Recommend Quito Residential Areas

travelxc wrote:

Hi,

Can Quito residents please recommend some nice and safe residential areas to rent an apartment for a family. An area that also has amenities (like Supermaxi) as we don't have a car nor plan on getting one anytime soon.

Point me in the right direction and I'll check out the areas. Any other tips would also be welcome.

Thanks.

Gonzalo Suárez is a classy neighborhood, quite safe by Quito standards.  It's not cheap, but you asked for "nice and safe," not cheap.  There's a trade-off here:  the lack of buses means the air is cleaner than in most of Quito.

It's a $2-3 taxi ride to SuperMaxi or MegaMaxi from that sector, but you'd likely need a taxi for the return trip anyway if you're buying more than a bag or two of groceries.

The best of the Maxi stores is on the Ecovía line of the Trole bus system (Benalcazar stop).  That's MegaMaxi.  There's a lot of upscale shopping within short walking distance from there, including the fabulous QuiCentro shopping mall and some bakeries and restaurants on Avenida Eloy Alfaro.  So you could check out the neighborhood(s) around there too.

cccmedia in Quito

Good morning cccmedia,

The area youre talking about I assume runs parallel with Ave La Coruna/Whymper and Av Federico Gonzalez Suarez. Its what I got on Google Maps.

I took a quick look at Olx to check out prices and while some apartments are within our budget they are offered unfurnished and being furnished will undoubtedly cost much more and definitely be out of our budget range.

I will however visit the area and walk around a bit. The other areas you mentioned I am currently in the process of exploring some areas. I covered Batan Bajo/Inaquito Bajo and will take your advice and check out the areas between Ecovia line and Ave. Eloy Alfaro.

Are there other areas you could recommend? 

Thanks for your advice, before today, I never ever heard of Gonzalez Surarez area, and while it might be out of our range, I do appreciate learning new things about Quito.

Cheers,

I hesitate to send you in other directions because if you've found a couple of good, prospective neighborhoods, it may be overdoing it to keep looking for more neighborhoods.  Better to spend your time getting the best deal in a couple of good neighborhoods you have already found.

Speaking of best deals, you're unlikely to find them at olx's website or anywhere online.  Shoe leather and the newspaper are probably your best bets for finding market rents.  Use olx to get a rough idea of the upper-end prices.

If you post again, let us know...

Are you in Quito now?

What is the approximate upper-end of your family's rental budget?

Are you restricted to pre-furnished apartments?

How long do you expect you might live in Quito?

cccmedia in Quito

Apologies for the late reply but circumstances such as being without internet in the residence will do that to you. Yes I'm in Quito, checked out Gonzalez Suarez, and it is indeed nice, posh as a matter of fact, but theres no place for kids to play and imho a car is necessary there, especially for a family. So we narrowed down the area to the vicinity of Carolina park, no more than a few blocks from it, and preferably in the north end near Quicentro, and near both Supermaxi, and Mega-maxi, but also open to the south end near Jardin Mall.

Your advice about walking about the areas and writing down contact info for apartments is spot on. There is a discrepancy, a real-estate agent, who may very well know English will insist that a price is such and such, but contacting owners directly contradicts that. 

The holidays were however useless in terms of contacting owners and seeing apartments. But I have several leads, and plan to look at more places. As far as furnished versus unfurnished, we intend to stay in Quito 1 year, and take it from there, it's why we prefer a furnished place. Basically we are learning that for the same amount of money we can get a smaller furnished place or a much bigger unfurnished place, so we want to find something in middle.

But we were initially discouraged by unfurnished places because of the exorbitant prices we were seeing for appliances and furniture. However, we are becoming more flexible as were are learning about different markets. An Ecuadoran I befriended took me a market that sold the same appliances we were seeing at malls that were much cheaper, an example is a Whirlpool dryer that we saw at several places for 700-800 was selling for 500.

The same thing for desks, bed frames, dining room tables (not uncomfortable chairs that come with the tables), they are at a fraction of the price at San Roque furniture market, and many items are made of pure wood.

travelxc wrote:

Basically we are learning that for the same amount of money we can get a smaller furnished place or a much bigger unfurnished place, so we want to find something in middle.

But we were initially discouraged by unfurnished places because of the exorbitant prices we were seeing for appliances and furniture. However, we are becoming more flexible as were are learning about different markets. An Ecuadoran I befriended took me a market that sold the same appliances we were seeing at malls that were much cheaper, an example is a Whirlpool dryer that we saw at several places for 700-800 was selling for 500.

The same thing for desks, bed frames, dining room tables (not uncomfortable chairs that come with the tables), they are at a fraction of the price at San Roque furniture market, and many items are made of pure wood.

Thanks for the update.

You lost me on the concept of "something in (the) middle."    Does that mean partly furnished?

You seem to be focused now on getting a good deal on furnishings and appliances.  That could mean you want a larger apartment and are willing to furnish it at a reasonable cost.

In the Carolina area, I suggest you try to get something away from the direct bus routes, to avoid as much of the bus pollution as possible.

Shopping at San Roque:  this is recommended for weekdays only, as the malditos have historically been active on crowded Saturdays.

cccmedia in Quito

I'll keep this post brief because I'm obviously frustrated with the process of renting. Example: owner says apt is 130 meters turns out it's 90 at most.  Example-2: Owner says you can upgrade internet but upon checking with ISP, they say not possible. And the prime example: you have an agreement and then you don't.  Hopefully tomorrow is more fruitful.

travelxc wrote:

I'm obviously frustrated with the process of renting. Example: owner says apt is 130 meters turns out it's 90 at most.  Example-2: Owner says you can upgrade internet but upon checking with ISP, they say not possible. And the prime example: you have an agreement and then you don't.

As in most rental markets, the quality of service from landlords varies.

This one may have done you a favor:  if you find him or her unreliable in the sales stage, you can figure you'll be getting sub-standard service once you've moved in.

Multiple misstatements and misunderstandings now indicate worse trouble may await down the road.

cccmedia in Quito

We stayed in the El Bosque area for 1 month and really liked it.    It was terrific and college age kids visiting from the US  enjoyed it as a base to explore.  Never needed a car.  Could walk to Supermaxi and the El Bosque mall which is small but adequate.   Apt was beyond expectations host very nice.  Would take a taxi $2.00 to the Trollebus station.  Trollebus would take us to the major areas of Quito.   

Link to apt we rented is below:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRent … vince.html

Paid more but it was worth it for us.  Good luck.

We found and signed off on our new place. We're gradually moving in as we're currently in an apartment that is already paid for. We learned so much over these past weeks, and us staying in different temporary apartments was probably one of best moves we made. One place we stayed at was very nice but very cold, and I thought that's how it was here. I was preparing and budgeting to warm up our future home. Then we spent a couple of weeks at another temporary apartment and the difference was huge. From sweaters, sweatpants and socks inside the apartment to simply t-shirts and no socks. All of this without any heating. So natural warmth for us was on our list of whether we rented a place or not. I think it's best to avoid lower level floors if there are adjacent buildings on all sides, as well as older buildings even if they are spacious.

There's another thread here about trust, but I'll share my two cents here, Ecuadorians are indeed cautious, you need something done you need written authorization, you want to legalize something, notarization takes on a whole new meaning, but for me personally I agree with it and accept it. You can't have trust immediately, it has to grow, and it works both ways, I know this, it is happening now with my new landlord, and other Ecuadorians I am dealing with.

Congratulations on finding a place.

Perhaps you'd like to share the approximate location  and tell us about it.

cccmedia in Quito

Thanks. The location is right off Carolina park's east side. It's a nice area but there are pros and cons. I'll begin with the pros: Many amenities are within short walking distance like the park, Quicentro, Megamaxi, Supercines, abundant cafes and restaurants. It's also pleasant to walk around day and night. The cons: it's not how most of Ecuador looks like, and by that I mean it's very cosmopolitan, it's not like a barrio where you can possibly have a sense of community. It's also more expensive, so it's important to be well stocked from the supermarket because the tiendas charge much more for beverages and other groceries. Traditional Ecuadorean food which I'm taking a liking to is also limited and also more expensive, Almuerzo which is normally $2-$3 elsewhere is $4+ here.

There are also bad elements here, it's not obvious, but it exists, a clever pickpocketing woman stole my wife's phone. She got us at a perfect time, It was at night, raining, I'm wearing a raincoat with grocery bags in each hand. My wife had an umbrella in one hand and grocery bag in another. This clever pickpocketing woman first approached me with something in an outstretched hand, apparently for me to focus on, while her other hand did the deed. But I zip up all my pockets and phone and wallet always in front pocket where I can feel them. My wife who certainly fell for the appearances of the neighborhood and failed to take my advice about pickpockets, had her phone in a hoody pocket. It doesn't get easier than that. The apartment itself is very nice, everything inside is new or practically new, it's not as spacious as we're accustomed to, but it's one of the bigger ones for the area. It's very warm with nice views of the city, Carolina and surrounding mountains. It's also apparently safe with CCTV, access key cards, and guard. It also has parking and bodega. What's interesting is that while looking for apartments, some owners would say there are 2 parking spots, how many you want, and the rent is this with parking, and this without. They rent them out.

This is the best we could do, ideally a house would have been nice, but we haven't reached that comfort level yet, especially with our limited language. So we selected an apartment and area that will hopefully make our transition here smoother.

Great way to get to Ecuador, my future new home.
Lonecowboy

travelxc,
how is your experience at the apartment living next to Parque Calorina after living few months there?
I've seen recently, that the Parque Carolina undergoes remodeling?

We do not go very often to Quito, however, when we are there, I'm always surprised how poluted the air is there.

We live in Cumbaya, near all the malls and grocery stores in a walking distance. The schools are also quite close: the German school is a walking distance, the rest of them (Colegio Menor, British School, etc.) are reachable in 5 to 10min.
Quito is also very close to us thru Ruta Viva. It takes for us to get to the Parque Carolina about 15min.

I like a constant pleasant weather, clean air here and the security we have. It is safe, very clean, and everything reachable in a short time. We live in a gated community, so we do enjoy our the colorful blossoming park and the play ground all year around.

I would really encourage to live in Cumbaya, especially now having an affordable rental market. You can find spacious houses in urb. like La Catolica or Primavera for $500-700.

newinquito,

I was previously travelxc, but unfortunately lost access to that account. We're very comfortable in the apartment, the only issue was the internet connection, but that was resolved with a fiber optic line of my choice. This involved additional paperwork as poll cables or wires above ground are not permitted in this sector so we had to get approval from Quito's municipality to route the cables underground and into the building. This was a process I had to literally interject myself into to get things done in a timely manner. It was definitely an ordeal, but I sure picked up some Spanish and the Ecuadorean way of life along the way. Ecuadorean are so laid-back, and that's okay, but sometimes the left-hand doesn't know what the right-hand is doing. So with the help of a friend I had to contact different departments to get things done.

Anyways I obviously got sidetracked above, but we are enjoying living in the financial district. It gives me piece of mind because I want my kids to enjoy being independent but without me constantly worrying. This neighborhood is perfect for that especially for older kids. Carolina being a couple of blocks away is big source of their recreation and socializing. The kids love the bike course and especially the freestyle/skating area towards the southern end. The remodeling that you see work being done on is the man-made lake, hopefully it comes out nice. Before moving here, there were stories that Carolina was “dangerous” after dark. One would believe that because which park in any big city is not eerie at night. But it's very active after sunset and until 8ish, and that's primarily due to people going to jog or whatever after work.

As for the rest of the area, it's well-planned and ascetically pleasing. Being a homeschool teacher and also working from home, I appreciate the daily walks to nearby cafes for my caffeine fixes. What's also nice is the central location which is close to many interesting areas. As for pollution, whoever decides to live in Quito should diligently research not only the area but the proximity of their future street to main streets that have bus traffic. In our case we live off the main streets, and actually nestled between them where the pollution is not present like it is on bus routes. I'm sure it's there to some degree, but not enough to smell or see it like on bus routes.

I looked at Cumbaya, and it is nice, but we had a vote and the kids wanted this area. I think I would have a revolt on my hands if I hinted at moving. Initially I wanted to just try it out for a year, but it's too suited for us to contemplate a change. Relatively speaking, a big positive with living here is that we are compelled to learn Spanish because of the people we are socializing with. There simply aren't any English speaking people around, with the exception of my downstairs neighbor who happens to be a snowbird. Spanish is about the only subject I don't have to insist my kids study independently because they know they want to fit in more.

I think we're all very fortunate to live in a great metropolitan area. I'm happy that Cumbaya is safe, nearby and home to USFQ, these are definitely assets as a suburb. If Quito's pollution gets to you, visit Carolina or elsewhere on Sundays as there is less bus service.

vsimple wrote:

the only issue was the internet connection, but that was resolved with a fiber optic line of my choice. This involved additional paperwork as pole cables or wires above ground are not permitted in this sector so we had to get approval from Quito's municipality to route the cables underground and into the building. This was a process I had to literally interject myself into to get things done in a timely manner. It was definitely an ordeal, but I sure picked up some Spanish and the Ecuadorean way of life along the way. Ecuadorean are so laid-back, and that's okay, but sometimes the left-hand doesn't know what the right-hand is doing. So with the help of a friend I had to contact different departments to get things done.

That's quite an accomplishment.  It's rare that we get posts on this forum from Gringos who have achieved something through the bureaucracies in EC more complicated than obtaining a residency visa.  And this was obviously far more complicated.

I'm hopeful you'll tell us more about it, V., so I've posted some questions to you on a new thread called “Best Internet" at this link....

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=569704

cccmedia