Exploratory visit (Buenos Aires)

My wife and I are targeting Buenos aires as a place to start our expat life. We are still both working. I am a physican and she is a flight attendant/photographer. We are looking at retirement end Protected content beginning Protected content . the best time we have to visit is the end of January and the beginning of February Protected content . Lonely Planet says the heat and humidity is unbearable, everyone leaves town and many places are closed. We are coming to check out the city for such things as activities, cultural venues, cost of living, types of rentals in our price range, physical layout of the city, transportation, and nature of the various neighborhoods that we might consider as a target for living. We personally don't mind being uncomfortable for two weeks but can anyone give us input on whether an exploratory visit the last week of January and first week of February is a waste of time. Would we be able to get some idea (albeit truncated) of the things I mentioned above?
We would also appreciate the name and contact of a good real estate agent that could show us a few rentals.
My wife Linda and I would be very grateful for any advice you could give.
Alan