Building for expansion

This afternoon Susan and I went for a bus ride, just exploring, although it was a bus route that I had already followed, so I had some idea where we were going. Anyhow, as we watched houses go by, I started thinking about how they go about building houses here, and thus, the theme of my posting today.

Ecuadorians appear to be raging optimists, at least judging by how they build their houses. Many, and possibly even the majority of houses built here are apparently built with the expectation that they will be enlarged someday. Some of them expect to build upwards, as in this picture, where the rebar is left pointing skyward so columns for another floor will be easy to add.However, today we saw more houses that apparently expect to expand sideways someday. This looks like a nice house, but incomplete, like it was built, and then someone neatly sawed it off from top to bottom and bricked up the opening.
These are common in this area, but here is something uncommon - these folks are actually building an addition on to the side of their house. Of course, if someone has already built and finished an addition, it might be hard to tell at a glance, but in this case it is obvious.Then there are those that start construction, and then run out of money. [That's just my guess, but why else invest this much, and then leave it sitting?] Most real estate here is still sold for cash, and construction is the same way. The idea of getting a mortgage to build a house is not widespread, nor are mortgages for construction easy to get.Here is one that is somewhat farther along, with the roof finished, the walls plastered, but no doors or windows installed. I didn't get a look inside, but I would guess that the interior walls are still completely unfinished. I don't know how long it has been sitting, but there is no evidence of current on-going construction.And here is another, between the last two in terms of completion. These are not small houses, again leading me to contemplate the optimism of the builders, who probably wish now that they had a finished house half the size of these shells. We have been told that most of these homes are built by Ecuadorians who are working in either the US or in Spain, and sending the money back to Ecuador. However, they don't trust the banks to safely hold large sums of money, so they invest their savings in homes instead.Despite what I have showed today, there are some very nice homes here. I took the following picture as Susan and I walked down the street. This is a shot of the garage of a house here in Cuenca. How many garages do you know of that have tile floors? I'm not sure that I would consider this preferable to a finished concrete floor, but still, you have to admit that it looks nice!Given the economic conditions in the US and Spain, I suspect that it will be a long time, if ever, before the owners get these houses finished up, speaking of those that are truly unfinished. Come to think of it, a half-house that is finished might look pretty good to someone right now!

And I should note that only the first and last pictures today were taken in Cuenca itself. The rest of them were taken in the semi-rural areas around Cuenca, which actually look more appealing to me than the city itself. But of course, I am not really a city person. And now I am wondering what kind of a deal I might get at some point if I made an offer on an unfinished house, and then finished it to suit our tastes. Oh well, it's fun to dream!