My daughter sent me an email today from some friends that have relocated to Ecuador. It seems they have leased acreage for a organic farm and are looking for investors to build about eight eco-friendly homes on about 1 acre per household. Sound familiar?
So since this is right up my 'shared-resources' alley, I thought I would see what real estate prices were like in Ecuador. You can get this house for $180,000 in Cuenca:
Under Contract means the realtor has a signed contract to sell the home.
How about this one on acreage outside of town for $370,000? It has six bedrooms and six baths, full maids quarters and the taxes for 2009 was $145. (My older daughter thought the maid's quarters would be perfect for her younger sister. :-) I'm thinking an extended family could live here:
I guess these places are starting to look better and better to me when I realize the opportunities for our children are no longer in the United States. After reading a long article on the "lost generation" of new college graduates today, I realized this country is not what it used to be. Our "economy of war" is leaving me sad and dispirited. The huge shift to corporatism, with it's lack of moral obligation, is going to drive the best and brightest to other places, offering brighter futures.
Maybe it's time to look elsewhere, where we may not have as many amenities, but life can still be good. Maybe we can afford to retire before we're 80 years old. What do you think?
Here is a free handbook for moving to Ecuador.
16 comments:
Oh, I had a physical reaction to those pictures! It looks heavenly.
I am with you! This looks inviting, but we are stuck here until we can recoup on our investment. We paid $350,000 for this and I got a letter from a real estate agent just last week telling me that farm acreage is at a premium and he could get me s much as $80,000 for my 40 acres. Gee, if I wasn't depressed before ....
Natalie - And the people are nice!
Kathy - I know exactly how you feel. I think reading about all of the 20-somethings, that are educated and moving back home because they can only find minimum-wage jobs, did it for me. (I have two twenty-somethings.) If our country wants to be global - meaning no moral obligation to the country and the people that helped them start their company - then so be it. I'll move my tax-paying family elsewhere.
i think i need to start looking in ecuador...
Brian - I intend to check it out myself.
Let's do it! They even make it easy to move your pets there! No stupid isolation period like they have in other countries! You can easily start a business or be a teacher or whatever without all the craziness that faces people here in the U.S. today.. .this idea is getting better and better!
My younger son's best friend is currently farming on a vineyard in Tasmania. They leave soon as Winter has set in. Is this girl a close friend of your daughter's and is she reliable? I am thinking of sending your post to Ryan while he's still overseas. He wants to become an organic farmer. He's in the learning stages now.
lovely, lovely, lovely. i've heard of people moving to established retirement communities in Mexico, too and loving it. sounds lovely.
My oldest, who is 20 will be going to Spain in the Fall for 9 months. It is required for her college degree, and we hope she likes it enough to consider staying or going back. I worry a lot about what is going on in the US. I wish I could read the future and know what to do.
I about fell out of my chair when I read that the taxes were only $145 for 2009!! I live in an area where property taxes are very high for the price of houses.
On a brighter note, your pictures are gorgeous and good luck to your daughters friends on their new adventure in life!!
Jen - I like the idea dogs are welcome :-)
California - I can get the information for the people over there if you think your son is interested. So you already have an expat in your family! You can't blame young people for looking outside of the US for opportunities. It was why our ancestors came here in the first place...
Teresa - For the same reasons - affordability, opportunity.
Paula - When I read that my daughter's generation was just considered "lost" I decided to really get mad about what is happening. All programs that are cut are the ones for the people, yet our politicians have great medical benefits for themselves and retirements that are very lucrative - after only one term. Yet our infrastructure crumbles, our jobs are overseas, and now medicare is on the chopping block. Insurance companies rule and the banks have taken our homes. Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but I think there must be a better way. Our government is just unable to change anything of any importance. Maybe it's time to do what our ancestors did when they came here?
You don't have to sell me on the benefit of international living- I'm doing it and loving it. A good resource in this whole topic is: www.internationalliving.com. Their info talks about best places to move based on a large number of factors. Ecuador is one of the hot spots recently.
Grandmother - I think of you often while entertaining the idea of an international move. You are a perfect example that life can be wonderful living in places other than our place of birth. Thank you so much for the link!
I know I could never leave my family.
Food for thought, Nancy. My first reaction was wariness, though, mostly because of a few stories I've heard lately about foreginers being taken for a ride with respect to real estate deals. Not in Ecudaor, but elsewhere. However, what you say about a lost generation is very sobering. Perhaps the US will become a country of emigrants - after all, those who came there from other countries were after the same access to opportunity. It just continues on.
Anywhere around Quito is the place to move. Or to Banos. There's actually a tiny town called Esperanza (I kid you not!) that is famous for its hallucinogenic mushroom fields. Not sure it would do for an expat move, but Ecuador has so many nooks and crannies and fascinating towns.
I hear you Nancy. Beautiful country.
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