Around the enormous table sat five adult siblings, three with spouses, two with attorneys, one with a grown son, plus the real estate agent for the seller, his two representatives, our real estate agent, our agent's boss, and Lief. It was the summer of 2003 in Buenos Aires. Over the preceding 12 months, we had bought three apartments in this city in the wake of Argentina's 2001 currency debacle and subsequent property crash. We arranged our schedules to be able to participate in the closing of the third apartment personally. We were purchasing from the five children of the elderly owner who had, not too long before, died in the apartment in question.

Argentines traditionally (with good reason) don't trust banks. Following the 2001 collapse, they really didn't trust banks. Real estate closings, therefore, were all-cash transactions that take place in the offices of currency houses, like the one where Lief sat that sunny summer morning. Papers went back and forth among siblings and attorneys, attorneys and agents, attorneys and attorneys. Then the agent for the currency house appeared. She had the cash. We had wired down our funds a couple of days beforehand so that the required cash bundles could be prepared. It was a $220,000 transaction.

The cash wasn't simply going from buyer (us) to seller. There were multiple sellers, each due a different percentage of the purchase amount. Into the room next, therefore, came the bill counter, the kind of machine that drug dealers and casinos might employ. Sister A got $22,000. Sister B got $35,000. Big brother who had been living in the house with his mother until she died got more than $100,000. The agent in charge passed him a plastic-wrapped brick of $100 bills and some “change” in the form of smaller individual packages.

Each sibling had his or her own ideas about how best to transport his or her cash. Sister A stuffed much of it inside her bra. One brother had a money belt for his relatively small take. The other sister gave some to her husband, put some in her purse, and gave some to her son. The brother who got the brick of 100s had little option but to use a small duffle bag.

The real estate agents took their commissions, and the attorneys took their fees and the amount required to register the title, again, all in cash. After everyone had claimed what was due him, a small pile remained in the middle of the table, a few thousand dollars left over that belonged to the buyers (us). Lief walked out with around $3,000 in cash in his jacket pocket, wondering if some local gang had figured out when real estate closings were being transacted at these currency houses so they could post someone at the entrances of the buildings and mug people as they walked out on to the street. (None of us was robbed.) The entire transaction took about an hour, with most of the time spent counting out bills.

Most closings aren't this dramatic, although it's not uncommon for campesinos in Central America (country folk in this part of the world) to request all cash at closing. One guy we purchased land from in Panama years ago supposedly transported his money back to his shack of a house in the middle of nowhere in a black garbage bag. He didn't have a bank account (and probably didn't trust banks anyway).

The particulars of closing on a real estate transaction vary by country, but more typical than all-cash is a cashier's check and a few signatures in front of a notary. You can avoid the entire process if you'd prefer, usually, by assigning your attorney a power of attorney, allowing him to sign the closing documents and manage the closing on your behalf. I'd suggest, though, being on hand in person at least for your first one or two closings and certainly if you buy in Argentina, just for the experience.

Even if you intend to be on hand yourself for a closing, we recommend that you process the paperwork to assign your attorney your power of attorney in advance anyway. Things happen. If for some reason at the last minute you're unable to make the trip to sign the closing documents yourself, having the power of attorney in place as a backup could save you from not being able to register the title in your name because of missing signatures or, even, from losing the purchase (and your deposit) altogether.

If you're getting a mortgage for the purchase, you may need to give your attorney a separate power of attorney allowing him to sign the mortgage documents (though sometimes you can sign these in advance of the official closing). Confirm with your bank what you need to have in place to ensure that this part of the closing goes smoothly.

Key, of course, to any property closing is the payment. Some of it could be via a mortgage, but, for any purchase, at least part of the payment will be in cash, requiring you to get cash where it needs to be when it needs to be there. We discuss the challenges and considerations associated with accomplishing this in detail in Part VIII.