Chile Forum

Hi
I am looking for investment/retirement property in Villarica. Is Villarica becoming more expensive like Pucon or you can still find reasonable priced properties?
Any comments?

xxx

Villarrica is becoming more expensive, but not that much more. Setting aside the human issues with Pucon (shark infested real estate market) for the moment, I think the real difference however is that the weather on the Pucon side sucks most of the year, as the wind whips across the lake and is drawn up the mountain side. Pucon kind of also turns in to a ghost town in the winter. Villarrica is more of a real city.

I am from Canada. I am planning to retire in aprox. 8 years and move to Chile. I am considering buying house in Villarica and renting it out summer time. I suppose Villarica is becoming more touristy and
prices of properties will keep increasing so I can make some money before retiring there?
Is Villarica/Pucon area more touristy during summer than Vina del Mar?
I was in Chile before and I am still in touch with my Chilean friends. I know things are moving very slowly there and lot of property deals are done through connections. I hope to start looking now and hopefully in 2 years I will find some good deal.

This isn't likely to be what you want to hear Snowman. But it is a general rule , people seldom MAKE money on a second/vacation home. Seasonal rentals may HELP defray some of the costs of owning a second home that you enjoy.
(I'm a certified second home specialist with a certificate from Realtors)
Unless you are nearby to manage that property,it is even less likely to make you any money. This is not a Chilean principal it is universal. Yes there are exceptions in very hot markets.
That does not mean it isn't a good idea to buy now , during your earning years.instead of later if the market is strong.
Have you been to Villarica?
Vina is close to Santiago and enjoys a lot of tourism because it is an easy day trip or weekend it also enjoys a mild climate and has a longer season.It is also a metropolitan sophisticated city. It is also a jumping off point for cruise ships and is a popular destination for south American tourists. Villarica certainly thrives on tourism but they are just too different to compare.

xxx

That villarrica / Pucon market is tricky. If you buy something in Vina, even if it is garbage, you are likely guaranteed your return.

Up there around the Lake, you can be caught with your pants down very very easily with the buy, build, dump cycle of middle class from Santiago that goes on every year. Too many middle class, with questionable credit standing, buy there in the Spring for the summer. They keep there houses for a year or two, realize they can not really keep up the payments or really use it every year, then dump it back on the market. In the mean time, more houses have been built. So, now you are trying to sell an older and often lower quality home against newer houses. Most of the sales that go on there are not by local agents. They are done by Santiago real estate agents, in the Santiago papers. So, getting a feel for what is really going on in the market can be very misleading from one season to the next.

Yes, you can rent houses there at very high prices during the summer months, but don't count on that to increase.

My recommendation is to walk softly, rent something there, and see.

That is not even considering the fact that there is a lot of garbage construction up there (also some good stuff), that may or may not last 10 years to even have a chance to compete with the newer houses. I would say don't touch anything in the area that is more than 5 years old, because it is already about 50% through its life span. Remember, most of those houses where designed and built to be summer homes. They are not what you want to live in the winter, and because they where not really built to withstand the winter suffer from moisture / heating problems.

This is kind of off topic, but to put things in perspective a bit. A couple of months ago, we where shopping for house for a client to rent in the Villarrica area. One house a real estate agent showed us had been empty sufficiently long that it had several trees growing through the wall (the house had unsealed cracks in the walls everywhere). I'll try and find the photos. It is just too funny. The house otherwise needed to be completely torn down, and they where asking 140 million pesos for it. The view was not even all that good.

Thanks for good tips regarding Villarica real-estate. One of the reasons I want to live there is, I have Chilean friends and they can take care about property when I buy something. They are “ordinary” Chileans trying to survive day by day and don’t know much about real-estate.
Also I think Villarica is centrally located next to national parks (good hiking), Argentina, not far from nearby cities… I am not sure if I want to live there winter time, it rain too much.

So it seem that finding good deal on houses can be tricky due to cycles of buying and selling by Santiago Chileans? What about buying land (parcela) now and when I move there I can build something? Can you just keep vacant land? Do you need to build something after you buy it?
It will be nice to see photos of that “tree house” in Villarica.

You can just buy land and do nothing with it if you like. Some one might poach your trees or something if you are not having it watched. My recommendation is to move off just slightly from villarrica and Pucon to look for land. A few KM can bring the price down by half or more. Get away from the "Pucon" label, and you get better deals.