Imagine your home in a friendly community where you know your neighbors and the beach is your playground. A place known for healthy living and conservation, natural foods and abundant amenities, where you can swim in a waterfall while watching wild parrots, toucans and macaws. Where first class health care costs pennies on the dollar yet the average life expectancy is higher than the US. A community located within a few miles of the newest hospital in the country. Behold such a place, Pacific Lots of Costa Rica, on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Affordable ocean and mountain view properties as well as luxury custom home building services will turn your dreams into reality. Relax, your money will go significantly further than in the US. Enjoy a quality of life we have forgotten in the US. Step away from the stresses of daily living, traffic jams and a lack of a sense of community. Our prices are competitive with other developments yet our quality represents the "gold standard" in the region.
The developments we represent are located in the coastal villages of Ojochal, Tres Rios, and 
Chontales. This is considered the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica and is located just above the Osa Peninsula. These three towns touch one another as you drive south on the Pacific Coast. This area is located about 15 miles south of Dominical and about 31 miles south of Quepos. This coastal Pacific community is in one of the few areas of Costa Rica where 6000 foot tall mountains come right down to the sea. This stunning geography provides some of the best view home sites in the country. This area of the country is also more tightly zoned and construction is limited to three stories. There are no big developments and the area has become a Luxury International Residential Community of single family homes. The area is also home to some of the most famous beaches in Costa Rica, Playa Ballena (a Marine National Park), Playa Tortuga, Playa Ventanas and Playa Pinuella.
Lots start at only 40k and all homes are custom built. Clients who have purchased home sites within any of the developments have no time limits to build nor restrictions on who can build their home. Clients can build their own home or hire any builder of their choice, however most clients use our building services to take advantage of our expertise and quality design and construction. Our homes are truly spectacular and one of the best real estate values in Costa Rica.
Our customers are mainly North Americans buying land for their future with many opting to build their dream home right away. Some are investors, holding real estate as a way to preserve the value of their assets as the value of the dollar continues to fall. Others are buying now for their planned retirement in the future. Some are just looking for a change of life, fed up with hectic pace in North America. Many of our clients are baby boomers looking for a lower cost retirement. A surprising amount of our clients are concerned about the economic outlook in the US and are looking to protect their hard earned assets by moving some of them out of the US. We are building primary homes, rental properties, second homes and vacation homes. Demand for rentals in our area has been very strong and continues to grow as the new international airport and major highway projects are completed.
Contact us to arrange a visit to the properties and discover why so many people are relocating to Costa Rica. The low cost of living, high quality affordable health care and the great quality of life are hard to find elsewhere on the planet. Find out what Pura Vida "Pure Life" is all about. All it takes is a few days here to realize why so many are choosing Costa Rica for their future. Hope to see you here soon!
One thing to keep in mind when looking at other developments in Costa Rica is how far along they are. Ask questions like do they have all their permits in place, how many people will eventually live there and how many are living there now? There are many real estate projects in foreign retirement communities that are in their infancy. Although marketing departments can easily draw up nice plans of what their development is supposed to look like when it is completed, you are better off buying what you see, not what they tell you is coming some day. Due to the downturn in the world economy, there have been a number of real estate projects in foreign countries that have run out of steam. Many planned on future sales to pay for the completion of the project. These sales did not materialize, leaving a small group of owners to secure permits, electric, water, roads etc after the developer files for bankruptcy.
We are firmly established, debt free, have all of our infrastructure completed in nearly all of our phases, have built hundreds of homes, have over a thousand owners and don't need to show people "artists renditions" of what the development will look like some day. If a development you are considering hasn't gotten their permits, roads, water, electric, experience building homes, etc... be prepared for the potential that they may never complete what you were promised. Buy what you see. Now in our twenty first year, you can rest assured that you will not be stuck "holding the bag".
We offer anytime tours all the time and 4 day Discovery tours almost every month. We are the largest residential project in Costa Rica, not an 80 acre development. Our projects cover 3200 acres in 15 phases of development. We have our own workshop where we make all our own custom windows, doors, cabinets, wrought iron work, counters, etc. Most clients who visit our properties tell us there is not enough time to see everything in the 3 day tour we offer or the 4 day Discovery tour, where we also provide full transportation to and from San Jose as well as a night of lodging on the day of your arrival. Even as the largest project in Costa Rica, we do not offer "walk in tours" since it does not provide enough time to understand what we are all about. Our tour does include lodging, meals and adult beverages. We are still a 3 hour drive from San Jose and your options include renting a car and driving or taking a short (25 minutes) scenic commuter flight if you don't come on one of our Discovery Tours, which include transportation from San Jose and back. We do charge $250 for our visit per person but we apply the visit fee toward any purchase and give $1000 credit to travel expenses off the price of any home site as well. We also offer full financing as well as a 5% discount for non financed purchases. Our firm is debt free and all of our home sites are fully improved with road, water to the lot and artesian well water at the lot line. We are the largest builder of custom homes in the country and have over 400 full time employees. In any foreign country you should buy what you see, not what they tell you they will be providing in the future. We also have a brand new 18 hole golf course opening only 2 miles from our developments.
My wife and I toured Ecuador, Panama, Belize, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela and a host of other countries before deciding to purchase in this development. It was not until after we owned there that the owner asked us to build them a US sales team. (we owned a sales recruiting company prior to assuming this full time sales role). I can assure you that the time you spend on our tours will be the best use of your time when looking for opportunities outside the US. We have a brand new hospital nearby, a brand new highway, lots of restaurants and hotels in town, a great community, inexpnsive and frequent flights to Costa Rica, great health care, low cost of living, etc. We've had many International Living readers visit a variety of "Chill Weekends" with other developers in various countries tell us that ours is the best one offered. We continue to outsell every other project represented by IL.
I'm still an IL reader and our firm was the major sponsor of the recent Ultimate Event in Quito in both 2009 and 2010. Ronan McMahon and Margaret Summerfield continue to praise our project as one of the best out there. We are by no means the cheapest but you get what you pay for. The property you purchase abroad is an asset, not an expense. Assets well chosen will appreciate in value. The cost of living (expense) in Costa Rica is as cheap as Panama, Ecuador or Nicaragua and much less expensive than the US. Traveling as a tourist in Costa Rica is not cheap simply because tourism has doubled in the past 3 years alone and demand exceeds supply for tourism. But living there is a different story and surprisingly affordable.
We are the largest expat residential community in Costa Rica and are now in our 21st year. With nearly 40 bars and restaurants, 11 hotels and a host of retail opportunities we are by no means in an isolated part of the country. Our town is a village, not a city. Crime is low and the sense of community is high. Our temperatures are in the 80's year round though in a few months it will definately feel like the 90's during the height of the day.
The southern region of Costa Rica has always been hard to get to but that does not mean that many people were not settling in that area. Most travelers in Costa Rica have never been any further south than Quepos/Manuel Antonio, even though it is clearly one of the best parts of the country. I encourage you to come on down and take a look, our discovery tours are a great and affordable way to visit and airfare continues to be very inexpensive now that nearly every major carrier (Delta, American, Continental, US Air, United) is flying to San Jose as well as Spirit Air, Jet Blue, Frontier, Mexicana, Lacsa, Taca and Air Canada.
Wherever you end up, accessibility is key. Flying to Ecuador runs $700 to $1000 each time you go. Costa Rica is often less than $300 round trip and even less from some markets. Mexicana is now offering flights at $289 from LA including tax (March 2010). Costa Rica is safe, friendly, stable, affordable, beautiful, inexpensive and offers great health care. What are you waiting for?
Steve Linder
For information on how to use your 401k, SEP, simple IRA or other tax deferred retirement plan to purchase investment property in Costa Rica