Neighborhood Apartments

One of the major tasks in moving to Cuenca is to find a place to live on a more permanent basis than a hotel or a short term lease that can be booked on line or with a real estate agent. 

Avenida Solano, our Champs Ellysees, on the South side of town

As we have mentioned before, finding an apartment for a long term is best done by going door to door and asking if something is available, following the newspaper advertisements, or just letting everyone you talk to know you are looking. Along these lines, we often get the question “Where is the best place in town to rent an apartment.” Once again, this is a purely subjective question and depends on your requirements. Do you want to live within easy walking distance of Centro or will taking a bus or taxi from a greater distance suffice? Do you want to live in a high rise building with a great view or would you prefer living on a lower, potentially less expensive, floor? How would you rate the security of the building you have chosen?  Do you want an outdoor terrace? How big an apartment in square meters (150 square meters is approximately 1500 square feet)? Would you possibly like to live in a house? On and on it goes and we can answer none of these questions for you. You have to come and look, ask, and do some real leg work.  Other than having a free standing home, most of the apartments you will probably find are in the newer, red brick buildings shown in these photos. All will have a doorman who is the security guard. All will have parking either underground or in front or back. And, many will have a reasonably sized gringo population. We are most familiar with the more residential parts of the city, the new part of town on the South side of the river and the West side of town, but there are many more apartment buildings scattered all over the city.

The River Tomebamba, separating old town from the newer South section

There are many apartments in the old city and we know a few couples who prefer to live there. But it was our choice to live across the river in the quieter, more residential area where there is a larger concentration of apartment buildings of our liking.

The above photo is of the area across the river from the old city and looking west. As you can see there are at least eight buildings visible in the photo. It is about a 15-25 minute walk to the center of town depending on how far west you are located. Shopping for food, appliances, electronics, and the Mall del Rio are here.

Here is a map showing in red the approximate area on the South side of town and across the river where many apartments are located. 

This photo is of the dozen or so apartment buildings in the Oro Verde Hotel area in the far west part of town on Avenida Ordonetz Lasso and is where many of the gringos have set up camp. It is about a 35-45 minute walk to Parque Calderon in the center of town.  There is plenty of shopping quite near plus the Coopera food coop and Sukasa, an upscale department store.

Above is a map showing in red the approximate vicinity of the Oro Verde Hotel and the nearby apartment areas on the West side of town.

We hope this very brief tour of some of the apartment areas of Cuenca will be of some help in orienting yourself when you visit and begin the process of apartment or house hunting. 

Buying and renovating property

We purchased a house in a suburb of Cuenca called Challuabamba where we did a large amount of renovation to bring it up to our North American standards.  It is now finished and is a gorgeous 5500 square foot home with an indoor swimming pool, sauna, steam room and many amenities that Americans are used to.  The house is now for sale as we have moved into the city proper for the convenience of the cultural events, our friends, and a closer school for Jonny. If you have interest in seeing the house when you visit Cuenca, take a look at a previous “buying property” posting.  Send us an email and we will be pleased to drive you out and show the house to you.

 But no matter what house or condo you buy there are a number of differences in the purchase procedure and the renovation process compared to the US. The best advice we can give is to use a lawyer to handle a purchase transaction from the very beginning. The purchase agreement and the actual sales agreement are miles apart in what should be looked into and verified. We have friends who bought property on the coast only to find that the people they bought from did not officially own the property.  Realtors here don’t do the same investigative work as realtors do in the States. This is the lawyer’s job. Also, renovation contracts with an architect/general contractor are much simpler in Ecuador and can leave out some very important issues if you don’t insist on them. Once again, we would suggest using a lawyer. Two rather obvious additions to a renovation contract are a specific end date for the project with a penalty clause if the contractor goes beyond that date. Contractors in Ecuador are notorious for not meeting your schedule and failing to finish on time. Sometimes they do not finish at all and just leave to go on to their next job. You should also make conditions for the inevitable changes in the original agreement and how to handle them.  You don’t want to be surprised by a list of additional costs that you have not agreed to in advance. The general contractor/architect will normally hire the workers and actually bring them to the house each day. We had about 40 different workers in our house over a six month period. If we did it again, we would ask the architect to provide a copy of each worker’s cedula (identity card) before allowing them in the house. And, it goes without saying, that either you or the architect should be in the house whenever work is being done so that it is done properly.  We are very pleased with the final result but it was a learning process all the way.  “Caveat Emptor” is the byword in Ecuador as it is everywhere in the world. 

Purchasing property in Cuenca

Most expats first come to Cuenca on a visit, then rent an apartment if they wish to stay, and ultimately, when apartment rental costs begin to eat into their savings, choose to purchase a condo or a home. Like everywhere, ownership is less expensive than renting especially as you will pay cash here and probably not have a mortgage. Loans are not easily available and when they are they carry a very high interest rate often as high as 12%. There is no such thing as MLS listings in Ecuador so each real estate agent has a group of homes which they will show you. Therefore, it pays to contact a few different realtors. They normally find homes or condos for sale by word of mouth, or just keep their eyes open for a moving truck, or knock on doors if there is a rumor floating around. It is a very informal system yet seems to work. One of the oddities you will encounter is that all appliances such as stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer go with the owner. So, you will almost never see these appliances remain with the sale of the house or condo. They will have to be purchased by you. Water heaters will stay and they are, once again, not like in the US.  Water heaters hang on the wall and, using a demand system, heat the water as you need it. They are more effective than the inefficient American, 80 gallon water heaters that waste so much energy.  Almost all water heaters and stoves in Ecuador are run by propane gas. You will have a gas cylinder near the heater or stove with a hose connecting the two. The cylinders cost approximately $55 and have a refill cost of $2. Depending on your needs, a cylinder will last from a week to a month. This represents a significant cost savings compared to energy costs in the US. You get refills by exchanging an empty tank for a full cylinder that is purchased from trucks that roam the neighborhood honking their horn to get your attention. Transferring money from the US for the purchase of a home or condo is not a problem as large sums can be easily sent by wire from a US bank to an Ecuadorian bank or to a local lawyer. The purchase process requires visits to a notary with formal papers to sign but it is quite a simple transaction compared to what you are used to in the States. It would be nice if Ecuador had a HUD statement that summarized all the costs and expenses but that may be years down the road. You just have to keep track of each procedure as it occurs.

 Our experience in purchasing a home was somewhat slower than we were accustomed to but our lawyer made the transaction as smooth as possible and walked us through each step one at a time. Utilities such as electric, water, telephone and internet are transferred to you but often keep the originators name. We have not looked into it yet but there are discounts as high as 50% for utilities for those over 65, however, this will not amount to significant savings because utility costs are quite low in Ecuador. All in all, purchasing our home here went quite well even though each step was a new and different experience for us. As we now live in the city, our home in the suburb of Challuabamba is up for sale. Let us know if you are interested and we will send you photos and particulars.

Real Estate

Just 15 minutes outside of Cuenca by car or taxi, is a suburb called Challuabamba.  Not many years ago, it was a small farming community but since it has recently been incorporated into the City of Cuenca, it is exploding with new home construction and all the necessary stores to support a growing community. Much of its charm comes from the fact that Challuabamba is located at a lower altitude where it gets less rain and is about 5 degrees warmer than nearby Cuenca.  When we first saw it, we fell in love with the town and bought a big home, a mansion by anyone’s terms, that is located on a mountainside with views that go on forever.

We did a huge amount of redecorating and remodeling to suit our North American tastes that included a glass roof over the indoor swimming pool, the construction of a large terrace with BBQ and fireplace, a modern master bathroom with Jacuzzi, hand crafted closets everywhere as there were no closets in the house at all, and a wonderful, large kitchen with granite counter tops. The house has six bedrooms and seven baths and will be sold unfurnished. Why, you might ask do we have such an incredible house up for sale? It is a long story, but briefly, we were foolish and took no safety precautions. We left the doors unlocked and the gate open. Plus, our lifestyle made us stand out as potentially rich gringos and the house was robbed. We have since installed a motion sensor security system and beefed up the entry gate security. But, our grandson was very frightened by the experience. The house was also far from the school he knew and wanted to attend. Though we still love this dream house, we have decided to place our grandsons’ needs first and have moved into an apartment in Cuenca.

As far as buying real estate in Ecuador, you will find that realtors do not operate like in the US. We believe there is no such thing as an official real estate license. All it seems to take is to print a card, open up a website and post houses for sale or rent. You seldom see a for sale sign in front of a home as people do not want to advertise that the house is empty. Commissions run from 3% if you are an Ecuadorian to 5% if you are a foreigner. The commission the realtor charges will be higher if the realtor does all the paper work for you. But, most often the realtor recommends a lawyer who does the title search, the notary requirements and the bill of sale. It is a much less formal system than in the US, with the clear title search probably being the most important aspect as you need to know if there are any hidden liens or title problems.

 So, in essence, often the realtor merely does the job of locating homes or condos for sale and then shows them to you. There is no such thing as MLS listings in Ecuador. Homes for sale are located by chance or from heresay.

The next step with a realtor, if you come to an agreement with a seller, is to go to a lawyer who will then do all the paper work.

But back to our house for sale in Challuabamba. Take a look at some of the photos. The tennis court in front of the house is still owned by the previous owner but can also be purchased. If you are interested, please be in touch with us and we will pass on whatever information you might need plus more photos than can be posted here. The purchase price for the house is $375,000 which for 7000 square feet under roof is quite a bargain even by Ecuadorian standards. If you come to visit, we would be pleased to show it to you. And, by purchasing directly from us, you would save a 5% commission.  If you like the house, we would put you in touch with a great lawyer who speaks English and is probably the best in town.