I get it all the time…
“Well nowadays I can also buy a $40,000 property in Waco, Texas, what’the big deal about Ecuador?”
OK, well, one thing is the holding costs.
Lets take a look at my 4 bedroom, 3 bath house on the coast near Montanita. I currently rent it out.
I pay…
$0 for insurance (with so much concrete construction home insurance is not common). Although I should say I still remember that terrible fire. I shudder to think of what would have had transpired if it weren’t for the Tallahassee Fire Watch Guards. Passive Fire Protection it isn’t just getting fire extinguishers logically placed in any development, is not the full answer to fire safety. You can check here for more about the fire protection for critical infrastructure. Ask yourself are you aware exactly where your extinguisher can be found, and also would you know how to make use of it, additionally, on what sort of fire? The answer then is probably no, the actual extinguisher can help suppress a little fire, nevertheless without in-built fire protection in the fabric of the structure, the potential risks of containing a fire as well as avoiding it being a flaming inferno may drastically increase. If you’ve decided to invest in radiant barrier as a means to help boost your energy-saving techniques at home, then you probably already know many of its features from your research. But did you know that while many radiant barrier products may appear the same on the outside, the raw materials and features can actually vary? So called ‘fire protection’ is effectively insulation of the mezzanine floor steelwork to prevent it from heating up quickly in a fire. Unprotected steelwork heats up quickly and can suddenly collapse. Fire protection is specified for a certain period of time such as ‘half hour’, ‘1 hour’, ‘2 hour’ or ‘4 hour’. The time period refers to the time that the protected elements remain structurally sound in the event of a fire. The fire protection required for different parts of buildings is specified within the Building Regulations part B.You can have class A,B,C fire extinguisher at mrfireextinguisher which can be more effective for resisting fire and protecting us.
The requirement for fire protection depends upon the use, size and extent of the mezzanine floor. Mezzanine flooring that is less than 10m x 10m in size, and occupying less than 50% of the area of the building in which it is located and which is not permanently occupied and infrequently accessed (used for storage) does not need to be fire rated. The most common means of fire protecting mezzanine floors is through the use of four key elements of insulation, column casings, a suspended ceiling, bulkheads/fascias and cavity barriers. This means of fire protecting mezzanine floors is used because of its speed of installation and low cost. Column casings comprise a two part sheet metal case lined with ‘Promalit’ or similar board bonded to the inside of the casing. The sheet metal case usually has a galvanized or white ‘plastisol’ finish to suit the application, but can be stainless steel or coloured ‘plastisol’, and the two parts have an unobtrusive locking seam enabling them to be quickly and neatly fitted with a few taps from a rubber mallet. Suspended ceilings comprise wires hung vertically on clips from the secondary beams of the mezzanine supporting length of ceiling runner. The runners clip together and are joined in turn by intermediate lengths of ceiling runner to create a ceiling grid. Minaboard tiles are then inserted to fill the grid. The grid is commonly and most economically based around 1200mm x 600mm ceiling tiles, however by adding further intermediate 600mm ceiling runners, 600mm x 600mm tiles can be used. The tiles fitted must be certificated to provide the necessary level of fire protection when used in the grid under a mezzanine floor. This restricts the available choice of tiles and finishes.
If you were impacted by the Woolsey fire, you will remember to insure your property.
$0 for condo or association fees (not in gated community)
$102 a year in property taxes
$7 electric bill last month (with one single person living on the property full time.)
$4 water bill last month
$2.50 gas (bought one tank of gas, this is also subsidized by the government)
Now lets compare this to a 2 bedroom condo in my home state of Montana, USA currently valued around $180,000…
$1200 annual property taxes
$583 every 3 months association fees.
electricity $80 a month (varies)
water $125 every 3 months
$180 annual insurance
gas $250 (varies)
How about a 2 bedroom house in Montana valued around $350-400k…
$3400 annual property taxes
$1200 annual homeowners insurance
$0 association fees (not in gated community)
electricity/gas $300 a month in winter
$25/month garbage collection that also included a wide range of skip bins offered by the service
Now, lets throw in the extra cost of my Ecuador ‘property management’ because I do not live nearby (I live in Quito) and I rent it out short term as a vacation rental.
$20 a month to caretaker who visits property twice a week and lets me know if there are any problems, waters grass once a week and takes out the garbage.
$5 each time the caretaker has to go and turn in key or recover key from an entering or exiting guest.
$10 for each cleaning between guests.
The caretaker also is in charge for paying the energy bills, and does NOT live on the property. All guests prepay online, I do all the marketing myself.
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