Cotacachi and Ecuador real estate prices are becoming higher. Construction material, cement, steel and wood have been skyrocketing in cost. Plus new duties imposed on imports such as pipe are raising material costs.
Our recent Cotacachi real estate tour looked at a number of Prima Vera II – to IV condos for sale from $46,500 to $54,500. Here is one of the four new Prima Vera blocks. This is Prima Vera III.
Bulding costs have forced the developer to raise prices on each building. The units are identical but each block has a higher price.
Here are the prices now for these Prima Vera units.
Prima Vera II
Prima Vera IV & V
Prima Vera IV & V
There are 13 units left here at the old prices. Learn here how to view the pricing and receive a 2% discount on the purchase as an Ecuador Living subscriber.
While viewing these condos we talked to American owner Bill Daily about the cost of living in Cotacachi. He and his wife live in a Prima Vera III first floor unit.
Here is Bill and his wife Jo.
This is their condo…with a comfortable view balcony
Two bedrooms.
One bedroom is used as an office…
plus a full kitchen.
Here is their living room.
We asked Bill about utility costs and he told us that property taxes were $38…a year.
Propane is $2.50 for 20 gallon bottle for cooking, heating and hot water. They use about $5…a month.
Water is $6 a month, electricity $20 a month….broadband $49…condo fees $100…so in all there basics are about $185 a month.
Until next message, good living wherever you are.
Gary
Join us in Cotacachi in March when our courses focus on health and wealth.
Here is an Ecuador beach condo development where a number of single women expats call home.
One of the best ways to beat inflation is to live in low costs areas like the coast around Bahia Ecuador.
Here’s an update on this area beginning south of Bahia starting at San Clemente.
Beach at San Clemente.
The map below shows why San Clemente (marked with A), which is just a bit south of Bahia, was the first place on the coast where I bought Ecuador beach real estate.
San Clemente is a small village almost equidistant to the two airport access points on Ecuador’s coast, Manta and Bahia, plus it is on the coastal highway just before it veers inland behind a strip of low lying hills.
These hills run along the coast from San Clemente to Bahia and further north separating the highway from the beach, discouraging over development and encouraging quiet hidden beach opportunities.
In addition San Clemente is almost equidistant to Quito and Guayaquil, the two largest population centers, and is accessed by major roads also shown on this map. This creates holiday opportunity for the big city folk.
San Clemente is itself a tiny… dusty village so the attraction here is peace and quiet. This is what Merri and I love.
However, those who want to live in a lively town will do better living just a bit further north in or closer to Bahia.
Our Ecuador beach penthouse is at Vistazul. This community is nicely protected by those hills.
Vistazul is right on the beach and protected by these low lying Manabi hills behind.
Here is the view from our penthouse so you can see…
why we love it there.
Now Vistazul is about to get even better.
The developer of this project, Kjetil Haugan, recently sent me this note.
Gary, This email is to inform you that we will close the hotel from next week on and until late June for renovation. We will change the location of the kitchen, increase the capacity of the restaurant, redo the swimming pool (partly infinity pool), put A/C in all rooms, put in new beds and mosquito nets, fix all the sliding doors/windows, put in concrete walls around the hotel, fix the gardens, make more family suites, paint the hotel and change and redo everything from the dining tables, to the outdoor furniture. Most of this will be done during these 6 to 7 weeks but the rooms will be done throughout the year.
We will also start to sell club memberships to local people with a point system plus offer this to the ex pats living in Cuenca.
We are adding new administrators at the hotel; Edwin and his Canadian wife, Cris. They used to run our yacht operation in the Galapagos. She will also help out at Vistazul being the contact person for the residents and helping out with decoration, purchase of furniture and rental management.
So hopefully you will have time to come down to San Clemente later this year to discover the new Palmazul!
Vistazul is also doing well right now. The electricity work, water plant and gardening should all be ready by the end of May. Then I will help the residents start to form the HOA. I have also contracted all the doors/windows so the remaining units will be completed within 4 to 6 months depending on the workers.
I had a lot of interest in the one level units and we continue to offer finance. Regards, Kjetil
For answers to specific questions contact, Kjetil Haugan, at kjetil@haugancruises.com
This is an exciting evolution for the small community and remains a great bargain… the $79,000 price includes club membership which includes use of all the improved facilities.
Back in 2007, my friend, Kjetil Haugan, sent me a note that he was building this hotel and would have his the new year celebration there.
When I saw the construction pictures… I wondered. A lot of work seemed undone.
This was the hotel in November 2007.
and the pool at the hotel.
Yet Kjetil did have the hotel open for the 2008 New Year celebration.
When we visited in early January 2008, the hotel looked like this.
Kjetil then told me that the hotel was also designed as the clubhouse for 60 + condos he would build on this land behind the hotel.
I knew the land.. I knew Kjetil. I was impressed and bought the first five condos myself. Kjetil said that he would have the first units finished by the end of the year.
True to his word, Kjetil kept to his timing and despite the recession of 2008 has completed and sold out this development.
Ecuador beach real estate is still inexpensive but prices have been rising. Those condos began at $79,000 but prices have risen over the last year to:
I personally have a unit here in the Vistazul complex so this is my front yard.
Here are the first condos which originally went on sale at $79,000.
They are 1,200 square feet, two and a half bathroom, two bedroom units, on two floors and a roof terrace.
Here is a group of our delegates inspecting the roof terrace.
Here is the sunset view from the beach in front of these units.
They are one minute’s amble to the club houserestaurant, where you can dine.
The seafood comes fresh from these fishermen who leave from the beach in front of the clubhouse each day.
Kjetil Haugan, a Norwegian who moved to Ecuador after being the administrator of Atlanta’s Olympic Village, became a prominent businessman, owning the largest Spanish school in the country along with several Galapagos cruise ships.
Kjetil and his wife Jessica built Palmazul Hotel which is also the clubhouse for these condos.
The owners of the condos enjoy Palmazul as their community center…all the hotel facilities are available to home owners. This provides living on the beach with tennis court, pool, beach, fine dining, exercise room and all.
Here is a shot taken from one of the Vistazul condo rooftops.
Until next message, good Ecuador living!
I always recommend that you look and then rent before you buy.
Ecuador beach condo news is inflationary but not all bad.
There are many reasons why Merri and I love Ecuador’s Pacific and why we decided to buy beach condos there.
One of the most important beach condo features for us is the incredible sunsets on the Ecuadorian Pacific.
Here is a sunset shot from our Ecuador beach apartment.
This incredible beauty is good news.
Really low prices…incredible value to our way of thinking, is another reason we love our Ecuador beach condo deals.
Yet the sun is about to set on the really best prices. That’s the bad news. We’ll get to the good news in a moment.
Ecuador beach condos in the Vitsazul development (where we have our condos and where this sunset was shot) have been available for as low as $79,000.
Yet inflation is everywhere. The cost of steel and cement have skyrocketed in Ecuador. Thor Anderson the project’s financial officer just sent me the new prices for the condos.
The new prices are as follows:
Lower units $89,000
Mid-range units $115,000
Top Units $139,000
Plus $5,000 club fees. These fees provides beach access, dining access at Palmazul Hotel & Spa, use of the club beach swimming pool, the tennis courts and gym.
These prices are still an excellent value…just not as excellent as before. However there is still some good news below.
First, here is the clubhouse Palmazul Hotel & Spa.
Here is the beach pool.
The condos by the way are of similar construction and visible from the back of the hotel. Here is a shot of Vistazul construction from the hotel.
Merri’s and my first unit is almost finished. Here are some shots of this unit so you can get a better feel of the interior design and construction. These shots were taken at sunset so you can see the rosy glow that nature casts.
Here is a shot looking out from the living area into the sea.
Here is a reverse picture looking into the living area.
Here are two interior shots. Note all the hardwood trim and doors.
This is the backside of the upstairs unit.
Here you can see the high quality of hardware used.
Plus some more construction shots.
Now for the good news.
Thor Anderson has written this about financing.
“Gary, Here is what we would like to offer clients on financing:
Up to 75% financing on units at 8.5% for a term of 10 years.
Example:
Purchase price $ 100,000.
25% Down $ 25,000 75% Financing$ 75,000
$70,000 @ 8.5% for 120 payments = $867.89 monthly
I shopped local banks and this is a much better deal and program from anything they’re offering.”
There is even better news for Ecuador Living subscribers and our September real estate tour delegates. Here is what Thor has offered:
“Gary, We will continue to waive the $5,000 club fees and keep the original $79,000 price for Ecuador Living subscribers and your September tour delegates up to October 1, 2008.“
As always I would like to confirm that I am not selling these condos and am not paid any commission for their sale. We are able to negotiate these special prices for our readers due to this fact.
For more details contact Thor Anderson at thor@sanclementeecuador.com
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