Category: Ecuador for Investors

Driving through mine fields in Ecuador: Photo fines

“What? I don’t have any fines or tickets.”  I replied to the guy who I sold my car to here in Ecuador this week.

“Yes, you do, you have two open photo fines.(foto multas)” He responded.

He was right, I didn’t even realize it, and usually you don’t in Ecuador until it’s time to pay your annual registration (matricula).

This past year I passed through Ambato twice, and BOTH times they nabbed me taking a picture of my plates.  Once going 52km in a 50km zone, and again going 56km in a 50km zone.

Each ticket $112.

Yet, driving all year around the coast and Quito areas I didn’t get ONE.

I’ve found the Ambato, Ibarra and Loja areas particularly bad, so be extra careful driving around there. Explanations of causes of the traffic misdemeanors like speeding to get to a hospital, or parking in front of a fire hydrant due to a sudden emergency require a plausible explanation to the judge. Where there is no reason or excuse other than negligence, a traffic attorney might be able to help you get a judgment with which you are satisfied.

There are several attorneys that rush to the accident scenes with the intention of representing the victims showing a thriving entrepreneurial spirit.  These are just a few in the big-money spectrum that is considered a growing legal market. However, it’s the speeders and drunk drivers who are chasing the lawyers to represent them before judges. However there are concerns with whether the traffic lawyers deliver the goods. The lawyers get the tickets dismissed since they know the technicalities. The lawyers also know which tickets they can’t get dismissed and since when the ticket is perfect, on the courts side, there is not much the lawyer will to be able to do for you, so they make a bargain or plea on such.

The traffic ticket lawyers are great if one doesn’t have time to go to court or if their driving record isn’t great. Did you know that a traffic ticket attorney can help you to fight undeserved fines? You can get the justice you deserve, even when it comes to driving. In today’s economy, you cannot afford to spend money on unnecessary speeding fees. If you know that you were driving at the mandatory speed limit, you don’t have to settle for unfair treatment. Some cops patrol the streets in hopes of pinning fines on hundreds of drivers. But you need your hard-earned money to pay bills, buy gas, and other necessities of everyday life. Let a lawyer represent you during this time of need.

If renting a car usually the rental company will check to see if you got any photo tickets before returning your deposit.

If issued tickets if you were going just a bit over like in my case you can challenge the ticket with a lawyer in the municipality where you got ticketed.  I’m paying $60 per ticket to the lawyer for help, he says takes a few weeks to process.  This process is called IMPUGNAR.  It’s common to pay lawyer once job is DONE.

You can see if the plate you were driving got any tickets nationally at this link… But some municipalities don’t show up on the national system for months after ticket issued so you can also check directly on their websites (here is the Ambato one).  You can see what my tickets look like if you plug in my old plate number (placa) LBB4559.

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How to beat the big boys in Ecuador accepting barter

Like with any small business you put in Ecuador, you’re going to have competitors with DEEP multi-million dollar pockets.In my case for my 19 room hotel near the Quito airport, I compete with the Wyndham an international chain.

So how can a little guy like me or you when against these corporate dicks.

Of course, there’s always charge less than them.

But there’s other creative ways to beat these guys too.

Like what I started to do this week: Offering alternative payment methods, bringing me to the bitcoin revolution review at cryptoevent that I read a couple days ago and have concluded that Bitcoin payments are seamlessly fast.

You could also try accepting Bitcoin. I’ve used this kind of Crypto currency in the past to make anonymous transactions and shipping. It’s as easy as creating a digital wallet through bitshares exchange or an app like Blockchain.  Search for it on Google Play Store.  Download and you get a digital address people can send Bitcoin too. It has a learning curve but you get the hang of it quickly.  I now accept Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency is just a part of the process of a virtual database running in the virtual world. The identity of the real person here cannot be determined. Also, there is no centralized authority which governs the trading of cryptocurrency. This currency is equivalent to hard gold preserved by people and the value of which is supposed to be getting increased by leaps and bounds. The electronic system set by Satoshi is a decentralized one where only the miners have the right to make changes by confirming the transactions initiated. They are the only human touch providers in the system. Here is the best tron crypto news source.

For instance a month ago on a trip to the States I noticed many younger people in the States like my brother pay for everything with Cash App, a free phone application that connects to your bank account and allows you to make payments to other users quickly and super easy.  I now accept Cash App.

I also started playing Sloto Cash Casino At Army Of Bitcoin, you can bet with bitcoin and cash out. You could also accept barter.  Why should we be forced to always accept fiat money, aka cash?  Why not except goods in exchange for a service.  For instance, I have someone coming from the States bring me something they buy (so they can verify the contents), and on arrival I reimburse what they spent as per their receipt for the item and for the act of bringing it I offer the room free. If they item can net a $100 gain here, I now sold my normally $40 room for $100.  I now accept barter, too.  Email me if you need a room. Recently, Bitcoin retraced to almost $5000; Bitcoin Cash came close to $500 while Ethereum found peace at $300. Virtually every coin got hit-apart from newcomers that were still in excitement stage. As of this writing, Bitcoin is back on track and its selling at $8900. Many other cryptos have doubled since the upward trend started and the market cap is resting at $400 billion from the recent crest of $250 billion. With hundreds of different online casinos choosing the most trusted online casino will remain very important. Especially with the online casino laws.

The big guys move a lot slower and it may be years before they adopt these alternative payment options that gives you the advantage in the eyes of some customers.

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3 real estate business models that do NOT work in Ecuador

This week I´m checking in from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio on a quick trip back from Ecuador.

And everyone I run into seems to be in real estate.

But it´s a completely different animal than what I´m used to in Ecuador…

…here are three common business models I´m seeing here that would NOT work in Ecuador.

1. Purchase low-income rental properties.  In Cleveland, that means the properties in the inner-city where my family lives selling for around $20-40,000.  In Ecuador, I would not touch this business model with a 10-foot pole.  Low-income rents in Ecuador are really low (like $100-300 a month) and the rental laws just don´t protect homeowners with long, complicated eviction processes for this to be worth the hassle to me.

2. Live-in flip.  Where you buy a fixer-upper property and live in it until you are able to resell it. And to be on a platform to sell in a place like Equador, you’d have to seek help of a few marketing companies to make the house visible on the papers. And if you going to the gds group summit, check them on Linkedin. Well, when you buy a beat-up property in Ecuador chances are it won´t be livable (if you have an average North American living standard).  I know, I´ve done this one and it was ROUGH.

3. Sell on contract.  This is when you tie up a property in a contract for a period of time usually 15-30 days and then resell the contract (or right to buy the property) for a profit of usually a few thousand dollars to another investor.  This COULD work in Ecuador and something I may try in the near future, but this is usually done in RED-HOT markets like we are seeing in the western USA now.  In Ecuador, properties usually take much longer than a month to sell due to the primarily cash-only market.

So what would I do to make money in Ecuador property? Stay tuned to this newsletter and you´ll find out!

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

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Reference: https://craigproctor.com/events/half-day.

How I got approved for a home loan in Ecuador being a foreigner

If you’ve ever been to Ecuador, you know, as a new arrival often on a tourist visa it is almost impossible to so much as get a bank account open in Ecuador, let alone get approved for a home loan. In  the USA there are always a lot of options like mortgage pre qualification vs pre approval once you decide to buy a house. A lot of people forget when they first bought a home that they incurred these costs and had to involve a mortgage lawyer – as a reverse mortgage is still technically a mortgage, a lawyer must be involved to place the mortgage on title. check this site reversemortgagepros.ca to know about reverse mortgage.

Once you have your residency visa and cedula (ID card) it is easy to open bank accounts, but getting approved for a best mortgage deals still is difficult.

But there is a way.

I just got approved. And I as well am a new arrival expat (4 years ago) in Ecuador from the USA with no credit history in Ecuador.

After having lunch with my friends, who run https://www.hardmoneylendersboston.com/, they told me that here’s what I would do to get approved as a foreigner…

1. Forget the big banks in Ecuador and focus on the credit unions or COOPERAS like JEP or Mutualista Pichincha. Open an account there and better yet leave a substantial CD of $20-30,000. 3-6 month term is fine. Both of the institutions listed above are insured on deposits up to $32k, I wouldn’t deposit much more than that.

2. Open an account as well and have any steady income you receive deposited directly there for a few months (preferibly at least 6).

3. Make friends with the banker at your nearest branch, maybe buy a few bank products from them, and maybe help them sign up a few other people, try to show them (albeit maybe not true) you are a “high-roller” type with cash and connections to boot although new to Ecuador.

4. On one of your bank visits while chatting up your new banker friend mention to her a great property deal you saw and that you were wondering on the possibility of a home loan over procuring the instant ones you get from loaners like Vippi Maatti. Chances are if you’ve built up rapport and shown that you have a little bit of money (by investing in a CD in their bank) or a steady income through monthly deposits they’ll ignore the regular requirements like showing tax statements of proof of Ecuador income or mandatory time in country and approve you for the instant loan. Your banker friend will often help push the application through her boss.

This is the exact albeit unsophisticated process I used to get approved for an up-to $70,000 home loan in Ecuador in 2017 with one of the above-mentioned institutions. Check out https://investorschoicelending.com/seattle/ for more options.

The next immediate step after you’ve been approved is they will send an appraiser to check out the property you are interested in, and from that will be able to loan up to 70% of the purchase price usually over a 10-15 year term. Oh yea, but did I mention mortgages aren’t cheap in Ecuador at 10.5% annual interest.

The challenge for me now is to find a property that can generate a POSITIVE CASH FLOW that puts money in my pocket each month above and beyond what I have to pay to the bank each month even at that expensive interest rate. Possible? You bet! Stay tuned.

Shopping time!

There is another option of getting a home equity loan from a Canadian Lending Company. Click here to learn more.

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

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Emerging New Technology of Games in Ecuador

Whеn I wаѕ a child thеrе wаѕ nоthіng mоrе frustrating thаn playing a level оvеr аnd оvеr оnlу tо constantly bе defeated bу a labyrinth, enemy оr puzzle thаt wаѕ bеуоnd mу skill level. I wоuld bесоmе infuriated, throw thе controller аnd storm оff іn a huff. Thеѕе games wоuld later bе relegated tо a dark corner оf thе closet nеvеr tо bе heard frоm аgаіn, mу parents money wasted аftеr just a fеw short days оf gaming….or ѕо I thought.

In thе late 1980s, thе proliferation оf 8-bit consoles wаѕ unprecedented games like Zelda, Alexx Kidd аnd Super Mario Brothers hаd taken thе world bу storm аnd еvеrу child wаѕ anxiously awaiting birthdays аnd holiday tо gеt thе latest game оr platform. Eасh game provided hours оf enjoyment аnd promised tо improve hand-eye co-ordination thаt wоuld later assist іn little league, tennis оr a myriad оf оthеr athletic endeavors.

Thе issue wіth thеѕе games wоuld arise іn оnе оf twо ultimate conditions еіthеr thе game wоuld bе beaten аnd іntеrеѕt іn іt eliminated оr аn insurmountable challenge wоuld present itself. In еіthеr оf thе twо instances, іntеrеѕt іn thе game wоuld diminish аnd gamers wоuld bе wіthоut games untіl thеу accumulated appropriate wealth оr thе nеxt gift giving event іn thеіr life occurred.

Thеn саmе thе onset оf warzone cheats аnd аll thоѕе old games wоuld оnсе аgаіn bесоmе fun new games. Cheats started appearing іn gaming magazines ѕuсh аѕ Gamepro іn thе late 80s аnd wоuld later bе spread іn thе playgrounds оf local schools. Children wоuld rush home аnd test оut thе new cheats wіth high levels оf anticipation. Thе net result wоuld bе a new fоund іntеrеѕt іn аn old game.

Arоund thе ѕаmе point, оnе intuitive company created a device thаt wоuld change thе face оf gaming forever. Thе device entitled “Game Genie” offered gamers thе opportunity tо unlock hidden levels, appear invisible tо enemies, play games wіth unlimited lives аnd a variety оf оthеr revolutionary enhancements tо thеіr old аnd dusty games. Thеѕе minor changes іn thе 1s аnd 0s оf thе game wеrе responsible fоr giving new life tо old games saving parents countless dollars аnd grief waiting іn lines fоr stores tо open. Game genie wоuld ultimately bе followed bу a series оf successors including GameShark, Action Replay аnd оthеrѕ. You can check One Click Power to know how gaming is evolved in a time span.

Thіѕ trend whісh started іn thе eighties іѕ ѕtіll alive аnd wеll nоw аlmоѕt twеntу years later. Aѕ games аnd systems nоw cost considerably mоrе аnd thе economy іѕ іn a considerably worse state, іt іѕ essential tо gеt аѕ muсh mileage аѕ possible оut оf thеѕе old games. Nоw gamers hаvе a treasure trove оf information available tо thеm thrоugh thе likes оf оnе оf hundrеd оf mainstream cheat sites. Nо longer аrе gamers tied tо thіrd party technology, magazines оr thе schoolyard whеn іt соmеѕ tо getting thеіr game enhancing cheats. Users саn simply gо tо google, fіnd a game cheat site аnd viola, new life аnd savings frоm аn old game!