Buying
Search, viewings, comparables, offer, promesa de compraventa, notaría and registration — start to keys. I work for the buyer, and I tell you what a property's problems are before you fall in love with the balcony.
How the purchase worksMedellín · Antioquia · Colombia
Buying here is simple. The paperwork is not.
A Medellín-based agent working with foreign buyers, sellers and long-term investors across the Aburrá Valley. Everything on this site is written for someone who has never bought property under Colombian law — the real sequence, the real costs, and the two registration mistakes that quietly cost people their visa.
What I do
Four kinds of work, one standard.
Representation on your side of the table, in English, with every number shown before you commit to anything.
Selling
Pricing from real comparables rather than what the neighbour is asking, photography, listing distribution, and handling of the certificado de tradición y libertad and paz y salvos so closing doesn't stall.
Selling your propertyLong-term rentals
Placement and management of unfurnished and furnished long-term tenancies under Colombian lease law, including guarantee arrangements that Colombian landlords expect and foreign owners rarely know about.
Rentals and managementInvestment
Yield modelling, holding structure, and the Banco de la República registration that determines whether your purchase counts toward a visa. Honest about what this market does and doesn't return.
Investing hereThe number nobody quotes you
Closing costs in Antioquia are not the same as Bogotá.
Most English-language guides copy Bogotá's figures. Antioquia's departmental impuesto de registro is 1% under Ordenanza 29 of 2017 — not the 0.67% you'll read elsewhere. On a COP 900 million apartment that difference is about COP 3 million you didn't budget for.
| Buyer pays | Approx. |
|---|---|
| Notarial rights (half of 0.54%) | 0.27% |
| Impuesto de registro (Antioquia) | 1.00% |
| Derechos de registro (SNR) | ~0.87% |
| Rough total | ~2.1–2.5% |
Notarial rights under Resolución RES-2026-000964-6, in force since 1 February 2026. Estimates only — your notaría issues the binding liquidation on the day.
Neighbourhoods
Estrato is the first thing to understand.
Colombian addresses carry an official socioeconomic classification from 1 to 6. It is not a rating of quality — it sets what you pay for utilities, and it tells you a great deal about who your neighbours are and how the block will change. It is assigned per address, so two buildings on the same street can differ.
Estrato 16
El Poblado sits predominantly in estrato 5 and 6. Higher estrato means higher utility tariffs, because the system cross-subsidises lower ones.
Straight answers
Common questions.
Can a foreigner own property in Colombia outright?
Yes. Colombia places no nationality restriction on property ownership, and there is no requirement to hold residency or use a local company. You will need a passport and, for most transactions, a Colombian tax identification number (NIT or cédula de extranjería, depending on your situation).
Is there an MLS in Medellín?
No. There is no single authoritative listings database the way there is in the United States or Canada. Inventory is fragmented across agency websites, portals, building administrators and word of mouth, which is precisely why the same apartment appears at three different prices. Anyone who tells you they can show you "everything on the market" is describing something that does not exist.
What does an agent charge?
Commission is negotiated rather than fixed, and it is customarily paid by the seller. Ask for the figure in writing before you sign anything, and ask specifically whether the agent is representing you or the seller — in a market with no MLS, dual representation is common and worth knowing about.
Do I need to register the purchase with the central bank?
If you are bringing money in from abroad and want the purchase to count as registered foreign direct investment — which is what makes it usable for an investor visa and protects your right to remit proceeds out later — then yes. The funds must be channelled through an authorised exchange intermediary using Formulario No. 4. Using Formulario No. 5 does not register an investment, and that error is not easy to unwind afterwards. Full explanation here.
Does buying property get me residency?
Property can support an M-Investor visa if the registered investment exceeds 350 SMMLV. With the 2026 minimum wage at COP 1,750,905, that threshold is roughly COP 612.8 million. The minimum wage rises every January, so a purchase that qualified comfortably one year can fall short at renewal. How the threshold works.
Tell me what you're trying to do.
No lead form that disappears into a CRM. A message goes to my phone and I answer it myself, usually the same day.