Housing Markets & Real Estate: Chile vs USA

The USA is going through a housing crisis but in Chile the economy is booming and not only are street dogs getting fatter but it seems they've got a permanent moratorium on foreclosure.

So I wanna talk about how to move in Chile, and how different/similar it is from Chile, and ask you guys what your experience is. But first I gotta blow off a few paragraphs ranting about the housing crisis and Chile's disastrous economy. Let's start here:

Is the USA's meteoric crashing and burning eerily similar to what happened in the UK?

Now about Chile: Is Chile's looming financial crisis going to be about housing? I really don't know but a quick common sense lay-glance tells me that when it comes to financial crisis in Chile it's not "if", but "when" and "how" is the question.

"When" is anyone's guess and "how" seems like it might affect other kinds of debt, not necessarily mortgage. I don't know about the housing market, so I'm not gonna go there. But debt comes in all forms, and the USA crisis is currently seeping into credit card debt.

When it comes to credit card debt in Chile, well basically the entire population sub-prime. You know you've got a problem when you're offered a payment plan every time you check out groceries. Many Chilean consumers regularly depend on cuotas, installments. Even if they're only spending five bucks.

I once overheard a conversation between two maids, on the bus descending from their jobs in the McMansions of Santiago's affluent hills, one bragging to the other about how she'd just bought a DVD player. The other asked how she paid for it. The first maid told her it would take 18 months to pay it off.

The question is can Chile's credit-enabled sub-prime consumer class keep slaving away to make minimum payments and keep the banks liquid. The best case scenario is shitty enough. That's the miracle of Chile.

But maybe it is a miracle and you need to move uptown. Or you can't make rent and you need to move downtown. In Chile, you don't go online but you call the number of Fletes. I used to have a picture of one of these black-and-white signs that say "Flete" and they have a big phone number and you call them and tell them what you gotta move and where and they tell you the size of the truck and how many movers and you haggle out a price. Like any moving company it ain't cheap but still reasonable compared to the US. But still I think the whole process is very quaint.

In the USA, it's seems the Internet has become a vehicle for finding...vehicles. There's a site, for example, called NationalRelocation.com where they will help you move anywhere in the country. Fletes do this too. But I don't think you can find them online in Chile. Fortunately, it looks like this North American site has hope for the market, they're touting themselves as the resource for Colorado homes, like real estate in Denver, as well as real estate deals all over the country, Portland and other attractive cities to live in.

I don't really know. I think buying a house right now would be tricky. Economists warn about buying in a crashing market, because you never know where the bottom really is, it's like trying to catch a falling knife. Ouch. Nevertheless, now you know where to get some real estate, if you're crazy enough to buy in the US market. Who knows about the Chilean housing market. Is it on an upswing? I haven't been watching. Someone told me virgin years are gone and it's plateaued a bit, maybe Matt, the Valpo blogger, can tell you something about buying real estate in Chile.

Don't believe a word he says ;-)

Anyway, if you've moved in Chile what's been your experience with Fletes? Is there a web site that makes it easier/harder? What about buying property in Chile, would you do it? Discuss.