended up selecting was found via my real estate agent and it wasn’t advertised with a sign in the window or via a website.
7. Spanish is needed
In my experience, few real estate agents and few apartment owners in Medellín speak English so Spanish is required. Rental contracts will also be in Spanish.
If you don’t speak sufficient Spanish, you should find someone bilingual to help. I speak Spanish at an intermediate level, which was sufficient to rent several apartments in Medellín.
8. Try living first in a furnished apartment
If you are planning to move to Medellín from another country, I recommend not jumping right into an unfurnished apartment. First rent a furnished apartment for at least a couple of months as I did to make sure Medellín is right for you.
This will also give you the time and opportunity to explore the city to find which neighborhood(s) you would like to live in.
There are challenges to overcome in renting an unfurnished apartment in Medellín, and furnishing it, but you can definitely save money over renting a similar sized furnished apartment.
Bottom line, I estimate that I saved over $10,000 over the past three years by renting unfurnished apartments in Medellín, which I furnished myself, instead of continuing to rent furnished apartments.
My cost will continue to drop each year, as the costs I spent furnishing will be spread out over a longer period.
This coming year, my costs for apartment rent, utilities and Internet/TV phone services for a three-bedroom apartment in a high-rise in Belén I estimate will average $665 per month. My furnishing costs that are now spread out over four years only adds $131 per month.
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Jeff, great article and series. I just wanted to clarify though that in Mexico the "fiador" requirement is extremely rare. It's mostly a Mexico City phenomenon. I've never heard anyone mention dealing with it for any other place in Mexico, even Puebla or Guadalajara. Certainly not in the areas most foreigners will choose to live.
I personally know some Americans that have run into the fiador requirement in Mexico for apartments in Monterrey, Querétaro and Guadalajara in Mexico. If you do a google search for "Mexico fiador" you can find they can sometimes be required in other parts of Mexico beyond Mexico City.
Fiadors are frequently requested in Mexico City. In other parts of the country, they are somewhat less common.
It really depends on the apartment owner if a fiador is required. Some apartment owners in Mexico that are used to renting to foreigners won't require a fiador. Some owners in Mexico will require a fianza (insurance policy that assume the third party responsibility of a fiador) if a renter doesn't have a faidor.
Mexico's laws pretty aggressively protect the rights of renters; for that reason, many owners feel the need to aggressively protect their own interests via the fiador requirement.
I guess it's a matter of who you talk to, but while in Mexico City it's common, the friends I have elsewhere (including Queretaro and Guadalajara) would scratch their head if you mentioned that word. It may be on the books, but few will encounter it outside D.F. It's completely unheard of in San Miguel de Allende, Puerto Vallarta, Playa del Carmen, Ajijic, and other spots where foreigners usually tend to live. I doubt anyone has ever run across it where I live in Guanajuato.
I find renting in Colombia is relatively inexpensive. It is a great city to live in. Everywhere you look is beauty and culture. Wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Hi Mike, I agree with you that Medellín is a great city to live in and is relatively inexpensive. I honestly don't look forward to occasionally having to leave to go back to the US as I need to a few times each year for my job.
As Anthony Bourdain so aptly said - "It's ludicrous this place exists and everybody doesn't want to live here."
I like your quote from Anthony Bourdain.
The fiador requirement is sooooooo annoying. I spent 3 weeks with $20,000 USD in my pocket trying to find someone to take it and no one would! I tried everything including paying the entire lease upfront, plus 3x normal security deposit, plus a freakin kickback and still no one would take my money! They say it's the law but a realtor told me it's actually a requirement placed on the rental agency by the insurance companies who insure the lease. I ended up finding a rental agency in El Poblado owned by an American who allowed me to just pay the lease upfront plus the deposit. I wish I could remember the name as they were extremely helpful and accommodating.
Yes the fiador requirement is annoying when the rent is relatively inexpensive for a foreigner and you have the money to pay in advance. That is why I am glad I found a real estate agent that would deal without a fiador with me paying the lease in advance. I have now used the same real estate agent for apartment leases for three years. And I haven't had to pay a deposit.
Could you forward us the contact info for your realtor? My husband and I are considering a move to Medellin and will come for 2/3 months next year. So I'm just now starting the apt search. I've also started looking at Airbnb, hoping they will give us a deal for that time. Thoughts on that? Regards. Kelly
Hi Kelly,
Unfortunately I can no longer recommend my real estate agent. After five years of doing business with him I started having problems with him and I now rent directly with an owner. Note that owners must pay a 7-10% commission to agents so if you rent directly with an owner you can typically negotiate a cheaper rent. But you will need Spanish to deal with most owners.
I recommend renting a furnished apartment to start with - you can find some good deals on Airbnb but make sure to look for ones with reviews.
I just went through this as well. I wanted to share with you my thoughts in a efford to help. Jeff thanks for writing the article it gave me some deja vu moments. We wanted to live near her family and my office here and belen looked great. We went to speak to door people and a few showed us open apartments. We contacted one and the price was a million pesos a month unfurnished 3 bedroom. two small terraces, a pool, two bathrooms, water heater, guards, gym, sauna, 2 pools and parking included. I filled out the fiador all night. I got help I will not lie. I over over over qualify for this. I met in park belen to sign. Last minute the notary said she can not qualify me. I had a bank account but at alianza they wanted me to have a account at another bank here. That did not count. We got bit mad. Fiary soon to be wife said fine we go look elsewhere. The owner a spry 70 something ran after us and said lets sign lets sign no problem. We did not put down security we gave him the first months rent and the next days were given the keys.
Furniture shopping wow things are high here what he said is pretty accurate what your going to spend to fill a 3 bedroom. Jeff has good taste because Fabricas Unidas is both beautiful stuff and expensive. I been shopping Belen 30th around there in and out. Finding queen beds in this town is like finding D batteries. They exist but you have to look. I sent as much as I good through a US shipping company that ships anything I send her to a address in Colombia. I order stuff online call them that its coming and they ship here for a dollar a pound plus tax and insurance. takes about two weeks you can see online progress. But we spent 10 million pesos when all said and done. We still missing some art for walls and a dryer. I thought after signing boom we be in the apartment but it took us two weeks to get things all in there to become livable. Wifi and cable and everything else took time. They made the couch and dining room table so that took 4 days.
If i to do it again I think I would pay extra for direct TV. I have a 4G une little box and it destroys how much better it is then une 5 gig wifi. They say its 5 gigs fast it is not. It hiccups 7-10 times a day and throws me off the net. Causing to have to sometimes re-boot all the IBM machines. Anyway I love it here. People are so nice in Belen, by me. Only issue is its a taxi in and out all the time it's not a place i can walk a lot.
Brilliant article Jeff!!! I'm moving to Colombia in the fall and you just answered so many of my most pressing questions :). I do however have one questions...would you be willing to provide me with the name of the real estate agent you worked with? I understand why you didn't want to publish the individual's name, but would you consider sending me an email with the person's contact information?
Either way I can't thank you enough for writing such an informative article!
Hi Michelle, thanks. Sure I will send you the contact information for my real estate agent via email. Keep in mind that he doesn't speak English. I suggest you provide him with a list of your requirements (i.e. preferred neighborhood, apartment size) and he should be able to find several apartments that meet your needs. I also recommend using the Espacio Ubano website.
beauty, thanks a mil! I'm not fluent, but I can definitely hold my own in a conversation. My email address is mishyandrea@hotmail.com. Have a great day Jeff.
Hi Jeff. Me and my girlfriend have now been in Medellin for 3 days and are on a voracious hunt for our new home. Your blog has been immeasurably helpful, so we thank so for this!!
Fortunately we speak Spanish, so it has been easier for us than for some, but our one issue has been locating a real estate agent who has any desire to do business! Your associate sounds perfect - would you also be so kind as to pass his details onto the two of us by email?
Thanking you kindly.
Tom
Hi Tom,
I just sent you my real estate agent contact info via email. Good luck with your search. I also recommend using the Espacio Ubano website.
Thanks for being so speedy. What a well monitored site!
Tom
Jeff - My spouse and I are in Medellin now and would really the real estate contact you have used to get an apartment. Would you send it to us?
Hi David,
I just sent you my real estate agent's contact information. He helped me find a new apartment in Sabaneta recently. Good luck!
Hello, could you send me the contact info for your real estate agent in Medellin? Looking to rent an unfurnished in Envigado 3-4 bedrooms. Thanks!
Hey Jeff, would you please send me your contact for the apartments. Thanks!
Hi Charles,
After five years of renting apartments from my real estate agent I have recently encountered problems with him so unfortunately I can no longer recommend my agent. I now plan to rent directly from apartment owners going forward. You can also save money on rent by dealing with an owner as they don't have to pay any commission to the real estate agent.
Good luck.
Hi Jeff,
I am in Medellin, enjoying it very much and thinking on moving to Belen, near the UNAC university. Looking for a 3 bedroom appartment.
Could you send me the contact details of the real estate agent.
Greetings,
In regards to the furniture, I actually took a bus to Retiro last week and wow….there are some deals there. And I laughed as we could not really carry anything on a bus. Or so I thought. Unless you are buying chickens or dogs, as people carried them no problem. Surprising to me, there were more BMW's and AUDI's etc than I had seen in one place in Medellin. Apparently, many of the rich go there to buy their furniture as it is that much cheaper. That is what the gf told me that the smart people go to Retiro. Based on what I saw, if you are looking for wood beds or dressers, there are bargains everywhere. And they will build anything. Everyone there has a catalog so be prepared to look at that when you do not see what you are looking for. I was looking for a couch and I need to test drive that baby, so I may end up with one I saw at Fabricas Unidas. But I am not 100% on that as I would love to find something a bit less expensive. And why I am buying puro cuero is beyond me.
I was talking with a reader last night who had several of his beds made up there. Indeed, it's the place to go versus buying in the malls or big box stores.
Jeff I was wondering if you could send me your real estate agent information. I will be moving to Medellin in November. I do speak Spanish so no problems there. Thanks.
Hi Benjamin, sure I just sent you an email with my real estate agent's contact information. Good luck!
Hey Jeff, could you do the same for me? thanks :)
Hi Michelle, sure I also sent contact info to you via email. Good luck!
Hi Jeff! I´m also looking for an apartment to rent, no luck at the moment... Could you please send the agent contact by email ?
Thanks a lot !
Hi Jeff, Could you please send her contact info to me as well? Thanks! :)
Sure, I will send my real estate agent contact info to you via email.
I'm moving to Colombia Medellin in July and your article very informative I would like for you to send me the information about your agent
Hi Juan, I'll send an email with my real estate agent’s contact information. Good luck!
Hi,
I'm a professional restaurant manager and I'm looking for investors to open a restaurant in Medellín.
Replay only if seriously interested.
Sincerely.
Luis
Hello, Jeff Can you also send me your agents information. We are currently living in Neiva and my wife is Colombiana. I would enjoy hearing more about your views on the different styles of the neighborhood. I am not a big fan of the high rise apartments. We have a lot of 2 story American style condos here, in little gated community. Is there anything like that there? Level 4? Thanks Gary
Hi Gary,
Sure I will send you my real estate agent's contact information. There are several two-story gated communities I have seen in Medellín. I have seen some in neighborhoods in Belén and Laureles that are likely Estrato 4 or 5 neighborhoods. I haven't looked at any of them as I was looking for apartments in high-rise buildings during my apartment searches. My agent should be able to help you find what you are looking for.