Category: Blog

I got a text earlier this week…

“I got what you’re looking for. (In Spanish.)  500 meters oceanview lot in the area you looking for for $25k.  Or how about $65k for a 2000m2 beachfront lot?”

“Is it negotable?  Got anything else cheaper?” I replied.  

I had no idea who I was talking to.

Turns out he works for the local Municipal and knows personally the owners of several lots in the area. 

He contacted me. 

All I did was a week or two prior give out my card in a local restaurant and mention I was looking for property in the area.  Often, that’s enough in a capital-deprived place like Ecuador.  So have cards made when property shopping in Ecuador.

It’s certainly not like my college town of Bozeman, MT USA where I’m also property shopping right now where most places are selling for at or above asking price. 

I’m thinking I might just stick to Ecuador for now. 

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I’ve seen this one a lot in Ecuador. 

In fact, it just happened to me.  

I put an offer in on a property, and it got accepted, immediately.  

And I felt like crap knowing, shoot, I probably could have got it for less.  

And I probably will now back out of the deal.

There are a lot of motivated sellers in Ecuador.  

If you’re a seller don’t commit this mistake… even if the offer sounds great, never accept the first offer as tough as that may be, you’ll make the buyer feel like crap and may decide not to go through with it.  It’s important to make them feel like they got your bottom dollar price. 

And if you’re a buyer in Ecuador… learn that you really should make offers WAY below what you feel comfortable offering based on the asking price.  You never know here.  I’ve seen people offer 50% of asking and get it, other times they don’t budge 1 cent off asking.  

Never know until you try, it’s a bargaining culture!

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Are lawyers basically worthless in Ecuador?For title checks on property, I´d say yes.

Because they´re gonna do exactly what you yourself could do with a quick trip to the property registrar (registrador de la propriedad) in 20 minutes and $20 later getting the certificate of registry or history of the domain (certificado del registrador).

This certificate is how the common Ecuadorian quickly identifies rightful ownership, it also shows if there are any leins or mortgages out against the property and all the transfers of ownership the property has had in it’s history. Fire is a beautiful element. It rages in amazing colors, it provides light, offers warmth and can be used to prepare food. However, fire is not always perceived as a positive force. It is also something that can cause severe destruction to anything that comes within its unprotected path. Proof of this can be found in the damage to forests, homes and businesses. Yes, fire is both a pro and con in the world. Thankfully, we can take a variety of actions to help protect ourselves, and the things we hold dear, from the destructive nature of fire. These actions may seem minor, but when it comes to fire protection, no action is too insignificant. After all, in the case of a business fire, the structural damage combined with the loss of product, manufacturing potential, invoices, client records and then time spent being closed due to reconstruction is something from which many companies never recover! More distressing, is that often fire damage such as this could have been avoided by having had a commercial fire protection for critical infrastructure system installed. And, when it comes to the value of a fire protection system in a home, the value of that is priceless. So, what are some fire protection steps you can take to keep your home, family or business safe? Here are some of the most recommended precautions from the National Fire Protection Association: Every home should have a multi-purpose extinguisher (can be used on all types of home fires) that is large enough to put out a small fire, but not so heavy as to be difficult to handle. If you have a multi-story home, consider having at least one per floor; be especially sure that you have one in the kitchen,as this where a majority of home fires start! Be sure that the people in your home know how to operate the extinguisher in the event of an emergency.

You can see an example in the pic below of one property I am considering buying in Guayaquil, where the last transaction was a donation from father to daughter in a divorce settlement.

You could also take your DIY title check a few steps further by taking the following precautions: 

– Only buy property with clearly established boundaries like an old-looking wall or clearly defined land features (like a river) or apartment unit number as defined in the escritura (title).

– Verify neighbors identity as established in the Escritura.  Although this may be out of date some.

– You could also physically measure all boundaries of property as miscalculations of area on deeds are common, but better to know before you buy.

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Payment.  With most public bathrooms in Ecuador, you gotta pay to play, I know it´s only 10 cents or so but what if you only have a $20 bill?  Be prepared to get $19.90 in icky nickels and dimes back!

No soap– I don-t get it, why have soap dispensers if you can never find soap in them?  If you can find soap in a public bathroom i suggest stocking up for next time by squirting some into your hand and just walk around with it in there, just don´t shake anyone’s hand.  Another idea is to stash some behind your ears. Did you know that JustWedi provide quality Wedi boards for redecorating your bathroom? You can personalize your bathroom and make it look cooler.

No toilet paper– Literally, two days ago I found myself running for a bathroom in the Mall Quicentro Sur in South Quito.  Of course, there was no toilet paper, only a complicated machine that requires exact change, of course, I didn´t have it in those precious moments, so what did I have to do?  There were a few old receipts in my wallet, those had to do.  I chuckled as I dropped them in the open waste basket of the stall thinking how people were going to laugh when they saw dirtied receipts in there. Oh, man. My idea of a good bathroom is over here https://phxhomeremodeling.com/bathroom-remodel-chandler/.

No ventilation– “Oh man, I can´t breathe in here, and it´s so humid the smell and r¡grime is sticking to my skin!” My friend with loose bowl movements moaned from a cramped, dark, windowless bathroom at a gas station in steamy Guayaquil.  It was funny for the rest of us just outside the bathroom though but it was pretty obvious that the station was in a serious need to start a bathroom remodeling project. When it comes to the cheapest blinds this is the place to go shop affordable window blinds here for your new house.

No where to set down a backpack- many floors of public bathrooms in Ecuador are really nasty, yet there are often no hooks on the stall doors, so where do you set a bag down?  The only solution I can think of is to squat with the pack on and hope you don´t pop a hernia.

Sweet sayings Ecuadorians (maybe just the males) write on the back of toilet stall doors.  Ecuadorians think its hilarious to write their buddy´s phone number on the back of doors with things like “for cheap gay s-e-x call 09—–“.  Recently, I saw one interesting graffiti, “gays poop easier”.  Actually, some of these can be quite funny.

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South America is a BIG continent.

And not many budget airlines yet more are coming.

But there are interesting side-trips you can take while living in Ecuador… I suggest starting with these three!

1. San Andres Island (Colombia).  This picturesque Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras is actually a part of Colombia, yet most don´t realize it if they´ve even heard of the place.  Yet it costs just $69 roundtrip to get there from Bogota!  And now with the Colombian budget airline Wingo flying to Quito you can get roundtrip to Bogota for around $230 if you buy at least a month or so in advance. A must-see!  Try Google Flights to find.

2. Summer skiing in Chile.  The ski season in Chile is July through September.  And most don´t realize you can actually get to the resorts quite quickly from the capital Santiago.  And you can get to Santiago for around $300 round-trip if bought in advance from Guayaquil (Ecuador). Try Google Flights or Kayak.com.

3. El Salvador/Nicaragua/Costa Rica.  There is a little-known, new, cheap round-trip flight for $232 with Avianca from Quito to El Salvador.  From there you could discover the El Salvador coastline or drift up by land to Guatemala for a few days or catch a cheap flight to Nicaragua or Costa Rica via Kayak.com. I´ve seen one way flights for around $60 from El Salvador to Nica.

There you have it! A few interesting side trips to get you started once living in Ecuador.  More to come.

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