Sunday, March 06, 2011
Costa de Oro is a quiet, residential neighborhood
Dear Reader,
In my alert yesterday, I wrote about beachfront homes in the Salinas area, on Ecuador's south Pacific coast. This time, I'm looking at a development in Salinas itself, located in a quiet neighborhood that's a complete contrast to the city's busy boardwalk. That neighborhood is Costa de Oro (the Gold Coast), between Salinas and a small town called La Libertad.
La Libertad is home to a boardwalk, a yacht club, a shopping mall and a large supermarket. The boardwalk epitomizes the rise of La Libertad. Before, it was dingy and run-down. Today, it's newly-paved, with little kiosks selling food and drinks. On the day I visited, two girls in tiny bikinis posed for photos on the boardwalk, shooting an ad campaign for a popular line of swimwear.
Yet La Libertad retains a traditional neighborhood feel. The main shopping street is full of small stores. A large market covers several blocks. Here, you can buy fish and seafood, caught locally, at bargain prices. You'll rarely pay more than $2.50 a pound for mahi-mahi...and large stone crab claws are $5 a pound. The farmer's market offers a kaleidoscopic display of fruit and vegetables, stacked neatly. You can buy four papayas for $1...vine-ripened tomatoes for 30 cents a pound...or a whole head of broccoli for 25 cents. You'll buy bread at a local bakery, and meat from a small butcher. You'll eat fresh, wholesome food...and at the same time you'll cut your monthly grocery bill significantly.
If you want the convenience of supermarket shopping, don't worry. There's one close by, along with a modern shopping mall.
When you want to eat out, Salinas offers fine dining ...you can try out the local eateries in La Libertad...and just a twenty-minute drive away, the fishing village of San Pablo has a beach lined with rustic restaurants. San Pablo is setting itself up as the place to come for lunch or dinner, specializing in seafood and regional dishes (including a sauce made from peanuts and plantains). A typical seafood lunch for two will set you back less than $10. It's hard to beat the price...or the ambience, for that matter. There's something about a simple beachside lunch, in the shade of a thatched roof, with a soft ocean breeze, and good company...
Some of Ecuador's nicest beaches are a short drive from La Libertad. This coastline reveals an endless carpet of cream-colored sand, and sparkling waves. You'll enjoy spending your free time exploring hidden coves and tiny bays, and deciding which is your favorite beach...
You can enjoy chic city amenities in Salinas...including two yacht clubs
I was in La Libertad to see progress at a beachfront development called Spondylus II. Amy Pinoargote, our local broker contact, is one of the developers of this complex. We first told you about this project back in August 2008. Then, it was a set of architect's blueprints. Today, the first tower in this two-tower complex is complete, and the second is under construction. The first tower is ten-story, while the second has twelve.
The complex sits alongside a nice beach, with wide ocean views. The surrounding neighborhood is mostly low-level, with single family homes. Some high-rises cluster around the yacht club to the right of the complex. The complex itself centers on a large swimming pool, with a Jacuzzi to one side.
The good finish quality includes hardwood doors, granite counter tops and porcelain floor tiles. Only a couple of units remain in the first tower. One of those is a sixth-floor unit, covering 120 square meters (1291 square feet). You can move in straight away. It's priced at $124,740.
If you're happy to wait, units in the second tower start from $69,730, with payments spread over the construction period.
Two business partners who bought a two-bed unit in the first tower planned on using it for maybe 3 months a year. The rest of the time, they figured they'd rent. They weren't sure what kind of demand they'd get. They were in for a surprise.
They enlisted Amy's help, and furnished their two-bed unit using locally-sourced furniture...much of it hardwood, and hand-made...and stainless steel appliances, for a total of $10,000. Then Amy listed the unit for them. Two days later, it rented to an Ecuadorian couple...for three months, at $800 a month. In fact, she turned potential renters away.
The unit rented shortly afterwards for another month, to a foreign couple.
Despite the fact that a third of Spondylus owners are expats who only use their condos part of the year, none of the others want to rent their units out when they are away. Either do the Ecuadorian owners. And there's not much in the way of competition for new, nicely furnished two-bed units in this neighborhood.
So, your Spondylus condo could provide some handy rental income when you're not there...
Contact Amy here to find out more about Spondylus II. If you're planning a trip to Ecuador, she can arrange a viewing of available units in the complex, too.
Margaret Summerfield
P.S. If you like the sound of La Libertad and the Salinas area, but Spondylus isn't what you're looking for...let Amy know what you are looking for in this form. Amy runs private real estate tours, and can help you find your dream beach home here...for less than you thought possible.
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