Moving to ecuador
Last activity 26 September 2017 by Crazyewok
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Hi so where to start.....
Ecuador probably was not my first choice I admit. But circumstances have kinda forced me to look to residency here.
Basically i am in a long term relationship with a Ecuadorian woman. But due to insane and draconian UK immigration rules I can not get her over to the UK even for a 1 month visit.
She is more important than my country so stuff the UK basically. And its to the UK loss too me being a science teacher.
I have a significant sum of money due to a inheritance.
My plan is to buy around 25-hectors of land and growing coffee and possibly other crops. On top of that I would do english teaching. Plus my girlfriend works.
I would be looking to build my own house.
Would be looking at Cuenca or Loja region.
I have been to ecuador 3 times already. Cost is obviously a lot cheaper than UK (everywhere in the world is).
I get on well with the climate and food.
I have some spanish, though i am far from fluent.....yet.
I have a big advantage in my girlfriend who doing lots of research for me. And we have found plenty of avaliable land.
Queations we have really is cost of constructing a 2 bedroom house with good plumbing, hot water and electricity.?
I am looking foward to the challenge to honest.
I would think a better possibility might be to buy an existing house and install an on-demand hot water heater.
Even with an Ecuadorian wife helping you, you are likely to be overcharged in the building process for both labor and materials, and still with no guarantees as to quality of construction and moving-in date.
OsageArcher wrote:I would think a better possibility might be to buy an existing house and install an on-demand hot water heater.
Even with an Ecuadorian wife helping you, you are likely to be overcharged in the building process for both labor and materials, and still with no guarantees as to quality of construction and moving-in date.
Dear Crazy,
Welcome to the Ecuador forum.
Brother Archer is correct .. and is also far milder in his comments than I would be if I answered in full.
To put it briefly... how about living in Ecuador for a while before considering a construction project or buying property....
Brother Archer's points -- the likelihood of being overcharged .. and uncertainty about quality and completion date -- only scratch the surface of the nightmare scenarios you are likely to encounter if you go with your ambitious original plan.
cccmedia
One more thought, Crazy.
You stated on the Guayaquil forum that your Ecuadorian girlfriend's father (supposedly) hates you because of your British nationality.
This family situation, real or perceived, has the potential to jeopardize, if not ruin, your construction project idea.
I recommend that you keep things simple when you arrive in Ecuador, unless that inheritance provided you money to burn.
cccmedia
Well the point is to get going with the coffee plantation straight away, dont really want any dead time, time is money. I am still young , not retiring.
I have $70,000 put aside for the house (the land itself and buisness equipment i have put aside much more).
As for the family, thats no longer a issue as my girlfriend has disowned them, and if needed we will move to the other side of ecuador.
I dont really want to buy a separate house in town as i dont really want to commute.
Crazyewok, it's great to have a dream and a plan. But hopefully you can also learn from the experience of others...almost uniformly bad in trying to do what you propose.
At the very least, live in Ecuador for at least one year before buying property (house and/or land). Otherwise you risk living up to your username. You could always rent/lease the coffee-producing land for a year or so - presumably you are not going to start from seedlings, but from trees already full-grown and producing beans (it takes 2 to 4 years from seedlings, before production of harvestable fruit).
But please keep us posted - you could serve as an example, either way it goes, that perhaps others could profit by.
Crazyewok, I would like to share an experience with you. First I want to stress that I admire your goals and I believe no person should be denied their authentic desires because they ultimately lead to one’s happiness.
For a while now, I have being researching starting a business, and just when I thought I knew most of it, I befriended an Ecuadorian who has taught me so much more. This is a person who is already successful in businesses. There were somethings that I overlooked, and this person shed light on. And I’m still learning.
My point here is that Ecuador is a different ballgame and you need to learn, make connections, and see how things work for you to succeed. I believe this is achievable and the only expense is time.
Another issue is with regards to your girlfriend disowning her family. This is very odd in Ecuador but it exists and I have come across some people like that, especially people from towns who have moved to Quito. One such woman is a Gringo lover, and who was estranged from her family. She is now back in her town and living with her family.
As for building a house in Loja, there is a member here, Helen Piovine, who has posted that she built her own house and water system. Try to PM her.
OsageArcher wrote:Crazyewok, it's great to have a dream and a plan. But hopefully you can also learn from the experience of others...almost uniformly bad in trying to do what you propose.
At the very least, live in Ecuador for at least one year before buying property (house and/or land). Otherwise you risk living up to your username. You could always rent/lease the coffee-producing land for a year or so - presumably you are not going to start from seedlings, but from trees already full-grown and producing beans (it takes 2 to 4 years from seedlings, before production of harvestable fruit).
But please keep us posted - you could serve as an example, either way it goes, that perhaps others could profit by.
Any chance I could have a link to some of these horror stories so i can learn off them?
Renting for a year might be away to go. Problem though is housing........ i ideally want to live on the land.
vsimple wrote:Crazyewok, I would like to share an experience with you. First I want to stress that I admire your goals and I believe no person should be denied their authentic desires because they ultimately lead to one’s happiness.
For a while now, I have being researching starting a business, and just when I thought I knew most of it, I befriended an Ecuadorian who has taught me so much more. This is a person who is already successful in businesses. There were somethings that I overlooked, and this person shed light on. And I’m still learning.
My point here is that Ecuador is a different ballgame and you need to learn, make connections, and see how things work for you to succeed. I believe this is achievable and the only expense is time.
Another issue is with regards to your girlfriend disowning her family. This is very odd in Ecuador but it exists and I have come across some people like that, especially people from towns who have moved to Quito. One such woman is a Gringo lover, and who was estranged from her family. She is now back in her town and living with her family.
As for building a house in Loja, there is a member here, Helen Piovine, who has posted that she built her own house and water system. Try to PM her.
Sounds no different than here really. Connections connections connections. Me and the girlfriend are already deeply at work in this regard.
As for the father issue? Not just because of me she disowned him, he was a wife/daughter beater. I doubt she will be running back to him.
All sound advice to my way of thinking Crazy.....Just take it slow and eazy and make friends and work on your Spanish and get some quality beach time in.......and some hiking up in the high country.....enjoy the best that Ecuador has......before you immerse yourself in the quicksand of business investments and potential partnerships, etc........Kick back and drink some of that great micro brew of T.J.s in Montanita or the craft beer bar in Los Baños.........Pick a lot of brains and make a bunch of friends before taking the plunge.........In the long run you will be way ahead...
Crazy told us above that he would like to read about Expat "horror stories" .. and possibly learn from such.
The story of Luna 2 is the cautionary tale of an Expat who pursued a real-estate-and-construction dream in Ecuador several years ago .. only to see the dream become a nightmare. Eventually, Luna showed up at Expat.com looking to divest from that partially-built project, seeking to recoup the investment....
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=454463
Thanks. I hear that hotel buisness is a tough one. I have a freind in ecuador who owns a hotel.
Crazyewok wrote:Any chance I could have a link to some of these horror stories so i can learn off them?
Here's another cautionary tale that we encountered on this forum....
A well-traveled USA woman named Lauree signed a contract to buy a fixer-upper in San Clemente, Ecuador, on her first, brief visit to the EC coast. The project got tied up in red tape before she could get close to taking possession. See more about this on the thread "Things I Have Learned While Planning My Move to Ecuador" at the link below.
Note that Lauree's Ecuadorian lawyers did not exactly cover themselves in glory in arranging this transaction. Also, the red tape involving a deceased former owner was just one of many problems Lauree reported. Note that she was attempting to get the deal to close while she was living outside Ecuador.
Don't overlook the fact that Lauree eventually realized she would need to put $25,000 into an Ecuador certificate-of-deposit investment .. because the real-estate investment option she was counting on for a visa was more complicated than she expected....
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=509211
-- cccmedia
cccmedia wrote:Crazyewok wrote:Any chance I could have a link to some of these horror stories so i can learn off them?
Here's another cautionary tale that we encountered on this forum....
A well-traveled USA woman named Lauree signed a contract to buy a fixer-upper in San Clemente, j
Ecuador, on her first, brief visit to the EC coast. The project got tied up in red tape before she could get close to taking possession. See more about this on the thread "Things I Have Learned While Planning My Move to Ecuador" at the link below.
Note that Lauree's Ecuadorian lawyers did not exactly cover themselves in glory in arranging this transaction. Also, the red tape involving a deceased former owner was just one of many problems Lauree reported. Note that she was attempting to get the deal to close while she was living outside Ecuador.
Don't overlook the fact that Lauree eventually realized she would need to put $25,000 into an Ecuador certificate-of-deposit investment .. because the real-estate investment option she was counting on for a visa was more complicated than she expected....
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=509211
-- cccmedia
I think i am coming at it with one advantage......my girlfriend worked in real estate so knows the bullcrap.
As for the visa money that wont be a problem. I would be reserving $50,000 to one side anyway for emergencies, so that can cover any visa deposit.
Plus i wont be making the mistake of closing any deal while out of the country.
Good luck with your adventure, I meet some expats looking for living in the country side and it ended bad.
First, locals trying to cheat on the land price or selling other people properties. The fact your girlfriend works in real state is good.
Second, security. A foreigner living in the middle on nowhere is an easy target for robbery.
Try to get a property in a populated area.
vinny66 wrote:I meet some expats looking for living in the country side and it ended bad....
A foreigner living in the middle of nowhere is an easy target for robbery.
Try to get a property in a populated area.
Exactly right, Vinny.
Maybe you know about the 70-something Expat who bought a rural property outside Cuenca.
He kept a gun on hand, just in case.
Several months ago, when three jóvenes climbed over the fence and made a move on the
house, the retiree reached for his weapon and got into a gun battle with the robbers.
For him, it ended as badly as you could imagine.
His wife and their maid, hiding in a bathroom while the thieves made off with money and valuables, survived.
cccmedia
Yes, I knew about this, and there are other similar stories that luckyly didn't finish this bad
So you think youre better off without a weapon, and just laying down and handing it all over to them? And hoping they dont kill you just for fun and spite?
dumluk wrote:So you think you're better off without a weapon, and just laying down and handing it all over to them? And hoping they don't kill you just for fun and spite?
More than 99 percent of Expat arrivals in Ecuador wisely choose to live in a populated city or town, not in a remote rural area.
That usually spares them the impossible choice between shooting it out with malditos .. and "laying down and handing it all over to them."
cccmedia
vinny66 wrote:Good luck with your adventure, I meet some expats looking for living in the country side and it ended bad.
First, locals trying to cheat on the land price or selling other people properties. The fact your girlfriend works in real state is good.
Second, security. A foreigner living in the middle on nowhere is an easy target for robbery.
Try to get a property in a populated area.
Getting a property in a built up area defeats the entire point.
I am not a retiree. I have to be able to make money and i dont fancy scraping away on $600 a month as just a teacher. That leaves setting up a buisness to supplement my income.
There seems little to no buisness opportunity in the citys unless its hotel related, and thats not a strength of mine. Botany and agriculture is.
Thanks to the UK basically forcing me into exile with the hideous new immigration laws on spouses I have few options which means i have to take some risks.
Well, I have lived in the countryside for most of my 20 something years in central america, and it has not been without its challenges and dangers......Especially on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica......Lotsa bad boyz with big guns and bad intentions over there........But here in highlands of Chiriqui, it is beautiful, the environment pristine and spectacular, the air quality couldnt be better, spring water instead of chlorinated river water, land fertile and cheap compared to the city. And for the most part, peaceful, tranquilo..........Im far enuff up and out that even the serious bad guys dont like to venture out this far......Since living in my finca up here, Ive had virtually no problems, no close encounter, but you better be prepared in any event.....And that means dogs, cameras, and guns..........And I dont imagine its much different anywhere else in latin america..........the worst part about living in the country is the lack of commercial infrastructure.......I do a lot of driving.......more than I like........theres nothing convenient about it........
I think youre at higher risk of being a victim in the city.....Thats where the bad guys mostly live, and where theyre mostly organized bands......They generally dont like to travel too far afield, not to say it doesnt happen......Here in Panama, the great majority of the crime is in the cities....pure and simple......the odds of being targeted are much higher.........I have seen it over time.........less people, less problems..........haha
dumluk wrote:Well, I have lived in the countryside for most of my 20 something years in central america, and it has not been without its challenges and dangers......Especially on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica......Lotsa bad boyz with big guns and bad intentions over there........But here in highlands of Chiriqui, it is beautiful, the environment pristine and spectacular, the air quality couldnt be better, spring water instead of chlorinated river water, land fertile and cheap compared to the city. And for the most part, peaceful, tranquilo..........Im far enuff up and out that even the serious bad guys dont like to venture out this far......Since living in my finca up here, Ive had virtually no problems, no close encounter, but you better be prepared in any event.....And that means dogs, cameras, and guns..........And I dont imagine its much different anywhere else in latin america..........the worst part about living in the country is the lack of commercial infrastructure.......I do a lot of driving.......more than I like........theres nothing convenient about it........
Yeah the driving will be the biggest pain in the arse. But I cant have everything perfect.
I would likley be a hour and a half to two hours from the city. so pretty out the way.
I plan on getting a gun if I can but if it comes to a home invasion I would likley offer no resistance. It only stuff they take, I can replace that. Plus the only valube thing I will likley have is a TV a PC and some cash as I am not exactly high maintence, , not hard to replace really.If i start a gun fight I would likely end up dead.
But I will likley buy two big dogs. Plus the size plantations I am looking at come with a onsite caretaker and I have some business ideas that will help the local community too so hopefully I will have locals on my side.
dumluk wrote:I think youre at higher risk of being a victim in the city.....Thats where the bad guys mostly live, and where theyre mostly organized bands......They generally dont like to travel too far afield, not to say it doesnt happen......Here in Panama, the great majority of the crime is in the cities....pure and simple......the odds of being targeted are much higher.........I have seen it over time.........less people, less problems..........haha
Yeah spent some time in Panama with the GF. I have to say I felt very unsafe in Albrook. We also got mugged for cash in colon. But in the country I never had a problem.
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