Closing the year with a couple of real estate deals

I don't know why it is that we are always moving or closing on real estate in the month of December, but when we think back, we notice that's the way it is.

First, my mom finally signed the purchase agreement for her Brava 28 condo. It's been several months in the making (we started negotiations when I was still in Turkey), but after much coming and going, she's got the best unit in the second nicest new building on the Brava side of Punta del Este. (The nicest being of course Vignoly's Aqua, but that, starting at $3 million, is beyond our budget.)

Mom shows my aunt where the sea views will stop... On the left, the built in parrillero, or bbq, nice as an outdoor fire pit even without cooking. The green lawn seen on the right is the roof of the gym and party room, smart that they covered it in grass... the two covered circles on the ground deck are jacuzzis.


when they finish building across the street. The views will be fine up to the palm tree on the left of the white building. Luckily, the new building across the street will have gardens and swimming-pool on the street sides, adding more green and water to our views.



So why is it the best unit? Well, the building is an inverted L shape if you see it from the road, and she is on the leg that is pushed back into the lot, about 50 yards away from the road (less traffic noise), protected from the winds by the other section of the building, and bathed in sunlight all day long either in the front, side or back of the apartment. Three exposures. Also, we chose the floor very carefully: the 2nd floor won over the 3rd floor, surprisingly, because the views on the second include a lot of green in the field of vision (from garden as well as the beach dunes), over just sea views on the third. Also, the terraces on the 2nd floor are all covered in hard wood, both walls and floor, while on the 3rd it's ceramic tiles. Ironically, 2nd is cheaper than 3rd, as usually at least in Punta condos are priced in ascending floor order.

The living room/dining room is pretty big, but my mom being my mom, she will knock down the wall to the master suite (there are three other suites, so no problem), which happens to be the corner with wrap-around terrace, and make it all living room, adding about 175 sq ft to the existing 460 sq ft of living and dining area, and most importantly, guaranteeing afternoon sun in the winter.

view of the bedroom that will become living-room... lots of sun and views of the landscaped houses on the side of the building.


The living room is a bit too long and narrow now (for our pain in the neck demanding tastes), but when we open up the master suite at the right side against the terrace, it will have tons more view and light and a friendlier L shape, rather than the corridor propotions it has now.
Sea views all the way from the kitchen in the back...
View of the breakfast area in the back of the kitchen, overlooking the Rincon del Indio forest and gardens...

On our more modest news, beyond the momentous moving into our house on Dec. 1, we have decided to buy out my Mom's share of the lot we purchased together in Punta Ballena last year. It just so happens that lots in that corner have gone up 100% since last year, so we decided we want to keep it as our future backup lot (for building if we sell our house, or if we win the lotto) and will lock in the price now before my Mom's share becomes unaffordable to us. After having secured a verbal agreement with her, we have just now put up for sale the other lot we bought last year in Barra de Portezuelo. I feel sad about it, because it's beautiful and we love it, but we own 3 adjoining lots now where our house is, and we can even sell two with the house and have one spare to build if we want, so it makes more sense to sell that one and buy out Punta Ballena before it becomes too pricey for us. We had been even thinking about buying another lot in Las Grutas (the Punta Ballena corner we like) that was $50k last year but I was just informed that one is gone and others on the same block are up to $100k, so this is the catalyst for selling our newest lot in Barra de Portezuelo. At its $35k asking price for a quarter acre, it seems so modest now... but our area is yet to become trendy, so it's a fair market price.

Barbi collecting flowers last year right after we bought it, from the back of the lot looking towards the sea...

Arts and crafts, birds, sunrises, Mehmet the sailor...

Well, our domestic life has become very bucolic. The absence of a TV (DirecTv to be installed next week) has sent us in other directions for evening entertainment. Also, after finally feeling we have a home worth going to the frame shop for, we brought out all those things we have been saving over the years to get them ready for the framer.

I am big on old textiles, so one of them is our treasured collection of Hmong hand-embroidered belts. Rather than belts they are decorative strips that are sewn on jacket sleeves, waists or collars... I fell in love with them first in northeast Vietnam, where I bought a couple, and last year in Thailand we hit the jack-pot in Chiang Mai and bought several dozen. They are embroidered in this incredibly tiny needlepoint, making very op-art type geometric designs in bright, happy colors, usually pink and green, like Mangueira samba school colors. That´s what they remind me of, but it´s a very cross-cultural reference...

This was the night before we received the carpets, which spent a whole month at the cleaners... The major thing still missing is the sofas, which are promised for the 30 or 31, we´ll see... for now we make do with our old sofa from the sale corner at Ikea in Izmir...

We will frame and keep about 24 of them in sets of 6 that are motif-related, and will frame and sell another couple of dozen individually.

We also have a couple embroidered pieces from Turkey, very old and super folk-cute, and our bugs on teak collection as well (all kinds of scarab-type bugs handpainted on little strips of old teak) , plus art from FAME (Fine Art Adoption Network) that I adopted from Nick Holliday and Sarah Nicole Phillips, plus watercolors of various Hmong and other tribes also from Vietnam, etc. etc. Now we need a new house with more walls, because this one is all glass everywhere...

The bucolic life means we wake up usually very early, often early enough to notice the sun rise. One such morning I got inspired and got out to take some pictures.



The birds continue to impress me. This one was part of a pair singing on my terrace for a few minutes. When I got up to get the camera it relocated to the window sill... Don´t know what it´s called, but it looks like a miniature penguin, with yellow...



"Harry´s Bar Mehmet" (in Turkey every Mehmet comes with a modifier) used to tend bar at --you guessed it-- Harry´s Bar in Kas. Recently he did the a modern-day version of joining the merchant marine, which is to jump on a cruise ship to see the world and make some cash. He stopped by Punta del Este yesterday, and Barbi spent a couple of hours with him.

Luxury in rustic forms

Entrance at Pinar del Faro

I find myself in constant need of explaining Punta del Este to audiences who seem to not get it.

One of the things that the growing number of expats colonizing Montevideo and Piriapolis seem to rail against is the “Miami” Punta, the stretch of gaudy high-rises abundant in wrought iron, crystal chandeliers, or Luis Whatever furniture in the lobby. Well, newsflash, that is not my Punta del Este, or the Punta del Este of most of my friends, acquaintances, and even of most of my clients. (I do have some customers in the Miami Punta though.)

The Punta del Este we think of as ours is a place of casual, low key esthetics, where luxury is expressed in terms of views (sea, dunes, forests, gardens) and sounds (waves crashing, birds singing) and where nature also informs design and decor. Hardwood versus shiny brass and crystal.

Pool at Pinar del Faro

In the interior design business in Punta del Este it is customary to have new development model units furnished by local design shops, and needless to say, the competition is fierce for the privilege of planting a conspicuous sign on the road that says “Decorated by...” Sometimes the building is not yet a hole in the ground, and the developers are pestered by furniture shops wanting to lock in the so called “showroom” (model unit in Spanish is “showroom”, go figure).

In that mad race, I always find myself saying “screw them, we don´t need the hassle” against my Mom´s view that “everything helps.” After many years of doing this, my conclusion is that it only helps when there is a true meeting of the minds with the developers and designers of the project in question, and that otherwise the costs outweigh the benefits of brand exposure.

Fountain at Pinar del Faro

However, when we do find these business “soul-mates,” the benefits keep piling up (I´m trying to avoid using the dreaded s....y word ). I have come to think of it this way, “If our shop were a building, would it look like this?” If the answer is “No way” or “That´s too small” or “Never in that exterior color,” then we should not be furnishing the model unit. But when we find a project where we would want to buy property, then the stars are fully aligned. In the past couple of years we have found a couple of those that are currently on the market, and a couple in earlier stages at this point.

One is Brava 28 (http://www.brava28.com), a low-key, sober looking condominium building in the Rincon del Indio area where –regardless of whether or not we end up buying a unit-- the entire project is something we are proud to be connected to. A two-block, L-shaped building with four-floors in each block, Brava is luxurious in its comfort (large floor plans where every room is generous in size and holds ample storage space), in its views and its finishes, without being cheesy or flashy. A huge pool protected from the winds by both blocks and by a grass-covered dune is surrounded by wooden decking. The landscaped grounds surround the building on every side, and the finishes include lots of slate, hardwood and white. The sea can be seen beyond the dunes with their characteristic native bush, and the forest and neighborhood landscaped yards are usually visible from bedrooms or kitchens. We´re already on our second model unit furnished in Brava, as the first one sold, and we have had several clients among the buyers.

Another, newer project where we are completing the model house furnishing is a gated community in José Ignacio called Pinar del Faro. For those with some understanding of the local scene, this is a very chic project, starting with its location, on the highway at the entrance of José Ignacio town, to the pedigree of its developers, Argentine heavyweights Nordelcor, and, as importantly, designed from the master plan to the decoration of the model house by locally renowned architect Mario Connio. If Connio signifies anything in Punta del Este, it is the polar opposite of the “Miami Punta” esthetic. His shack-on-the-dunes style invariably includes thatched roofs, a local classic that has been practically abandoned by the Uruguayan middle class and is being revived by the hipper-than-thou Connio.

Pinar del Faro is comprised of about 250 lots in 40 hectares, with lots of pines, palms, a lake, two huge pools (the one for children or families FAR AWAY from the one for grown-ups) two plazas, tennis courts, a restaurant, club house, etc., plus underground utility connections and Internet access (I have no idea how good or what system). Lots range from 1000m2 (quarter acre) to around a half acre for the largest ones. They are not third-world cheap, but hey, this is a place where I would not mind living year-round, or just having a lot “for the future.”

The multiple sets of regulations include a building plan approval requirement that involves an architectural firm engaged for policing the Connio shabby-chic-by-the-ocean style. Fine by me, as I would not want any cheesy McMansion ruining my morning walk or any fake “Colonial” (what in Spain they call “Romantic” and what in the U.S. they call “Spanish”) style home interrupting my digestion.

Lake at Pinar del Faro

So luxury for me, the height of material decadence, is a combination of comfort (from Internet access, to a bathroom roomy enough to avoid bruising, a real spa-grade Jacuzzi, vs. glorified bathtub), and a certain combination of materials and elements that include lots of wood, greenery and absence of man-made noises. A rustic sort of luxury. So we look for these kinds of developments that truly reflect the essence of Punta del Este´s style, that make us start thinking about purchasing property while we plan the decoration of the model unit, and where the general feeling is more laid back California than tarted up Miami.

Best and worst of our house-building experience

Well, as the year draws to a close, and we are finally settled or settling in the house, it´s time for a review of best and worst of the vendors involved in this project.

Let´s start with the good ones first.

1. Fabián Sosa Díaz and Luis Bogliaccini, architects.

This is not a kind picture, but they always refused to provide me with a presentable one. From left to right, Barbi, Luis, Fabian, and 8-month pregnant Julia, all doing the twist at a party recently.

It´s impossible for me to fully thank Fabián and Luis for their devotion and commitment to this project, above and beyond the call of any professional duty. We started out in 2001, when I was planning to build a water tower, and evolved from there. Almost a full economic cycle later, we are living in our dream house thanks to both of them. Also, our dream house has evolved and improved thanks to their invaluable advice and ideas. After all, it was just a dream shack originally. Beyond the design stages, Fabian in particular has spent countless days, weeks and months making sure the evil contractors (more on them later) moved their asses and actually finished the house. No small feat, with 12 months of extra work.

2. Marabierto.

Marabierto, the home-furnishings business led by my mother and in which I am a partner and buyer, deserves full credit for the financial aspect of building this house. Marabierto, in its new incarnation, opened its doors on Jan. 5, 2002, excellently poised to dive head on into the biggest economic crisis seen in my lifetime in Uruguay and Argentina. Still, thanks to my amazing Mom, it forged ahead, avoided bankruptcy and went on to grow well beyond our dreams. While the funds for the original modest shack had to be diverted in 2002 to the survival of the business, Marabierto returned the favor by funding a project that is three times the size and price of the original. There would be a very small and simple shack in its place had it not been for our business --- and while I´m at it, let me send a shout-out to our fantastic customers. Let´s hope it continues to do well, as I have a lot of “expansion” plans and lots of land...

3. Punta Ballena Jardines. Even though they came in fully at the very end, after 18 months of dealing with the evil contractors, the professionalism and overall good attitude displayed by this landscaping firm has left us truly amazed. We keep thinking, and saying out loud “If the contractors had worked like these people do, we would have had the house ready in 4 months.” Martín and Diego Añón, father and son, respectively, are extremely knowledgeable and also wise. They will not try to sell you the sexy part (the planting) but rather insist on laying out the correct infrastructure, and while I ran out of budget for the aforementioned sexy part, I am delighted with my barren expanse of cleaned-out land, knowing all the drainage is in place, the sprinkler computer knows when to water the lawn, it can be expanded without extra cost when I add more lawn or plants, my pool and house won´t get flooded by the runoff from the sloping land during a rainstorm, etc.

ThTelecom Ingeniería, the alarm and DirecTv guys. Extremely nice, accomodating, professional, serious, etc. All good things. They are based in Piriápolis.

Carlos Traibel, the satellite internet and Ruralcel guy. Great service, great guy. He travels all around the country installing satellite internet access, the only means of accessing the Internet for most of his clients.

And now to the bad guys

1. The contractors. I will not name them because I´m still in negotiations with them over our last payment and I don´t want a lawsuit, but I can´t think of anything good to say about them other than that they grudgingly and belatedly accommodated Fabian´s demands, at least on second or third or fifth request, and thus the house is indeed the house we planned. However, in addition to their delays (the house was completed in 18 months, rather than 6 as promised) the last stages were basically abandoned, and thus to this day there is a pile of wood and corrugated metal blighting my yard (tomorrow is the last day before I donate it), every surface is stained by the paint used on other surfaces (windows, floors, walls, etc.) some walls have their edges all chipped, etc. etc. So in a way, they never really finished the job, I just moved in when I got tired of waiting for them.

2. The sofa guy. Big jerk. A supplier who does business with us year round, spent two months not making my sofas and saying “What, do you want me to make your sofas and leave behind the orders for the real customers?” meaning the orders for my customers... And what I am for godssake? Chopped liver?

3. The utilities guys. All of the utilities. Not only do they charge in advance and then come to install the service whenever they very well feel like, but they also lie (“I am standing in front of your house” while we stare at miles of empty road) and worse, much worse still, they NEGLIGENTLY START FIRES all over the place. There was one fire in August that reached across the street from our house. Another one last week, half a mile away, that consumed three houses. In both cases the fires were started because utility work crews MUST have their barbeque lunches every day, at any price. They are just assholes.

River of the Birds

tero

I don´t know how many people remember the meaning of Uruguay, but in guaraní, or quechua, I forget which, it´s supposed to mean River of the Birds. Well, you can say that again.

I may have mentioned that I had never noticed the birds until my first trip to Uruguay with my now husband. He developed a crazy habit of slamming on the breaks and getting out of the car to look at whatever unusual bird was around. He has since toned it down a bit, now he doesn´t get off the car. I say we will be victims of death by birdwatching. Anyay, since moving into Arrancopelito, we have been basically living communally with a loooot of birds. There are four nests that I know of in the house itself. Every outside surface is seen by them as either a neighborhood, a good perch, a good drinking pond (including the pool, very popular) or a fun track for flying around and around and around.

carancho

The swallows are the funniest, the have two of the 4 nests, and especially in the late afternoons they start swooping in a flock of about 10, alternatively going around the house, or doing these weird approaches to the nest, with sharp turn away at the last second. They fly very fast too.

The falcons also spend all day overflying and doing their very elegant hunting dives, and a couple of days ago I even saw one of them being chased mid-air by a tero that was half it´s size and kept on attacking it.

garza blanca

The others just hang out more sedately, feed on the grass, perch on the terrace railing and sing at their heart´s content, etc. etc. Literally, there are dozens of birds hanging out at any given time around the house.



I have compiled a list of the birds we have seen either in our land, or in the neighborhood in the past, and it surprised me to see how many there are. Also surprising, as a recent British visitor living in Spain noticed, is how un-scared they are by humans in general. Except the teros I guess, which attach us every time we go to the beach, almost grazing us and then turning back, to come at us again... One of them makes a racket every day, then lands a few yards ahead of us, and proceeds to walk up the middle of the road, as if guiding us, while still screaming on... he thinks he´s a dog...


scissortail

So the list of what we´ve seen in the past 10 days is more or less the following, although our ignorance means that we have seen other varieties not identified and thus not listed...

parrots, scissortail, thrush, sparrow, pink heron, white heron, black heron, caracara plancus, falcon, swallow, duck (several kinds), tero, seagull, rail, guira cuckoo (venteveos), wood pidgeon, partridge (with two chicks crossing the road in tow), owls, and other unidentified winged critters.

The parrilla is finally put to good work

This was an amazing double rainbow that we saw late Saturday in Punta del Este, from end to end. In seconds it was gone, but we were able to stop the car and take a quick snapshot.

Starting the parrilla. We have a leg of lamb slowly roasting ahead of the rest of the meat.

Barbi wrestles with the parrilla. We still don´t have the appropriate tools.

There was a lot of pressure on Barbi. Some of our most unforgiving friends demanded to know what a Turk was doing in charge of the barbeque, but in the end, they all shut up and enjoyed the results, which of course were aided by elder brother Jorge´s expert advice. Jorge´s sage advice is "Always have tons and tons of coals ready at your disposal. The rest will take care of itself."

And it did.

long time no post

The launch of some regatta from Punta del Este harbor, on its way to Buenos Aires on Saturday. We caught it by chance, did not even know it was going on, after a full week of the other regattas going on... When we arrived home, it was dark and we could see all the boat´s green lights from our house, very cute.

well, what with the crazy work on every front, the pre move, the move, the post move, the inauguration of the parrillero this Sunday, etc., I´ve been neglecting my blogging duties.

First things first. We moved on Saturday, December 1, after much tantrum throwing on my part (nobody could spare a truck or hands for our move, which made the little screaming fit necessary).

Picture of Fabiana and Barbi, on our first day at home...

This one is called "el Cabeza" and visits once every few days from a neighboring farm. He´s very distinguished and well mannered and actually barks for a living, unlike Fabiana who licks and demands to be loved and only barks at bugs.


So we moved, spent a crazy week unpacking and especially trying to finish up with all the "trades" plus the alarm system, the satellite Internet connection, trying to hunt down a pool guy, etc. We found out that the sale of gas bottles for the kitchen stove is now forbidden until further notice, so the options are to resort to the secondary market (thriving I hear) or fish one from someone´s winter heaters. We found a couple, luckily.

Now the sprinklers work on their own, the pool doesn´t, it looks a beautiful moss green again, after going through clear, then primordial soup, onto milk white and back to deeply alive green in just 10 days. I finally tracked down a guy who will take care of it, but today with the storm he could not make it over here.

We also found the local place in the woods of Punta Negra where we can buy emergency firewood, veggies and other sundry supplies. It´s a bizarre place, and the year-round residents of this area call themselves "los de arriba" meaning the ones living in the woods "above" the topographically lower area of coastal beach houses which is mostly for summer vacationers, not "real locals". I am now honorarily "de arriba" I think, as I plan to shop there and employ as many locals as I can, have to support their meager existence, as it seems everyone is pretty despondent and it´s in our best interest to have some convenience stores in the area...

Anyway, we had our opening asado on Sunday, and the weather cooperated, a relatively calm and sunny day in between two storms. We had a great time, with family, close friends and both architects, their wives and brood. Barbi made his debut, with invaluable assistance from "the angel" as he calls my brother Jorge, who provided ongoing technical advice and some physical help as well. I stuck to the salads.

Living in the house has been amazing so far. We hadn´t slept so well in ages, nor been willing to rise at 7 AM to go for walks... I find myself going for walks at least once a day, sometimes more, in the company of Fabiana who takes the opportunity to go hunting. Speaking of which, she tried to present me with her prey two days ago, an aperiá, which came seconds after I walked past the dead evil viper, after having 9 huge birds of prey (nobody agrees on what they are, little eagles, vultures, etc.) flying above me as I strolled down the completely deserted beach, etc... Lots of nature.

The house itself is noticeably different in its two sectors. The wooden side is considerably less insulated from the elements, and my suspicion is that the vulnerable part is the floor. In the masonry part, the insulation seems to be perfect, we never feel cold or hot or whatever it is like outside, and the sound insulation is also great.