New Chilean Apartment

New Chilean Apartment

After the first of the year, we began looking for an apartment in Santiago in preparation for retirement by the end of the decade. Until retirement, we will continue living in our rented apartment, as required by the company's policy for ex-pats. Mónica and her family will live in and take care of the new apartment until then.

This is what we found! It is the entire top floor of this building in Las Condes, the same community where we now live. The building is 15 year old, but this 11th floor apartment was in the process of being completely remodeled. Isn't the park-like entrance pretty? Below are the back and side views as seen from nearby streets.

As we came into the process, the men were refinishing the wooden doors and woodwork, painting throughout, rewiring, and starting to remodel the kitchen. They had already retiled the bathrooms.

Even with the mess of the work in progress, we knew that we liked the apartment when we first saw it, so we contacted the agent and asked to meet with the owner. What a surprise to learn that the owner was the father of Andrés, the former boyfriend of Coté! They had dated for 2 years, so we knew him well. We had met his father when the young people returned from a trip to the USA where they stayed with Artie's niece. Above is the agent and the owner, Hernan, reviewing the floor plans when we signed our offer agreement, January 19th.

We shopped for a dishwasher.

A group shot of some of the workers.

The next week we brought in pizza and drinks for the workers to enjoy on Saturday as a thank you for their hard work. In Chile, for many people, Saturday is still a work day, but a bit shorter than a weekday. Noisy work can go on between 10 and 2.

The living room sure looked like a work zone, with painters inside, and gardners outside. The wrap-around planter boxes that are visible from most of the rooms had to be emptied and re-lined before being refilled. A new sprinkler system was also installed before the plants were placed. The greenery began to give the aparment a friendlier feel.

The dining room was a workshop for staining and varnishing many of the apartment doors.

Nearby, in the kitchen, another crew was working on all the cabinets, while elsewhere others were finishing up the trim on the bedroom woodwork and closets.

We were getting into the final stages, including all the legal details of buying property in Chile. To follow the progress, click on Next Steps.


This is what we found! It is the entire top floor of this building in Las Condes, the same community where we now live. The building is 15 year old, but this 11th floor apartment was in the process of being completely remodeled. Isn't the park-like entrance pretty? Below are the back and side views as seen from nearby streets.

As we came into the process, the men were refinishing the wooden doors and woodwork, painting throughout, rewiring, and starting to remodel the kitchen. They had already retiled the bathrooms.


Even with the mess of the work in progress, we knew that we liked the apartment when we first saw it, so we contacted the agent and asked to meet with the owner. What a surprise to learn that the owner was the father of Andrés, the former boyfriend of Coté! They had dated for 2 years, so we knew him well. We had met his father when the young people returned from a trip to the USA where they stayed with Artie's niece. Above is the agent and the owner, Hernan, reviewing the floor plans when we signed our offer agreement, January 19th.


We shopped for a dishwasher.		A group shot of some of the workers.


The next week we brought in pizza and drinks for the workers to enjoy on Saturday as a thank you for their hard work. In Chile, for many people, Saturday is still a work day, but a bit shorter than a weekday. Noisy work can go on between 10 and 2.


The living room sure looked like a work zone, with painters inside, and gardners outside. The wrap-around planter boxes that are visible from most of the rooms had to be emptied and re-lined before being refilled. A new sprinkler system was also installed before the plants were placed. The greenery began to give the aparment a friendlier feel.