Gringoes.com: Moving to Sao Paulo almost there!

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thankfulgirl
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Joined: 15 February 2012
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Topic: Moving to Sao Paulo almost there!
Posted: 28 April 2012 at 15:39

Hi, It's me again.

I'm almost moving to Sao Paulo and I have some questions before to arrive.

When I visited the city to search for schools and apartments two months ago, I visited some stores and I found everything so expensive.

I'm shipping through a moving company a 40' container with all my stuff, payed for my husband's company.

Do the apartments have 110 v or 220 V power? All my appliances (washer, dryer, refrigerator, hair dryer, toaster, etc.) work with 220 V.

What are the best known brands of appliances there? That is, those who can repair them if damaged at some time.

These marks are known and used there: General Electric, LG, Whirlpool, Kenmore, Daewoo?

What items do you recommend me worthwhile to include in the move, that you know are very expensive in sao paulo?

Or maybe, asking otherwise: What items are not that expensive in Sao Paulo?

Another question:

If I buy a medium size car there (maybe an used car) giving the half of the price as a downpayment (US$15,000.00), maybe financing US$10,000 to complete the rest of the value, somebody know how much do i have to pay montly in a period of 3 years i I get a loan at a bank? It's just to have an idea of the interests.

For example at my last country, i did the same and I payed US$390.00 monthly for 3 years, financing US$9,000.00 of a total price of US$19,000.00 for a car (Kia Karens 0 KM).

This information is very important for me to organize the familiar budget.

Thanks in advance for your help

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Dave
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Joined: 27 November 2007
Location: Brazil
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Posts: 201

Posted: 28 April 2012 at 18:45

Electricity for residences in São Paulo is generallly 127V. Tecnically you could request two phase or three phase power and the voltage between phases would be 220V, but this will not be practical and may not be possible especially in a rental apartment.

If it's not too late try to convince your husband's company to give an applicance allowance instead of shipping your appliances. This is much more practical for various reasons:

- You probably won't have a 220V source for your appliances;

- Your appliances will take a long time to arrive & clear customs (my goods arrived at my apartment 5 months after I settled in Brazil, and they were shipped by AIR!);

- Many Brazilian kitchens / laundry areas don't have the space to accomodate first-world sized appliances;

- Most kitchen are setup to accomodate gas stoves (plus it's not uncommon for apartments to be supplied with built-in ranges), so if yours is electric it will not be easy to install;

Some of the major brands in Brazil are part of the Whirlpool family (Kitchen-Aid, Brastemp, Consul). Other commom appliance brands are Samsung, LG, Eletrolux, Bosch, and General Electric. Don't think I've seen Kenmore or Daewoo down here.

Anything electronic that you could bring that is rated for 120V (or is bi-volt; 110-240V) will be more expensive in Brazil, regardless of where you are from. Compared to North America, electronics are usually about twice as expensive in Brazil (sometimes they only cost about 60% more in Brazil, sometimes as much as triple). Good quality cooking tools are expensive here as well, so if you like to cook bring whatever you can.

The price of a car is about double what you would expect to pay in a country with reasonable consumption taxes. The cost of financing is much more than double what you would pay in the US or Europe or anywhere else probably. I would never think financing a car in Brazil as its absurdly expensive. I believe the annual interest rates are about 20 - 24%. My bank's simulator yields monthly payments of about R$800/month to finance R$20k over three years.

If you have $15k cash to spend on a car, IMO I would buy a Gol and try to fit everyone in. Brazilians have a different sense of how much space you need in a car to feel confortable. When in Rome...

In general owning a car in Brazil is not a rewarding experience. Financing anything is even less rewarding.

Good luck!

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thankfulgirl
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Joined: 15 February 2012
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Posted: 28 April 2012 at 22:01

Dave, thank your very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Your help is wonderful.

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karljm
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Joined: 18 April 2012
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Posted: 29 April 2012 at 03:11

I'm curious what your husband does....on the lookout for the types of jobs and companies that send expates to Brazil...

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Captain Ron
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Joined: 29 September 2009
Location: Brazil
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Posts: 157

Posted: 30 April 2012 at 08:47

One thing you will become expert at here in Brasil is changing appliance plugs to fit your house.
2 pin, 3 pin, round pin, slot pin, round and slot pin, thick pin, thin pin, 110 volt, 115/127 volt, 220 volt, bi-volt, monofasio, bifasio, trifasio. This is Brasil's idea of standardization!
In Bahia I have had to change at least 70% of the appliance plugs.

Edited by Captain Ron - 01 May 2012 at 19:16

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meadow
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Joined: 03 May 2012
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Posted: 03 May 2012 at 21:50

To see a world in a granda of stand.And a heaven in a wild flower.Hold infinity in the palm your hand and eternity in an hour.Cheap WOW Gold or RS Gold and Diablo 3 Gold

meadow

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nonure1206
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Joined: 27 April 2012
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Posted: 04 May 2012 at 12:31

Good quality cooking tools are expensive here as well, so if you like to cook bring whatever you can.

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tamte
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Joined: 20 March 2011
Location: Brazil
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Posts: 342

Posted: 04 May 2012 at 18:38

Originally posted by Captain Ron

One thing you will become expert at here in Brasil is changing appliance plugs to fit your house.
2 pin, 3 pin, round pin, slot pin, round and slot pin, thick pin, thin pin, 110 volt, 115/127 volt, 220 volt, bi-volt, monofasio, bifasio, trifasio. This is Brasil's idea of standardization!
In Bahia I have had to change at least 70% of the appliance plugs.

Or more simple (if you own the house), I changed all the receptacles ($0.89 USD a piece, $0.25USD the cover non-breacable white nylon, from Home Depot, I bougth 50 of them before the move) in my house to use the US appliances. They are all "dual" receptacles, compared to the single Brazilian ones. A lot better than the Brazilian crap.

In case you absolutely need to buy some Brazilian devices (ummm, the cable modem, and some phone chargers, I think are the only ones I have with round pins), I us the US to Brazzy adapters or make a cable with needed connectors.

life's too short to be living without you, babe.

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toolio
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Joined: 05 July 2008
Location: Brazil
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Posts: 1015

Posted: 11 May 2012 at 11:17

A plug warning.

Brasil's absurd new three-pin "padrao," which as we all know makes things even more complicated, cleverly includes reversed polarity from the previous two-pin standard. Keep this is mind when installing these or when replacing them with North American style outlets. Neutral and positive are now reversed (although how the internal wiring deals with this depends on whether the new-padrao receptacles are installed with the ground/earth pin up or down).
As far as I am aware, most of the adapters sold here do not take this into consideration, so by using those you are reversing polarity to your North American appliances. Normally this does not matter, but in some cases--particularly with no-break battery backups (UPS) and a few other devices it does.

I don't need to be right; I just don't want to be wrong.

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tamte
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Joined: 20 March 2011
Location: Brazil
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Posts: 342

Posted: 11 May 2012 at 13:10

Originally posted by toolio

A plug warning.

Brasil's absurd new three-pin "padrao," which as we all know makes things even more complicated, cleverly includes reversed polarity from the previous two-pin standard. Keep this is mind when installing these or when replacing them with North American style outlets. Neutral and positive are now reversed (although how the internal wiring deals with this depends on whether the new-padrao receptacles are installed with the ground/earth pin up or down).
As far as I am aware, most of the adapters sold here do not take this into consideration, so by using those you are reversing polarity to your North American appliances. Normally this does not matter, but in some cases--particularly with no-break battery backups (UPS) and a few other devices it does.

True, I'm cheking all the wiring anyway (been a factory electricity supervisor in big company and seen all kind of wirings even in a country where codes are followed by the law). In Brazil it seems that theres' no freaking code at all

life's too short to be living without you, babe.

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