Dallas brought this up on another thread and its an important topic so I want to start a new discussion, following on to a discussion we had a couple years ago about this same topic.
https://www.expatexchange.com/expatguide/190/3426106/Colombia/Expats-Living-in-Colombia/Fiador
These methods have worked for me in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Popayan and Pereira. BUT, my experience is unique to me and my methods MAY NOT work for you, so prepare to be annoyed.
The only Spanish word I hate is ¨fiador¨. It means co-signer or guarantor.
Every real estate agent will insist on a fiador for you to rent an apartment or house. It is even becoming common for them to ask for TWO fiadora. What a bother!
The reason is because the real estate agent has agreed to pay the rent if the tenant doesn't. In exchange, the real estate agent gets a hefty cut of each rental payment, from 10% to 25%.
Most real estate agents, especially in Medellin and Bogota, will insist that the ¨fiador¨ has to own property in that city, and the ¨fiador¨ pledges his or her property to insure that you will pay the rent.
It also means you will have to sign a one-year lease with few if any escape options. If you wind up with bad neighbors, busted pipes, horrible smells or whatever, you will be stuck with the apartment until your lease expires. If you move out early and refuse to pay the rent, then they will go after your ¨fiador¨.
Sometimes, the way around the fiador issue to to pay several months in advance, such as six months or a year. I believe this is foolish because if you don't like the place you will lose your money if you leave. If you die, or have to move back to your country for an emergency, you will lose your money. Colombians do not make refunds.
When you see an inmobiliaria sign on a window you know there will be a request for a fiador. So I don't even bother calling the inmobilaria.
Instead, I ask the doorman or the neighbors for the name and phone number of the owner. I call the owner direct and make an offer. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I just keep trying until I find one that will work with me.
Another way around the issue is to rent from another gringo. There is a business model here in Colombia where a gringo rents an apartment direct from a Colombian at the Colombian rate, then raises the rent significantly and re-rents the apartment to a newly arrived gringo.
One example I know about is a gringo who rented the apartment for 800,000 and is re-renting it to another gringo for 1,500,000. I imagine that every rental you see advertised by a gringo or a gringo company is marked up in this manner.
When I decide I want to live in a certain barrio or pueblo, I take a long weekend and go there and stay in an Airbnb or hotel and start walking around. Getting used to the surroundings, looking for problem spots, looking for houses on streets that I like, and getting a feeling for the friendliness of the people.
I walk up and down streets, stopping at ¨se arrienda¨ signs and making notes. In some cases I've simple seen vacant apartments and asked the neighbors, or apartments being remodeled and ask the workers.
I chat with passers-by and ask if they know of available rentals. I stop in the little corner tiendas and chat with the people there and ask for their help.
I found a rental in Popayan this way when the woman at the tienda closed her store and walked with me for three blocks to introduce me to her friend who had an apartastudio for me to rent. I gave the lady at the tienda 50,000 for helping me out.
To cover a larger area, I hire a taxi for the half-day or full-day to drive me around the different barrios and have him tell me about the barrios and what to look out for.
If I needed an English speaking taxi driver I would go to the place where they congregate, such as at the bus terminal or major supermarkets, and walk down the line looking for an English speaker.
Its important to have a native translator. They can go to the owner and ask for the Colombian price instead of the Gringo price.
To find translators I went to local schools and found the English teachers. And, I went to the university to meet students who were in the English courses. Also from private English schools like Colombo-Americana and Cambridge.
Always I pay a finders fee for anyone who helps me out. But only when I have the key to the apartment.
I do not call inmobilarias in the online ads. Their prices are inflated the usual 10% to 25% and they are going to insist on a ¨fiador¨.
I have used the newspaper and online classifieds to call owners direct. But, I always have a native speaker make the first call for me so they get the Colombian price.
Good luck with your search.
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