Using Medellin ATM’s

Planning to use your ATM card when you visit Medellin? You will get better exchange rates than changing cash or travelers checks at a cambio!

There are convenient ATM’s (called ATH’s in Medellin) all over Medellin. In Banks, Malls, Grocery Stores, Casinos, Restaurants and more. Most of them support the more popular networks like Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, MasterCard and many others. Most also have an English and Spanish language option.

Different ATMs have different per transaction limits of usually 400,000-500,000 COP. You can do multiple transactions up to the daily limit allowed by your bank.

A few hints on using ATM’s in Medellin;

Only withdraw what you will need on a daily basis;

Only carry 1 or 2 ATM/Debit/Credit Cards

Only make withdrawls from ATM’s in well lighted areas and preferably places with on site security;

Keep your paper receipt;

Count your money; Check your balance on line to make sure only one transaction occurred.

Make sure that your transaction has ended and the machine is ready for the next customer….not asking you if you want another transaction!

Medellin Travel Guide Portal

The original design concept for Medellin Travel Guide was to make it into a portal, a gateway if you will, to finding information about visiting or traveling to Medellin Colombia.  Inclusive of our rental apartments, penthouses and realestate for sale listings we have with our clients, the portal is now well over 180 pages in length.  Too big and too cumbersome for many surfers although our unique visitors continues to grow at a 20% month over month rate.

We tracked some data points, for the past 4 months, of which topics were of the greatest interest to our site visitors and decided to publish an easier to navigate more user friendly website with short snippets of information and links back to individual pages on MTG is there was interest in more detail on a particular subject.

 

It had a natural selection of about 5 main topics;

Accommodations;

Getting Here;

Realestate;

Things to do;

and, Services

 

From those broad categories, we took the top 33 most frequently visited pages/topics and created www.medellinvisitorsguide.com  In some cases, you will be taken to a specific page on Medellin Travel Guide but will never leave the Medellin Visitors Guide Site.  We used the KISS approach in determining if less intensive information would meet your needs for Medellin Information and just created new pages or whether the information on MTG was succint enough to just link you to that specific topic.

A splash or landing page was created about a month ago and we have been periodically working to complete the site.

 

Today, we have re-launched www.medellinvisitorsguide for your perusal.  We hope it meets your needs for information about traveling to or visiting Medellin Colombia.  You can always find more detail on many more topics on Medellin Travel Guide but you may just find what you need on Medellin Visitors Guide as well.

 

Thanks for visiting and helping to make Medellin Travel Guide the #1 English web site about Medellin Colombia on the internet.

 

Regards,

 

MTG

Medellin Travel Guide Launches Affiliate Web Sites

At a 180+ pages and growing, the Medellin Travel Guide portal has become somewhat daunting for many that are not skilled browsers on the internet.

 

In an effort to make finding information about Medellin Colombia a little easier, we have launched several new web sites specifically focused on topics people are interested in finding about Medellin.

 

www.medellinpenthouses.com is dedicated to furnished Penthouses and apartments for sale and short or long term rentals;

www.medellinrealestatguide.com is dedicated to Medellin Property, sales of homes, condos, apartments, penthouses and fincas

www.medellinfincas.com is dedicated to finca sales and rentals as well as finca hotels for visits;

www.medellinadventuretours.com is dedicated to providing you with information about things to see and do in Medellin ranging from museum and finca tours to paragliding and whitewater rafting.

www.medellinvisitorsguide.com is a scaled down version of the Medellin Travel Guide with quick links to many favorite topics like Medellin Accommodations, Medellin Restaurants, Medellin Attractions and of course, Parque Lleras

 

www.medellinhealthtourism.com is dedicated to helping people find Medellin Doctors, Medellin Dentists and Medellin Hospitals that need health related assistance.

 

There are about 8 other web sites related to Medellin Realestate, Medellin Apartments and visiting Medellin that we have also launched.  Hopefully, you will discover that finding information on specific topics about Medellin Colombia a little easier to find now.

 

Regards,

 

Medellin Travel Guide

Medellin Rental Properties

One of the most frustrating things about owning rental investment property is having it sit vacant.  Expenses continue like monthly condo fees, taxes, utilities, placing ads in papers and on the internet etc.

 

In Medellin, you can drive around and see literally hundreds of “arrienda” signs in windows and if you pay attention, they stay there month after month after month. Many are listed with multiple agencies and yet, they still stay empty.

There are several reasons this phenomenon exists:

1) They are asking too much money for rent (but refuse to lower it).  It is an interesting part of the culture here.  They would rather sit on it, vacant, paying the monthly services, taxes and utilities than take 1 dollar less than they think it is worth per month??

2)  Most owners here will not fix up a place until it is rented so many do not show very well.  If they only realized a little sprucing, cleaning and painting would help their place show better, they would have money coming in each month instead of money going out!

3) One of the biggest hurdles is the infamous “Feador” system that is in place. To rent an apartment, you must have 2 Colombian residents…with good credit….to guarantee your rent should you fail to pay or; you may be required to pay up to 6 months in advance plus a security deposit!  Probably out of the reach of the average person in Colombia and foreigners wishing to rent do not have Colombians that will co-sign for them.

4) Lastly, many building administrations will not allow foreigners to rent in their buildings!  Yes, you heard that right.  No discrimination laws here preventing them from doing so either!

 

There is an evergrowing presence of ex-pats moving to Medellin Colombia that are buying up property and converting them to furnished and unfurnished rentals.  They are targeting their offers to visitors who want short term Medellin Accommodations as well as long term furnished and unfurnished apartments.  They are clever enought to use all the free and low cost vehicles for advertising and marketing their properties including having their own web sites, pages on other peoples web sites, free ads on Craigs List and more.  They know how to use Poor But Happy, WordPress and other Blog sites to get their property noticed and keep it occupied.

 

On Medellin Travel Guide, we have over 15 furnished Apartments and Penthouses listed.  Some are private owners while the lions share of them are listed by realtors. These properties have had over 90% occupancy for the past 90 days.  Several are currently leased on long term agreements. To say the rental market here is brisk would be an understatement.

But what about those of you that have properties that are sitting vacant.  Are you frustrated?  Thinking of throwing in the towel and selling?  Finding it difficult to manage the property from a long distance?

 

If you want to see some action on your property and increase your occupancy levels, you should place it in the hands of a competent local property management company who will advertise it, show it, collect rents, keep it maintained, meet and greet tenants attend to cleaning after departure and get it ready for your next guest.

Medellin Travel Guide highly recommends First American Realty Medellin for these services.  A trusted and reliable American owned operation that really does give “First Rate” service.

 

Secondly, if you already have someone that is performing these services for you but you just want a little more exposure to boost your occupancy performance, then you should consider placing your property on the Medellin Travel Guide Apartments listing page and having your own separate page on the site.  It is inexpensive and provides you coverage from the largest English Language portal about Medellin Colombia in existence.  You get your own page, your own photos, links from 22 other MTG pages and 14 other Medellin property,  Medellin realestate, Medellin apartments and Medellin Penhtouses related web sites that all drive traffic to your individual page.

 

Worth a look, wouldn’t you say? How much more profit would you make with a 5-10-20% or more increase in your occupancy? Even moreso now that we are offering special pricing for property listings and pages on the site. Check it out at www.medellintravelguide.com/medellin_advertising.html

Moving to Medellin- Working Virtual

A very good friend that I had known when I lived in Rio made a visit to Medellin last September to see if it might be a place he wanted to move.  He returned to his native Ft. Lauderdale determined to make a permanent move here and began a long arduous convincing effort with the owner of his company.  He was able to demonstrate his ability to perform his job virtually, even better than in his office.  His boss finally agreed but put a few stipulations to the agreement.

 

My friend called me and told me he wanted a really nice place to live in Medellin and maybe even a furnished Medellin Penthouse apartment.  When he saw this one he told me to book it for him for 3 months with an option to extend longer.  The only other thing he required was a really fast internet connection because his job involves uploading and downloading a lot of large graphics files.  We settled on a 4Mb ADSL service from EPM/UNE in Medellin.  He also needed a desk immediately, wanted provisions in his fridge when he arrived and needed everything completed over a weekend so he did not miss a beat at work and would be fully up and operational by Monday morning.

 

He arrived on a Thursday and after a scary Friday internet instalation that was not successful, he was up and working Saturday morning.  We bought his desk and office supplies, added to the meager yet basic provisions I had acquired, got maids in to clean (yes, maids as in plural; 2 for two full days at a total cost of just over $60 US!!)

 

It was a mad dash to the finish but he was up and working first thing Monday morning and it was business as usual.  Not to say it was an easy accomplishment in this sometime “manana” mentality environment but with a lot of planning and a little advanced research we pulled it off.

I think his boss was pleasantly surprised and has seen an actual improvement in my friends sales results.  My friend is beside himself with his first completed week in Medellin. Now, a few rugs, some plants and a little art work and he will be living in a truly spectacular 4 Bedroom Medellin Penthouse apartment with million dollar views for little more than his 3 bedroom apartment in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I think he is here to stay!