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In a nutshell: Prices for home sites start at $40,000 and candidly for $40,00 to $50,000 you can buy a nice fully improved home site with road, artesian well water plumbed to the lot and electric to the lot as well in a large international residential community with a solid track record of 23 years developing land and building homes. Sure ocean view sites cost more, even over $100,000 for a premium view lot but many owners opt for a mountain view and save the money that a big ocean view might cost. It’s easy enough to go to the top of the hill and see the view when you want to.
We’re building custom homes from $102 per square foot to $135 for super high end so you can easily get in a home for under $200k including land and a pool if you don’t want a mansion or a killer ocean view. You can build your own house or hire any builder of your choice and have no time limit to build. The home sites are in nicely laid out developments only a few minutes from the highway but the terrain makes 4 wheel drive pretty much a necessity within the developments. The roads within the developments are gravel, better than you might expect paying only a few hundred dollars in property taxes per year. HOA fees within our developments average less than $30 per month since we don’t encumber our owners with common area amenities like club houses, community pools, etc. There are plenty of places to socialize and with beautiful public beaches and plenty of clean warm mountain rivers to swim in, you can live nicely on a tiny budget if you choose to. We have plenty of rich residents as well, big impressive homes, incredible views, the choice is yours depending on your budget and your dreams.
Our area is an emerging one, not a big city but more like a jungle village growing quickly, a village with dozens of great restaurants, a dozen hotels, easy grocery shopping with anything available including things you would not expect to be able to find (caviar, single malt scotch, Cuban cigars, French wines) literally anything you can get in the states, we have local farmers markets, butcher shops, fish markets, bigger grocery stores, even Walmart and Pricemart if you want to drive an hour. As the influx of baby boomers heads our way our community is growing quickly. Affordability is not the issue, believing that a small town such as ours in an area of the world that continues to grow rapidly will be enough to entertain and sustain you is the biggest hurdle most people find. In reality our life is simpler, less stressful and not focused on consumerism. We have good healthcare, great food, a great sustainable community where you know your neighbors, an outdoor approach to life with more exercise. One thing you can expect is a longer, healthier life than if you stay in the states or Canada.
Background: The region around the Osa Peninsula is often compared to the Galapagos Islands. This area is home to more lowland forest than anywhere else on the entire Pacific coast. There are towering trees, scenic waterfalls and sweeping sandy beaches. A dizzying amount of the world’s biodiversity can be found in this area of Costa Rica. In fact Costa Rica contains twice the number of species than the entire United States while the US contains over 200 times more land. Though only 30% of the land area of Costa Rica, the Osa region in the southern Pacific contains over 50% of animal and plant species of the entire country. This is pretty amazing considering that Costa Rica is home to nearly 5% of all the animals, plants and birds on the entire planet while encompassing only .02 of 1% of the entire earth's land mass.
We represent the largest expat residential community in Costa Rica and are now in our 23rd year. That means you won't be alone in a foreign country. Our community is growing quickly. With over 40 bars and restaurants, 12 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 definitely feel like the 90's during the height of the day. Our village has a mix of age groups and nationalities. We are an international community and there are roughly 3000 people living in the village in high season right now, but things are growing fast.
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. 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, Spirit Air, Jet Blue, Westjet, Frontier, Mexicana, Lacsa, Taca and Air Canada offer service there.
Wherever you end up, accessibility is key. Getting to and from Costa Rica is easy and flights are often less than $300 round trip from some markets. Costa Rica is safe, friendly, stable, affordable, beautiful, inexpensive and offers great health care. What are you waiting for?
Click here for a History of our developments
Recent Changes: In January of 2010 two new highways were finally completed, the Caldera highway stretching from San Jose to the Pacific coast and the Costanera connecting Quepos to Dominical. These two improvements made the drive from San Jose to the southern region an attractive three hour drive through some of the most scenic parts of the country. It also made the towns of Ojochal, Tres Rios de Coronado and Chontales much more accessible. This area is home to Pacific Lots, the largest and oldest International residential development for North Americans in the region. Whether you are an individual buyer or a Costa Rica realtor, you will see why we are the most popular Costa Rican real estate project in the country.
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 30 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. Lately we have been getting many more Europeans as well as other international buyers. We've got clients from Australia, Russia, the UK and many parts of South America. 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 worldwide 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 Costa Rica that have run out of steam and left owners without promised infrastructure. 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 on their own and at their own expense after the developer files for bankruptcy. Most of these projects will never be completed and buyers within these developments completely lost their investment.
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 third year, you can rest assured that you will not be stuck "holding the bag".
We offer 4 day Discovery tours almost every month, typically 4 to 5 per month. We are the largest residential project in Costa Rica, not an 80 acre development. Our projects cover 3200 acres in 17 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 on our 4 day Discovery tour. On our tours we provide full transportation to and from San Jose as well as 3 nights lodging. Although we are 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 includes lodging, meals and adult beverages, airport pickup and drop off and all transportation within Costa Rica. We charge $299 for our visit per person but we apply $250 of the visit fee toward any purchase and give $1000 credit to travel expenses off the price of any home site as well. We 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, artesian well water at the lot line and electric to each lot. We are the largest builder of custom homes in the country and have over 400 full time employees. We also have a brand new 18 hole golf course only 2 miles from our developments.
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, inexpensive and frequent flights to Costa Rica, great health care, low cost of living, etc.
We've had many International Living and Pathfinder readers visit a variety of "Chill Weekends" with other developers in various countries tell us that ours is the best one offered.
Any 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.
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