So, over the past few months, I started looking at homes to potentially relocate and retire to in a couple years. Coincidentally, I also have a family member traveling to Ecuador in a few weeks. I began searching YouTube for Ecuador travel videos, and the search results return videos that sell real estate, presumably to folks from foreign countries (i.e., expats) looking to relocate to Ecuador.
I came across several homes in Ecuador that are amazing values compared to U.S.-based homes. Of course, folks will say it's all about location. However, let's set location aside and focus just on the material and labor costs of these homes. Something doesn't add up. In the examples below, I'll compare a 971 sq. ft., 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath home on a 5,227 sq. ft. lot located in North Carolina for $338,000 to a modern home in Ecuador. Honestly, the NC home basically looks like a shed. If someone told me that they purchased it as a kit from the local hardware store, I'd believe them.
Now, compare it to the five bedroom, six bath, two-story, mostly brick and glass home located on a very nice lot in a beautiful setting with gorgeous views in Ecuador for $275,000. Each bedroom has a private bath and access to a patio or balcony. There is at least one brick fireplace, and a very nice outdoor cooking area. Granite countertops in the kitchen and what appears to be marble tile in the bathrooms. A Covered car port is integrated into the design. The property includes about a dozen various types of citrus trees and more banana trees with an irrigation system to keep them healthy. The list of features goes on.
Obviously, the biggest difference might be the cost of labor. But, how many man-hours of labor could it take to build the NC house-shed compared to the brick and glass home in Ecuador? Even if the labor is cheaper, I gotta believe there is a heck of a lot more hours of labor and craftsmanship required to build the Ecuador home to balance out the cost difference. The cost of materials used to build the house in Ecuador has to dwarf the cost to build the house-shed in NC.
Furthermore, Ecuador's official currency is the U.S. dollar, for whatever that is worth.
Again, just comparing the cost to build these two homes and ignoring the location, can someone explain to me what the heck is going on with home prices in the U.S.? I suspect there is something rotten going on in our economy, and it's probably connected to all the other BS. There is no shortage of (or doesn't need to be) oil, gas, chicken, beef, steel, lumber, electricity, etc., yet these necessities are becoming less and less affordable for the average hard-working American. Now, you can lump basic housing into the mix of unaffordable items. Something tells me there are folks who don't want us to have these things, and so they are artificially being priced out of the reach of most Americans. By now, we've all probably heard the saying "you will own nothing and be happy." I think the way this is being accomplished right under our noses is by making it nearly impossible for anyone to own anything because of cost.
I'm sure some Campfire Capitalists will come along shortly to tell me that I'm just a broke-dick moron who is too dumb to understand economics and too lazy to afford things. That may or may not be the case. Regardless, if this keeps up, we are lost....
Please explain this to me in a way that passes the laugh test.
