Thanks. I am yet to visit Loja. I hope to explore more of the south of the country soon.

Peru is better positioned in most areas than Ecuador, but for foreigners it’s a more difficult place to buy and become part of the community.

Thanks. Yeah, it’s a good car. My preference would have been for one of the tiny old school Vitara 4x4s because they’re better off road and cheaper, but this model is a good compromise between usability off road and comfort for the family.

Yes, your area is lower cost, for many reasons. When you are near the international airport there is price pressure on all types of agricultural land because international investors are buying up properties that have potential for profitable export businesses. I just made a second video about Hacienda el Molino in San Jose de Minas. The owner wants to sell his 20 hectares for 1.5 million. If it were raw land or located in a different area that price would be absurd. Having seen his avocado orchards, his home, his location… yeah, I would buy it in an instant if I could. Of course I’d negotiate with the hope to get it down to 1 million, but it really is probably worth more than the 1.5 million asking price. This is one of the realities of real estate in Ecuador. Extreme diversity in all things, including land value. One place a hectare is $1000. Another it’s 1 million. 10 years ago I bought 92 hectares for 15k. That’s $165 per hectare. In just sitting on that property and waiting. It’s already increased to an 80k valuation by the municipality. Meanwhile I paid the same price, 15k for 416 meter on the Ruta del Sol in Canoa.

@@FallofftheMap I would imagine so. While being way the heck out here might have drawbacks, the land prices are so much more accessible! Is the land there fertile? What kind of soil are you working with?

This area sells itself as the “jardín frutal de Ecuador.” Rich volcanic soils.

@@FallofftheMap Well dang, we're jealous. Might be worth the price, then - that's for sure.

All things being equal, I would prefer to be down south and if necessary spend a few years building up the soil. However, family ties keep me in the Quito area and I’ve learned to adapt.

I think it depends on where you’re talking about. The internet didn’t cause inflation but it may be causing more extreme price fluctuations because it’s so easy to share and get information quickly now. Here in Ecuador many real estate transactions are still old school, just a sign and a contact number painted on a wall. No internet. No real estate agent. Often not even a sign, just word of mouth in the community… so and so wants to sell their land…

Don’t be jealous. Become a part of this movement back to the land.

@@FallofftheMap I can't leave my old parents. They can't survive without me. Unfortunately.

@@FallofftheMap Yes sever the parasitical capitalist system at its root. As for me I'm planning to start with hydroponics and fish farming.

Yes, I can buy land much cheaper in less ideal climates and areas. I bought 225 acres for 15k in an extremely remote area and I’m in the process of buying 35 acres for 22k in the Amazon. It’s all about location.

Yes, this is definitely an expensive area. I will have some videos coming soon about buying in a low cost part of the Amazon watershed.

@@FallofftheMap I prefer mountains to the jungle. Currently I wander too much to have a homestead but that could change.

Yes, I can buy a larger bag of corn for $5. It’s more about building relationships and being good neighbors. I pay generously for the corn and they insist on giving me a tour of their home and a bag of avocados. I’ve done similar things with my neighbors below me and now they insist on watering my plants and keeping an eye on my farm on the days I’m away.

I’m in Pichincha too. Most expat move to the city of Cuenca in the Azuay province which is probably a better area for city living.

Yes and no. The term “organic” is a lot more flexible here than in the U.S. Most organic products are organicish but not truly organic. There is a market, but it’s not lucrative. Avocado sell for 3 to 5 for $1 depending on the season, size, and quality. Organic avocados might sell for 50 cents a piece. It’s more profitable to export avocados than to sell them locally. On a side note, avocados are one of the least important crops to buy organic. Non organic avocados have extremely low levels of pesticide and herbicide contamination. Crops like nectarines and strawberries are at the other end of the spectrum, very important to buy organic because of the high levels of contamination from pesticides and d herbicides. Some plants absorb contaminants, others do not.

@@FallofftheMap wow, that’s not very much capital 💰 😬

There are a few like that in the area that I’ve seen on FB Marketplace over the past few months. Some were suspiciously cheap (10k to 15k) so I chatted with the sellers to find out why. Sometimes it’s a serious problem with the property title. Other times it’s a title called aciones y derechos. This property title is workable and legal, but it typically means the land has been subdivided smaller than it should have been or it’s agricultural land being used residentially. You can’t get a bank loan on such properties, so they sell for less, but they are still worth investing in. At the 20k to 30k range you can definitely buy a small house with “escrituras públicas” which is the best property title, especially if you’re looking for a smaller property. Because this is avocado growing land, most of the value is in the land so smaller lots 1/2 an acre or less (1/4 hectare) are cheap provided they are a few minutes outside of town (outside of the path of development for condos and retirement homes). I would strongly recommend in spending at least a year renting in the area before considering buying. I rented two side by side apartments in the nearby town of Puéllaro (my family was too big to fit in one) for $125 a month each. We spent a year scouting out the area, building relationships with the community, and learning what the real prices for land were rather than the advertised prices. It allowed us to see the climate in all seasons and determine that this area was special and had great neighbors and a strong sense of community. I can travel 20 minutes from here and find myself in another town that I would not choose to live in because the people are a bit difficult and treat each other and outsiders badly, or I can travel 20 minutes in the other direction and be in a fantastic community with a significantly warmer climate, but a real estate cost that is at least twice as high. In all ways, Ecuador is extremely diverse, so living in the community you are interested in and taking the time to explore all of the surrounding communities is essential or you can easily end up in a place with bad neighbors, or a climate that isn’t ideal, or some weird problems that you would never imagine without first becoming a trusted member of the community. In this area water rights are one of the big issues that determine land value. Having safe drinking water matters, but what increases land value more is irrigation water (the irrigation water is actually more expensive than the chlorinated drinking water). I don’t have irrigation water yet, but I’ve enrolled in a project to bring it to my farm. In the past I didn’t need it because in my particular microclimate I got enough rain, but this El Niño year had been extremely dry and I’m worried that without irrigation water I might struggle to keep my trees healthy in the future. Smaller properties can almost certainly get away with just using rain and a few rain barrels where I am, but this area is all microclimates. I can walk from lush forests to deserts and cactus covered canyons where access to water is critically important.

@@FallofftheMapVery informative, I first thought that the area you live in is in the south of Ecuador, I am interested in Vilcabamba as far as I seen the area online. Seems to be a little bit more expensive but not sure if there might still be cheaper land were they allow to build something (cheap) for example. Great idea to first rent, hopefully it's easy to find something that is cheap there. Thank you for taking the effort to write it all down!

@@MarVlas yeah, expats have driven up the prices around Vilcabamba. It’s a tough area to find anything reasonable and most of the “deals” that are left have problems with road or water access, or they’re too steep, in my opinion. Personally, I prefer areas where there are few other gringos. I think, over time gringo bubbles create problems, cause higher prices, and attract people that have ideas of exploiting the gringos in one way or another.

@@FallofftheMapYes I don't like to have many gringos (or even other people to be honest) around me. Are there areas in Ecuador that you know of that might be cheap and maybe still pretty safe?

@MarVlas absolutely. I consider my area, along the Ruta Escondida, to be safe. Some parts of the Ruta Escondida are very expensive, other areas, especially further out from Quito and further from the paved road are going to be cheaper.

Ecuador is on the USD, FYI

@JenTrax76 ok, thanks. The land looks really nice but I would have expected much cheaper.

There are much cheaper parts of Ecuador. This is definitely an expensive area but for good reason. Avocado orchards are gold.