Closing Costs

When you buy a property, whether it’s a share of an existing Fruit Haven group land buy, or as a seed investor, in addition to the cost of the property itself, you will also pay a separate fee for the closing costs. The closing process involves meeting various legal requirements, many days spent at the municipality and other offices, and a good deal of paperwork.

After completing this process dozens of times, we have the experience to complete the closing smoothly, culminating in a notarized sale contract, and your ownership registered at the property registrar of the canton in which your property is located.

Each property sale webpage on our website (see “Group Land Buys” above) has the closing costs listed at the bottom of the page.

Closing Expenses

  • Tax certificates, local and national level
  • Tax certificates, property
  • Various other certificates for the property
  • Sales tax
  • Attorney fees
  • Notary fees
  • Facilitator transport
  • Facilitator fees
  • Document preparation
  • Copies, printing, scans, and other stationary
  • Attorney-in-fact transport
  • Property registry fees

To get started buying land at Fruit Haven, fill out the Trustee Questionnaire

Closing Info

  • Original documents: You will receive a PDF of the closing document, including the registry certificate. If you want a notarized copy, this may cost extra, please ask us beforehand. Normally the notary issues 3 copies: 1 for the notary’s archive, one for the property registrar’s archive, and one for the buyer, which we store in the Fruit Haven archives since it is a title for a group-owned land. Your additional original copy can be issued at time of sale, or afterwards for an additional cost.
  • Sale price: The sale price on your closing document by default is the cadastral value, which may be lower than the actual sale price. If you want the actual sale price listed, you must pay an additional capital gains tax. Let us know before the sale if you require this.

Closing procedure:

  1. Make a promise of sale agreement as well as facilitation agreement to complete the sale process
  2. All parties sign the agreements, and funds are transfered (buyer provides the funds to seller and the closing fees to the facilitator)
  3. Facilitator will get a list of requirements to do the closing from the notary the property should be registered in the respective city: either Gualaquiza or El Pangui depending on the location – FH1, FH2, FH10 and TF in Gualaquiza – FH3, FH4, FH7 and FH9 are in El Pangui – See the map here if not sure
  4. Aquire those from the Property Registry municipal building in the city
  5. Provide those documents to a lawyer to draft the sale contract (minuta)
  6. Provide the notary the sale contract from the lawyer
  7. Buyer and seller (plus a possiblity of translator or their representative with a POA) sign the sale contract at the notary with finger prints
  8. Register the notarized sale contract at the Property Registry of the city
  9. Scan and backup the documents in fruit files and google drive, email both parties and the rest of the property owners of that property and other FH owners

How are closing costs calculated?

It is impossible to know exactly how much closing costs will be. So we charge a flat fee based on our estimated maximum. The estimation of the fee depends upon two main factors: The complexity of the sale, and the number of buyers. The closing fees for a specific property might be listed on page where it is listed for sale (see the page land for sale), in a section titled “closing costs” at the bottom.

Closing costs cover a wide variety of expenses relating to the sale process, including: Transport, attorney fees, notary fees, property registry fees, municipal tax certificates, national tax certificates, property tax certificates, various other property certificates, printing and copies, and facilitation.

How is closing done if I am not in the country?

You grant a power of attorney for us to include your name on the property title as an owner. This is a limited power of attorney that only allows us to perform the processes listed on the document, such as buying and administering land. The attorney-in-facts (receivers of the power) are usually two members/owners of FH properties that help facilitate closings, past examples: Peter Csere, Kevin Wynder, Charlotte, etc. This document is usually signed at the nearest Ecuador embassy or consulate to you, or in Ecuador if you are already here but are unable to personally attend the closing.

In case there is no Ecuador embassy or consulate within a reasonable distance from you, we will have the document translated to English or another language, and then you can sign it at a notary public in your own country. Then you have it apostilled or legalized by your country’s department of state. If your country is party to the Hague convention, then you send it to us in Ecuador, and we have it translated to Spanish and notarized here, at which point it is legal to use. If your country is not party to the Hague convention, after it is legalized by your department of state, you will need to have it legalized by the nearest Ecuador consulate (which can usually be done by mail.) Then you mail it to us for further translation and notarization. Obviously, this is a more expensive process, so it might be cheaper and faster for you to take a quick flight to an Ecuador consulate to get the document signed in Spanish (we will provide an English translation for you.)

Note that even if you do sign the sale contract yourself here in Ecuador, you will still have to grant the power of attorney so that we can administer the property on your behalf, which includes hiring workers, renovating the house, signing the community contract, measuring and marking the private lots, et cetera. See more details on the Power of Attorney page.

Do I have to come to Ecuador for the closing paperwork?

No. You can if you want to. You will, however, have to travel to the nearest Ecuadorean embassy or consulate in your country, in order to notarize the power of attorney document so we can put your name on the title and sign the legal agreement
between property owners. Or, you can sign this document in Ecuador. We will provide these documents for you, drafted by the attorney, as well as English translations. See the previous question for more details, or the Power of Attorney page.

Is the property title secure?

Yes. Ecuador has a secure title system. The lands we buy are not registered as indigenous land, which is nearly impossible to buy/sell in a secure manner due to legal restrictions. It is land originally titled to colonists and has a GPS map.