Chile Forum

Hello,

I am thinking about moving to Chile.

I would be grateful for advice where to move,
considering the following points (sorted from
most important to less important):
- Cost of living, the lower the better. I can spend on average
800USD per month.

- I want to live on the ocean or on the lake.

- Not humid climate, I hate sultry/muggy weather.

- At least 3 months of summer, i.e. sunny for the most of the day,
temperature of the water (in the ocean or lake) over 20 °C.

- Calm ocean (no tall waves), which allows swimming backstroke.

- Average Maximum Temperature in the summer below 90°F (32°C).

- Four seasons.

- Quiet environment, I need quiet place to work.

- Reliable Internet connection which allows Skype calls to North America.
I need Internet connection for most of the day.

- ATM machine.

- Not too much populated, the less people the better.

I will be grateful for your answers,
Robert

Hello Robert, and welcome. My wife and I went through a similar list last year and it culminated in a trip to Chile to see some of the areas we found interesting in our web search. Since you mention that cost of living is your prime concern, I will tell you flat out that because of its 19% VAT tax, Chile is not a "cheap" place to live. You can find many places in Chile where you could get by on $800 a month, but it will be a very different lifestyle than most expats imagine. The cost of living in or near any major city is 70%-100% of what it would cost to live in a U.S. city like Dallas or Denver.

I have only been in Chile for a short while, but I agree fully!
One of the things that has surprised me the most has been how expensive things are...
I think part of me had the crazy idea that I would live like a king on $1,000 USD a month. Oh boy, was I wrong?!

1. Lunch in Santiago: Average about $10
2. Dress shirt for work: $30, bought same exact shirt in US for $19 a couple of months ago
3. Dress shoes: $130
4. McDonalds combo: $7
5. I asked for cheese to be added to a Sandwhich, they CHARGED ME $2 DOLLARS. Not even in NY...

I generally don't pay a lot of attention to prices, but being here has forced me to do more of it and sometimes I cannot believe my eyes at how expensive life is here.

I would say that most things cost the same or 1.5 times or more the price you would pay in the US. From what I hear there are many people in Chile who make less than $1,000 a month, I can only imagine how they live...

Robert,

seems to me you want to look north. I am not sure of the exact temperatures of the seawater (google can probably help you out), but in general the water is cold all year round. there really aren't places with the kinds of services you want that are "sparsely populated"... what kind of a population are you thinking of. There are a number of smaller cities all the way up the coast, but I would not say they are sparsely populated. They do tend to have that small town feel, which I like, so for me they are ideal. If you are meaning that you want a place where there won't be heaps of people on the beach during summer, then you might want to consider vacationing outside of chile for the summer . Or, go to the beach before 10am. chileans love their beaches in the summer and they go at about 10 or 11 and stay until it is past dark.

fraggle092 wrote:And some of the things on your wish list are mutually exclusive, for example good internet in a sparsely populated area;

The area doesn't have to be sparsely populated, I only wanted to list my preferences.

GJJIM wrote:You can find many places in Chile where you could get by on $800 a month, but it will be a very different lifestyle than most expats imagine.

I don't need much, 1 bedroom apartment is enough for me.

robert_d wrote:Hello,

I am thinking about moving to Chile.

I would be grateful for advice where to move,
considering the following points (sorted from
most important to less important):
- Cost of living, the lower the better. I can spend on average
800USD per month.

- I want to live on the ocean or on the lake.

- Not humid climate, I hate sultry/muggy weather.

- At least 3 months of summer, i.e. sunny for the most of the day,
temperature of the water (in the ocean or lake) over 20 °C.

- Calm ocean (no tall waves), which allows swimming backstroke.

- Average Maximum Temperature in the summer below 90°F (32°C).

- Four seasons.

- Quiet environment, I need quiet place to work.

- Reliable Internet connection which allows Skype calls to North America.
I need Internet connection for most of the day.

- ATM machine.

- Not too much populated, the less people the better.

I will be grateful for your answers,
Robert

I have been to Chile twice now scouting out where I want to go. After checking out a few different areas there are only a couple of possibilities for me at the moment. Your criteria are not too different from my except for me proximity to the ocean is a must. I've had enough of being landlocked. The areas that have caught my attention are Viña del Mar and La Serena. Actually I'm more interested in Concón than Viña because it's less crowded and less touristy, but I think a more touristy area will be better for the business plan I'm working with now. The climate their appears to be pretty similar to my native Southern California so I wouldn't necessarily say it has four seasons but both times I've been there have been during Summer and it never got past the low-mid 80's. I wouldn't worry too much about modern conveniences. I've noticed things like internet and wireless seem to be about as available as in the US. I used Skype on my last trip to Chile without any problems from my hotel, and even managed to find an wifi after the earthquake while most of the city was without power so I could call home to keep them from worrying. (BTW: I just tried Google Voice and it runs in the iPhone from within a browser windows so it should work over 3G unlike Skype though I have yet to try that) Banks and ATM machines are abundant but you'll spend a small fortune in fees if you are drawing on a US account. Also, my bank hit me for a 3% conversion fee for each transaction that wasn't in USD. The only thing I think may give you a problem is your budget. I'm sure you can find a place where you can get by on $800 per month but I've noticed prices in Chile are pretty comparable to what they are in the US except maybe for real estate though that can be just as high in some areas too, so I don't think you're going to have a standard of living that's really any higher, if that's your motivation for wanting to move.

GJJIM wrote:Hello Robert, and welcome. My wife and I went through a similar list last year and it culminated in a trip to Chile to see some of the areas we found interesting in our web search. Since you mention that cost of living is your prime concern, I will tell you flat out that because of its 19% VAT tax, Chile is not a "cheap" place to live. You can find many places in Chile where you could get by on $800 a month, but it will be a very different lifestyle than most expats imagine. The cost of living in or near any major city is 70%-100% of what it would cost to live in a U.S. city like Dallas or Denver.

You are right. I have noticed real estate is considerably cheaper than comparable properties in the US but that's about it. It should also be noted that the VAT is built into the prices on the tax and not added at the register like state sales taxes are in here so you pay what's written. There are some things that do help though. For one you'll find public transit readily available just about everywhere so it's possible to get by without owning a car, though personally I couldn't imagine a life without one. There are subways in the major urban areas plus plenty of buses and taxis even in smaller towns.

At DanaNutter

Thank you for your answer, Dana.
All those cities that you mentioned don't qualify for me, because ocean is cold there.
As I wrote I don't need much, all I need is quiet place to work, on the water.

robert_d wrote:

GJJIM wrote:You can find many places in Chile where you could get by on $800 a month, but it will be a very different lifestyle than most expats imagine.

I don't need much, 1 bedroom apartment is enough for me.

I've been looking at a quite a few real estate listings around Viña, Concon, Valpo. If you are near the coast, a 1BR apartment could easily cost you as much $800 per month, and worse than that, these are tourist areas so during the summer they won't rent them out by the month because that's the high season when they can get $100-150 per night. And if you are looking to buy, I'd say shop around a lot! I've seen that real estate prices vary by a huge margin. Some sellers asking ridiculous prices while others are very reasonable, making it difficult to gauge what something might be worth.

I strongly suggest to anyone contemplating a move to Chile, or anywhere else for that matter, to visit and see for yourself what it's like firsthand. There are things about the culture you may not expect. Every place has its good and bad points. You just have to find a balance that works for you.

fraggle092 wrote:Robert, when you find your cheap paradise please let us know. I have never found all of the things you are looking for in one country, much less here.
And some of the things on your wish list are mutually exclusive, for example good internet in a sparsely populated area; in fact an area with all the things you are looking for will have plenty of people there already.

Yeah really let me know too. I investigated Costa Rica for a long time and finally gave up on the idea. Besides real estate getting too expensive, I also noticed that roads were horrible and modern conveniences were pretty scarce once you get away from the San Jose area though the country is very beautiful. After doing a lot of homework and was initiall interesting in Peru but everything started pointing me to more and more toward Chile, and now after a couple of visits I've satisfied myself that it's culturally compatible and has all the things I need. The only question left for me is how can a gringo with very limited Spanish skills make a living there? I'm still investigating those possibilities.