More bang for the U.S. Buck-- Chile or Argentina?

[DBCC]

Pigeonhole: You are more than welcome.....
I would look at an Area like Villa Carlos Paz as it is the second most important tourist city in Argentina, has a great deal of international tourism/investments, great water
sports, nightlife, cuisine, and is accessible to the provincial Capital, Cordoba, which is only 18 miles away on a practical toll gated highway.
Cordoba City offers an international Airport (access to Chile/Brazil/Uruguay/Peru/Bolivia etc) and all facilities, as well as being know and the Cultural/Education center of Argentina.
Properties in this region are pretty reasonably priced (now with the global financial crisis) and many bargains can be obtained.
Another areas worth looking at would be Dique Los Molinos, Villa General Belgrano, La Cumbrecita, Los Reartes, Villa Jardin America, Santa Rosa de Calamuchita.......all of whom are "tourist cities" and have the facilities that you are seeking.
Mar Chiquita or "little Sea" -as you mention : north of Cordoba, - is not that popular as a resort and is used mainly for fishing. I have not heard any reports about this being a good investment area and would ot consider it as a business venture.
However, there are a number of small farms north of Cordoba (200+ Acres) which have good investment value and are within your budget. I can send you details of some of them if you so wish. The majority of them are small cattle ranches, have water, utilities (water/electricity) and which you might consider as a project.
Tucuman is a great province if you can put up with the summer humidity. Only regions like Tafi del Valle (in an Andes pre range) offer a more drier climate. Good investments can be made there and the region is ideal, although the "Tucumano's" (locals) have a reputation for being kinda laid back/lazy. This is important when looking for employees.
Salta province is growing and offers the best tourism offers in the country at the moment due to the formation of the NOA (North western Organization) which coordinates three provinces tourism in the region. Their facilities have improved considerably as a result and there is a lot to offer with the demand for quality tourism.
San Carlos de Barlioche and San Martin de Los Andes in the Rio Negro region are also offering incentives for foreign investors. However, if you are looking for Tropical weather I would not reccommend the south......
I have a number of trusted friends that can offer you different possibilities in Real Estate, but if you could be more specific as to what you are looking for, I would be more than willing to help.

As a footnote: Estancias (or Rural B & B's) are a good investment and farms with old traditional and quaint homes can be obtained for reasonable prices, of course, adding adequate additional infrastructure to accommodate guests etc would have to fit in aesthetically. There is a huge demand for this type of service all over the country where hotels dont come up to spec and one aims for a more sophisticated tourist.

Just a suggestion. I am able to be contacted at the emails indicated on my Profile should have any further queries..... or contacts that I could provide you with that may not be eliigible to put up on this site due to restrictions on advertiising etc.

Looking forward to your comments.
Dee

[pigeonhole]

Hi Dee :
if it's not too much to ask, could you tell me realistically which kind of venture I could eventually start in A. province in investing 200.000$, notary public, and other miscellaneous expenses included ?
Thanks again for your counseling!
Lionel

[DBCC]

Hi there Lionel,
I will do some research and see what offers/expenses are available for you to peruse and we can go from there. I will send you an estimate of expenses etc that you will be able to analyze and we can move forward on any particular one that interests you.
Hopefully will be able to detail this to you tomorrow morning.
Have a great evening
Dee

[DBCC]

Lionel,
Greetings
I have not come back to you and apologize for this. It has mainly been due to a public holiday yesterday and have not had the time today to translate the offers but will come back to you with a couple of things that might interest you.
Have a good evening and will get this done for you as soon as time /workload permits me to get the translations done.
Dee

[Cornerguy1]

How about you guys use the Direct Message system for your personal stuff?

[pigeonhole]

Hi DBCC , send messages directly to my as the moderator said, and I'll give you my personal e-mail.
Thanks again for bothering, I'm quite interested in this venture.
Lionel