| Buying
Land In The South Of Chile |
| What You
Might Find |
| by Bill Lanphar |
| Scenery
With Incredible Prices
I spent
last winter in Chile and found it to be a country that offers just about
any lifestyle an expatriate could ask for. If you like the big city,
Santiago with its near perfect weather is hard to beat. I'm not a big city
fan but felt very comfortable there and it is very affordable. I spoke
with one expatriate that lives there for about $500 a month and he liked
it very much; he has lived all over the world and he said only Amsterdam
compared as far as he was concerned. I'm not that well traveled so I couldn't
say.
Personally,
I like Ocean beaches and remote wilderness both of which Chile has in abundance. |
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| It seemed
to me the farther south you go the better it gets. The lakes region which
gets most of the attention for investment and vacationing reminded me of
Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Galleries,
rafting, flyfishing, volcano tours, nice upscale resorts, kayaking - except
for the language you would think you're in Yellowstone or some playground
in the Western U.S. In the Lakes region everything is about a third the
cost of what it would be in the states, but when we got out into Patagonia
I'd say it was about a fifth.
That's getting ahead of myself; I'll save
the best till last, but I will say that Chile will stretch your vacation
dollar. In a month of renting a car and living pretty high on the hog,
my buddy and I only spent $3000 a piece and we both went expecting to spend
$6000. Land prices are the best I've ever heard of, but I'll get to that
in a bit.
Well after
the lakes region we went to Valdivia that's where Chile really started
to speak to me in a very comforting way. It was a very romantic place
and it was difficult to be there without my girlfriend: everywhere I went
it felt like the kind of place you should enjoy with someone you love.
Sidewalk cafe's, riverfront parks and lonely beaches that go on forever
as they pass beautiful fishing villages; the fishing boats were even quite
colorful. |
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| We rented
a small cabin that was located on the top of a cliff that overlooked the
bay with a vine covered walkway that went down to the ocean.
The whole
place reminded me of what the Mediterranean must be like. If I remember
right this place was only $14 a night and that included fresh baked bread
in the morning, and free access to the internet so you could check your
email.
Two German
ladies ran the place and were very good at mothering two gringos from the
states.
I can't think
of Chile without thinking of how wonderful the people are; very warm and
friendly, never once did I sense any anti-American feelings; if anything
they treat you like a celebrity because Americans are rare compared to
Europeans. |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| Next I went
to Puerto Montt which is the gateway to Patagonia and met Claudio and his
girlfriend; they have not only become good friends, but business partners
as well. One thing you will notice when in Chile is it is a very modern
place with many opportunities to make money, just pay attention and they
will begin to pop up everywhere you go.
You see the
US is very competitive and anywhere there is a need it's filled, not so
in Chile; they don't see the holes because they are used to living with
them. You will see them because you are used to having them filled in the
States. Chile is very open to foreign investment and makes it very easy
for you to do business. What you need is a Rout Number which is
like our social security number and you can own land and businesses with
the same rights as a citizen of the country.
Claudio
owns a tour company and I mentioned I wanted to go fishing, well, he knew
of a place that Chileans go to fish; he said its much cheaper and just
as good as where foreigners go to fish, and he liked it there so much he
took me. |
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| Well for $40
a day I got a guild, a boat and caught the largest sea run rainbows I've
ever had the pleasure of hooking a line into, in the company of Chileans,
without a tourist in sight for probably a hundred miles. It was great fun
and we had a lamb roasted over an open fire and I was totally immersed
in Chilean culture. This place was so out of the way that they kept
teasing me, saying they were going to take the Gringo to the disco tonight.
Well after dinner and some great Chilean wine they told me it was time
to go dancing. I still thought it was a joke till they all started
climbing into a pickup and urged me to come along. Well to make a long
story short there was a disco with horses tied up outside because the Goncos
- what we call cowboys - had decided to come down to shake a leg, also.
Turned out
the owner said I was the first gringo to ever come there and they all welcomed
me like I was an old friend and the Goncos even managed to crack
a smile when the gringo got up to dance. |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| It was there
that I started to ask Claudio about land prices because the place was so
spectacular - a postcard everywhere you looked.
After some
inquiries, because there are no "for sale" signs or real-estate offices,
you have to ask around, the prices for land I started to hear were amazing
to me and that's when I decided I was going to buy a place in Chile before
I left. Patagonia is amazing anywhere you go; you see one beautiful spot,
then you see one even better, so it was hard to decide where to buy, but
when my son joined up with us and when we went into the Futalafu River
Valley, we decided this was the place to get serious about buying something.
We settled
on 2 and a half hectares on Lake Espolon which is about 7 acres. I bought
660 meters of lakefront on Lake Espolon that is as spectacular as any I've
ever seen for $14,000. I'm having a beautiful two-story home built, a fireplace
and all for $20,000. I'm sure there will be some other costs in there by
the time its done in October. But a place like that in Montana where I
live would cost $500,000 or more so I'm not to worried about the details.
My buddy Dennis fished from shore while I was taking care of business and
informed me he caught the largest trout of his life while killing time
waiting for me. He couldn't think of a better spot to fish in. Now there
are other places like what I found and if you are looking for unspoiled
beauty, beautiful people and don't mind four seasons, or if you are like
me, just want some place spectacular to go to in the winters, I think this
is impossible place to beat. Now if you have to have shopping malls and
lots of city life I think Chile is still a great place to get a big bang
for your buck. You'll just have to look farther north than where I'm at
in Futalafu. I could not of done all this without Claudio's help.
Claudio is
an indispensable asset when it comes to finding a property you want, negotiating
the prices and getting it all legal. I would not try this alone - he speaks
the language and understands the people. He is also working out all the
details of building the home for me while I'm gone. I told him there are
probably other gringos that would greatly appreciate his services and if
they knew there was someone here that would help them through the whole
process he would probably stay busy. He can find you whatever you want
Oceanfront, river or lakefront from Valparaiso to Patagonia. Contact me
at BL@interbel.net if you would just
like to know more.
Now if you
need a contact in Chile to help you get started buying a place or putting
together a business plan I would suggest you contact my friend and partner
in Business Andy Grimberg
His email is:
Agrimberg@hotmail.com.
To phone from the States the number is 011 56 97 579807
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