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US$1 equals 9.5 pesos The first thing I noticed about Quito was the absence of bugs. They always come after me before my wife Lorna, and when I didn’t see any, I was encouraged about our decision to visit this place. We were looking for a retirement home.  We have read with great interest Gary Scott’s articles in International Living. We were intrigued by the prices, and by the descriptions of the countryside and the people. We did some research on our own, and the more we looked, the more we liked what we saw. Lorna managed to get a 3-month leave of absence from her accounting job.

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Our host family was, as we expected, friendly. 

Certainly they don’t get many married couples our age (50 and 44). Most students are college kids, staying only a few weeks, and are interested primarily in the volcanos, the Galapagos islands, or other outdoor activities. Our agenda was quite different.  We are, in fact, interested in the volcanos and exploring the islands, but we knew if we moved here permanently we would have lots of free time to do all the exploring we wanted.
We went to the language school classes for a few weeks to get a crash-course in Spanish before beginning to look for property. Because Quito sits at such a high elevation, making even small physical exertions tiring, we decided to look first at several places with lower elevations.

Our recommended agent 

On a Sunday, we began our search with El Commercio, the local newspaper. I almost immediately found several properties I was interested in. One in particular (the one we ultimately bought), seemed particularly attractive, but my Spanish wasn’t good enough to call for more information. But we had planned for this hurdle. We brought with us all 1999 copies of IL dealing with Ecuador, and it was relatively easy to make contact with our realtor and guide, Gustavo Hernandez.  We found him to be as Gary Scott has described him, a true gentleman of the old school.

The weather in Quito seemed a bit cool to us, being from California. Typical mid-day temperatures were 65 to 75 degrees, with cooler mornings and evenings. We wanted something in a location a bit warmer, and at a slightly lower elevation, so we went down the mountain, just outside Quito, to Valle de los Chillos. It’s situated at 8,000 feet, and the the temperatures are generally about 5 degrees warmer. It looked like the perfect place for us.

Riverside living

We fell in love with our  place immediately. It’s a 2,000 square-foot house, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, a kitchen/dining room, an indoor BBQ room, a detached employee’s room with a bathroom, and a garage. Each room has a telephone jack, the tile work is amazing …and it even has a marble entryway. The construction is completely modern…in short, the place is luxurious. Six other houses in the development surround a cull-de-sac that leads to the San Pablo River. This means there’s virtually no traffic, the place is peaceful and quiet, and at night, we fall asleep to the sounds of the rushing river. 

The Valley is simply stunning. The view outside our window reminds me of Bavaria.  I’m told we can buy fresh milk in the morning, straight from the cow, from the farmer across the street. Despite this feeling of isolation, we have many modern conveniences, including cable TV, telephones, full utilities, and a nearby highway that leads to Quito. 

Free Spanish lessons 

At the local Sunday market you can buy fresh fruits from around the country. Our neighbors include another retired American couple from Chicago (who also bought through Gus), a retired couple from Chile, and three Ecuadorian families with a total of eight young children. We love having these kids around. They will be the best Spanish teachers we could ever have, and they’ll be a perfect introduction to Ecuadorian culture and society.

The price we paid is almost impossible to believe. 

When we arrived in Ecuador in early November, the local currency, the sucre, was valued at about 18,000 to the dollar. By early January, it had fallen to 25,000, where it was frozen after some political unrest which resulted in the president stepping down. This means that on the day we signed the contract to buy the house, it was listed at the equivalent of $28,000. But by the time construction was finished and it was time to pay, the price had fallen to $20,000 because of the sucre’s plunge! 

Our builder had made the mistake of pricing in the local currency, yet he seemed satisfied because his expenses were also in sucres. Everything in Quito dropped in price while we were there: a six-cent bus ride dropped to four cents by the end of January. 

What’s on offer now

Don’t get me wrong. Investing in Ecuador is not without risk. The country is certainly still in an economic crisis. Low-cost property is abundant in and around Quito, and as far as I can tell, we are at or very near the bottom. 

For example, our builder had higher offers for our house before we closed escrow, and I suspect that there will be some firming of real estate prices at this level.  But if you think you might be interested, go to Ecuador and take a look. I hear that our developer is beginning a new project just down the river. You can expect the same quality and, probably, similar prices.

I’m happy to note that the bugs stay out of Valle de los Chillos. I noticed only one mosquito during the entire three months, and houseflies were equally rare. So now my wife and I are winding up our affairs in the Silicon Valley, and heading for the Valle de los Chillos, where we can live like royalty for $500 per month—an amount we can easily earn as interest on the profits from selling our place in the States. IL

Contacts

• Vern Henshaw, e-mail: VernHenshaw@CS.com Real estate agents:
• Gustavo Hernandez, Veintimilla 635 Apt. 201-B, Quito; tel/fax (593-2) 568-676 
• Greta Weinzierl, tel. (593-2) 252-251 
• Margarita Parker, e-mail: rparker@gye.satnet.net Business and investment services: 
• Rolf Stern, BDO Stern International; tel. (593-2) 566-915, fax 504-477, 
e-mail: presi@mcstern.com.ec, website: www.bdo-ecuador.com
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