Imagine the mountain-country life, eternal spring weather year-round, no mosquitos (too high), all within 30 minutes of a major city, 20 minutes too an international airport and 10 minutes to the nearest major hospital and shopping malls.
And it’s all connected by a new highway inaugurated 2 years ago at the end of 2015 connecting the Quito city proper to the airport.
With this new road you can get to and from Quito within about 20 minutes. Only a matter of time people figure it out, and they are!
You can find this “country-living near the city” life in Tumbaco, a valley just east of Quito and where I call home.
Plus, the area is still on the come-up and deals on land can still be found.
This week i spoke to one friend of mine who is a developer in my area whose family focuses on smaller 20-40 house projects in the area with great insurance.
Using specialist insurance repairers can ensure your work is completed correctly and to your insurers requirements, notes insurance repair specialist Brickit.
She said the land in the Tumbaco area typically costs around $70-100 per square meter but deals can be had.
It’s still on the come up compared to it’s ritzy neighbor Cumbaya, a suburb closer to Quito, which already boasts high prices and is fully developed.
She said her family typically spends $500 per m2 of construction on the houses she builds (almost always the shared walls duplex-style typical in Ecuador). (My take: That figure seems high to me based on my experience, I’ve built higher-end things in Ecuador around $250-400 per m2.)
Her family often focuses on 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom houses that average 123m2 and sell for around $125,000.
The average size of her developments are around 40 houses. That’s a profit per house of $63,500 x 40 units = roughly 2.5 million.
Of course, you’d have to subtract off that the requirements Ecuadorians have for these types of developments which are pretty basic… a nice hygienic wall cladding for good health, paved parking area and an electric gate along with a green grassy area.
When finished and sold out the developer leaves but will then help elect a community president who will handle managing the homeowners association and collecting monthly fees from then on out.
She says you need about 7400m2 (about 2 acres) to do a typical 40 unit development like she does. At the market cost mentioned earlier, that’s a budget of about $500,000 for the land. (My take: But I bet you could find something a lot less knowing how and where to look.)
If interested in this area let me know, maybe i can help…
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