Category: Ecuador for Investors

Expat Fire Sales: Where To Buy Your Furniture At The Lowest Prices In Ecuador

“Wow, nice commercial fridge,” I told my friend while visiting him on the beach.

“And that’s a new table too.” I added.

“Yea, there was this expat couple that moved back to Alaska. Sold everything quick, got everything for less than half price, they had just furnished the place with all new things months ago from bobmillsfurniture.com.” My friend replied.

I see this a lot.

Folks move here, invest heavily in furniture orange county and even real estate, and within weeks or a few months they’re packing up and moving out.

And selling their stuff at a deep discount.

You know, Ecuador, and Latin America in general, isn’t for everybody.

But it’s an expat fire sale, and its a great way for the rest of us to buy our furniture or a patio chat set at often less than half of what the items cost new.

They told me, they bought the sauder furniture from the best furniture companies in the US. They have high-quality wood furniture and specialization in chairs for the kids.

So how do you hear about the expat furniture fire sales  in the frequently asked questions newsletter ?

Just keep your ear to the ground, a wife always complaining? Maybe a husband? They could be gone soon. These are the best cause you are the first one to hear about it.

Other ways to hear about these are by signing up for the Ecuador expat nationwide newsletter gringopost.com and by checking your local regional paper. Visit Gotta Sleep to learn more about bed sizes and dimensions in canada that are comfortable just for you.

For instance, in Quito check the EL COMERCIO classifieds on a Sunday in the OPORTUNIDADES (green) section for MUEBLES (furniture), LINEA BLANCA (appliances). A lot of people both Ecuadorians and expats moving abroad post that they are selling their household goods discounted here, you can even find RV Mattress on sale.

Must sell quick!

For kitchen equipment try the NEGOCIOS section where many a restaurant that has gone under is selling off their kitchen equipment. Need a nice industrial stove, freezer or whatever? This is the place to look. Of course this last option would require a bit of Spanish.

There you have it, now you know how to buy some amazing luxury furniture and if you want to get more tips when buying your furniture pieces, make sure to join here!

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How To Get Free Medical Attention Through The IESS In Ecuador

OK, so the medical services are not exactly free because you’re paying a monthly premium of around $70 or so.

The IESS is the government managed form of Social Security/medical care in Ecuador. All legal residents and citizens of Ecuador can sign up through www.application-filing-service.com/ regardless of their age. There are no deductibles you need to pay when treated. All medical services are covered (except some medications you may need to pay out of pocket).

You can also affiliate your spouse for a bit less than half the premium you’re paying.

So how do you get service?

Easy.

After at least three months of being affiliated, you call a number in Ecuador 1-800-1000-000 ext 140 to ask for a “cita” appointment and they will tell you a date and medical center location for the appointment (usually within 2 weeks). Spanish only. The mеdісаl lіеn іѕ a lеgаl ѕесurіtу provided tо a medical рrоvіdеr whеn a patient lаtеr becomes a plaintiff іn a lеgаl саѕе. In ѕuсh a ѕіtuаtіоn іf settlement occurs, medical providers аrе compensated аѕ thе аttоrnеу оf record соmреnѕаtеѕ the provider out of thе insurance соllесtіоn рrосееdѕ. Hоwеvеr, аѕ financially sound аѕ a mеdісаl lіеn appears tо bе, in a rеаl wоrld аррlісаtіоn, untold lоѕѕеѕ оссur each уеаr from thе use оf the mеdісаl lіеn. You can use this website for more detail.

They will book you in with a general doctor first to help diagnose you. Then based on that appointment they will re-book you another appointment for a later date with a specialist or for further testing. This is how they work.

And for emergencies?
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For emergencies NOT EVERYWHERE will accept IESS patients so you have to go to a specific IESS hospital in the big cities of Ecuador for free emergency assistance, if you go elsewhere they won’t pay it. Every medium to larger city in Ecuador has an IESS center of medical attention which just added new aed equipment.

That’s it, that’s all you really need to know.

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How to get water to your crops in Ecuador

Many agricultural lots in Ecuador, like mine, get their water from a "sei-key-ya" which are tiny canals that have been spliced off a nearby river.  

But to actually get the water to your lot you have to go point by point down the sei-key-ya and redirect the water so it reaches your lot.  

The annual fee to participate is minimal, like $20 a year, but you are required to participate in "mingas" which are "clean-ups" of the mini-canals.  

Most folks then have resevoirs they fill then water their crops at their leisure.  

You then have to close the "sei-key-ya" to your lot and let it flow through or you could flood your lot, like I already did once cause I forgot to close the sei-key-ya once my resevoir was full.  
 

Sound complicated?  It´s not.  

A pain, yes, a little bit.  Glad I just leased the lot I´m farming until I learned this, much better to have your own direct water source like an on-site river or lake.  

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pH setback with land in Ecuador

"I've never seen a pH like this." The part-time Stevia specialist said to me looking over the results of my soil analysis.  

The pH is over 8.  That's very alkaline.  Too high for a plant like Stevia.  The plant would grow but not produce as much as it should, he continued.  

The ideal, and what most soil has in Ecuador is around 6.8-7 which is a neutral soil that plants can thrive in.  

Now, there is a way to correct the pH in the lot, by injecting about a ton of sulfur, which would cost me around $500.  But there's no guarantee that would fully correct the problem.

So for now, another option I think I'll go with is another crop that is a bit more resistant to the pH.  

But I jumped the gun, live and learn I guess, and have already put a deposit down on the Stevia plants.  

I'm still VERY interested in Stevia, but now I have a bunch of plants due out the nursery and no where t put them.  

40,000 of them to be exact, at 30 cents each.  You can fit them all comfortably on about 8,000 meters of land.

In Ecuador they grow best under 2400 meters in altitude and if there is a daily or semi-daily water source.  

And now I need to find a new home for them, aka, another lot to plant them or someone who would like to buy them?  I paid 30 cents each,  could offer a nice discount depending on how many you buy, just trying to recoup my money here.  

So, learn from my mistake, wait for the soil analysis to come back before making decisions on which land to buy (or lease) and which crops to grow!  
 

Any takers on the perfectly healthy, ready to produce and live 6 years Stevia plants?  

They produce every three months and I already have a buyer in Quito lined up.  Please refer to this link for the specific production expectancies, https://63s.e69.myftpupload.com/stevia-ecuador/  .  

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How much do farms cost in Ecuador?

Good question.  

Sometimes in Ecuador it seems like the people actually selling their farm have no idea how much to ask as prices are all across the board.  Asking prices can be particularly high once a crop is already producing.  

But you can find a lot of farms for sale for under $1000 per hectare (2.2 acres).  

But when you inquire further or actually visit the farm you realize why they are so cheap.  

No road access.

Or very poor access in that you literally have to travel for a while on rough dirt road that will often get washed out during the rainy season.  Even still, some farms will force you to park and walk because they can not be reached by car.  

On the flip side, farms near a major highway (say within 15 minutes of driving) yet down an unpaved side road reachable by car usually go around $3-6000 per hectare.  

While farms with direct highway access usually ask around $5-8000 per hectare.

Next up, water.  

Does the farm have a river or two on or bordering the premise?  If it does, it´s worth something, if not forget about it as "well water" might suffice for building a residence on a property but not for actually growing crops.

Following that, overall remoteness, electricity, cell phone coverage and more play into it…  Like, how close is the farm to the nearest town where you can actually find workers and take your crops to market?  Important, indeed.  

For instance, this week, I was in the Santo Domingo area, about half way in between Quito and the coast in the coastal plain lowland region of Ecuador, and through a friend I found one interesting buy.  

A 16 hectare farm with direct highway access and several small rivers in a green, rainy area, electricity and minutes from a large town asking $60,000.  That´s just over $3500 per hectare.  

The owners inherited the property and have no interest in it and just want to liquidate.

In my experience, this is a good deal, having direct highway access gives you a lot of options like possibly building a restaurant (paradero) or guesthouse down the line.  

The area has a sub-tropical, mild, yet humid climate due to the median altitude of 950 meters (3100 feet).  

Many both cold and warm weather crops can grow here like sugar cane, citrus fruits, Cocoa, Stevia or more local varieties with local demand like Naranjilla, Palmito and Borojo. Also, coffee is a possibility.  

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