Frequently Asqued Questions About Real Estate in Colombia

At about 2 hours flight south from Miami, Colombia (with two Os) is what is knows as the gate to enter South America. Surrounded by seas with the Pacific at the west and the Caribbean in the north, and the Amazonas in the south. Being the place where the Andes Mountains turn into 3 ranges, it possess  unique mix of climates and geography. 

We prepared a review in this regard and you can find it here: 

https://arcadia.global/decentralized-investment-access/

Colombian Real Estate industry is different owning to its geography and urbanization model. As much as our economy is developing, our real estate regulation is not as developed (encompassing?) as in the the American and British models.  

Expect a much simpler process, where maybe the tricky part is moving the money in compliance, but in exchange you benefit from a very rewarding exchange rate.

Transactions are generally done directly between buyers mediating only the notary office and registrations processes. Agents are not “required” but are common. In part for the role not being as regulated as in developed markets: Anybody with RE experience can help a buddy to sell his home and get a little commission of around 3%, no other requirement other than the experience to know what they are doing.

Full time “informal agents” work basically on their own, connecting buyers and sellers directly. 

Established Realty work as Agencies offering professional services via Agents (sometimes with certified studies in the industry) and different levels of support for around 10%. Real Estate 1.0 hit agencies hard,  but recently, RE 2.0 has seen a huge boom. They also play a big role in the promotion and planning of new estate developments. 

Insurance and legal framework is solid by being so straightforward that this apparent informality does not limit the foreign investment and development of very big projects all over the country,  nor multinational RE companies found it hard to take hold. 

Renting is pretty straightforward, and for a long time it was handled directly between homeowner and tenant directly. An increased, floating, population and “Big City” dynamics has made the RE Agencies the intermediaries to go to handle the very basic tenant management. 

The government regulated the activities in platforms like AirBnB basically as tourism, which is actually good to define standards based on our big and experienced tourism industry.