01Journal
Practical, no-fluff notes for owners and guests — how furnished rentals really work here, and how we run them.
The deposit is the line item people forget to budget for and the one they argue about at the end. How much is normal in Medellín, when you pay it, what it is actually securing, and the four things to get in writing before any money moves.
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Every cost-of-living article gives you one number. Here is the whole receipt: rent by neighborhood, the utilities that are already inside a furnished price, groceries, the Metro, coworking, health cover and the nights out — in pesos first, then dollars.
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There are two rental markets in Medellín and they ask you for completely different things. Which one takes a passport, which one wants a cédula, where the digital nomad visa fits, and what a proper contract looks like when you finally sign one.
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Six weeks out, four weeks out, the week of the flight: what to ask for, what a real listing shows you, how the paperwork and the payment run, and what the first seven days in the city look like when the home was sorted from your sofa at home.
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One number in a 2009 decree decides whether you are a guest or a tenant, whether your host needs a tourism license, what the building thinks of you and how the price is built. Here is the line, which side of it you are on, and why serious monthly operators price exactly at it.
ReadThree sets of rules decide whether your Medellín apartment can host short stays: the national tourism register, your building's own reglamento, and the city that inspects. Here is what each one actually says in 2026 — and the thirty-day line that takes you out of all three.
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The fiador is the wall most foreigners hit in Colombia. The deposit is the thing almost everyone gets wrong. What the law actually says, what the market actually does, and where the two don't match.
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On a residential lease you can raise the rent once a year, and no further than last year's IPC. What that means over five years, and why a furnished home is priced on a different clock entirely.
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The rent is rarely the whole bill. What EPM actually charges for, what the administración buys, and why the estrato number on a building changes what you pay for water.
Read Two listings both say furnished and one of them has four forks. What a genuinely move-in-ready home includes, and why the inventory is the most useful document you'll sign.
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Self-managing on Airbnb vs handing your Medellín apartment to a manager — the real work, the real costs, and how to decide what your place and your time are worth.
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Nightly looks cheaper by the night and isn't by the month. A clear-eyed comparison of furnished monthly rentals and Airbnb-style stays in Medellín, for renters.
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Where to live in Medellín if you work online — the trade-offs between El Poblado, Laureles, Envigado, Bello and beyond, on wifi, walkability, cost and calm.
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Honest monthly ranges by neighborhood — from El Poblado to Bello — plus what's included and why three- and six-month stays cost less.
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What it takes to run a furnished rental in Medellín well — monthly vs nightly, what management really covers, how managers charge, and how to pick one that earns its keep.
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