About LADERA

A Medellín-focused property research and referral service for foreign buyers, sellers, renters, and long-term investors across the Aburrá Valley.

Why this site exists

Most foreign buyers in Medellín arrive with the wrong mental model. They expect an MLS, a standard commission, an escrow company, a title insurer and a closing table. Colombia has none of those. What it has instead is a notarial system, a public registry, a departmental tax that varies by department, and a central bank that cares a great deal about how your money entered the country. None of it is difficult. All of it is unfamiliar, and unfamiliar is where people lose money.

So the guides on this site exist before the listings do. If you read them and decide to work with someone else, that is a reasonable outcome — you will at least be a harder person to take advantage of.

How I work

• One side of the table. If I am representing you as a buyer, I tell you before a viewing whether I have any relationship with the seller or the building.
• Numbers before enthusiasm. You get the estimated closing costs, the administración, the predial and the realistic rental figure before you get the sales pitch.
• Written, in English. Colombian property documents are in Spanish and will stay in Spanish. I walk you through what each one says and what you are agreeing to.
• Referrals out. I am not a lawyer, an accountant or an immigration adviser. For títulos, tax residency and visas I hand you to people who do that for a living.

What I will not do

I do not run short-term rental arbitrage, I do not sell pre-construction on projections I cannot substantiate, and I do not quote market averages I cannot source. If a number appears on this website, it comes from a public Colombian authority and the source is named on the page.