Costa Rica: Anyone purchased a vacation/retirement home there?

Dueller · 09:45 AM

Just curious. Are there still reasonably priced second homes there? Not on the beaches but with a water view from the mountain sides? Experiences? Problems?

BeyGOn? Moses?

Neilk · 04-23-2008, 09:56 AM

A friend of my brother's sells homes there? I'll try to get his contact info.

Dueller · 04-23-2008, 09:57 AM

Thx...I know there was a boom down there a decade or so ago. Just curious where the market stands now.

MRM · 04-23-2008, 10:09 AM

I think it's still a decent environment. I know a lawyer who does mostly mediations now who struck it rich doing pipeline explosion cases and bought a pecan and coffee plantation down there in the early 1990s. It was pretty touch and go there for several years, but in the last several years he says the government environment has eased up a lot, making things much easier for him. He spends a lot more time there now and does considerable business processing and exporting coffee from his and other local plantations. I don't think he would be traveling so frequently and doing so well if it wasn't still a good environment for him to work in. Import tarrifs and work permits used to be killers for him.

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

Have you considered Uruguay? It's the "new" Costa Rica.

http://www.viviun.com/Real_Estate/Uruguay/

Hundreds of kilometers of beautiful beaches, sophisticated cities, and culture. Fantastic food, perfect infrastructure, a moderate climate with summer during the opposite months of North America and Europe (December-February), the highest standard of living and life expectancy in Latin America with the lowest crime rate and level of corruption, political and economic stability, favorable laws for foreign investment, confidentiality and offshore banking.

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

How's this for $179k.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

That looks like a computer-generated rendering, not a photo. You sure that's real?

I've been looking at Belize actually. English-speaking, pretty laid-back, reasonably stable government, etc. Big downer is there has been a marked spike in crime the last few years, but maybe an investment opportunity. . .

If investments in the U.S. are dead, there's plenty of other places in the world. That's how I see it.

BeyGon · 10:44 AM

I bought 3/4 acre 300 ft from the beach in Tamarindo in 1991. We built a nice 1000sq ft place there with views of the water from three sides. I loved the place. You own the property, pay taxes just like here. Get a good lawyer when you go to buy something. I don't think the government has ever taken property away from someone. You will put it into a corporation, like you will your vehicle there. Ours was named "Campo de Mantiquea" I think, can't remember how to spell butter in Spanish. Sort of translates to field of butter and my name is Butterfield. Most people never got it. Beach property there like anyplace is expensive. I paid $75k for it back then plus building the house. Everything is cash. I have no regrets with the property or house. Just that my wife didn't like it and I had to move back here. We sold it in 2004. Left the country and haven't even been back.
My choice now would be Uruguay like someone before this post has said. I have been reading a lot about it and talked to a few friends that have been there. People from Costa Rica were going there when we sold our place, and also moving to Nicaragua. I don't know what Nicaragua is like now with Chavez but it was cool then. I drove through Nicaragua and liked it, no trouble at all but it was the poorest of all the Central American places. At the time the big cash crops were tiles, bricks, tobacco and young girls.
I wouldn't be afraid of buying and building in Costa Rica but IT WILL COST more than you think.
Try looking around Lake Arenal, great fishing, sailboarding, and the weather is pretty good.
Look up Roy Real Estate on the Tamarindo web site. Tell Roy I said Hi.

BeyGon · 04-23-2008, 10:49 AM

SoCal is about 33 degrees north of the Equator on the Paicfic and Uruguay is about 33 degrees south on the Atlantic, I like the idea it is a flop of SoCal. The weather is a little cooler and different patterns because there is so much more ice at the South Pole than the North. I will get there some day.

Porsche virgin · 04-23-2008, 11:28 AM

I've been thinking along the same lines. Costa Rica, Belize, etc.

Subscribing...

Neilk · 04-23-2008, 12:08 PM

Dueller, PM on it's way....

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Quote:

That looks like a computer-generated rendering, not a photo. You sure that's real?

I dont know about the $179K price, but the photo looks right...the terrain and CR is about the greenest place on Earth, really striking if you visit there.

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

That looks like a computer-generated rendering, not a photo. You sure that's real?

It is a generated rendering for a development in Uruguay. Here's the link:
http://www.sugarloafuruguay.com/

Andras Nagy · 04-24-2008, 12:05 PM

All I know is that there are a lot of architects from Uruguay who live and work in USA.

Now why would they all abandon their homeland if things were so good for the "normal" people?

Does anyone realize, at the beginning, that if one were to move to Costa Rica or Uruguay, that you are moving to a remote place, akin to an island? It's like living in Florida - you have to drive hours, or fly, to get anywhere else.

I think these places are all over-rated, and the reality sets in after months of being isolated, unable to go anywhere unless you've retired with LOTS of disposable income, etc. for traveling out of the place you just bought. Hell, I'm sure we could buy the same house in Africa for 1/10th that cost.

Our family had a chance to reclaim our property in Budapest that the Russians had confiscated , but we came to the conclusion that even Hungary was too far from the mainstream, and how many times in the year could we fly there for a holiday in our own property? So we left it to the squatters, and never looked back.

The reality is sometimes harsher than the longing.

Hugh R · 04-24-2008, 04:49 PM

I've heard you want to have your place in a gated community with patrols. Otherwise you leave the house and come back in a few months and everything is gone, windows, doors, copper, flooring, everything.

Andras Nagy · 04-24-2008, 04:50 PM

And that's the definition of "paradise"?

BeyGon · 04-24-2008, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andras Nagy

All I know is that there are a lot of architects from Uruguay who live and work in USA.

They went from a country with 3.5 mill people to one with 300mill people, lot more jobs here.

Now why would they all abandon their homeland if things were so good for the "normal" people?

Why do you think they "abandon" their homeland, lots will eventually go back.

Does anyone realize, at the beginning, that if one were to move to Costa Rica or Uruguay, that you are moving to a remote place, akin to an island? It's like living in Florida - you have to drive hours, or fly, to get anywhere else.

The capitol of Uruguay is close to the capitol of Argentina and not that far from the capitol of Chile, not big flites. I live in California, everything is hours away.

I think these places are all over-rated, and the reality sets in after months of being isolated, unable to go anywhere unless you've retired with LOTS of disposable income, etc. for traveling out of the place you just bought. Hell, I'm sure we could buy the same house in Africa for 1/10th that cost.

If you chose to think you are isolated you are isolated in Florida. Full of retired folk with disposable income. What's the difference except these people that go to Costa Rica or Uruguay aren't quite dead yet. You can buy cheap worthless places anywhere, Salton Sea comes to mind here.

Our family had a chance to reclaim our property in Budapest that the Russians had confiscated , but we came to the conclusion that even Hungary was too far from the mainstream, and how many times in the year could we fly there for a holiday in our own property? So we left it to the squatters, and never looked back.

You did what you thought was best for you, I don't think I would have done that.

The reality is sometimes harsher than the longing.

Your life is what you make it. I think I can make it lots of places, I love the US but I like the adventure. I drove to Costa Rica and loved every mile of it.