Chile Forum

Hey everyone,

I have been reading and responding here for a month or 2 now so I am still fairly new. My Chilean wife and I have been trying to find some property to build our dream home on. The trick is we are trying to do it from Canada, her father is eager to help but I am afraid he would be influenced by my mother-in-law, who thinks as you would expect from a typical Chilean.

You know what I am talking about; the cheapest one is always the best one... even if you have to buy 10 of them over the life span of the more expensive one. And the plumber is also an excellent electrician. So, as much as I appreciate there eagerness to help, I am at the same time reluctant to put them in a decision making position.

I have been looking at the different real estate websites in Chile to try and get an idea of what is available out there. Nothing is really catching my eye… and what are on there are usually large lots in an “Acreage Community”, not what we are interested in. I think we will have to just find the property by chance on one of our trips down there.

But enough about that let me get down to what information I am trying to gather from this post. Basically, as the title says, we are looking for land north of Puerto Montt, I have been reading about Valdivia and it looks like a great area. We would like something within an hours drive of a major centre, be it Valdivia, Osorno, Temuco, just so that we have access to an actual supermarket and can get the things we need to live. Something with a view, relatively close to the water, and greater than 2 ha… you know basically what every gringo wants. My father in law has suggested Frutillar, but from looking at the map, and I like the look of Corral, Niebla, or even something like Bahia Mansa.

Does anyone have any idea of what we could expect to spend in this area? We haven’t figured out our budget yet, but having an idea of prices would sure help.

Jason Roesler

I would say, depending on how big you want to go and how urban, expect to pay anywhere from 3 million per hectare up to about 40 million per hectare. Again, depends on so many factors.

Most important one I would say is DO NOT buy anything without visiting. Go look. Even if you have to fork out a few more thousand dollars for an extra trip down, in the long-run it will save you money.

Start with the community, and work your way towards a property. Your planning to really live on it for many years to come, so take your time and look around. I would recommend perhaps renting for a bit in an area you like. Beyond the normal reasons for doing that, you will make friends in the area and start hearing about the deals. This too will save you money, and help protect you from the biggest mistake of all. Buying land (no matter how great) somewhere you don't want to live.

The good news, if I am reading your previous post right, is that you already know that you want to look for something kind of against the grain of what Chileans would find desirable. So, that right there will often eliminate about 50% or more of the people competing for the same property.

It is kind of unique cultural phenomena about Chile and real estate. You often don't get the complaints from the locals about all the foreigners buying up their land like they do in Central America. Most of the time a Chilean's idea of what is good property and what a Gringo's idea of what is good property, are almost complete opposites.

It is kind of unique cultural phenomena about Chile and real estate. You often don't get the complaints from the locals about all the foreigners buying up their land like they do in Central America. Most of the time a Chilean's idea of what is good property and what a Gringo's idea of what is good property, are almost complete opposites.

Charles, can you expand on that a bit? How are they different? (If I was to infer the answer to this from the original poster, I missed it! )