Welcome to our full video Talk Show format! In addition to this new look, we share new information on Costa Rica real estate including, a recap of 2009, recent activity in the southern Pacific zone of Costa Rica, and new issues for buyers and sellers. This post comes in advance of the new www.GuysInTheZone.com website, where you can find all of the best resources for the area in one place. The most notable addition to our new site is the forum. It’s there to give us all a place where we can discuss the various topics that are going on around The Zone. To all our readers, watchers, and listeners, thank you for your questions and comments, and please feel free to get involved over at our new forum.
If you ask the World Bank or one of the mega-water corporations (e.g., Coke, Nestle, Vivendi), fresh drinking water is a commodity. If you ask virtually everyone else in the world (including the United Nations), fresh drinking water is a basic human right. Whether it is the encroachment of privatization or Nicaragua’s plan to divert the San Juan River[1], water in Costa Rica is an increasingly lively topic.
One of the most popular questions for potential property owners is, “What is the water situation for this property?” Most of these new investors come from North America and Europe, areas that have hundreds of years of infrastructure development. However, this southern Pacific region of Costa Rica is still early in the cycle of development. We continue to see rapid growth in communications (cell phones and high speed internet), power (high tension power lines), and roads (the newly paved Costanera between Quepos and Dominical). That being said, cell phones are a luxury, but water… is a necessity.
Property In A Development
Most quality developments have a water system that has been installed by the developer. The most common sources for these systems are high flowing springs, and in some cases surface water (e.g., creeks and rivers). Some developments, like Osa Estates in Uvita, even have back-up systems and extensive water storage capabilities. The interesting thing is very few developments actually have a concession (permission to extract water from the ground). The good news is the majority of them are “in process”. Either way, the developer usually provides the property owner a prevista (water right document) which guarantees use of water into the future (assuming the property owner is in compliance with established CC&Rs and other laws). Proof of a water document, like a prevista, is also required by the local Municipality before they will approve any construction project on a property. Continue Reading
I want to tell you the ocean knows this, Yo os quiero decir que esto lo sabe el mar,
that life in its jewel boxes que la vida en sus arcas is endless as the sand es ancha como la arena
Isla Ballena in the Paque Nacional Marino Ballena
As a teenager, I was as inspired by the poetry of Pablo Neruda. So much so, I decided to study English and wrote extensively during my college years in San Luis Obispo, California. I had the good fortune to rent a house on the beach with two friends, who were brothers. The younger brother would frequently bellow, “Thar she blows!” when he spotted a whale’s spout. His brother and I would always drop our books and run to glimpse one of Nature’s great spectacles.
Perhaps fueled by this touch of nostalgia and the fact that I spend almost everyday at the beaches in and around Uvita, I wanted to highlight some of the most precious real estate in Costa Rica— Parque Nacional Marino Ballena.
Parque Nacional Marino Ballena
Created in 1989, the Marino Ballena National Park was the first national marine park in Costa Rica. It was created to protect the marine ecosystems associated with the beaches, mangroves, islands and a fragile coral reef that turns out to be the largest on the Pacific Coast of Central America. The park itself stretches from the southern end of Playa Hermosa to the northern end of Playa Piñuela, and a triangular area reaching 9 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. That triangle also includes the famous Uvita Whale’s Tail, Tres Hermanas (The Three Sisters) and Isla Ballena. In addition to enhancing ocean view of property in the area, these landmarks are home to thousands of aquatic and terrestrial species.
Whale breaching in the Pacific.
“Ballena” means whale in Spanish. That’s right… this area is visited every year, primarily between the months of November to early March, by southern and northern hemisphere female humpback whales. They arrive to give birth and nurture their 14-foot?!! newborn calves in the warm, calm waters of Costa Rica. Although there are daily whale sightings in the peak season, this majestic mammal is still on the endangered species list. If you haven’t seen one up close, you might want to consider putting a whale-watching tour out of Uvita on your Bucket List.
Even if you aren’t into the idea of being on a boat in the open ocean, you can still enjoy the experience from land. I vividly recall one morning at La Parcela (which used to be my favorite spot for breakfast until they stopped serving it!) when my parents were visiting. We were enjoying our gallo pinto and eggs when a dark blue whale suddenly breached in the middle of the bay. Over the next half hour, it continued to rise out of the water, twist, and crash down on its side at least 20 times. It’s safe to say, this was the most memorable breakfast my parents and I have ever shared together.
Return Of The Ridley
The humpback whale is just one of many creatures inhabiting the marine park. Sea turtles are another ancient animal that return to nest on these specific beaches every year. Thanks to conservation efforts, Olive Ridley numbers are actually rising in the southern Pacific. You can see them while snorkeling around the Whale’s Tail or one of the aforementioned islands. But, let me tell you… if you haven’t seen a baby sea turtle dig out of its sandy nest and instinctively scratch its way to the water, you’re missing out on a truly wondrous experience.
Without question, the great outdoors, including the multiplicity of marine life found in Parque Nacional Marino Ballena, is at the center of this amazing life in The Zone. It is one of the primary reasons tourists visit and why many of those tourists eventually invest in real estate and/or relocate in this part of Costa Rica. The immediacy of wildlife in the southern Pacific zone, like a 50-foot whale breaching during breakfast, adds value beyond measure.
The year that I arrived here with my family. There just weren’t that many Gringos, or foreigners of any flavor really, in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone. Many of the foreigners that were here shared a similar idea. Land was so cheap that you could buy several hectares (one hectare = 2.47 acres) of land, cut off a piece, and sell it for nearly what you put into the whole piece. I used to call this “The Costa Rican Formula”.
If you think back over any real estate cycle anywhere on planet earth, lets say San Francisco, or Denver, it started out withfamilies owning large tracts of essentially valueless land. Governments typically gave land away at this stage of the cycle. Homesteading laws had some rather liberal restrictions that, if followed, enabled a family to take possession of the large tract of land. These families then used the land to live on and sustain themselves.
Costa Rica real estate was in that part of the “the cycle” a surprisingly short while ago.
I say this to help establish the paradigm here. We are early in the cycle. The majority of my career has been selling raw, undeveloped land. To this day there isn’t a large selection of houses, but there are getting to be more all the time. We are simply heading into that phase of the cycle.
“The Costa Rican Formula” is the obvious way to develop and make money on land. Buy a larger piece, cut it into smaller pieces and sell them. It is so obvious in fact that it enjoys a very brief period of the real estate growth cycle.
For the purpose of this article, I’m not writing about big developers that buy and develop large parcels. I’m referring to your normal joe, back in the day, slopping into an 8-ish acre piece of land. Then, they find out that they can cut off 3 of those 8 acres and bahdah-bing bahdah-boom, they own their 5 remaining acres for free. Continue Reading
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