Issue #26: MachucaHomes - Revolutionizing Housing in Machuca Valley
A New Platform Simplifies Finding and Renting Homes While Supporting Community Growth
Main article follows, but first some local events highlights:
Events Highlights
Today is the 156th anniversary of the San Mateo canton which is celebrated annually with “Desfile de Boyeros”(Oxen Parade). A great local cultural event that you don’t want to miss! It will start around 9:00am Pura Vide time. Here is a video of this parade from 10 years ago:
And an official invitation from San Mateo Mayor(in English!):
Next Week, Saturday, August 10th
Don’t miss the ESM neighbors-organized community event. From Zach:
Next Saturday, August 10th, at 5:30 pm at Ecovilla San Mateo (formerly Panaca), we would like to invite everyone interested in participating in a gathering to connect with neighbors from San Mateo, Maderal, Higuito, Dulce Nombre, Desmonte, Desamparados, Jesus Maria, Alegria, Tacotal, La Ecovilla, and Ecovilla San Mateo.
We will have live music, DJs, and movies 🍿 for children. The event is open and free.
Alright, now on to the main article…
Background
When our family came to the valley only 3 years ago and we wanted to live here for a few months, looking for housing was more akin to foraging for mushrooms in a forest and then figuring out if what you’ve found is actually edible. You ask around, you ask the people you know to ask around, eventually you get connected to someone who has “the perfect place”, only to discover a tico house without a stove or much of anything really, going for $2,000/month. If you’re lucky to find a place in LEV for at least a few months you quickly go into the game of house-hopping since most of the places in LEV are only available for a few months, may be 5-6 if you’re lucky, you’re always thinking about “the next place” and of course you’re always asking around about that next place.
At some point the demand for housing was quite high, which resulted in rental prices going up which many have complained about, but of course there is nothing to complain about, we’re simply witnessing the invisible hand of Adam Smith in action. We create a place that many people want to live in, as people find out about such a place, they flock and try to find housing, as owners recognize the demand, they realize that they can charge more for their houses. For the moment this equilibrium is actually settling a bit since Alegria added a number of houses and people have either moved there or are renting those houses out, thus creating more supply and so the prices are slightly adjusted. This cycle will continue, as ESM will release its titles to the owners imminently, those owners will fly in and would want to settle somewhere while they build and we’ll again experience a spike in demand. Luckily that spike should not last too long, perhaps 3 years or so and as ESM houses spring up, once again a new equilibrium will be reached and the prices will adjust accordingly. At least that’s the theory, we’ll see what the practice brings.
But coming back to the opening of this article, the two questions that everyone asks is: How do you find available houses for your dates? and How do you know what the current “market rate” for housing is? The most recent approach to this has been a combination of posting and asking on the “MV Housing” WhatsApp group chat, looking at AirBnb or Facebook Marketplace. Each one of those had its pros and cons, needless to say they were all fairly inefficient whether you are looking for housing, or an owner offering housing. Luckily a number of people in the valley recognized this and two people, Oli and Sam decided to do something about it.
Introducing MachucaHomes.com
Launched on August 1st, 2024, MachucaHomes “arises from the need to have a practical, simple and transparent way to find a home to live or stay in our precious Machuca Valley.” Owners post their houses with descriptions and pictures, renters browse houses and pick the ones they like. Booking process including payment is all handled by the platform. On the surface its effectively a hyper-local version of AirBnb with a few twists.
First, unlike AirBnb, in addition to short-term rentals there is a strong focus on long-term rentals as well which is what a lot of the people coming here are looking for. While AirBnb does offer long-term rentals as well, most of the listings do not reflect the true price for monthly rents and most of the owners do not use AirBnb as a long-term rental platform. Second, the pricing of MachucaHomes is more favorable and so the users, both Renters and Owners end up paying less to the “marketplace” allowing the rents to be slightly more reasonable. Third, the platform actually gives back to the community with “Community Givebacks”, a small fee on each transaction goes towards a fund whose sole purpose is “funding projects that are deemed socially or ecologically beneficial to the Machuca Valley.”. Lastly beyond just a housing marketplace, platform offers listings to local services such as Property Management as well as renter-centric services to help newcomers settle in.
I’m always excited to see new local businesses spring up as it’s a sign of a local economy growing and even more excited about businesses ran by ex-pats, many of whom often struggle to make a living locally because there is not enough of an economy here.
The founders, Oli and Sam are a great duo, and you can learn more about them and what drives them here.