Front Elevation: Untapped Utopia
Modestly priced acreage is leading world investors into the Patagonian wilds.
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Stretching nearly a thousand miles, from the Rio Colorado in central Argentina, south to Tierra del Fuego, and enveloping parts of neighboring Chile, Patagonia is fabled for its remote and rugged splendor. Adventurers have long traveled here to experience some of the world’s best mountain climbing, skiing, trekking and river rafting. And in recent years, the unspoiled region has been a big draw for affluent North Americans and Europeans looking to buy something that is in short supply elsewhere—vast tracts of ranchland at prices that are a fraction of those found in prime locations such as Wyoming, Montana or Colorado.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Lanin Volcano looms over the hay fields of an
estancia in Junin de los Andes in the province of Neuquen, Argentina.
(Click
image to enlarge)
“You can come down here and, for a million dollars, buy something that would cost five or six times that back in the States. I’m talking thousands of acres, a working ranch, with a great river running through it and recreational opportunities galore,” says Jeff Wells, a broker with Denver-based Fuller Western Real Estate, which specializes in Patagonian properties. “These are trophy properties that you cannot find, much less afford, anywhere in the U.S. these days.”
Wells first ventured to Argentina more than 20 years ago as a 19-year-old Mormon missionary and fell in love with the land, the people and the relaxed pace of life. He recently partnered with Ken Mirr, another Fuller Western broker, to launch Argentina-based Austral Realty, which seeks out large ranch and recreational properties for North American buyers. While the collapse of Argentina’s economy four years ago drew many foreign investors looking to cash in on the devaluation of the Argentine peso, that crisis did not have a profound impact on real estate prices for big tracts of land, according to Mirr. “Real estate has long been the gold standard in Argentina, so prices didn’t bottom out with the rough economic times,” says Mirr. “But then they really weren’t that expensive to begin with.”
Fuller Western Real Estate/Austral Realty
Ken Mirr, 303.312.4271;
Jeff Wells, 303.888.9785; www.fullerwestern.com
