Here is an update on the Ecuador beach condos Vistazul in San Clemente Ecuador.

Here is an update as of March 2010.

Rooftop terrace at Vistazul Ecuador beach condos.

This project has progressed steadily despite the 2007 and 2008 recession in the West.

Vistazul Ecuador beach condo trim.

The Vistazul Ecuador beach condo project took off very nicely two years ago. About half the units in the first couple months were  sold. Then the recession hit and as these are more a second home, rather than full time living, destination, sales slowed badly.

Added to this, the road from Manta to San Clemente is being redone. This has really made it hard and circuitous to reach these Ecuador beach condos.  Long term though this will of course be really good!

However sales have continued… just at a slower pace.  The developer wrote that there are only two condos left in the blocks that are finished. One is a resale unit 506 and unit 301.  Unit 301 is the only finished unit that has not been sold.

There are eleven units left in the unfinished buildings two and six.

Structural work on these units should be ready within a month but as I mentioned Kjetil Haugan will wait with the finish work on these units until he has completed the infrastructure work on the development.  Gary

Let’s review the entire history of the project so you can see how surprisingly well it has sold considering the utter collapse of the real estate market in the USA.

We have worked with Kjetil for 12 or 13 years and ten years ago Kjetil, Merri and I drove the entire coast.  This San Clemente property is one that Kjetil liked and purchased.

Kjetil introduced us to the project in December 2007 when he was in the process of building the Palmazul Hotel & Spa and it looked like this:

Construction was…

well under…

way.

We put money up front and bought the first six Vistazul units to get construction started.  By then Palmazul looked like…

this.

A view of the land has gone from…

this to…

this to…

We always liked this project because the hotel clubhouse was finished and in operation before ground was broken on the condos.

We put enough money into the project so we knew it could be done.

All seven of the factors we like to see in a new project  were in place before we began sales.

#1: Land owned with title insurance.
#2: No debt on the land.
#3: Infrastructure complete.
#4: Financing in place.
#5: Experienced engineers and architects involved.
#6: A logical sales plan set up.
#7: Long term management organized.

Since we send about 20 people a month to the area on real estate tours and they stay at the hotel club house, the project has an advantage though we do not allow the developer to push this over other projects or properties on the tour.

The project’s unique position on the beach… in a really quiet location where little else can be built makes these to our way of thinking a real winner at $79,000 to $89,000.

Some US real estate prices have fallen so they compare to Ecuador real estate prices… but NOT ON THE BEACH.  US beach property is still far more expensive than Ecuador beach prices.  I have never seen any US beach front which compares  anywhere close to the prices at Vistazul.  Why is this?  First, Kjetil bought the land 10 years ago when prices were unbelievably low.  Second, the bulk of the construction was done before inflation started to push up construction costs. Third, we have sent all the buyers to the project and do not receive commissions, thus eliminating a normally large sales cost.

But we really recommend that you visit and see to make sure that this rustic area appeals to you and to see which units available best suit you.

The developer Kjetil Haugan also offers financing on the $89,000 units.

History of Vistazul from our website. Our Garyascott.com archives tells the tale of Vistazul.

December 2007 see the Ecuador beach club house under construction.

See how we began and the Ecuador beach land in December 2007.

See what we said and the Ecuador beach land by December 2008

We introduced the project in February 2008.

Three buildings under construction by September 2008.

We financed the completion of the club house by adding two penthouses.

From…

to…

this, to…

Here is the penthouse interior.

Learn how to rent these penthouses here.

See more on why I like this area and at

Ecuador Beaches

Ecuador Seafood

Ecuador Beach Restaurants

Fishing in Ecuador

This project was originally planned for 62 units at three price levels. After the economic slowdown it was reduced to 38 units for the time being.  See the site plan at Ecuador Beach Condo Party

Gary

How We Can Serve You

2013-2014 Super Thinking + Spanish – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Course Schedule

Schedule 2013-2014  Super Thinking + Spanish  – Writing to Sell – Investing & Business Courses

Here are photos I took of Mt. Dora…

We have Ecuador beach rental units for as low as $500 a week.

This is for first class apartments in one of the top hotels directly on one of the best the beaches in Ecuador with full facilities, pool, tennis, spa, broadband and an English speaking staff etc.

Here they are.   This shot from our penthouse in the hotel.

These condos are not exactly on the beach.  They are 133 steps (I walked it off myself) from the hotel… less than two minutes walk to this exact spot.

These are very nice 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom units.  Views are good. Here is our last real estate tour on the roof garden.

A sunset I shot at the condo’s roof top garden.

The 1,200 square feet includes a living room…

dining area…

and full kitchen down stairs.

There are two and a half baths plus two bedrooms on the second floor.  The second bedroom is small, but…

the master bedroom is spacious with a comfortable king size bed and ocean view.

These furnished units rent $200 per night or $500 week.

Where can you rent on an exclusive, empty beach with warm water at rates like that?

Prices are about 10 times what we were paying when we came here ten years ago but they are still much much less than they are they are in north America… even with the real estate crash.

Brand new 2 bedroom condos are $79,000 on this clean empty beach.

with water so warm you can enjoy the surf all day long… as I do!

This is a property with a full facility club house. here are guests at our last real estate tour enjoying the warm coastal evening.

A similar condo in Naples Florida, where we used to live, even today, would be ten times this or more.

If you wish to come and look for bargains. they are here.

We saw these brand new condos at $18,000.

They are nice inside also.

Yet having brought over 3,000 delegates to Ecuador we know what they want and in the last year no delegates has purchased on of these  low cost units.

We have clients come from all over the world, Thailand, Mexico, Uruguay, Panama and they all say the same. “Ecuador property prices are much lower”.  You will find few places of this quality on this type of location with prices this low.

Our premium service is called Ecuador Living … not Ecuador real estate.  While a large part of our service looks at Ecuador property, our real service is sharing 14 years experience of living in Ecuador. This year will be our 41st  year of living, investing and doing business abroad… so we really are quite experienced.  We have learned from thousands of dealings what most readers desire… so we can help the occasional reader look for the bargains… but we know what most readers will actually buy or rent  and we work hard to find it and make it easy for readers to own or rent.

In the case of Vistazul we were lucky to have a developer who listened to our suggestions and created an ideal place for our readers to call home on Ecuador’s beach.

We gain great delight seeing a community forming here and over the next week will share stories of some of the residents who are moving in.

Gary

Join us in Cotacachi and on Ecuador Coast in March.

Merri, our webmaster and I have created a new course on how to build a web business with a webmaster.  Here is a special offer on this new course.

You can enroll in this special course for $299. However if you sign up for our three courses in March 2009, I will send it to you free. You save $299.

March 8-9 Imbabura Real Estate Tour

March 10-15 Ecuador Import Export Expedition

March 16-19 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Bob Shane will be at our March courses and will be available to provide health balancing.

Get our web based course FREE if you join us in Ecuador this February or March.

Attend any two Ecuador courses or tours in a calendar month…$949 for one.  $1,349 for two

Attend any three Ecuador courses or tours in a calendar month…$1,199 for one.  $1,799 for two

Future 2009 courses

May 29-31  JGAM Global Asset Strategy Seminar

June 12-14 Shamanic Mingo Tour
June 16-17 Imbabura Real Estate Tour
June 18-21 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

July 3-6     Ecuador Import Export Expedition
July 8-9    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
July 10-13 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

July 24-26 IBEZ North Carolina

Sept. 17-21 Ecuador Spanish Course
Sept. 23-24 Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Sept. 25-28 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour

Oct. 9-11     IBEZ North Carolina

Oct. 21-24 Ecuador Import Export Expedition

Nov. 6-8    IBEZ Ecuador
Nov. 9-10 Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 11-14 Ecuador Coastal Real Estate Tour