A Positive Experience With a Costa Rica Government Agency

Jun 112013
 
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Costa Rica: What Are We Doing Here?

I sold my house in San Isidro. I got a decent price for it. I followed my own counsel and did seller financing and it has turned out to be one of the “good” business transactions in my business life. I’ll write about the construct of the deal at some point. In the meantime I am available to respond to any questions about selling property in Costa Rica with seller financing.

The point I’m getting to with this article is that I now, for the first time in years, don’t own any property, and it is a strange feeling. I rent. Not only that, but I am renting a house in a small Tico community where no English is spoken, and some of my neighbors can’t read. We are talking “simple” living here.

On Saturday a couple of weeks back, my landlord (who by the way is the best landlord in the world – he maintains my yard and responds immediately to any problems, though few, that I may have with the house), he says to me: “there is going to be a talk on hydroponic gardening at the Salon Communal on Tuesday, you ought to come.”

I have always been curious about hydroponics, although nothing too dramatic. I can make that statement about lots of topics in my life, like how to knit and so on. I like this topic since it results in homegrown food. One of my interests in life is in reducing, and eventually eliminating, my dependency on the grocery store. (I’ve got a chicken coup and am the proud owner of a goat, with the prospect of goat cheese on the horizon.)

So I went.

This turned out to not be a “talk” on hydroponics as stated. This was an enrollment in a course on hydroponics, put on by the government agency INA. This was a full-blown certification course on hydroponics that would run for about 3 weeks, 2:30 – 6:00 Tuesday through Friday. Most of the worker Ticos work until 2:00 and so this was the schedule.

Well, I didn’t have that kind of time to dedicate to one of my many curiosities, but I went ahead and sat through the presentation regardless.

I was impressed.

INA stands for Instituto Nacional del Aprendizaje or National Institute for Learning. I had heard of it but hadn’t paid much attention to it. For many of us here in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone, we marvel at the hub-bub made in Costa Rica information books and websites about the high level of education in Costa Rica. We simply don’t see it.

This course stands in stark contrast with that observation.

The course was being offered free, totally government sponsored.  But you had to be a resident. I had to provide a copy of my residency cedula, as well as fill out a form with all my information in it, all of which intrigued me that this course was something authentic. I jumped through the various hoops thinking that I would probably pull out at some point. Long story short, I didn’t – I did the course, and in fact, am doing it.

This coming Tuesday is the final class and I will there receive my title as a certified hydroponist (my spell-check says this isn’t a word – hydroponicist? hydroponics-meister? well… you get the point). How ’bout that? I now have a new passion in my life here in Costa Rica.

The course has been excellent.

I am enjoying this rather unique experience of reporting on a government program that is, simply put, quite good.

The teacher’s name is Miriam. She has been teaching hydroponics for INA for 16 years. I’ve never been to Harvard, but as the eminent standard for good education, I would be surprised if there is a higher quality professor of anything there. She is engaging, and extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of gardening, soil chemistry, bugs, insects, fungi etc…

Miriam is the author of a book on hydroponics and she feels that she’s got a dream life. She travels around to remote parts of Costa Rica, teaching people how they can improve their lives by means of cultivating foods that are high in nutrition, and that can be used as a supplemental, or even a primary source of income.

I find it interesting that when I mention to an expat here that I am studying hydroponics – everything from hydroponic science, to green house construction, to substrate composition etc… the expat will say, “would you mind coming over and sharing what you’ve learned with my family? Maybe help us get setup?”

So, in answering the question: “what are we doing here in Costa Rica?”, I would say that the search for a healthy diet, and being more involved in the process, factors into the answer for many who live here.

Here are some photos of the class.

How to Live in Costa Rica Transcript

May 182013
 

This is the outline that I used for my presentation.

May 11, 2013

Presented by Ben Vaughn & The Avid Reader

The Avid Reader Bookstore

This is the store front for The Avid Reader where I gave my talk “How to Live in Costa Rica”

(Davis, California), free of charge for anyone interested in the topic of what is involved with living in Costa Rica as an expatriate.
Ben Vaughn:
•    grew up in Davis
•    spent 20 years in the Aspen valley in Colorado
•    has lived in Costa Rica since 1999
•    currently serves as a consultant for those that are interested in making Costa Rica their home

(POV Shift)
I come up to Davis every 6 months to visit my family who still reside here.
Regardless of whether I’m visiting Davis, or some other area of the country, I find that there is  considerable interest in Costa Rica and what is involved with living there as a foreigner.

Today, my sister Audrey and I went to Whole Earth week out at U. C. Davis. In conversation there with the various venders, they would ask if we lived here in Davis or were just visiting. When they find out that I’m visiting, but not only that, I’m visiting from Costa Rica – well, now that involves some questions.

  • How long have you been there?
  • What area are you in? We went there for our honeymoon / family vacation / recently etc…
  • Is it expensive?
  • Can you own land?
  • What currency is used there?
  • Do you have to learn Spanish?
  • Are there lots of bugs?
  • Etc…

For lack of a better term, I call my business “consulting”. It’s an odd handle to apply to my business. The word consulting conjures up a more corporate setting. However, despite the fact that we may meet in a rainforest jungle, alongside a remote waterfall – and that we don’t talk about the bottom line numbers of a company, I’ve not been able to come up with a better one.
I “consult” with people who are either in the decision making process, or those who have made the decision to live in Costa Rica. There is a steady stream of such visiting Costa Rica, and in fact, that stream is growing stronger in recent times.
Some of the reasons for moving to Costa Rica:

  • Persons with fixed income looking for a less expensive lifestyle (mostly retirees)
  • Adventurousness
  • Economic or political disillusionment in their homeland
  •  Life enrichment: culture / language / simplify
  •  Philanthropy: children / animals / reforestation
  •  Want to live in a warmer climate
  •  Etc…

This interest in Costa Rica generally falls into just a few possible types.

  • Re-location – full time move to Costa Rica
  • Migrators – they plan to spend part of the year there and part elsewhere
  •  Investors – want to diversify their portfolio

The individuals that make up these types may move around amongst the types. Some retirees are interested in having a home in Costa Rica full-time. Others plan to be there for just a portion of the year. Some of hese may hope to rent out their home during the other months when they are not there, others not.

The investors range from never being in Costa Rica, to full-on relocation there to oversee their holdings and, of course, to enjoy Costa Rica.

In the last few years we’ve added a couple of new types.
Young families: are moving to the area. This is a recent phenomenon.  When I moved my family there in ’99, we were it a far as foreign families go. My barometer for this point is a new private school (Escuela Verde) that is bi-lingual and is put together by the families of re located foreigners. They are running at capacity and need to expand.

End-of-the-Worlders: are drawn to the area because of its nature and its climate. These are a small group, but they are there consistently looking for property and making connections to find the service providers that they need so that they can then recede into the jungle and not be bothered by the frantic pace of today’s society.  They are looking for a way to live off the grid

Both of these groups are generally here full time.

Where in Costa Rica: The area that I work in is coastal and is referred to as “Costa Ballena” or by locals simply as “The Zone”. The Zone has been getting some good press and there is quite a buzz about the area. This is the southern pacific zone of Costa Rica. The northern boundary is up by Manuel Antonio. The southern boundary is Palmar Sur. The points in between are the towns of Dominical, Uvita and Ojochal.

Oddly enough, the travel publication ’Travel & Leisure’ called “Bahia Ballena” the top travel destination for 2013.  Nobody refers to that area as Bahia Ballena; not even those of us that live there. The town is Uvita.
The area is defining itself and it offers a lot to those who are looking to establish themselves in a foreign land, for whatever reason.

Just a few of the common questions that people have when considering the move to Costa Rica:
Money Matters:

  •  How does one make money in Costa Rica?
  •  Is it legal to work there?
  •  What currency is used?
  •  Can a foreigner buy property in Costa Rica?
  •  How does banking work for foreigners?
  • How to own a property in Costa Rica?
  • Income generating properties & strategies

Non-money matters

  •  Enrich your life with an entirely different way of life
  •  Learn Spanish
  • Quiet the inner dialogue
  • Lessen the force & influence of the media in your life
  • Simplify
  • Be part of a new culture that is in the process of defining itself
  • Get healthy

There is a feeling that something is beginning there in The Zone. There has been some recent activity that suggests that “big money” is finding the area and is interested. For those that moved there for nature and quiet the indicators are a bit unsettling. For those of that would like to live in a foreign land, and maybe even make a little money there, these indicators suggest opportunity.

Q & A

A Costa Rica Evening

May 162013
 
Ben's talk How to Live in Costa Rica at Avid Reader

Here is the setting. I have retouched the photo to insert my head onto the guy who was actually in the pic. We didn’t take any pics at my event. :( But, it gives the setting :)

I have just returned to Costa Rica from my regular visit to Davis California. This trip was predicated by the fact that my mother had been diagnosed with cancer. The preparations for the trip were rushed. My mother’s surgery to remove the cancer from her throat was scheduled on Monday, so the Monday prior, my sister Audrey made the arrangements and I spent the week getting things in order to fly.

My mother had specifically requested that I come before her surgery.  She didn’t say, but we suspected that she was scared. Also, since her surgery was to be in her throat, she would likely not be able to talk for some time after the surgery.

We had a couple hours on Sunday and then the surgery was on Monday.

When the doctor went in to do the incision, he was a bit taken aback. There really wasn’t much cancer to speak of. So he just did a biopsy. The next day, Mom was up walking around, talking and eating.

All of which resulted in the point of this article, which is to tell you about my evening giving a talk at a bookstore, The Avid Reader in Davis. But first I should probably finish the lengthy lead-in part.

My mother had been diagnosed with cancer. It was there. Then it wasn’t. We attribute this to some work that Audrey did on Mom with some essential oils. Later on Mom even said that she felt she had “passed” something on Sunday.

So now I’m interested in these essential oils. With Audrey’s help, I am using them to see if I can get my sense of taste back. The vision in my left eye is still gone, but I’m trying it there. Also, for the first time in over 2 years my back pain is nearly gone. Amazing stuff.

OK, so there I am in Davis for the month, and my main reason for staying so long is now gone. There is no convalescing period necessary for Mom. What am I going to do?  Why, give a talk on Costa Rica – obviously!

The evening went well. Normally such events occur on Friday nights and, normally they need a minimum of 3 weeks to announce and prepare. We had less than 2 weeks, and the Friday evening slots were taken.

Well, thanks to the graciousness of the folks at The Avid Reader (thank you Alzaida & Nicholas and the others that I didn’t meet), we went ahead with it despite these obstacles.  It would happen on Saturday evening at 7:30 and we’d see what kind of support we got from the local newspaper.

It turns out we got an ad and a write-up. The turnout was great. I was a bit surprised. There were more folks there than expected. Standing room only. I like the sound of that. But really we are talking about 30 people tops.

I was interested to know if there was any interest in such a topic there. (I liked the thought of doing something kind of scary as well.) I know that it is a topic of interest here in Costa Rica, among those that visit here or have bought. But I was curious if Costa Rica was as hot of a topic as we had been led to believe by comments that are made by visitors.

It turns out that there is quite a bit of interest in the topic.

The evening was free of charge.  There were lots of great questions. I was able to use the Avid Reader’s slide projector to show maps of where The Zone is in Costa Rica.  And then (of course) the usual fare: photos of toucans, waterfalls, sunsets, monkeys and beaches, and, and…

It was a great evening and it gave me a clear answer to my curiosity. Yes indeed, there is interest in moving to Costa Rica. And it would seem that you can pick almost any random location to find such interest.

Next up: the outline of my presentation that evening.

Costa Rica – What Are We Doing Here?

Apr 062013
 
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Costa Rica: What Are We Doing Here?
New friends in Costa Rica.

The cultural mix. A great reason for being here.

The reasons for moving to, or visiting Costa Rica are diverse. In my time here I have been asked the question “why did you move to Costa Rica?” so many times I’ve lost count.

However, I am not just the askee of this question. I am the asker of the same question, different sense. “What is your interest in Costa Rica?”, the answer to which tells me volumes about the person I am talking with.

Cultural Convection: Things are changing here in the southern zone. I think of it as a “cultural convection”. It’s like the ever-present breezes here on the coast around The Zone. The breezes come in off of the ocean in the morning. As the earth warms throughout the course of the day, the inland flow changes and the breezes push back out to the sea in the afternoon and evening.

I think that there is a parallel with the human element. Continue reading »

Costa Rica March News for The Zone 2013

Mar 312013
 

Hola y Aloha Everyone,

It is currently raining pretty good which is an indicator that the rainy season is on the way. It has been a really dry, extremely hot verano (summer) this year so the rain is more than welcome. A lot of news to pass on. Be sure and pay attention to the part about having to provide your e-mail address to COSEVI if you have a Costa Rican driver’s license.

This week of course is Semana Santa (Holy Week) or as us Gringos know it, Easter. This year was a totally different Semana Santa for 10 cantons. For the first time you could buy alcoholic beverages yesterday and today.

Some local news items before the national stuff.

The Great Quepos Drug Bust – Earlier this month police swarmed to the Saturday feria (farmers market) in droves arresting a well known Gringo by the name of Quincy for selling brownies laced with marijuana. It is not like this is anything new. He has been selling them for some time and even has them listed on his menu board which is prominently displayed by his stand. Of the 37 brownies confiscated 18 had pot in them. Guess the police determined this through sampling as it has been reported that afterward officers were seen with mellow smiles on their faces and often giggling.

Chicken – Karen gave up buying Pipasa chicken because of their scrawniness and started buying chicken from the vendor at the Quepos Saturday feria. Much plumper and better tasting. Maybe they had been fed Quincy’s left over brownies. Then one time in San Isidro she bought chicken from the Tres Jotas carneceria. For those of you new to the newsletter, Tres Jotas is a relatively new meat company out of San Isidro. They actually age their beef so it is fairly good. Their molido (ground beef) actually holds together in a patty. I’d rate the quality slightly above USDA Select. Anyway, they now carry chicken in their store located on the west side of the central park. The chicken is plump, fresh and better than any Pipasa we’ve ever bought. Their luncheon meats are great.

Airplane Restaurant -The point of local interest we have right now is the airplane restaurant on the way to San Isidro has finally opened. We haven’t stopped by so can’t give any firsthand information on it. We’ve been told that it is pricey with the food only being described as good.

Now, on to national news… Continue reading »

State of the Market – March 2013

Mar 182013
 
State of the market Costa Rica real estate

Get it while its hot! The latest on what is going on in the real estate market in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone.

There might be a b… b… A b-b-b… Hmmm I can’t quite bring myself to say that word, maybe later.  Let’s just say that we seem to be experiencing a hot time in the real estate business in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone. I feel like we are at a new beginning of sorts here in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone.

From where I sit, overlooking the industries of real estate and hospitality, I’d say we are at the beginning of a new day here. What exactly this means for real estate is a bit hard to say.

Hospitality Sector: Vacation rentals and restaurants are enjoying a brisk business. ICT, the Ministry of Tourism for Costa Rica says that the overall numbers are up. However, the numbers for Hotels are down. I find this interesting. Hotel occupancy is generally the indicator of how tourism as a whole is doing. Costa Rica may be an exception since so many find alternate lodgings, such as vacation rentals, B & B’s, hostels and so on. Pam, over at the Flutterby House (beach hostel) in Uvita says that they are having a swell year.

From Frank Walker’s March Newsletter:
Where Have All The Tourists Gone??? – If you listen to the ministry of tourism people are flocking to Costa Rica.  However, figures from the hotel industry tell a different story.  Figures indicate that the occupancy rate for 2012 was just slightly above 54%.  That’s below 2011 figures.  Industry wide the breakeven point  is 74% occupancy.   A recent survey by the Camera National Turismo which is separate from the ministry of tourism revealed that for the two months of December 2012 and January 2013 which are supposed to be the height of the tourist season occupancy rates ranged from a low of 22.1% in the central valley to 45.3% in Guanacaste. 

Real Estate: There have been a number of sales here on luxury homes above the $2 million mark. One fellow come into the area and has so far purchased a hotel and a number of high-end homes. Reportedly he pulled out of his homeland entirely and has chosen to work with his available resources in this way. Not to discuss the merit of his strategy, but the effect of his acquisitions – they can skew the trends a bit. He is one buyer that caused a number of high-end sales.

In recent discussions with realtors, across the board they are BUSY. They are all managing more leads than they can handle. AND they are closing business, not just showing properties. Osa Tropical is hiring 2 new agents, Rod’s company United Country, is looking as well. I have spoken with Keith over at Costa Rica Real Estate Services and they are quite busy. J & J Properties up in Platanillo are selling property hand over fist. 2 Costa Rica up in Manuel Antonio are smoking hot.

Publicity: The Zone is getting some pretty good press with reports coming in from visitors about the “word on the street” back home. In Costa Rica itself The Zone is viewed as the hotspot for tourism and real estate activity. The Envision Festival brought in large numbers of visitors from various parts of the world to the delight of local restaurants and lodgings providers. This year they had a Woodstock-like experience with some unseasonal rains coming in and drenching the proceedings, enhancing the experience for some and ruining it for others. And then there is the top ranking that Travel & Leisure gives to Bahia Ballena (another name for Uvita) as the #1 travel destination for 2013.  http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/hottest-travel-destinations

We are seeing a whole new “type” of visitor here now. Tour buses are a regular feature in The Zone which is a rather recent phenonmenon aided by the improved access options. Young families are moving to The Zone. End-of-the-Worlders and escapees make up small but significant segments of those looking to re-locate. The retirees are back in force.

What about prices? Well now that is an interesting question. You’ll likely get varying responses to this question, depending on who you talk with, but not from real estate agents in The Zone. I think that the answer from them will be consistent. Houses are generally valued at replacement cost with some deals on the market that are actually below replacement value. Lots are the lowest they’ve been since 2004.

There are some sellers who have been trying for quite awhile to sell and are at what John Weiland over at Coldwell Banker refers to as the “capitulation” part of the cycle. John is big on systems and information. Ask him how many times a particular property has been shown and he’ll tell you – with precision, the number of showings for a given property in the last X-number of months.

John’s cycle starts with idealistic denial. This is a justification regarding the actual value that a seller feels their property has, despite market indicators. We all know that our property has that unique and special something that will compell a buyer to step up to the plate and buy. These sellers will ignore the evaluation that the real estate agent gives them. Oftentimes this part of the cycle sees the seller valuing their property based on what they have in it – imagine that.

Imagine the real estate agent telling the prospective buyer the price. Imagine that they have been out looking at properties all day, and now they are at this one, the one where the seller is intuitively aware that their property is “special” and that they are not willing to sell for less than they’ve got in it. The buyer says “why is this one more than all these others? The realtor then says “well they’ve got “X” into it. Nuff sed – no sale.

Next comes anger. “The stinking realtors are not doing their job, they are not bringing the buyers.”

Then comes capitulation where they are beaten down, and perhaps even a little humbled, by the realities of the unfeeling and oftentimes cruel marketplace. They then do some rather serious price slashing, likely based on input that they get from their realtor, and also likely quite a bit lower than the figure they heard back when they were in the denial phase. Prices have been on a consistent decline here in The Zone for the past 4-5 years.

My guess is that we are at the bottom and that we’ll see prices start to rise on houses. I think that raw land lots have still got some time ahead at the low part of the cycle, and for the bargain hunters, there are some beleaguered seller’s out there that will almost pay you to take their property off their hands.

Summation: Now is a good time to buy a house and a great time to buy a lot. The Zone is a good place to do so and its certainly a great place to visit.

There are some murmurings that we are in, or entering, a rather “hot” time again. I’m slow to apply the term “boom” yet (There. There’s that term. I got it out), but this may be coming. My first years in real estate here were at the start of a rather amazing land grab back in 2004, and we came to call this time The Boom – its hard to imagine that level of activity will happen again – the bar has been set pretty high for that descriptor, but we’ll see. The only thing constant is change.

 

 

The Luxury of Living in the Third World

Feb 282013
 

An article by Jack Ewing

Ben’s note: Jack Ewing & I have known each other for years and have worked together off and on with various projects. I regard him as one of the preeminent authorities on the history and ecology of the area. Jack is the owner of Hacienda Baru eco-tourism lodge and canopy zip-line tours. From his position as a cattle rancher in the ’70′s to reforestation mentor and eco-tourism expert now, his experiences here in Costa Rica span and catalog some of the astounding changes that have occurred in this “second” world country.

Jack is also one of the most notable authors for The Zone. His book “Monkeys Are Made of Chocolate” is recommended reading for anyone with an interest in Costa Rica and especially the southern zone. Standard reading in most vacation rentals and hotels in the area.

I am delighted to have Jack come on as a contributing author to the Guys in the Zone blog. In this first installment you’ll notice that there isn’t anything about real estate, but it has a lot to do with life here. We are on a rapidly “progressive” tangent here in Costa Rica and this account really helps to show some of the contrasts in amenities over the years, some so dramatic they could be deemed revolutionary. I especially appreciate how Jack’s account begs the question: “how do we really define “progress”?

Back in the late 1980s we still didn’t have telephones in the coastal communities, and we were just starting to do some bird watching and ecological tours at Hacienda Baru. The lodge didn’t exist yet. For booking the tours we shared an office with a travel agency in San Isidro and communicated with them by radio. One day I was at the phone company in San Isidro, which was also the electrical utility, seeing about getting an extra phone installed in the office. The whole process should have taken about ten minutes, but we kept having power outages. Continue reading »

February News

Feb 202013
 

Property Tax Assessments – There is an interesting article in amcostarica about maritime zone property tax assessments being made by Aguirre.  Not mentioned in the article is the amount of the assessments being made either by inspection by the canton or when an individual goes in for the five year value declaration.  If the property is on the beach side of the road the valuation is made at 50,000 Colones per square meter, 30,000 for the mountain side of the road. A meter is 3.2 feet.  The tax rate is either 4% of that amount for residential property and 5% for commercial.

Speaking of property tax assessments.  Karen and I just went through the five year declaration.  Relatively painless.  Carlos, the individual we dealt with at the municipalidad, was very helpful.  Everything is computerized but Carlos had to access, adjust information on, and then print six separate forms.  The assessment rate, Continue reading »

What Does the Matapalo Police Station Have to do With Real Estate?

Feb 012013
 
Costa Rica Real Estate and a few of its influencing factors

A few of the the “non-real-estate” factors that affect the value of “Costa Rica real estate”

I got asked the other day what the opening of the new Matapalo Police station has to do with real estate (see Frank Walker’s post), and by extension, why is it mentioned in my “Costa Rica real estate” blog? Well, I’ll tell you – it all starts with land.

I was told some time ago about a dinner party here in The Zone where thehost got up on to a table and announced: “I would like for all conversations about real estate to stop. If you are unable to comply, please leave.” It is reported that the room went quiet.

Granted, this was back in “the day” – back when fortunes were being made on the buying and selling of land here in The Zone. Such conversations are not nearly as prevalent now as back then, but they are certainly a daily occurrence in my life, and I suspect that many here would make the same statement.

I contend that all news comes around to affecting, or being affected by land. If you are interested in moving here, migrating, retiring, and to a lesser degree, visiting here, the topic of property and its value will enter the picture. The managing of crime has a direct impact on the value of property.
As do:

  • tourism
  • currency
  • climate
  • water
  • taxes
  • animals
  • roads
  • laws
  • residency
  • language
  • culture
  • etc…

I don’t want to have this bulleted list go down through your floor, so the”etc…” embodies all the rest. I know this list because of my time spent talking with people who want to move or migrate to here.

Returning to Matapalo: it is receiving a steady flow of foreigners moving in, as relocators, migrators and investors. They did not have a police station there before, so it could be reasoned that any self respecting thief would view that area as the place to be and to ply their trade. The presence of a police station has a positive effect on this scenario. One would then surmise that the value of land there will hold steady or perhaps increase.

Along with some of the other appealing amenities: screaming views, proximity to both Manuel Antonio and Dominical, proximity to a gorgeous, unpopulated and miles long beach, quiet living in Costa Rica’s tropical jungle, you can now add “enhanced security due to the presence of a police station”. My question: how can a Costa Rica real estate blog not mention such a thing?

Currency: The exchange rate of the colon versus the dollar. One of the hot topics going on right now in many sectors of the globe is what the effect of the “recovery” is having on tourism. Well, part of the fallout of the recession is that there are no good places to store dollars in the States. I hear rates as low as 0% or .6% or whatever, but they are all low.

Here in Costa Rica you can get up to 12% for a CD. This has resulted in an influx of US dollars into the country. Funny, you would think that this would be a good thing, but apparently it is not. I don’t understand it but I suspect that a better money-mind than mine could explain it. It has to do with the depressing of the value of the dollar against the colon, which is evidently not something that Costa Rica wants.

Costa Rica is now talking about taxing money as it leaves the country, presumably money that was gained through these investments.  Also, they are talking about loosening or letting go completely of the support that the dollar gets in its exchange rate with the colon.

Further evidence of my naivete when it comes to matters of international finance: I thought that the value of a currency was an organic process, defined by some actual value that a piece of currency represents. Not so.  The Banco Central of Costa Rica somehow controls this, and they are talking about letting go of the control (which would be more in line with my understanding of how these things work).

It is projected that this would result in a depressing of the value of a dollar due to the prevalence of dollars. The peak exchange rate was 575 colones to the dollar achieved in 2009. We are currently hovering right around the 500 colones to the dollar (which I like since it makes mental conversions easy. 1,000 colon bill is worth $2.00, etc…).  So if the controls are let go, we would see the dollar buying less colones.

Yes, this all has an effect on real estate here in Costa Rica. And it is the stuff of which conversations between Realtors and Clients are made.

Related Observation (actually, what isn’t related?): The hotels are claiming to be down in their occupancy so far this season. Restaurants are up, and vacation rentals also seem to be up. Explanation? Not from me, sorry.

I have heard the following data from a local restaurant owner who is part of a global effort to make Ojochal the culinary center for Costa Rica, so it may be that these data are, in fact, real.
Restaurant Numbers:

  • 2012 was 25% up from 2011
  • 2013 so far – up 40% from 2012

Meaning to real estate? Apparently, visitors are up in The Zone. Indicators are good for holding steady, and perhaps rising values of specific properties in Costa Rica (primarily houses).

More indicators of land values in the zone:

January News for the Zone & Costa Rica

Jan 232013
 

I have invited a new guest author to my blog. Frank Walker puts out a newsletter once a month that I have subscribed to now for some time. I always find his depiction of the news enlightening and fun to boot. Plus I wonder just how the heck he finds all this stuff out.
~ Ben

Click for Frank’s bio.

 

Matapalo police station.

The new police station in Matapalo Costa Rica, just north of Dominical.

Matapalo

Police Station – The police station was dedicated earlier this month in typical Tico fashion with speech after speech from various officials.  There was really a nice turn out from the local community.  As promised the station is manned.  The other day I actually saw two police at the beach. They were chatting up two young Ticas whose shorts and tops were so tight it looked like they used spray on spandex.  Guess the two young officers were engaging in a community outreach program.

Loss of Businesses – Word has it that this will be Susanna’s last season to be open.  Under the new liquor law the municipalidad is hitting her up for something like US$250.00 per month for her liquor license.  Word also has it that Phillipe will be closing down.  Whether or not he is going to sell his pulperia or close it down is unknown. Continue reading »

 Older Entries