El Salvador tends to rub people either the right way or the wrong way.
For some, El Salvador conjures images of gulags, dictatorship, lacking human rights, etc.
While for others the country is synonymous with freedom, safety, crypto adoption and shifting paradigms.
The real estate market has attracted a lot of the latter. Prime, coastal regions of El Salvador have become quite expensive as a result. Nevertheless, fair value properties can be found in some areas.
The change is real
I saw a lot of change between January 2024 and July 2025. More infrastructure, more development, more investment, and many more tourists.
In this video with Roman, we looked at a range of listings on the coast in El Salvador.
Ever more people are moving to El Salvador for safety and ideological reasons. Getting residency in El Salvador, is easy but it’s not much of a plan B as you have to stay at least 8 months per year in the country to renew it. So it’s best suited for those who are committed to moving there.
Here’s the El Salvador Real Estate Market Investor Guide.
Feel free to get in touch with my El Salvador realtor Roman.
If you have a spare 1 million dollars and want to become a Salvadoran citizen within a month, we can help you with this as well.
To a World of Opportunities,
The Wandering Investor.
Services in El Salvador:
- How to get residency in El Salvador
- Real estate attorney in El Salvador
- Real estate agents in El Salvador
- El Salvador Citizenship by Investment
Article on El Salvador:
- El Salvador Real Estate Market: 2025 Investor Guide – is it too expensive already?
- El Salvador’s Economy: The next Singapore or just another emerging market?
If you want to read more such articles on other real estate markets in the world, go to the bottom of my International Real Estate Services page.
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My favourite brokerage to invest in international stocks is IB. To find out more about this low-fee option with access to plenty of markets, click here.
If you want to discuss your internationalization and diversification plans, book a consulting session or send me an email.
Transcript of “Is Real Estate in El Salvador Overvalued?”
LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello, everyone. Ladislas Maurice of The Wandering Investor. Today, I’m in El Salvador, and we’ll be having a look at the real estate market. Why? Because in 2023, when I came here, I spent two weeks, went around the whole country, looked at real estate, and my conclusion was that real estate back then was absolutely overvalued, and it just didn’t quite make sense. Now I’m back here in 2025 and I would say that my view of the market has changed because things have evolved. I’ll explain why in the video, and we’ll look at a range of real estate options here in El Salvador, from beachfront properties, to condos, to land, to villas. And that’ll help us get an overview and an understanding of the market.
Touring beachfront cottage in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: The first property that we’ll see is actually right here on the beach. It’s a little cottage. And we’re going to see Roman and Oma, the two agents here, and they’ll give us all of the details.
ROMAN: Hey.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Good people, how are you?
ROMAN: How are you doing?
OMA: Hey.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Good, good, good, good.
OMA: How are you?
LADISLAS MAURICE: Good. Cool. What are the numbers here?
OMA: Okay, so we’re looking at a house that has a lot. It’s 1,747 square meters, and it has 247 square meters of construction.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, about 2,800 square feet for this house, includes the pool, beach front access, all of it. And it’s full ownership, right?
ROMAN: Yes.
OMA: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Because in some countries in Central America, sometimes, it’s leases, sometimes, you need to use, in Mexico, a bank trust. Here, it’s directly in your name. Foreigners can own this. No issues whatsoever.
ROMAN: Yeah. The only thing that you need is your passport and your tax identification number that we call NIT, that we help our buyers, our clients to get it. It’s super easier. And then you’re ready to go.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. Myself, when I came here two years ago, I got the tax number, that NIT thing, and it took me 20 minutes at the Tax Office, $2 and 20 minutes, like, really easy.
ROMAN: Yes.
OMA: Yes.
Real estate transfer tax in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: What would be the property tax for a place like this on a yearly basis?
ROMAN: This is a good question, and probably a lot of people don’t know that in El Salvador, we don’t have property taxes. And this is a huge advantage. When you see markets like in California, how much it will cost to own a property like this one on the beach. The taxes attaching to properties are when you buy it, when you purchase. When you’re purchasing a property here is when you pay 3% of transfer tax of everything above $28,500. Everything above that, you pay 3% transfer tax. And the registration fee, that is 0.63%, more or less, and then the legal fees. And after that, no property taxes here in El Salvador.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How much is this property?
ROMAN: The asking price is $475,000.
LADISLAS MAURICE: $475,000, and then we’ll compare with condos going for this price in other parts of El Salvador. Here, we’re approximately, what, 20 minutes away from La Libertad?
ROMAN: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: An hour away from San Salvador, the capital city?
ROMAN: Yes, and 30 minutes to the airport.
OMA: Airport.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, really central, but it’s not on the side of La Libertad, which is developing really fast. That’s why it’s a bit more affordable.
Real estate transaction costs in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: Really, an interesting aspect of real estate here is that, one, the transaction costs are not too high, like, much lower than in Mexico, for example, and there is effectively no carry cost. A place like this does not have an HOA, it does not have property tax. I see that there’s a, I don’t know how you call it here, a servant quarters, or–
ROMAN: Caretaker.
OMA: Caretaker.
LADISLAS MAURICE: caretaker home.
ROMAN: Yeah.
Property caretakers in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. If I were to buy this house, is there any legal or cultural pressure to keep the gentleman in place?
ROMAN: No. The current owners need to close the relationship with them, and then it’s up to the new owner decide if want to keep it or not.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And I think this is the sort of question that people often fail to understand when they go into some emerging markets. There’s a caretaker, there’s an existing maid, an existing garden person, etc., and then they come in and they just fire everyone. In some cultures, that’s just completely unacceptable. And then you will have everyone hating you for it, and then you’ll have problems with your neighbors, etc. Questions like this must be asked. The response will vary from country to country, but you just cannot ignore cultural factors like this.
I’ll give you an example. I had some American friends who bought a house in Mozambique, in Maputo, in the capital city. And there was a guy, his sole job was to open the door of the garage and to wash the car. And that was just a normal house, a three-bedroom house with just one parking space. That was his only job. That’s all he did. When they bought the house, they figured, “We don’t really need this. We can just install some automatic gate and we’re good. And then the car wash, we can just take the car to the car wash. We don’t need someone fulltime.” So, they fired him. But the next day, he showed up again. And then they’re like, “No, no, just stop it.”
And every day he would just climb the gate and be inside the garage and just sit there. And they just couldn’t fire him. He would always just break in and be there and open the door for them. And they started asking around. And Mozambicans just explained to them, “He comes with the house.”
ROMAN: [laughs]
LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs] They just had to embrace that he comes with the house, and then they just kept him. And it was actually quite remarkable. You could just drive, and even though there were a lot of cars on the road, he would recognize the engine and open the door automatically. Never had to wait. So, [laughs] he developed–
OMA: He did the job perfectly.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, he developed a really, really special skill.
ROMAN: Here, what we see is that a lot of the people buying these types of properties also came with the mindset of helping to developing the locals. Because it’s good growth on both sides in the end. And in keeping and maybe giving a better salary or having more jobs that they can do, and locals will be happy. But it’s not this culture thing that if you don’t keep it, you will be in problems. No, because the responsibility is the current owners to close any relationship with them before selling the house.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And the way I would choose to look at it, if I were to buy this, I would say to myself, I am not paying any property tax that, anyways, goes to nonsense, and politicians, and all that. But instead of property tax, I’m helping an entire family.
OMA: Yeah.
ROMAN: Imagine you don’t have a caretaker, and you need a garden guy, a pool guy, manning guys for the house. If you’re renting the house and you’re Airbnb, you need a host. And most of the cases, the caretaker end in doing all the things. It adds a lot of value to have a caretaker.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Now we will go over to the next property, which is?
ROMAN: Yeah. Now we’re going to back to Surf City One, that is we’re going to pass La Libertad. And this property is for developers, because it’s a huge property, it’s almost eight acres of land. And it’s just five minutes away from El Zonte, Bitcoin Beach.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And on the way, we’ll have a look at all the infrastructure development that has been taking place.
ROMAN: Yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, fantastic. Let’s go.
OMA: Yeah.
Infrastructure development in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: And there’s a lot of infrastructure developments in El Salvador. I mean, I can just see the difference in the, roughly, 17 months I hadn’t come here, the roads are better, there are all these, like, malls. We’re going to see a bit of that later on. And is this just on the coast or across the country?
ROMAN: The infrastructure is pretty much all over the country. But in this area, we’re driving now from the airport to La Libertad, where Surf City One started, the infrastructure is insane.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. When I look at the Salvadoran economy, the headline growth figures are not particularly impressive. I mean, they’re even lower than Nicaragua. Nicaragua is growing faster. But I feel somehow that the numbers aren’t fully capturing the reality on the ground. I think one potential aspect would be the reduced corruption when it comes to government tenders. Now that corruption has been reduced, I’m not saying it’s at zero, but it’s been reduced, I’m just throwing ballpark figures just roughly, let’s say, that only 20% or 30% of the funds get embezzled, as opposed to 70%, in the numbers, the contract is still the same. Reduced embezzlement in the economy doesn’t necessarily show in GDP figures, but you can start seeing it on the ground in terms of capacity building to some extent.
Gosh, traffic is hell.
ROMAN: Yeah. Construction all over the places.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s crazy. The amount of road construction is wild. You’re saying they’re building a four-way from here, in La Libertad, to El Zonte?
ROMAN: Yes. This is the project, Surf City One, that the government is doing. We’re going to visit now the fishing market here and the new pier they have been building. It’s beautiful.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And that was Chinese investment?
ROMAN: Yeah, yeah. That’s what we’re understanding, it was donated by China, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. We’re going to go check out this Chinese infrastructure investment.
ROMAN: El Mercado del mar. There are two sides that is where you can buy fish, lobster, shrimp, and they have this commercial side that some of the best fried fish here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah? How long a drive is it to San Salvador?
ROMAN: I will say 35 minutes, 40 minutes. That was the old fishing pier, and this is the new.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Effectively, now the middle upper class of San Salvador can just come here for the evening, have dinner, go back.
ROMAN: We had lunch a couple months ago with some friends. And, man, being here, to me, it seems like you could be in any coastline in the north of Spain, for example.
LADISLAS MAURICE: When I came here in late 2023, they were still building this. I mean, La Libertad, the city, it looks like it’s bombed out. It’s not a very nice city, but clearly, they’re improving it. I mean, this city has to improve.
ROMAN: Yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s, literally, the first city on the coast from San Salvador, from the capital city. It has to improve.
ROMAN: It’s becoming one of the main attractions, good restaurant, a bar. You have, like I say, the best beaches, the best fried fish. And you have the market fish there that you can buy, everything you need.
Using bitcoin in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: Thank you, Communist China. Roman, you were talking to your assistant, and you were saying, “Oh, please, go get some shrimp and lobster.” And then you said you’d send her Bitcoin?
ROMAN: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
LADISLAS MAURICE: Can you explain a bit the Bitcoin situation? Because the headline news is that the IMF forced Bukele to remove Bitcoin as an official currency here in El Salvador.
ROMAN: In reality, nothing had been changing. People still using Bitcoin, businesses still accepting bitcoin payments. In fact, we will stop in Super Selectos, that is the major supermarket here in El Salvador, and you can go and do all your groceries in Bitcoin.
LADISLAS MAURICE: The coconut ladies on the side, can you pay with Bitcoin as well?
ROMAN: You can. Some of them, they do accept it, because we have the Bitcoin tourism. People that traveling here they’ll want to spend in Bitcoin, so the merchants say, “I do want to accept Bitcoin payments.”
LADISLAS MAURICE: [To lady selling coconuts] Muchas gracias.
ROMAN: Puede pagar en bitcoin?
COCONUT SELLER: Sí. Quieres pagar con bitcoin?
ROMAN: Sí.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice. How much is this?
ROMAN: I think it’s going to be– Cuanto por el coco?
COCONUT SELLER: Uno cincuenta.
ROMAN: $1.50. Say, $1.50, and the amount of bitcoin, and pay.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool.
ROMAN: Cena, el recibido? Yeah, done.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right.
ROMAN: Gracias.
COCONUT SELLER: Muchas gracias.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Bitcoin for a coconut.
ROMAN: Gracias.
Buying real estate in El Salvador with crypto
LADISLAS MAURICE: Thank you. And what about real estate transactions? Still, like before, you can buy real estate directly with crypto, secondary market, primary market, no issue?
ROMAN: 100%. A lot of people are buying here with Bitcoin.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Amongst your clientele, what percentage of your transactions are crypto-based versus Fiat-based?
ROMAN: I will say 30%, 40% of our transactions are made in Bitcoin.
Touring a new coastal mall in Surf City
OMA: Yeah, we’re here in a very new mall that opened up, I think, around six months ago. It became a game changer for us living on the coast side. We have banks, we have supermarket, we have pharmacies, we have fast food chains, we have–
LADISLAS MAURICE: Isn’t that your favorite?
OMA: [laughs] Isn’t that yours?
LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs]
OMA: We have coffee shops, ice cream shops. Everything that you need, that everyone of us need it’s right here. It could either be, if you’re living in Tunco, five minutes away, Zonte, 10 minutes away. And prior to this, we had to drive 30 minutes, 40 minutes to the city to just go to the supermarket. Yeah, it’s a game changer, selling point for all of us living here, for our investments and being a tourist.
Oceanview house tour in Surf City, El Salvador
OMA: We’re going to take a look at these two beautiful homes. They’re being built right now. They got ocean view, mount view, and they’re going to be ready in August.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How much, roughly?
OMA: Million-dollar houses.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, let’s go check out a million-dollar house in El Salvador. I mean, this house is huge, and you can tell the finishings are going to be nice, but yeah, it’s expensive.
OMA: Yeah, it’s more of a lifestyle kind of investment.
LADISLAS MAURICE: If I came up to you and I said, “I want capital appreciation or I want rental yields,” you would not tell me to buy this?
OMA: Not for this home. This is for you to come in and live the 90210 lifestyle in Surf City. That’s it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. The target market would be, is it Salvadorians? Is it foreigners? Who’s the target market for this house?
OMA: It’s Salvadorians, yes. It’s Salvadorians who have been living abroad and then are coming back here, and for foreigners as well. Yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Yeah, I mean, quite obviously, the beach house was much better value for money and has more potential for capital appreciation and rentals than this, for sure. Okay, cool. Now let’s go check out the other property.
OMA: Let’s go.
Real estate tours in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: Roman, can you tell us about the real estate tour that you guys organize a few times per year?
ROMAN: Yes. The Discovering Trips are five days, all inclusive, where we go deep into real estate, workshops with professionals like architects, engineers, lawyers, accounting. The idea is that, after these five days, you will have the knowledge, the connections, the education, and you will understanding where you want to be in El Salvador, and also if El Salvador is for you or not.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, often, people tend to cheap out on these things. And they’re like, “Why should I pay for a real estate tour?” I mean, one, you don’t have to. You can just get in touch with Roman and his team and or him can show you listings, but educating yourself when you invest overseas is so important. The risk is that you don’t know what you don’t know, and then you end up making mistakes that could have been entirely avoidable had you been better prepared. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Roman, there’s a link in the description below. And also, I wrote a whole article, that was a few weeks of research here on the ground in El Salvador, on the different areas you can invest in in Salvador, some key learnings, the tax system, etc. So, really complete guide for investors. And there’s a link below as well.
Salvadorans returning to El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: Roman stopped the car to buy some watermelon. How much is the watermelon?
ROMAN: The one that I buy, four bucks.
LADISLAS MAURICE: $4 for a whole watermelon like this. And Jose?
JOSE: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: You are originally from the US, originally from El Salvador. We just started talking.
JOSE: Right. I’m from El Salvador, but I moved to the US in ’92, and I just came back to live here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: You came back fulltime?
JOSE: Yes, yes, fulltime.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And what made you move back to?
JOSE: Safety. Basically, the country is a lot better than when I left. And it’s just feels that you have a better life now here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And did you come back to a family property or did you buy a place here?
JOSE: No, I actually purchased my first property here in 2021, I think it was.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And what were you doing back in the US?
JOSE: An auto mechanic.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And you came here with your American partner?
JOSE: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay.
JOSE: My wife, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And she’s happy here?
JOSE: Yeah, she doesn’t want to go back.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. You’re seeing that more and more Salvadorans coming back?
JOSE: Yeah, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: More than before?
JOSE: Yeah, yeah. A lot of people actually want to come back over here now, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. This is really a big source of demand, right, for real estate, you’re seeing this with your clients?
ROMAN: Yeah. Many Salvadorians that, like Jose, that left the country, that we call, people used to call hermano lejanos [distant brother], but now hermano cercanos, close brothers, right, are looking to come back. Or, Salvadorians that left, their kids born in the USA, have successful built companies, and now they are trying to get back to connecting with their roots. That is beautiful to see it.
JOSE: Yeah, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. It’s twofold. About 24% of GDP in El Salvador is remittances. Literally, the number one driver of the economy in El Salvador is money being made in the US and by Salvadorans and being sent back to El Salvador to help family members, etc. But now it’s two-fold. It’s also people coming back here and moving fulltime. And this isn’t counted as a remittance in the numbers, but it is a source of growth for the country.
Tour of property in El Tunco and El Zonte
LADISLAS MAURICE: Now we just arrived in El Zonte. Roman, there are two particular little towns or villages that people like to invest in, El Tunco and El Zonte. Can you explain the difference between the two? Because they’re very different. The vibe is totally different.
ROMAN: Yeah. There are two different places. El Tunco used to be the most touristic place in El Salvador. Both towns used to be like a surfing town, but El Tunco had more parties. If you’re young and you want to have fun, you want to go to the bars, discos, you’ve got to stay to El Tunco. And then in El Zonte become Bitcoin Beach, because we started the project Bitcoin Beach here. That have been changing and adding a lot of value to El Zonte, because all the Bitcoin tourism prefer to staying here in El Zonte, because this is the ground zero.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And there’s a lot of like health tourism and that sort of stuff here?
ROMAN: And I will say El Zonte is not a party town, it’s more like a family vibe, really healthy vibe, a lot of yoga, meditation, surfing. You go to sleep early, and you wake up with the sunrise to surfing, or just see the sunrise.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so looking at the place, 109 square meters on paper, about 1,200 square feet, I would tend to think they added all the common areas, right, to that number? Because inside, it doesn’t quite feel like the size.
OMA: It’s the lot and the terrace over there. So yeah, it’s the space.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Who’s the target market for this?
Who is moving to El Salvador?
OMA: It’s lifestyle and investment, too. We have foreigners who are living here, or foreigners who are spending just vacation time here, going offseason to somewhere else, and on season, high season here, or the other way around.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What are the occupancy rates?
OMA: On high season, it’s up to 95%, and then low season, it can go 45%, 50%.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What are the nightly rates, roughly?
OMA: On a one-bedroom apartment, it can be $305.
LADISLAS MAURICE: $300 per night for an apartment like this?
OMA: Yes, yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And in low season?
OMA: There’s a significant discount on low season, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, when you see this, it’s far from cheap. It’s quite expensive, to be fair. On the other hand, when you look at the type of people that move here and that spend time here, then the market starts to make more sense. I think this is important. Who comes to El Zonte?
OMA: We get a lot of tourists. We get a lot of investors. We got a lot of the Bitcoin community. We got also a lot of people that are coming back to El Salvador. We also have people who are just stopping by, a lot of surfers, a lot of coaches, a lot of trainers. This tiny town, it’s high-end, so it is luxurious. It is for the comfort, it is for the lifestyle.
LADISLAS MAURICE: When you walk around here in the evening and you just see the type of people walking around, you see a lot of these West Coast entrepreneurs, crypto people, a lot of these tech optimists, that type of San Francisco crowd, for that crowd, this is not particularly expensive. And when people buy in this part of, like, on Bitcoin Beach, it’s a market that’s a little irrational in the sense that there’s people are buying into the story, people are buying into the vision. I’d say it’s unlike typical markets. Here, things are a bit different.
When you really look at this, you tend to understand why prices are relatively high. I mean, would I come here personally and buy hoping to make massive capital appreciation, to buy a unit like this? No. I mean, the occupancy rates are really high, but this is pretty much the only condo building in town, right?
OMA: Right now, yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: But there’s a few coming?
OMA: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: One, it’s uncertain what the occupancy rates will be once this supply comes onto the market. And it’s just, what, three, four buildings or so?
OMA: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, so it’s not like huge either. And two, I’d say it shows that the market is maturing. Because when I came here late 2023, there was literally nothing. Now there’s more of a market, there’s more supply, there are more condo buildings coming through, there’s greater liquidity as well. It’s a market that’s maturing. From that point of view, it’s good news. I’d say this is the sort of apartment for someone who wants to be in El Zonte specifically, that want their own place when they come to El Zonte. They don’t want to deal with the house. They just want lock up and go, and when they’re away, they just put it on Airbnb. Is this a fair statement?
OMA: It goes beyond that. It really does go beyond that. It is a growing market. Right now, we only have one airport, where it’s being built the second airport. We’re expecting a lot more tourism, a lot more investment, a lot more of the big companies coming here. Prices right now are fair enough for where you’re located at, how the economy is building up, how the safety is here, you’re 100% safe, and a lot of investments and a lot of families, too, and tourism is coming here. It’s not coming down. It is, yeah, it’s booming.
LADISLAS MAURICE: I’d say it’s expensive, but I don’t see prices crashing at all. There’s a floor in this market, seeing the type of people that are moving here, for sure. I mean, just walking around in the evening, like, a bit over 18 months compared to when I was here last time, a lot more energy, the restaurants are a lot more full. And right now, I came in low season. Back then, I came in peak season. The difference on the ground is absolutely palpable. Again, I wouldn’t buy this for capital gains, but I don’t think that people who buy this would lose money.
OMA: No.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. And we were talking over lunch, you were saying that a lot of people who come and move here, it’s not just all these crypto people and stuff, but you also have a lot of families that want safety, that want some level of conservatism, but still in a dynamic environment. And there’s a lot of homeschooling happening here. I mean, your own child, you homeschool here?
OMA: Yeah. This is, like I told you, a growing community. Not many people used to live here and decided to buy here and set up the bases here. We have people, families, complete families that are coming here with children, and there are also the families that are staying here that decide to stay here and having children here. We didn’t have a private school or homeschooling system that would support those families. But right now–
LADISLAS MAURICE: On the beach, but in San Salvador, yes.
OMA: On the beach, yes. It happened the same thing as the supermarket. We had a supermarket there, but you had to drive there. It was you didn’t have the life in the tropics that you wanted to. It was the hustle of always driving to the city, back and forth, some traffic. But right now, there’s the need of a supermarket, there’s the need of the pharmacy, and there’s the need of the school. And now we have gathered together and we’re starting the project. Partially, is Bitcoin funding, and then partially are the initial families are setting up with their own money, with their own big ideas of how we want to raise our children, and moving forward with the project.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How do you want to raise your children? What are the values of the homeschooling hub?
OMA: It’s the freedom, the creativity, the being around with nature, community, and as smart as you can be, and as happy as you can be. [laughs]
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, cool. So, not your typical public school system?
OMA: No. No, no, no.
Interview with surf tourists in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: And now we’re going to go check out?
OMA: Some land that is ready to be developed.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So, for investors. We just bumped into Rob, Elizabeth, and their charming family. And you guys are here on vacation in El Salvador, right?
ELIZABETH: We are.
LADISLAS MAURICE: First time to the country?
ELIZABETH: First time to El Salvador.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What made you come here? Because it’s pretty obscure. No?
ELIZABETH: Pretty obscure. Family loves to surf. We’re here for the waves.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Have you tried some surfing in other parts of Central America?
ELIZABETH: Nicaragua, Costa Rica, now El Salvador.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And how does El Salvador compare to these other destinations?
ELIZABETH: Surfing, probably number one, as far as the cultural experience and the waves.
ROB: I would say number one, for sure.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Number one. Why?
ROB: Compared to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, way better waves in Costa Rica, way better roads, and food, and many–
ELIZABETH: The people, very friendly.
ROB: lovely breaks. Good breaks for surfing.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay.
ROB: There’s several, for beginners–
ELIZABETH: All within short distance.
ROB: beginners to professionals, great waves.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Will you guys be coming back?
ELIZABETH: Yes.
ROB: Sure.
ELIZABETH: And normally, we don’t even do repeat trips, so there you go.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah?
ROB: Yeah, sure.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right.
ROB: El Salvador has won us.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool, fantastic. Enjoy.
ELIZABETH: Thank you.
ROB: Yes, thank you.
Touring new condo developments in El Zonte
LADISLAS MAURICE: These are some of the developments?
ROMAN: Yeah, this is the other side of El Zonte, and this is some of the new construction project, condominiums project that will be done in December, in the end of the year, this.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And how much per square meter, roughly, for these apartments?
ROMAN: The price was between $3,000 and $5,000 per square meter.
LADISLAS MAURICE: For $3,000 to $5,000 a square meter, I feel this one is more interesting. It’s like full frontal beach than the other one, where it’s a side view.
ROMAN: This is the other project here in the back. Sunset here. We’ll be able to see it more in the back, but this is going to be the access to walk into the beach through here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And price per square meter here?
ROMAN: Pretty much the same.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay.
ROMAN: Just a smaller apartment.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, supply is coming, but it’s not like the numbers are massive either. I’ll say it, I think the prices are actually fair, taking into account where the people that are that are coming here. If you want beachfront, you can get much better deals in Panama, or in Nicaragua, etc. But here, again, the price, the market is different. It is a West Coast US market in many respects. And you’re seeing families and just generally, people buying as a Plan B as well. Plan B from what?
ROMAN: Moving here is something happen. A lot of European people, a lot of people from the United States, or Canada. This is another building, eight units, Zonte Villas, also will be done in December.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Again, small building.
ROMAN: Yes. A lot of these families want to have a Plan B. Everyone is talking about having a Plan B, if something happens again, having a safe place that you can move, move your family, and a place where is safety, where there is freedom, and there is Bitcoin, and also like that there is a good leader. I think El Salvador is that place. And a lot of families feel confident about that. El Salvador is attracting some of the wealthy people now, and smarter people. At the stage where El Salvador is now, maybe it’s not for everyone. A lot of people came here maybe two years ago, and saying, like, “It doesn’t feel that I can bring my wife yet.” But now, two years later–
LADISLAS MAURICE: Now there’s Starbucks.
ROMAN: Yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs]
ROMAN: They seem like, “Now I feel confident my wife will love to be in one of these units, that my kids will enjoy being in the rooftop, doing ice bath every day, surfing.” I think this place is changing so fast. It’s hard to keep up with everything that is happening.
Touring coastal land investments in El Zonte
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. We just saw a big eight-acre plot of land on the main road, what, three minutes away from El Zonte?
ROMAN: Five minutes away.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Five minutes?
ROMAN: Yeah, yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And one minute away from this beach. You can see all the surfers there. How much is the land?
ROMAN: It’s almost eight acres of land, and the price is $27 per square meter.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, so $875,000 for the lot. Obviously, you can do a bit of commercial, I guess. What can you do?
ROMAN: That property will be perfect for doing, like, a small development, residential maybe in the back, with apartments, condominiums, with amazing view to the ocean, and maybe the front side with a commercial plaza. We’re here in the middle of Surf City One. Surf City One goes from La Libertad to Mizata, 35 minutes away from here where we are now.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What are the costs, roughly, to develop land like this, to bring electricity, the road, the water, all of that to turn it into a development? Per square meter, how much are we talking?
ROMAN: It’s always depends of the what type of land and the location where we are. In this case, we’re talking a land that have electricity right here. More difficult, but it’s possible, is the water, because there is not going to be water from the city. Maybe the alternative will be to drill a well. What we do when we have clients that are developers is that we have our team, a team of engineers, architects that we’re working with them, and then we evaluate based on the idea of what the clients want to do, because it’s different if someone just want to build a tower there, or someone want to do townhouses around the property.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What about the bureaucracy? Because in some countries, it’s easy to say, “I want to develop this land,” section it off into different titles. But then you actually face the bureaucracy and things take forever.
ROMAN: I will say, have been getting better. The government had been centralized in one institution that oversee all the permits and developments. But there are rules. El Salvador you will find people that will tell you, “It’s possible. Yes, it’s possible.” Because that’s what you want to hear. But in the end, you want to have people that tell you, “What you want to do is not possible in that way, but let’s try to–“
LADISLAS MAURICE: And this is a big warning to especially Americans that come and do business in Latin America, Latinos have a different way of saying no, and it’s not necessarily a very direct way of saying no.
ROMAN: [laughs] Yeah.
LADISLAS MAURICE: In their minds, they’ll have told you no indirectly. They did their job, but you, as an American, don’t understand that they told you no. And then, eventually, reality hits the wall, and then it’s blame game, and it gets really ugly. You really need to work on your cross-cultural communication skills in this environment.
ROMAN: Or, have someone that help you to navigate that. That’s why we’re doing this business, because it’s about trust.
Economic reforms in El Salvador
LADISLAS MAURICE: In terms of reforms, economic reforms, there were quite a few economic reforms that were taking place here that were enacted by the government. The reality is that the pace of reforms has slowed down. And there are improvements, sure, but it’s from a very low base, all right? There’s the perception that El Salvador is paradise for business, etc. There are improvements, but it’s still not at all a paradise for business. Things are moving in the right direction, but it’s still very much bureaucratic, and you absolutely need the right support on the ground.
ROMAN: All the bureaucracy it have been coming down to almost to do thing with common sense.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Almost with common sense.
ROMAN: No, but it’s the truth. But I never seen El Salvador in the place that we are now, in terms of when you come with an idea, with a project that you want to do here, all the institutions are ready to help and support. I will never feel like this in the USA or Canada, when I go to the mayor and say, “I want to build this.” And they say, “How can I help you?” That is one of the reasons why so many people are feeling that energy and want to do something here, want to build project here, want investing here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Look, and in terms of valuations, compared to 2023 when I came here, my thesis back then was that prices were at this level, but they were already pricing in a lot of the developments. And I can tell you, in a year-and-a-half, a lot of the development has been catching up and has been materializing. And then you can really see that tourism is booming. You can see that the type of crowd that the government has been targeting, especially on this coastal area has been coming, these, like, very high net worth individuals, so it explains a lot of the valuations. Obviously, prices here are completely out of whack with local income. But again, it’s a different market. It’s a West Coast USA market. This is how these valuations are explained, fundamentally.
How to get in touch with Lexi and Roman
LADISLAS MAURICE: I wrote a whole report on the real estate market in El Salvador, the different cities, etc. There’s a link below. And if you want to get in touch with Roman and his team, you guys can help on the coast and throughout the country?
ROMAN: Yes. All the people that have been working with us, they came and say, “Hey, this is my dream home. This is my budget. Help me find that.” And then that is the beauty, El Salvador is that place where a lot of people can come and build your dream home here. And doesn’t have to be in El Zonte, if it’s too expensive. You can just go 30 minutes away from El Zonte, and it’s going to be half of the price.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah.
ROMAN: But I do believe El Salvador there is a place for many people, and also, I do believe it’s not for everyone. But you have to come and see it in real life, otherwise, you will never have this sense.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, definitely worth a trip. If you want to get in touch with Roman, there’s a link below. Roman, thank you very much.
ROMAN: Thank you. Thank you for being here.
