I am happy to report that
we just secured our apartment in Leblon. Hooray!
This was no easy feat and I did not know what to expect, so here is a run-down
of our experience. I hope this helps someone.
The company my husband
works for hooked us up with someone who works as a placement agent, she
specialized in apart-hotels (which is where we are currently staying). We did
not want to continue living in an apart-hotel for several reasons, but most
importantly, the units tend to:
1) be small.
2) be overpriced.
3) lack character.
4) have large grandiose entrances but then the rooms themselves are very
average.
The apart-hotel we are
staying in now is R$7,700 per month. It has two bedrooms and two
bathrooms. The second bedroom has just a single bed and I don't see how
you could possibly fit a double bed in the room. Not exactly suitable for
visitors.
With the limited prospects
we were presented with, I then started doing some internet research and found Zap.com.br which is basically the
classifieds for the Brazilian newspapers. I will guide you through how to use this site if you don't speak Portuguese (using Google translate on this site as a whole was not all that effective although it often works perfectly, try it out).
First column (Eu quero): Select
"alugar um imovel" if you are looking to rent long-term.
Second column: choose one
of the following
Indiferente - indifferent,
Apartamento – apartment
Casa – house
Flat/aparthotel
Rural
I suggest choosing
indiferente as then you will get a selection of all.
Estado: state
Localidade – Capital (or wherever you are looking).
It then takes you to a
second page where you have to specify the region you would like to search.
Once you click on a zone it
takes you to another page which typically shows places for SALE at the
top. Don’t ask me why! This confused me but just scroll down for rental
listings in the area.
At the top you will also
see “filter: quartos/dts suite vagas
area m2 valor anunciante”
You can use this filter to
determine the number of:
bedrooms (quartos)
suites (bedrooms with ensuites –
many apartments have more than one)
vagas (translates literally to vacancies
but I think it means parking spots…)
area m2 (all shown in square meters –
multiply it by 10 to get approximate square footage if that’s what you are used
to, i.e.) 200 square meters is about 2,000 square feet)
valor =
value/price
anunciante = advertiser, often an agency, which I will get
to.
Other helpful words:
cobertura = penthouse apartments
alugar = rent
Note that most apartments
have a price of rent + condo fees. These condo fees do not include any
utilities as is sometimes the case in North America. They just include
building amenities, security, etc. So tack that on to get your actual rental
cost!
Typical listings:
We used this site to narrow
down places, emailed them to ourselves (easy link to do this) and then had
someone who spoke Portuguese call and schedule appointments for us to view
them.
Many apartments are listed
with agencies which then have their own sites and listings for you to further
peruse.
Useful sites of agencies with listings:
www.jtavares.com
www.rjardim.com.br
www.rioapartments.com
www.delnik.com.br
The realtors: we worked
with a few. The first ignored what I consider to be the first rule in sales
when dealing with big ticket item purchases: ask the customer what they
want! He not only did not ask what we wanted, but did not seem to care
what we wanted when we specifically let him know. Case in point: we
were shown many apartments that did not fit our criteria, eventually we let him
know we did not want to see anything that did not have an outdoor space such as
a veranda or less than two bedrooms/bathrooms. He still proceeded to do
so and would try and “entice” us with “Oh but it has FOUR parking spots!” Um,
we don’t even have one car, but thanks anyway… now, about that veranda!
Time is treated differently
here than in North America. It just doesn’t seem to matter here and from
our experience so far no concept of “wasting time”… which in a way is
positive as it teaches you to take time to smell the roses.
Be prepared to pay a lot
for your apartment if you are planning to live in Ipanema/Leblon. The
going rates for 2-3 bedroom apartments are anywhere from R$7,000 per month and
up. That said, rent is significantly less in area such as Barra,
Botafogo, Copacabana, Gavea. However,
there are a variety of reasons for this such as less access to amenities,
proximity to favelas, crime, etc.
Another note – most
apartments with more than two bedrooms have maid’s quarters (a small bedroom
and bathroom off the kitchen which don’t count toward the apartment’s official
bedroom and bathroom tally.
Furnishings
The apartments we looked at
ranged from fully furnished including knick-knacks to unfurnished to the point
of unfinished (i.e. holes in the walls, no door handles, light fixtures, etc.)
It is common for an unfurnished apartment to not include stoves, fridges,
washing machines, microwaves, dishwashers, etc. In fact dishwashers are uncommon altogether, as are dryers.
Apple - Just opened at Barra Shopping. The first in South America. Not its own Apple store, but inside a store called FNAC - a beautiful book store and more with an internet cafe in the back. Be warned... the prices are about double what you'd pay back home. But in case your iPod gets swiped, it's nice to have!
MAC - I have not yet been in or checked out the prices as I stocked up before I came to Brazil. But a pleasant surprise. 4 locations in Rio:
Zara - easy peasy. Three locations in Rio:
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