Costa Rica Blog

We were in Costa Rica for the first two weeks of March, 2011 leading 4 back to back property tours of our developments. The earthquake in Japan was all over the news and we had one member of our group on tour that was from Hawaii, concerned about the potential effects of the Tsunami on the Hawaiian Islands. The tsunami did some fairly substantial damage to the big island of Hawaii, mostly near Hilo.

We sat on the porch of our guesthouse watching over the Pacific. At around 4:30 pm we were paying attention, since that was the reported time the waves would reach Costa Rica. Lowland areas had been partially evacuated in anticipation of potential damage. At 4:40 pm we saw a series of 5 or 6 waves making way toward shore. They did not appear to be that big but they were surely the ones we'd been looking for. Most of the day had been pretty calm and the waves were easy to spot.

We headed down the following day to the Playa Bellena Marine National Park in Uvita, just a short distance from our developments. You could see that the driftwood along the beach had been pushed higher than normal and had been condensed in a line at the high water mark, higher than it would usually be. The biggest difference however was the change in the famous "whales tail", a sand formation that resembles the tail of a whale, where currents come from two directions circling two coves and over the years has formed a spitting image of a whales tail. The biggest change was to the spit of land connecting the tail to the main beach, much of which had disappeared from the onslauht of waves. The northern tip of the tail was also damaged, not terribly but pretty significantly just the same.  Here is a photo from after the tsunami.

In the next few months, I am going to look at 20 countries that are often sought out by Expats and Retirees.  Each will be as a comparison to living elsewhere, including owning property in Costa Rica, the US or Canada.

People always ask us about other real estate developments in Costa Rica.  My typical answer is that {name of development} is one of many developments that has yet to get anything done.  or one of many that gets just enough done to sell it, never completing what was promised  There have been many real estate developments like them, some who made pre-development sales, paid the principles salaries large enough to use all the money and then claimed bankruptcy without ever having even attempted to complete the project.  Many are brilliant marketers, staging webinars, press releases and conference calls.  Some will use hype like "Costa Rica's most successful real estate project", the "fastest selling project" or the "best real estate development in Costa Rica" or something similar.   

    “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

The cost of visiting Costa Rica as a tourist has increased due to large increase in tourism in the past 4 years. Costa Rica, a country of only 4 million people, had over 2 million tourists in 2010.  Car rentals, hotel rentals and other touristy activities have risen in price but thankfully living there is still cheap by North American standards.  The larger expenses in life, property taxes, health care and insurance are still amazingly cheap by US standards but traveling as a tourist is not so cheap.  Costa Rica is quite rugged and what looks like an easy ride on the map may take hours longer than expected.  There are four mountain ranges in Costa Rica and peaks to 10,000 feet are common.  Roads aren’t the best and driving at night is not recommended since you may come across cattle, cars without lights or sudden changes in road conditions you may not have anticipated.

Though you can buy homes right now in the US (Las Vegas and Phoenix for example) for less than they cost to build, Costa Rica has not experienced that problem.  There are a few “distressed” markets in Costa Rica, areas where during the boom too much inventory was built in some crappy areas. 

When moving overseas there are a lot of things to consider, and for families with school age children, one of the biggest issues is that of education.  How will you ensure that your child has at least the same quality of education that he or she would receive if you remained in your own country?  When thinking about this, at some point the possibility of homeschooling will probably cross your mind.  Would it work for you and your family?  Consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling below before purchasing real estate or property in Costa Rica.

It might be bad news for the home front in countries like the US, Canada and much of Europe as the largest population segment in many countries reaches retirement age.  Both the housing market and the employment outlook are liable to feel a jolt as baby boomers pull up roots and head to sunnier climates. 

At one time employment opportunities in a foreign country were extremely limited, especially if you weren’t fluent in the language of that particular country.  Today however, the Internet has completely opened up the earning potential of expatriates around the world.  It is now possible for people to earn a living online, all you need is a computer, access to the Internet and the courage to put yourself out there.  For those considering owning real estate or rental property in Costa Rica or Americans wanting to Expatriate, earning a living is often an important part of the decision before moving to a foreign country.

The cost of setting up a corporation for our clients to hold ownership of their land in our developments is rising from $700 to $850.  Actual costs of registering a corporation have required the need to increase, the Costa Rican government has increased the fees and tax stamps and the cost of labor to handle the task has also risen.  Keep in mind that we pay all closing costs, deed transfer taxes and tax stamps when selling home sites in our developments in Costa Rica, the buyer only pays to have the corporation set up, a one time fee.