The average price of homes for sale on Sarasota, Florida’s Lido Key was $2,257,527 at the end of last year.

The lowest-priced canal front lot there lists for $998,500.

The solution? Consider Retirement in one of the cheapest places to live, Ecuador.

Ecuador is a beautiful country that offers a quality of life that’s hard to beat anywhere else in the world. Yes, there are cheaper places to live (Afganistan is the cheapest) but nowhere you’d want to live.

Some of the costs of living include: Rent, from $150 a month, Dining out, a full meal including a beverage and dessert costs $2.70. If you don’t have a car in Ecuador you can take the bus for .25cents. A taxi will cost $1-$3.00. Want to pamper yourself with a manicure or haircut? Two and three dollars respectively. A massage for an entire hour will set you back $15, and on the list of necessities a doctor’s visit is $20 to $25 for a specialist. Want to own a piece of heaven? You can purchase homes for $40 to $100K.

If living on a budget is your primary consideration, there is no better place than Ecuador. And there is no better spot right now for beach living in Ecuador than along the Ruta del Sol between Salinas and Manta. The infrastructure is in place already and they both offer a low cost of living to residents.

Have an even more limited budget? Then towns like Olon, Puerto Lopez and Montanita will be of interest to you. You can not only own a home (or rent if you prefer because the rents are low) …your budget can also include dining out because a lobster dinner at a beachside restaurant in one of those towns will only set you back a whopping $5 or less. And beachfront homes on this stretch of coast sells for less than $50,000.

The major cities like Quito and Cuenca, have all of the Western conveniences Americans and Europeans require. Everyone carries a cell phone. The internet is everywhere, a sign of increasing prosperity, including several home-grown brands manufactured in Ecuador. 

You can retire cheap in Ecuador. One couple I read about spends only $600 total a month on expenses and that includes medical and pet expenses. Property taxes are famously low too…and for most people $250 will cover your weekly expenses.

According to Ronan McMahon, who reports for IL on real estate opportunities, Ecuador "offers some of the cheapest property values in the world today. You can buy a high-end 1,000-square-foot condo on the beach for less than $100,000 or a comfortable mountain retreat for less than $50,000."