Our Journey - Buying a House in Ecuador: Required Paperwork, Visa Applications, and Legal Documentation

We didn't follow the usual advice for buying a retirement home in another country. Most experts say you should rent a place and live there for 3 to 4 months first. Instead, we did lots of research online. We talked about our thought process here.

Dana and Kirsi went to Cotacachi, Ecuador, last summer. They looked at many homes, but nothing was right. The houses didn't match what they wanted for location, size, or price. We then found Patrice through a Facebook group. She was selling some land that looked perfect. We agreed on a price and made payments all year long.

That's how we bought our retirement property in Ecuador without ever seeing it in person. But we still needed to handle all the official government paperwork. So they took care of that this summer.

We've lived in enough countries now, and they all have their bureaucratic challenges when it comes to paperwork. Ecuador is no different, but not the worst we've seen.

Ecuador Visa

We thought we had enough to start the visa process. We thought that we had paid enough for the property to get an Investor Visa. However, Ecuador considers the value of the property and not the price we paid. So, the visa process will have to wait.

We're using a lawyer that Patrice recommended. Like all the Ecuadorians that we met, we found him to be trustworthy, kind, and willing to help.