Four things to be cautious of if buying real estate in Ecuador

Things To Be Aware Of in purchasing real estate in Ecuador

Sara Chaca/gringotree.com

Buying a property in Ecuador, if you are really in love with one, can in fact be a WONDERFUL idea, so long as you are aware of the possible pitfalls.

Firstly, unlike in places such as the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, title insurance is not a common protection mechanism in Ecuador. As a result, any prudent person’s “numero uno” concern is to ensure the safety of making such a high level purchase.
A second thing to be aware of, is whether the Notary and/or Municipality who last effected any documentary change to the property with respect to the current owner, might have made a problematic error in the property recording(s). This might invalidate the ability to ensure a smooth transfer of the property (or even any transfer of the property at all).
A third issue that is a common occurrence, is that the current owner’s relatives or divorcing/ex-spouse might have something to say about the sale of the property, if or when they might learn of it. This could be in the case that the current owner might still owe some duty of equity or care to or for their benefit(s) with respect to the property (this in my experience, is more common with Ecuador homes for sale by owner).

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A fourth possibility (among other hypotheticals beyond just these four mentioned within this paragraph), is that you might happen to see a sign for Ecuador properties for sale, boasting offers such as “Land for Sale in Ecuador”, “Farms for Sale in Ecuador”, or perhaps “Beach Houses for Sale in Ecuador”. Such an innocent enough looking sign, might in the end just be a fraud to lure in unsuspecting Expats to lay down their funds in the heat of their “excitement to buy something”. That is to say, one person or group may be pretending to own various parcels of property or groupings of homes in Ecuador, by presenting false documents, so as to try to evidence legitimacy to an unsuspecting Expat, and then issuing the Expat “purchaser” a fake Deed (or even no Deed at all). Read Article