Costa Rica Blog

House Hunters International, Travel and Leisure Magazine Costa Rica

Posted by Steve Linder on Mon, Jun, 24, 2013

playa ventana caves with Steve LinderYup, just like I keep telling everyone, it's only a matter of time before everyone wants to be where we are.  Travel and Leisure Magazine wrote this past month that the Bahia Ballena Coast is in the top two places to visit in 2013 and HGTV just showed up to our little town of Ojochal to film an episode of House Hunters International, trying to find the perfect home for a retiring north American couple looking for real estate in Costa Rica.  The baby boomers are coming, we had 6 sales in the last two weeks and all our Costa Rica Property Tours are selling out. 

We're also anxiously awaiting the opening of the new Baxter Lanes, offering Cosmic Bowling under Black Lights in Tres Rios De Coronado, home to three of our developments.  See the new lanes here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh8RW3y-Ibg 

new pool constructionThings are booming, they may not seem like it to the casual visitor who sees but a snap shot in time but to those of us who have watched the activity unfold there's a lot going on.  We have an expansion going on at the Hotel Villas Gaia, there's a new hotel Hacienda Agri Coop, they're busy getting the bull ring ready for our rodeo and there's a new coat of paint going on the Juacaloa or "juan's" as we know it.  The new church is nearly completed and there's lots of activity especially for summer season.   

We've got nearly 75 homes in various phases of design and construction and our Chontales development has new homes popping up like mushrooms.  We have new homes in a variety of other phases as well but seeing all the site work and construction in Chontales has been really impressive.  The first two of the three "Land Home Packages" are getting close to completion and more are on the way.  We have the water system installed now in most of Chontales and the electrical poles are being stood up as we speak.  There are a number of new home centers popping up everywhere to keep up with demand for construction materials and people are finally starting to realize the difference between a true residential master planned community versus buying land titled as a farm where a developer is trying to convince you that its intended purpose is for residential development. 

Mayca's new stoveOur chef Myca has a new commercial stove, the squirrel monkeys are having babies, the green herons are havingsquirrel monkey babies babies, the owls are breeding...

Phase Nine (also known as snob hill) is the proud new owner of a bridge crossing the river at the bottom of the entrance.  Owners in phase nine won't be unable to cross the river during periods of high rain anymore.  The official opening of the bridge and "bridge party" was last weekend.  We still have the option of driving through the water, having a picnic midstream or spending the afternoon lounging in the river, washing the car, etc but don't have to if the river is raging. 

green heron babies

  • HGTV just filmed an episode of House Hunters International in our little town of Ojochal, the episode is to air late in 2013.
  • Travel and Leisure Magazine just listed the Costa Bahia Ballena as one of the top two destinations to visit in 2013. http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/hottest-travel-destinations/2 
  • International Livings writer, Jason Holland, recently stated that the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica is one of his favorite locations in the entire country.
  • Our rental performance has been excellent, you can see listings, rates and occupancy at sites like Vacation Rental By Owner and here are the current listings in Ojochal http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/central-america/costa-rica/puntarenas/ojochal   Rents continue to be high, occupancy rates have been high in both winter and summer months though a bit slower in the mid season months of May and October.  With property taxes of just a few hundred dollars a year and low insurance and HOA fees, many of our properties have paid for themselves in just a few short years.
  • We are still in an emerging part of Costa Rica but recent development has been amazing.  We now have a new “Cosmic Bowling Alley, Sports Complex and Sports Bar” opening right in our neighborhood.  http://www.baxterbowlingcostarica.com 
  • We have over 75 houses currently in some phase of design or construction at this point and have built hundreds already.
  • Here’s a story written by Pathfinder International about our developments http://www.pathfinderinternational.net/news/view/thats_what_i_call_progress
  • If you have not seen my recent slide show, you can view it here http://www.slideshare.net/pacificlots/why-costa-rica-2013 
  • Here’s a bunch of testimonials from clients
  • Do be aware we are still in an emerging part of the country, our roads are not yet paved, we have no real “downtown” since our zoning has been mixed use up until recently so many of the restaurants and such are scattered on side roads throughout the village.  We are still a small town…  I love it here....

sunset over pool  Manuel Antonio Beach

 

 

Tags: Costa Rica real estate, Costa Rica property, Travel and Leisure Magazine, Baxter bowling, HGTV, house hunters international, pathfinder international, international living