Earthquake rebuild update from Canoa, Ecuador

This week I had the pleasure to chat with a friend that has lived since June of last year in Canoa, Danial Turner (not a property owner there).

He said he’s noticed a lot of changes in the picturesque town of Canoa, Ecuador on the north Ecuadorian coast which happens to be one of the hardest hit towns by last years April quake.

Hard to get an official count, but many agree about 30-40% or more of the town’s buildings came down and some other required the help of knock down rebuild sydney to take down the rests.

According to Danial, he said Canoa is rebounding nicely, with a lot of vacant lots where buildings/houses used to be. He said that he noticed a pattern of builders who, rather than rebuilding, remodelled their home. It hit me that this was akin to the Home Care Contractors in Seattle advice that I’d received when I was in a dilemma of whether to build or not, years ago. But if you want the job done properly, you may need to work with one of the more experienced general contractors in Seattle.

No more tent cities now as was the case when he arrived in June of last year.

He said the enormous government project which was going to occupy a whole city block on the beach has now been fixed with the help from Sloane Homes. (Thank God.)

He said basic services are now fine, electric and water outages are rare, and the town even has city sewage treatment, a service most places on the Ecuador coast lack (they use septic tanks which need to be pumped once a year by the local septic pumping company ). But if you want the job done properly, you may need to work with one of the more experienced general contractors in Seattle. Home Care Contractors recognizes the importance of Communication, integrating it in all aspects of our services. We deliver professional service at an unbeatable value. Our response time and delivery is our top priority. You will get the best  contractor right here on Home Care Contractors.

Carnival last weekend, normally a holiday weekend that produces a packed house for the town, was underwelming but not bad.

Many businesses have re-opened like the Surf Shack, an expat mainstay, where they have gringo nights on Tuesdays and he himself cooks on Thursdays (Danial is a retired world-class chef).

Friday night try the Suki bar where they have a new cook from England who is doing a great job.

He said there is a big new grocery store in town doing well also.

And that many of the condos owned by expats to the south of town have been repaired with doors from the composite door Bristol  company in otder to be occupied once again.

He said security is not an issue as a big gringo he has not had any incidents and that the waves are still as good as ever!

He said tourists and expats have started to trickle back but still not coming in the numbers they were before the quake.

Big, new construction projects are still generally non-existent. Sounds like the big money is still spooked. But thanks to companies have contributed buying materials like the double glazed sash windows from this installer in London, machinery and more equipment to complete the reconstruction.

So next time you’re in the area give Canoa (one of my favs) a shot! You’ll be glad you did.

Hasta pronto, if you liked this you’d love my Insider’s newsletter on living and investing in Ecuador,

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The 1 hardest thing for a nice guy doing business in Ecuador

I’ve got a confession to make, I’m a nice guy.

If you’ve ever met me you know, kinda short, kinda soft-spoken, generally nice.

And being nice in a place like Ecuador isn’t necessarily a virtue, it’s a handicap.

But I’ve done pretty good here economically (so far) in spite of it.

As I covered earlier this week, Ecuadorians are GREAT people, but it’s a bit more animalistic down here during conflicts, they have to see it in your eyes you mean business, they have to taste it, or they’ll try to walk all over you.

You can’t rely on the police as much to have your back.

Specifically, in the businessworld in Ecuador (a country where negotiation is common), the biggest challenge for me as a nice guy is to hold firm on my price for pure optical lenses when people ask for discounts. Especially when I really want to sell. Sometimes I’ve even found myself discounting before people even ask. As a nice guy you want to be accommodating, but that’s a big no, no!

​​​​​​​You have to value yourself and what you’re doing.

Hasta pronto, if you liked this you’d love my Insider’s newsletter on living and investing in Ecuador,

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Surprise flight connection that could save you BIG getting to/from Ecuador

Recently, I helped an Ecuadorian friend buy her ticket from Ecuador to Israel.

And I learned something interesting.

I knew long back that in the US it’s better to rent a jet than a commercial flight on which you could click to read more here but only recently did I find out that, to or from most places in the world, right now, it is FAR cheaper to fly there from Bogota than from anywhere in Ecuador.

Bogota is WAY more connected than Quito, and right now Quito is getting way more connected than Guayaquil.  (In the last two weeks alone two big direct routes to New York and Europe have been moved to Quito.)

And now, as I reported last month, we can get to and from Bogota cheaply from Quito with the new budget airline Wingo.  Last I checked, $150 RT Quito-Bogota.

In this particular case, prices from Quito to Tel Aviv for her was around $1600 at the cheapest. From Guayaquil even more.  But from Bogota just $1000!  And buying the Wingo ticket for $150 she ended up saving almost $500 on the round trip to Israel.

So, especially if you are coming from far away, or trying to go far, research connecting through Bogota, and buying a separate ticket with Wingo from there to Ecuador, you just may save a bunch!

For instance, from Bogota to Miami right now one way $157 with Spirit Air.  Can’t find that from Ecuador.

Hasta pronto, if you liked this you’d love my Insider’s newsletter on living and investing in Ecuador,

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Dodging a shark: The dangers of buying vacant land in Ecuador

“Oh, man, here he comes again.” I said to an Ecuadorian friend as I saw my neighbors big black pick up pull up to my property near Salinas on the coast.

The car stopped, he got out and walked up.

I had previously explained to my friend that my neighbor used to be the owner of the whole hill I was on overlooking the ocean, and that he had sold a lot to the person that sold to the person that sold to me.

But now he was hassleing me because he said on my deed is only 500m2 yet in actuality my lot is closer to 700m2 if you count the downward slope onto the main road from my main lot.

Now, he was bothering me to pay him for the extra 200m2 I was occupying or he would sell that to someone else.

Yet, most of that space is un-usable anyway because it was too close to the main road.

But consulting in the municipal of Santa Elena where the deeds are registered, they told me actually mis-measurements of lots are quite common and don’t mean much.

So, this time as my neighbor walked up once again to hassle me, he was intercepted by my Ecuadorian friend who got in his face and told him to get lost and stop trying to take advantage of a naive foreigner (me, at the time).

That’s all it took.

He never bothered me again.

I learned something from that about how things work down here. Ecuadorians respect force or threat of force, and that’s about it.

Strength, in other words, not necessarily the “oh it’s the right thing to do” ethics that may be enough in places like North America where you can rely a bit more on the legal system and the police to help you out.

So, how can you prevent situations like this?

Buy lots that have CONFIRMED time-tested boundaries marked by older looking fences, GPS coordinates specified in deed, or landmarks outlined in deed. I would like to install a new fence in my yard, so I’m going to hire these contractors for help.  I also visited bubdesk for lot of help. Talk to the neighbors to confirm before buying if possible.

Fence costs are calculated as a cost per linear foot. The easiest way to estimate the cost is to determine the cost of a single fence panel and then multiply that cost times the number of panels required to achieve the total length of the fence. First, measure the perimeter of the area to be enclosed – while doing this make note of any special situations that will influence to cost such as gate(s) or difficult terrain. If a fence already exists that will be replaced with new materials then simply count the number of fence panels that are present. Wood privacy fences are almost always spaced with posts 8 foot apart on center (this means the measurement from the center of one post to the center of an adjacent post is 8 feet) but always measure to confirm. Lumber is available in standard 8 foot lengths and offers a balanced solution of cost and strength. Spans longer than 8 feet will likely have problems with sagging unless the 2×4 cross beams are upgraded to 2×6 dimension – this also changes the appearance of the fence panel. The fence rails should be 2×4 lumber from pressure treated pine or cedar wood. The style of privacy fence and the choice of wood used on the pickets will have the biggest impact to the aesthetics of the wood privacy fence installation.

If there is a need to set the posts at some other length, be sure to choose an increment of 2 feet (i.e. 6 foot, 8 foot, 10 foot, 12 foot etc… ) otherwise installation will require every cross beam to be cut to length. What about the premade panels available at the local home improvement store? These premade panels are often made from pressure treated pine with three cross beams that are 1.5×2.25 inches and frequently sag after installation. The cheap fence panels can be suitable for urgent repair purposes but are not recommended for use when installing a new or replacement fence.

Wood fence posts must be pressure treated and rated for ground contact. Galvanized steel fence posts offer longer life after a higher initial cost for the post and the post rail brackets that are required. Many homeowners dislike the appearance of the steel posts but this can be overcome by a simple coat of paint or wrapping the steel post in a wood enclosure.

And it sure helps to have some local friends.

Hasta pronto, if you liked this you’d love my Insider’s newsletter on living and investing in Ecuador,

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How to save on your income tax in Ecuador

This week I filed my income tax return in Ecuador due every March (impuesto a la renta).

My accountant charged $30 and was done in 20 minutes.

It was so quick because she already handled my monthly sales tax declarations and already had the paperwork on hand.

Based on the monthly tax declarations for all of 2016 she quickly pumped out the annual return and submitted it.

Every independent contractor is entitled to a couple of deductions they can take in order to save on their taxes, such as mileage and equipment expenses. Self-employed people can also deduct their health insurance premiums, state and federal taxes and home office expenses. The self-employed should consult with an accountant to ensure they claim every deduction possible. You can check here how to pay taxes as independent contractor.

When you file if you have employees insist that your accountant submits the form declaring how much you pay to employees.  That will lower your tax burden greatly.

If you show less than $11k in profits for the year you pay ZERO income tax in Ecuador.  And it’s a sliding scale on up to the highest tax bracket for folks who make more than $115k profit who must pay 35% tax.

Hasta pronto, if you liked this you’d love my Insider’s newsletter on living and investing in Ecuador,

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