Cuenca Rentals Update: June 2023 with Esteban Mendieta

Rentals in Cuenca, Ecuador – Update June 2023

Jason    00:03

Welcome to our Cuenca Rentals update for June 2023. I’m Jason and I’m here with Esteban Mentieta, our rental specialists. And in this video we’re going to share with you some of our recent properties that we rented, some key rental statistics and some lessons that you can learn from.

Jason    00:18

Hola where YapaTree properties, Cuenca’s go to destination for expat rentals and one of the reasons that we have this reputation is because of this young man right here Esteban. Esteban runs our rental department and he’s prepared this rental update for you, Esteban welcome.

Esteban    00:34

Hi everyone. It’s great to be here and I’m so excited to share some of our renting insights with you.

Jason    00:41

Awesome. Thanks so much for your time, Esteban. I know that you’re super busy and I know that you had a very busy last month. I think you rented 6 or 7 properties.

Esteban    00:48

We actually rented 8.

Jason    00:50

Wow, you’re an absolute machine, Esteban. I know how much effort goes into just one closed rental, and so eight in one month is a lot of work. So let’s dig into some of the high level statistics for the month. So you rented 8 properties. Can you give us a little bit of a breakdown in terms of houses verse apartments?

Esteban    01:09

Yeah, we actually rented in eight apartments. There were no houses that we rented. Not a single one.

Jason    01:18

Really that’s pretty interesting. Why is that? Like what do you put that down to? A houses just becoming very difficult to find? Or has the demand for houses decreased?

Esteban    01:28

Well, there are some points. The first one is the houses are usually more for families and currently our tenants are mostly couples.

Jason    01:37

Okay okay.

Esteban    01:38

So there’s another issue. Another reason for that? Security reasons. With a 24 security condo, it’s much more appealing than that. You know, just a house.

Jason    01:49

So the general perception is that condos are more secure.

Esteban    01:53

Yeah, definitely.

Jason    01:55

Because of the security or?

Esteban    01:57

24 security, the guards and all that 24 hours. Yeah, for a house you will need an urbanization, and it’s it’s difficult to find it here. Apartments are usually modern. Much more modern than houses with the same price, you know. So for you can find a modern apartment in 700 but for a modern house it will be 900 up to 1000.

Jason    02:23

Ok, so it comes down to budget as well. If you want something new for the same budget, you’re going to find an apartment as opposed to a house. Is that because of the green area that comes with the houses or all the?

Esteban    02:33

Size. Also the size. You know, sometimes expats prefer a house, but it’s a single level and we have no single levels house here. It’s just two, three stories.

Jason    02:44

Yeah, awesome. Thanks for the insights. And what was the monthly rental range for these eight properties?

Esteban    02:53

So we have an average of six thirty, probably six fifty.

Jason    02:59

The average monthly rent.

Esteban    03:00

Yeah, yeah. We have the least expensive was four thirty. And then the most expensive was twelve hundred fifty.

Jason    03:10

Ok.

Esteban    03:11

It was a luxury property.

Jason    03:12

Yeah and that is quite a range. And have you noticed any general pricing trends over the past month?

Esteban    03:20

Yeah, we had a big increase of four months ago and now the the current trend…

Jason    03:27

Like across the market?

Esteban    03:28

Yeah yeah. Across the market. And now it’s, it’s been stabilized a little bit. And probably will keep increasing a little bit more and the following two months, but not so much.

Jason    03:40

So you’re saying there’s a lot of demand there for renters wanting apartments, which is likely to continue the prices?

Esteban    03:47

A little bit, a little bit, but not not as you know, comparing to four months ago, for instance.

Jason    03:52

And so that was compared to last month. If we’re comparing it to let’s say, a year ago for the guys that you know aren’t looking to rent every month, for example, there’s a lot of people that maybe only knew the market a year ago how? How does a market today compared to what it was a year ago for rentals?

Esteban    04:09

I would say you will find same property with an increase of two hundred. Two hundred per month yeah.

Jason    04:17

Sure so that is quite a bit of movement and in a short period of time. So are there any comments on the locations that you’ve noticed that have probably increased more than other locations?

Esteban    04:30

Ok, so we have a very common. Area here there’s El Vergel area. The neighborhood that’s still the most sought after area here in Cuenca due to the close proximity to el Centro. It’s very tranquil, but there is no, almost no apartments that are available.

Jason    04:51

So the availability is just very limited in that area because of the popularity and I’m assuming the prices are also…

Esteban    04:58

Also, popularity, but it’s more residential area, so you see more houses and not so many buildings, so that’s why people.

Jason    05:05

There’s no high rises for example.

Esteban    05:06

Yeah, no, no, no. Small buildings. So that’s why people have started looking around the el Vergel area. You have the stadium, Solano avenue. Those are really nice areas too. So that’s why they’re increasing in popularity as well.

Jason    05:19

Awesome so that El Vergel area is very popular. We know that any other areas that you’ve seen have started to increase in popularity?

Esteban    05:27

Yeah, Zona Rosa area, due to the tram, the tram station. So now they’re building more apartments in the area. We have new developments coming and yeah, it’s been increasing.

Jason    05:43

Sure what about on the, if you go a little bit further out, so you know like the Gringolandia area, that type of area, how is that looking?

Esteban    05:49

At the moment, so Gringolandia and Puertas del Sol. They’re also good locations for expats, but now they tend to prefer the area there is in between. Where there is the Tomebamba River, there is an avenue called Tres de Noviembre Avenue which is more… it’s more calm, so they prefer that area too.

Jason    06:10

So around Tres de Noviembre

Esteban    06:13

Yeah, by the river, by the banks of the river.

Jason    06:15

Sure, sure. That makes sense, yeah.

Jason    06:17

That’s super helpful from a from a high level. Now let’s move on to some specific rental case studies from the properties that you’ve rented. So the first property what what do we have there?

Esteban    06:29

So the first one, it was a ground floor unit. The one was for four thirty we rented four thirty. And it has a retractable roof and it was quite modern, so for a good price.

Jason    06:44

How many bedrooms and where was it?

Esteban    06:46

So that was near the Yanucay River. It’s not so close to the center, but still a good location and it was a two-bedroom unit.

Jason    06:55

Awesome, I love that area. I mean, obviously that’s kind of where we live now as well, So that’s for a very good reason. But what were the some of the key reasons that the tenant chose this particular apartment? You mentioned a retractable roof. How does that work? Is that like a mini garden type setup that it allows?

Esteban    07:12

Exactly you have an extra living space there that allows you to put some green stuff there, you know. Also there’s…

Jason    07:19

Lots of sun coming in?

Esteban    07:21

Exactly and you know, for a ground floor unit, usually there tend to be more darn you know, so then you have an extraairy and light..

Jason    07:31

And you mentioned before that the ground floor for these tenants, it was a bit of a selling point for them. Is that mobility? What’s the, what’s the selling point there?

Esteban    07:39

So this tenants in particular, they love to walk a lot. And so, and they they are in a lot of movement. They walk everywhere for everything that they need. So having the first apartment and ground floor unit, it was just straight, you know straight to the apartment.

Jason    07:55

Awesome awesome. Really good. So let’s move on to property number two.

Esteban    08:00

So we have a modern unit for six fifty. The location was a little bit tricky because it was not really popular, but the apartment itself was really nice and the furnishing.

Jason    08:13

So where was the location in general?

Esteban    08:16

So it faces the Yanuncay River as well. But it was in sort of a hidden neighborhood.

Jason    08:25

Okay so it was a little bit more difficult to find?

Esteban    08:28

Yeah, it was more difficult to find only because there’s just a small neighborhood in a new development.

Jason    08:35

And I’m assuming like there was transport around there, but maybe not as easy as some other locations? Or why wasn’t the location ideal?

Esteban    08:41

Exactly the transportation is it wasn’t that that easy. And also the road, it wasn’t paved, you know the road is not paved yet. So it’s a little bit tricky, but because of the of the apartment itself and the furniture and all that.

Jason    09:00

So the apartment was very nice and the furniture, let’s let’s dig into that tiny bit because I personally have noticed a little bit of a trend of people being a little bit more, let’s say picky when it comes to the title of furniture that that is in the apartments. I mean this is a good example. This is one of the apartments that we are renting at the moment and you can see the furniture in this, it’s a brand new apartment. And so it has furniture that matches that sort of modern decor, that modern sort of look and a lot of our clients are becoming a little bit more aware and acute around those types of requirements. So in terms of this apartment that that you rented, was that the same story, like how would you rate the quality of the furnishings and why would they appeal to these tenants?

Esteban    09:42

So the apartment was modern, almost brand new, it only has two years, probably one year, and the furniture was also brand new and with an interior design for the apartment. So it has a mid century kind of style. Which is similar to this one. You know when you have a all white apartment with a mid century furnishing modern, it’s very appealing. A lot of light and a lot of the spaces are well designed. So it’s it just makes sense.

Jason    10:12

That’s very cool. I like that a lot. And so the the furniture definitely matched their expectations and the price they’re willing to pay. In terms of the communication with this particular property. Were there any issues there?

Esteban    10:28

No, not really. I mean it, it was actually a plus that we had the landlord. She was, she’s living in the States. Currently she’s from here, but she lives in the States. So the communication was very, very easy with the tenant and..

Jason    10:44

So she obviously spoke English.

Esteban    10:45

Yeah.

Jason    10:46

OK so that’s that’s fantastic. But just the fact that she was in the states. That’s an interesting scenario that I think I’d like to walk the the viewers through a little bit. So obviously this particular person, they were in the States and they decided that they wanted to rent the property before they’d seen it, right? Is that the idea? So they were trying to rent it remotely?

Esteban    11:06

Sometimes, yes, sometimes they try to rent it remotely and if you have the the the landlord in the states you know payments, it’s just much more easier.

Esteban    11:16

Sure so they can transfer from one US bank account to another?

Esteban    11:20

Another one, yes. And also the monthly payments it would be. You know, it takes some time for them to get a bank account here and all that.

Jason    11:28

So, so it’s nice and easy and convenient. From a paperwork, from a lease agreement point of view, that’s the biggest question that comes up in my mind around this. So what do we generally recommend when we have someone that is let’s say they’re in the US they they see a property on our website that they really like it. We have a video maybe so they can actually get a really good overview of what the apartment itself looks like. But still obviously it’s going to be very difficult for them to properly understand the neighborhood and a lot of other details, you know, before they actually come here and and and make that sort of commitment. So in terms of what we require generally in this scenario, can you just run through that?

Esteban    12:07

So that’s the only thing that it’s a little bit tricky, the paperwork because we always work under the terms in which you have to notarize the contract. So it’s a valid contract and for that both parties have to be in the notary and do the signatures. So we recommend to have a power of attorney. If you don’t have someone here to have that, you will have to send it, you know, from the United States and it will take some time and money, but that’s the way we work.

Jason    12:38

So it would be like a limited power of attorney, right. So would they give that power of attorney to to us or will they give it to someone else here or how does that work?

Esteban    12:47

Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes they they give it to us. Or if they have some relative or some good friend here, they also can, you know, send it to them and.

Jason    12:57

Awesome.

Esteban    12:57

It would work.

Jason    12:58

Awesome very helpful. Thank you. Thanks for the insight. Let’s move on to the third property.

Esteban    13:04

Absolutely. So the last case that we have, it’s a luxury property. A 2 bedroom apartment in an upscale building in Avenue Solano. It was rented for twelve hundred & fifty. So it it took us a while to find the right property for these tenants because they were mostly interesting in luxury properties, you know.

Jason    13:27

So we do obviously have luxury rentals, but it’s not something that we exclusively specialize in. Would you say like 25 % of our properties are luxury or what sort of figure would you give to that?

Esteban    13:39

Yeah, probably twenty, twenty, twenty five and I think it’s mostly because sometimes there are good properties, but they tend to be overpriced sometimes, so we just try to you know.

Jason    13:51

The luxury market can be trickier.

Esteban    13:53

Can be tricky. Yeah exactly can be tricky. So we when we have a luxury property it’s because it’s worth it.

Jason    13:59

You know, and so these guys, they were only interested in a luxury property and did they see any other properties or why were they particularly interested in in this one? What sold them on this one?

Esteban    14:10

Yeah, so we had a stunning property, but they didn’t accept pets, they didn’t allow it and they have that was the deal breaker for them. So of course we run into this other property and the landlords they were willing to negotiate. Not only the the pet with a with a pet deposit of course, but also the price.

Jason    14:29

OK great so the landlord has really come to the party. That’s fantastic. That doesn’t always happen. Especially when it comes to pets. And even with a pet deposit, some landlords will just flat out deny, especially in some of the newer apartments like this one for this is brand new furniture. So as a landlord, they’re just trying to protect their investment and they probably just don’t want dogs tearing stuff up, even with an additional deposit, because sometimes the cost of the furniture and all that sort of stuff can actually exceed that deposit, even the second deposit. So it is an issue that I know expats very feel very strongly about having their pets. But almost equally on the other side, the landlords can be almost unwilling to negotiate.

Esteban    15:15

Yeah, sure.

Jason    15:16

Awesome so that was the the last property insight that we had. Any other comments from last month’s rentals you’d like to share?

Esteban    15:24

Yeah, there are a few things. For instance, the market, the rental marketin Cuenca. Tt has a high competition and finding apartments will be really, really hard. So they start looking prior to the lease ends.

Jason    15:41

So they start looking before their current lease has expired, and obviously they’re trying to do that to jump the gun a little bit, make sure that they don’t miss out, but what are the main considerations that those tenants would need to look at?

Esteban    15:55

Yeah, so the first thing is landlords, usually they try to find a tenant right away. So they don’t wanna wait one or two months to get the tenant. So sometimes tenants tend to or try to break their lease in the other place in order not to lose the apartment.

Jason    16:16

Sure, sure. But that’s obviously going to cost them a deposit.

Esteban    16:18

Maybe, yeah, the deposit. And if there’s something that they have to fix in the apartment, some extra money and all of that.

Jason    16:25

So you’ve noticed some people doing that more recently or just in general?

Esteban    16:31

Just in general. Just in general, yeah.

Jason    16:34

That’s really good to know and I think there’s some really good tips, Esteban. So thank you very much for your time and if anybody wants to contact you to rent any of our properties, what is the best way for them to get in contact with you?

Esteban    16:47

Yeah, so I would highly recommend to check out our website yapatree.com We have a lot of listings there. You can also submit your preferences there and we can try to match them with our current listings or reaching out and finding out more.

Jason    17:06

We will do the effort basically for them, do the searching and then contact them with any properties that are appropriate. Awesome. So great, we’re going to provide links to both of these in our description and whilst you’re clicking away, do please feel free to subscribe to our channel for more property news and updates. And thank you again for joining us Esteban.

Esteban    17:27

Yeah, no worries ciao.