Need some advice to live in Peru

Hi Bgcpost,

The first thing you might want to look into is the residency conditions, I am a citizen so I am not familiar with with all of the options for obtaining residency, but I have heard a lot of talk on expat groups about new regulations that are going to make it more difficult to border hop.

To answer some of your questions:

1/ I wish to be a self entrepreneur in Peru, is it better to open a shop, a guest house or an online shop for someone with a small budget? - I think this would largely depend on you and your budget, for example if you are not really a people person, then running a guest house may not be the best option, likewise is you do not have a background in sales and marketing, then an on-line shop may not be a good choice. As someone that is currently running a bed and breakfast, I can tell you that the tourism industry here in Peru is growing and could be a good industry to get into.

2/ What kind of business is booming in Peru these past years?  - Tourism and Mining

3/ What's the best thing to sell online these days?  - Cant help with this one, sorry

4/ Is it a good choice to open a business or some are not available for foreigners? - Sorry, no answer for this on either.

5/ Is it a safe country? - I think so, I have been living here for over 5 years now and while there are areas to avoid, in general I think that Peru is safe.

6/ How cheap is the real estate? - This really depends on where you are looking, sale price wise an apartment in Lima could run you between $60,000 and over $200,000 in smaller towns you could get a nice home for under $100,000, sometimes furnished.


7/ Is it better to open a business from scratch or to buy one for sale? - This is another one that I think really depends on you, starting from scratch can be a cheaper option, but can also take a lot more work between marketing and building a good reputation. Buying a business allows you to take advantage of an established reputation and clientele, but will cost you more as well. We actually purchased our property and started our B&B from scratch, I can tell you that it was a lot of work to get it going, but we have enjoyed it and are now planning on switching directions and are selling the B&B.

Another good source of information would be to check out some of the expat groups on Facebook, Living in Lima – Expat Support is a good one.

Hope this helps,
Lyle

Thank you for your reply, do you mean that the citizenship is becoming more difficult? I read a lot about this and I find it quiet difficult for US citizens, is it the same for Spanish?
Do you mind me asking why you're selling your B&B if it's a good investment?
Can we find a house for sale cheaper than 40 000 dollars?

I have actually heard that there are some new routes for residency, so in a way it is becoming easier, but they are making it harder for people to stay long term on just a tourist Visa, and I do not believe country of origin makes much difference.

Here is a link to an expat group on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/groups/4990513 … =bookmarks it is quite active and you should be able to get some good answers there.

There are several reasons that we have decided to sell the B&B, my wife has always been more of a beach person and all of here family is in Lima, additionally here father is getting old and his health is not so good anymore so we have decided to move to Lima to be closer to the family and help here father out.

I think it would depend on where you look, I am not that familiar with property prices at the moment, we have done a little looking for places in Lima, but we have been looking for something a bit larger so we can open another B&B when we move.

Thanks very much for your help, Ill do that

No problem