Getting an Apartment in Colombia 101

1. Plan to make a million calls
2. Don't expect when someone says they'll call you back they actually will
3. Don't expect real estate agents to arrive on time, in some cases, they will even forget they had an appointment with you
4. When you find a place you like, take it, otherwise it will be taken out from under you
5. You can't afford furnished apartments but you can't really afford furniture either
6. When you do sign for a place they will do a "credit check" with your bank statement
7. Then you will have to pay for a notary to notarize your already signed paperwork- but you dont have to sign it in their presence
8. It is very difficult to get a lease for less than a year
9. The contract is a standard form but even if the agreements of your contract are different than that you have to ask that the contract be corrected... contract errors are normal
10. When you do sign the corrected contract be sure to block out the entire afternoon- it will take that long
11. Also, when you are getting furniture delivered- expect it to be hours and hours late eg. if it was supposed to come on Tuesday afternoon it might come at 10:30pm on Thursday
12. There are no Targets, you cannot get nice consumer goods like furniture at a reasonable price- you can expect to pay $70 for a plastic chair that is likely to break soon after the purchase
13. If you want good prices you have to go south to the furniture district and play shop owners off each other- it is totally acceptable to negotiate the price of a sofa

So basically doing anything here takes time and patience but have managed to get through it and get an incredible apartment for only about $450 a month, not including utilities and internet.