‘We Moved to Ecuador for a Better Way of Life—Here’s What You Need To Know’

Americans fed up with the high cost of living and divisive politics are moving abroad in droves in the hope of a calmer, cheaper way of life.

“We received a rush of applications in the middle of [2024], a sort of slowdown period from July to mid-October as many were traveling in the summer and others wanted to wait to see how things turned out with the election,” Steve Corbin, senior associate and attorney at Harvey Law Group, an immigration law firm, tells Realtor.com®. “Since the results, we’ve seen a flurry of inquiries.”

But ditching the U.S. is not for everyone.

Much depends on your personality, expectations, ability to adapt to a new culture, preparation, and, of course, where you decide to live.

How one couple went from ‘destitute retirement’ to loving life

In 2008, Edd and Cynthia Staton were living the good life in Las Vegas. They had well-paying jobs, eight single-family homes they were renting out, and a large retirement portfolio. Then the financial crisis hit.

“We lost our jobs, lost our industries, the mortgage industry imploded, everything just disappeared,” Cynthia tells Realtor.com. “It was pretty terrible.”

“No one was buying anything because no one had any money,” says Edd, who lost his job in the auto industry. “I realized we would have to pivot. We had lost too much, too quickly. Even if we both found great jobs, we were too old to make up for what we’d lost. We were destined for a destitute retirement.”

In their early 60s at the time, the couple decided they needed to move somewhere with a much lower cost of living.

Make a list of your ideal attributes

They drew up a list of wants for their ideal new home: a temperate climate, access to good health care, walkability, and the same time zone as their adult children on the East Coast. They also wanted to be able to fly fairly easily to the States.

After seeing an online blog that touted Cuenca, Ecuador, they flew down for a scouting trip.

“I was looking for all the reasons we shouldn’t move there,” says Cynthia.

But a month later, she couldn’t find one.

Ecuador is becoming an expat favorite

Ecuador was voted the No. 1 expat destination for the past two years in InterNations’ yearly Expat Insider survey, according to the global expat network.

Pros of living there include a low cost of living, a thriving economy, welcoming locals, and a native language—Spanish—that expats found fairly easy to learn.

With a wildly biodiverse landscape that includes the Amazon jungle, the Andean mountains, the Galapagos Islands, as well as modern cities with spectacular architecture, great food, and large expat communities, Ecuador is rising in popularity as a retirement and digital nomad destination.

It also has one of the lowest minimum requirements for a foreigner: You need prove an income of only $1,400 a month, with $200 for each independent.

In general, countries prefer to see regular income such as Social Security or pension payments versus a large sum in a bank account. But talking to an immigration attorney could provide more details.

The Statons live in Cuenca on the pensioner visa, the most common for foreign retirees.

An old city in the Andes mountain range with about a half-million residents, Cuenca has ancient ruins, beautiful buildings, and good public transportation.

It is also relatively cheap to live there. The Statons, who have written a series of expat life books, rent a modern three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom penthouse apartment with an elevator and terrace for $800 a month.

They can walk to farmers markets (the country has a year-round growing season), the climate remains in the range of 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and they have their pick of great restaurants and entertainment venues.

The Statons say one of the downsides includes no international airport, so traveling to the States isn’t as easy as they’d originally hoped.

The importance of scouting your location

Despite landing in what they call a “little paradise,” Edd points out that the average expat lasts only 3.5 years in their new destination.

“We’ve seen so many people move multiple times,” he says. “They don’t factor in what their daily life will look like.”

They point to a couple they knew who moved to an Ecuadorian beach town and were quite happy until they realized they were an hour from the nearest hospital. They later moved due to the husband’s medical condition.

“Being by the beach doesn’t matter if you have a heart condition,” says Edd.

“So many expats don’t do proper research, or move somewhere without even doing a scouting trip,” says Cynthia. “A scouting trip is not a vacation. You are there to figure out if that place can support your daily routine. Neighborhood matters. Everyone will have their own list of what is important.”

For example, some neighborhoods will be noisier than others, others will require strenuous walking, some will have more grocery stores and restaurants (or none), and some will cater to an older demographic (or younger).

The couple recommend heading to nearby pharmacies to check that they stock your medications.

“Go meet with a doctor,” Cynthia recommends. “Make sure you will have what you need healthwise.”

Cuenca, for example, is at a high elevation, so you want to make certain your lungs can handle it. Also, don’t do your scouting in the summer and neglect the winter; or check out the area in the dry season and forget there is a wet one.

“We knew a couple who moved to Panama,” says Cynthia. “They were happy until the wet season hit, and bugs were coming into their house to keep from drowning.”

Your home is equally important. The couple recall that in their old building—a fourth-floor walk-up—they routinely saw older people move in who could barely climb the stairs.

“They would be huffing and puffing,” says Edd.

A scouting trip also allows you to see a place as it really is—and not what the media portrays it to be. The couple dismiss stories in the press of Ecuador being in the grip of a violent crime wave.

“Such bulls–t,” Edd says with a laugh.

Budget your stay

“So many people don’t even figure out how much they can afford,” marvels Cynthia. “You’ve got to know your rent or HOA fees, how much for groceries, utilities, car or public transport, and your upfront costs for getting your visa, where to stay while you find a place to live.”

The couple say that Ecuador doesn’t have the typical multiple listing service. You find a place to live by networking with local real estate agents who will show you around, and none of them want to work with one another. Finding the perfect abode can easily take months.

They recommend joining real estate Facebook groups for the area you are interested in, where you can get a sense of what is a fair rent or sell price. Otherwise, as a foreigner, you will likely end up paying more than you should.

Be sure to grill your agents and other expats about the quirks of the area. For example, since Ecuador can be prone to electrical blackouts, you may want a home equipped with a generator.

Don’t move abroad if you can’t do this one thing

There is one attribute that a successful expat must have, according to the couple: flexibility.

“If you are stuck in your ways and not very tolerant of change, expat life will not work out for you,” says Cynthia. “You’ve got to be really flexible, really patient.”

“I’m a type A personality, and that was hard to downshift from,” says Edd. “Here, an appointment is more of a suggestion. Mañana might mean tomorrow, it might mean never. You’ve got to turn off your North American brain.”

His final advice? “If you can’t adjust to a different culture, you might want to stay home.”