Expert: Cesar - 12/23/2009

Question
How much will I need monthly to live modestly in Bogota?

Answer
You can live modestly to good in Bogotá and generally all over Colombia for about a million pesos. It depends on how you spend your money. A lot of people live with about 500 thousand to 800 thousand pesos. A million pesos is about 500 dollars. You can live with less than a million pesos. You could rent a place for about 200 to 250 thousand and live with 500 thousand for the rest of the expenses. Most individuals would be able to live modestly with about 700 thousand pesos.

RENTING:
I have not lived in Bogotá for many years, but generaly in Medellín you can rent for the following prices (Bogotá could be a little higher, less, or more depending on where you choose to live). The following prices are for Medellín and they could be more or less in Bogotá with a difference of maybe 10 percent.

1) A room from about 150 thousand pesos per month. If you pay a little more they could include breakfast, ironing, or the 3 meals. There are hotels/motels/or residences with rooms for rent where you can rent per day at a rate of at least 6 thousand pesos in a terrible place to 25 or 35 thousand pesos in a somewhat bad area to 65 thousand to 150 thousand for a very nice place.

2) An apartment can be rented from about 200 thousand pesos in a poor area, an average of 300 thousand for something better, and on average 450 thousand to 600 thousand or more for something nice in a good neighborhood. In a very rich neighborhood it could be 1 million to 2 million.

3) A house could be rented from 180 thousand (if you are lucky to find one), 250 thousand to 450 thousand in a somewhat poor neighborhood and 600 thousand to 800 thousand in a good neighborhood. Much more in a very rich neighborhood.

BUYING PROPERTIES:
You can buy a house for 15 million (lucky if for less, but is possible). The average for a house in a poor to not too nice area is 30 million to 35 million. An apartment in a nice neighborhood could sell for 65 to 120 million. A lot more in some neighborhoods. You can buy a brand new apartment or house in many areas for 36 or 39 million, but they will be small in size and unfinished (just the barebones construction). Something nicer for 50 million or more such as a little bigger place and nicer area. You can even buy something with community pool for about 40 million. You can also buy land and have something constructed there. Labor is cheap (a construction officer charges about 40 thousand per day and each laborer about 20 to 25 thousand per day.) Construction materials are not too expensive, but cement is expensive at about 20 thousand per sack. Normally the constructions here are with bricks.

FOOD:
Fast food is not as common as in the US. You could have breakfast for about 3 thousand pesos, lunch for about 6 to 9 thousand and the same price for dinner. A large hot dog with all the fillings for about 3 thousand.

PERSONAL ITEMS:
Some personal hygene items are expensive. You could buy a shampoo for about 10 to 13 thousand pesos. There is no common to find large stores similar to the 99 cents stores you find in the US. Instead you will find smaller ones were you could buy some things for 500 to 3 thousand pesos and more.

TRANSPORTATION:
Most people use public tranportation such as buses, microbuses, and metro. Bogotá is pretty large and they have Transmilenio, which is a very large bus that has an exclusive road for it to move around without having to deal with traffic. Some people use taxis as needed when they are short of time or do not want to use buses or microbuses. Bogotá is pretty large and you could spend from 5 to 18 thousand in most single trips. Medellín is smaller and on average you will spend the minimum charge of 3.6 thousand to 10 thousand, being the most usually 15 to 18 thousand. You can also buy taxi time per hour.

UTILITIES:
Wired broadband internet at home is expensive. You can buy in Medellín a 2 gigabyte speed for about 115 thousand pesos and about 143 thousand for 3 gigabytes. You can add TV cable for about 13 thousand if you already have internet. TV cable separately could cost about 30 thousand. Colombia uses a scale called "estratos" where you pay more or less in utilities depending on the wealth of your neighborhood. People in level 1 (estrato 1) would pay the least in utilities and people in level 6 would pay the highest rates in utilities. You can expect to pay from 1 thousand to 1.2 thousand pesos per hour at a cafe internet. There are plenty of cafe internets in Colombia, specially in larger cities. At least one a few blocks apart from each other depending on how much population is around them. Wireless internet in Medellín is less expensive than wired internet at about 63 thousand from the highest speed provider, which could go up and down in speed (not too reliable service).

PHONE SERVICE:
The phone service in Medellín and other cities is normally bundled with the other utilities. Therefore you will receive a single bill for power, water, phone service, internet, and drainage. A family of 3 with a lot of visitors could expect to pay 250 thousand per month for all of those services including broadband internet at 3 gigabytes in a neighborhood at level 2. Cellular service is expensive, but costs depend on what you choose. You can choose a prepaid plans in which you buy minutes (for example 3 thousand pesos in minutes, 5, 10, or 20 thousand pesos). Minutes are expensive for prepaid plans. A call could cost you 500 pesos per minute, but it could be more or less if you call a number for the same provider, another provider, or a land line phone. You can expect to pay at least 300 pesos per minutes or about 200 for your favorite numbers. You can buy monthly plans from about 39 thousand pesos. Cellulars are not too expensive. You can buy a used one for 10 thousand. You can buy a brand new cellular for about 60 thousand pesos, but prices vary widely. You could even buy a cellular for a million, 1.3 million, or more.

Medellín is one of the most expensive cities in Colombia to live in, but the difference is not too much. Bogotá is probably not too far behind. Bogotá super large in size and prices could be a little less in some places and more in others. Cartagena, Santa Marta, and other touristic cities would have expensive to very expensive rentals and prices for real estate purchases due to their touristic nature unless you go to a poor neighborhood. You could rent a small apartment by the beach for say 60 dollars per day or more in the touristic area. The average could be 100 dollars per day, but do not quote me on that since prices could vary widely depending on where. Most people would buy a touristic package and spend a week or a number of days in a hotel.

VEHICLES:
They are expensive, even used ones. Very old cars are very expensive. You could buy a very old (20 years or more) Renault car for 7 million, but negotiable to say 5 million. Prices are coming down and now you could buy a very small brand new car for about 22 million to 30 million.

HOTELS:
Prices depend on which hotel. It is pretty hard to find a cheap hotel in Bogotá and Cali in the busiest, most important areas. A hotel or room near the US Embassy used to cost 80 thousand to 100 thousand pesos per day or more about 10 years ago, but hotel room prices do not increase too much per year. You could probably find a place in downtown for probably 60 thousand to 100 thousand. In a fancy hotel you could probably expect to pay US$80 to 150 dollars per day or more. They also charge a tax that goes to the government.

Best wishes,

Cesar
CesarUSA.com