The $100,000 Luxury Beach House | Pathfinder International

Monday, November 09, 2009

Dear Reader,

In most countries, it’s hard to find a beach house for $100,000. I should know—I spend about 40% of my time scouting real estate near coasts.

But in Ecuador, if you’ve got $100,000 to spend on a beach home, you can get all the trimmings—luxury house, big beach lot, upscale community.

The cost of land here is low, construction quality is high, and construction costs are the lowest I’ve seen. This means that you can buy a big piece of beach and build your own high-end home here for less than $100,000.

Ecuador has 1,400 miles of coastline. The most under-developed section of coast lies between Atacames and San Vicente. Semi-dry forest covers the hills. The beaches extend ribbon-like along the seashore—pristine, empty, and beautiful.

Life here is simple, relaxed, and friendly. Locals are as likely to get around on horseback as by car. Swinging in hammocks is a popular way to pass the tropical afternoons. Beach towns Canoa and Jama are popular with surfers, who pick up the pace a little at weekends.

Four miles from Jama along a new road and just outside the village of El Matal, you’ll find Coco Beach Village. I know the developers, brothers Gary and Larry, behind this gated community. They didn’t like the way the local planning authority encouraged unsightly, ecologically unsound building practices. So, impressively, they spent the past three years getting the local government to change the rules.

Thanks to Gary’s and Larry’s determination, instead of a large group of small lots with busy streets…Coco Beach has a small group of large lots—just 66 subdivisions set amid 21 acres—with two quiet streets.

Instead of a big boardwalk separating the homes from the beach…you can step out your front door and wiggle your toes in the sand.

And because all the utilities are underground, the views over the virgin beach are uninterrupted.

Every building lot will have green areas, and a thousand coconut palms spread throughout the development.

Even in a high-end project like this, you can get a beach house for $100,000.

Lot sizes are big in Coco Beach, just under a quarter-acre for $50,000. Construction costs run from $35 to $60 a square foot; $40 per square foot builds to a high standard. This means that a $100,000 budget buys you a large lot in this gated community with a 1,250-square-foot high-quality beach home.

While today this stretch of coast is the least developed, this is set to change. Access is set to improve dramatically. This area will become the closest beach area to Quito and its new international airport. Construction on a new highway that is being built from Quito to Pedernales is well advanced. It should be completed by January 2010.

This has been the least accessible stretch of Ecuador’s coast. Work is also progressing on schedule on the bridge from Bahia De Caraquez to San Vicente. Today it is 45% complete. It will be the longest bridge in Ecuador. According to Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, this project is second only to Quito’s new airport in importance for Ecuador’s tourism industry.

Ecuador’s Aerogal airline recently announced that it will reintroduce 737 flights to San Vicente/Bahia with a service four days per week.

Put simply: this stretch of coast will become accessible. These projects are elements of the overall infrastructure plan, which is to connect Manta with Quito via Bahia with a 4-lane highway.

This is good news for readers of The Pathfinder Alert who have bought at Coco Beach. The project is progressing. The third house is under construction in addition to the first spec house. This stretch of coast will become more accessible and desirable. Today, you can buy a lot and build a house here for $100,000. This situation won’t last long.

Ronan McMahon