Cartagena Reports

comcel service like t33 explained on gi thread seems the way to go and perhaps get a better rate on most calls. do you guys think one of the cell service providers have extended service clear out to san andreas island??

i like juan ventura he has offered to help me make domestic travel arangements. alex is picking me up at the airport he charges $15.00 to haul me and luggage to the apartment. i am staying at: edificio marinare, apartment 1004, calle 1 num 2-158, el laguito.

juan said i would have to buy an internet card, he did not refer to this particular apartment as having highspeed internet service. prior to my departure back to the usa i will be back to cartegena for a week staying in another juan apartment (2 bedroom) however he did refer to it as having high speed internet. this leads me to think apartment 1004 will not have dsl and i will not be able to hook up my vonage modem. i sent juan an email regarding this concern. thought maybe someone would be kind enough to explain what the heck an internet card is. sounds like an old telephone modem device, which is going to be way to slow with no international calling feature.

i don't know how to repay you mongers for all this advise. unless i can buy you guys lunch or drinks, i'll just plan on posting a bunch of photos. thanks.

You may mean 1204 Marinare. Or at least I hope you do. This apt. is owned by a friend of mine and is great. You will really like it. Juan goes out of his way to help you with everything. He is from Barcelona, Spain, speaks good English, and knows the meaning of customer service. Good move using Alex for your first run.

The Internet card is a prepago(pre-paid). You get maybe 15 hours of connect time for 15K(US$6.50). It is dial-up. But it works fairly well.

The other apartment may be the one owned by Juan in Playa Mar. It is right below the one I own. I have a wireless router so his clients can use my cable Internet(120 kps).

thinking of buying a 1 BR ocean front apt. in Laguito. Needs about 5K in modernizations. Does anyone know about the price to pay for one of these? Anyone thinking of selling? Please PM me. Thanks.

[QUOTE=Ngp477]thinking of buying a 1 BR ocean front apt. in Laguito. Needs about 5K in modernizations. Does anyone know about the price to pay for one of these? Anyone thinking of selling? Please PM me. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Generally you look at the square meter price for new construction with equal view, amenities, maintemento and then offer 60-70%. Figure in your transfer taxes and if you can not agree on 80%, He is probably just fishing and you are better off looking at something else. Here in Lima new oceanfront properties only go for $1000 a square meter and used properties can be had for $800. When buying real estate abroad you should rent for at least a year and pay close attention to the political situation. Uribe can not run again and Chavez is doing his best to influence upcoming elections in neighboring countries. (which will be detrimental to foreign ownership) I have bought several properties in Lima and intend on buying more. Even here it is a crapshoot with the elections next year, but at least in Peru the economics are a tailwind as opposed to Columbia. Always remember "Due Diligence is the primary key to investment success."

Bueno Suerte
LB

Hey T,

Well at first it was going to be 1204 but I recieved an email later from Juan and he said it was going to be 1004. Of course my itenary changed a few times as well. I better check with Juan's but his email does not always work, I get about half of them returned so I end up sending them to the web site address. That is actually kind of a hassle because I barely have time to reply let alone trying to find the one I sent that was previously sent, copying it and then going to the web site to find the other email address and sending it again. I sent via Western Union one days rent and I bet it sat there for 3-4 days before I could go to his web site and alert him after sending him previous emails that came back a day or two later as undelieverable.

in the Presidential election next year and should be easily re-elected. The constitution was changed to allow for this.

There are many variables in pricing in Laguito. You can look at 1.5 million pesos per square meter plus or minus. Shitty buildings like El Conquistador go for much less.

Z-I'll PM the address I use for Juan. I probably send him three E's a week. None has ever bounced.

[QUOTE=Tom 33]in the Presidential election next year and should be easily re-elected. The constitution was changed to allow for this.

There are many variables in pricing in Laguito. You can look at 1.5 million pesos per square meter plus or minus. Shitty buildings like El Conquistador go for much less.

Tom, Thank you for the clarifaction on Uribe. I am assuming the 1,500,000 peso's per meter is not for new construction as that is fairly reasonable ($65 /sq.ft) considering the size of Cartagena.

Lb

Correct, LB. New construction is going for 2 to 2.5 million pesos per square meter or more. You do get some better stuff in the new buildings(e.g. the emergency generator may power the entire building rather than just the emergency lights and elevators).

Drinking-Mongering
BOG 11/ 26, 11/26.
CRT11/27-12/4.
BOG 11/5
Any one in town?
4th trip
BELMONT

I'm planning to stay a month or longer in Cartagena. I've been surfing the net for a place to stay. I have in mind a condo on the beach in a nice building. Every other time I've only stayed a week or so and I stayed at the Las Americas Hotel. Could someone provide me with a recommendation and contact info of where to stay?

[QUOTE=China Monger]I'm planning to stay a month or longer in Cartagena. I've been surfing the net for a place to stay. I have in mind a condo on the beach in a nice building. Every other time I've only stayed a week or so and I stayed at the Las Americas Hotel. Could someone provide me with a recommendation and contact info of where to stay?[/QUOTE]China Monger - Contact Mery at [email]oficerna@yahoo.com[/email] she has a number of apartments available for rent in Cartagena.

Thanks for the information from Dogman and others. I have 2 apartments in Edificio Tocogua to look at.

They seem alot cheaper than Centauro or Playa Mar, a 1 Bedroom sea front in Centauro is on the market for $50K and in Tocogua there are 1 BR sea front units for $32.5K.

Does anyone know why they are cheaper? Not as many gringos in them? More of a rental building? Tocogua is closer to LDV.

Mery Salence said this building is having erosion problems from the sand washing away, and that the building is in litigation with the government to get them to repair the erosion. Some of the buildings on the ocean have rivetments out into the seaside to protect their sand from washing out. Does anybody know about this problem or others in Tocogua?

Anyone know of 1 BR units for sale? Please PM me. Thanks for the info so far. I hope to be in Cart next weekend looking.

ranks pretty close to El Conquistador for crap. The owner of the Israeli Restaurant is trying to sell his 1 bedroom in Tocahagua. I got trapped in an elevator in that building in Feb. of 2003. They did get new elevators.

There used to be a beach from Playa Mar connecting with the one past Tocahagua. The city has plans to rebuild that beach.

There are a whole bunch of these small islands, some are nice and some are not so nice. Can anyone recommend a good one, a name or two would be nice.

Gracias

anyone in Cart now? I hear the crowd is there because of the Miss Colombia pageant? Everyone wants to charge more for apartment rental to me because they say the units are all full. Is it true or false. Thanks.