Costa Rica Real Estate

I was standing in the outfield at the Saturday Softball game in Uvita, when the feeling hit me. It was the warm feeling you get (and I’m not referring to the direct sun variety) when you are with a group of people having fun. In a word: community.

We have a special one down here in the Southern Pacific Zone of Costa Rica. Perhaps it is the international mix of ex-pats— Germans, French, Italian, Swiss, Argentinean, Canadian, Mexican, African, Chinese, and the list goes on. A variety of backgrounds and personal stories better than any television series— the crazy Italian chef turned humble bread maker, the ex-radio personality turned successful bar owner, animal activists, people activists, retired couples from Atlanta to Ibiza…. the list is long and varied. It’s diversity meets adventure meets pura vida, and we love it.

For many investors, Costa Rica has been (and continues to be) primarily a smart place to put your money. And, that’s fine; investing is encouraged given the bright future of the country and region. But, for those people considering a permanent (or semi-permanent) move down to Costa Rica, the reasons stretch beyond democracy, economy and sunshine.

Variety evolves culture. This is especially true with the exotic cuisine found in the area; there is even a restaurant named Exotica, and it is excellent. In addition to numerous Tico restaurants, international options include—French fusion, organic Italian, Japanese sushi, Curry Night, and yes even elements of “the western diet” satiate the The Zone’s inhabitants.

In addition to these restaurants dotting the landscape, a staple of any conscious community is the farmer’s market. There are in fact two weekly farmer’s markets in The Zone—Thursday and Friday in the fast-growing city of San Isidro, and the Saturday Farmer’s Market in our sleepy beach town of Uvita. This relatively new farmer’s market offers an increasingly broad array of (mostly) organic produce, baked breads and pastries, homeopathic elixirs, and hand-made gifts. I consider all of these wonderful vendors “artists”, as you only need to grow or create something and share it with others to qualify. In fact, we have more photographers, painters, writers and musicians per capita than any place I’ve ever been. Perhaps it is this artistic quality that blends so nicely with the laid back, friendly nature of the Ticos.

Most of the people living here agree that the economic downturn is no excuse to lose sight of the importance of doing what we love. In fact, it compels us to re-adjust our sights on something uplifting and sustainable. Simply put, Ben and I love helping people invest in property in the Southern Pacific Zone of Costa Rica. We love every aspect of this service—putting deals together, hiking around large farms, chopping tall grasses with machetes, designing new websites…. all of it. In fact, work doesn’t feel like work at all. Experience tells us the recent drop in property prices will soon hit bottom (if it hasn’t already), and another long rise will begin.

This coastal area, as my friends in California like to say, is golden. The reasons are many—low population & construction density, great value, the Coastal Highway is almost paved between Quepos and Dominical, an International Airport in our future, it’s a tropical paradise. And, let’s not forget the original inspiration for this article—community. It’s not something you can put a price on. It’s something you feel.

Especially on days when you observe 20 gringos cheering for a Tico kid who hit his first home run.

“The chance to have a second life in the same body.  A life immersed in nature, and immersed in culture.  This would be to get involved in what is here as opposed to what I had already lived”.

After reading my article in a new magazine here in the zone, Raven’s flagship Montañas al Mar, an old friend approached me and took exception to one of my comments.  He was able to quote the article – the part where I mention how early land buyers here in Costa Rica’s southern Pacific zone were able to convert $1.00 invested in land into $120.00 by selling that land.

My old friend, who is seated squarely in the middle of the “early investors” group, made the point to me that the so called “early investors”, hardly had “investing” in mind.  This wasn’t what they were doing.  For some reason, this sparked my question: “Why did you move here”? And hence his answer as noted above, which I find to be profoundly beautiful, and the wisdom of which caused me to pause, and it set off a chain link series of memories as to my own reasons for moving here, none of which had to do with investing.

In my conversation with Old Friend, he talked about the day when you would buy a large piece of land, partly because that was all that was available and because that was the life that you wanted.  There certainly weren’t the conveniences here that there are now, but there was the serenity and quiet, and a chance to live “a second life in the same body”.  Granted, the thought of parceling off a piece of piece of that land in the future to reduce, or fully compensate one’s initial investment was present, but was not the key motivator.

Working in real estate in Costa Rica, one tends to get the viewpoint of valuing the land we work with in terms of “asset appreciation” and “investment potential”.  This is indeed what a certain percentage of our buyers are concerned with. However, just like some of the early investors, a number of our buyers now are life-stylers, those who are looking to live life in a way that differs from the way they’ve lived it up till now, and that have placed “asset appreciation” low on the list of criteria that they are looking for.

“Why did you move here” is a great mental exercise for us expats and migrators.  I suppose that there will be some that answer the question with: “I came to invest in land and make a lot of money”, but I think that they’d be in a minority among those that live here.

The beauty of buying land in an area such as this is that you can perhaps optimize your dreams in the buying of that land.  The land itself becomes the means by which you can live in this beautiful area of planet earth.  There are so many ingenious ways that expats find to support themselves here: vacation rentals, B & B’s, spas and retreats are all in full bloom here for this very reason.  One couple I know have cabinas, a highly rated restaurant, a decorative iron works shop and a petting zoo on their property, even though the property is a little off the beaten path.  Its hard to know if it’s a money maker, but it clearly allows them to live happily in Costa Rica.

There seems to be an irresistible push to make Costa Rica just like any other desirable destination, with all the services and conveniences of a Florida or a southern California.  There are a couple of factors here which may affect this “push” from coming through to full fruition. One is the topography.

Costa Rica is a geologically young country.  Pressed up by colliding plates, the country was thrown up by erratic tectonic pressures in an anything but orderly manner.  After living here for over 10 years I still have to carry a compass with me to establish “north” in a given location, so abstract is the lay of the land. Even if pure lucre were given free reign to define development in the zone, it would be limited by the radical nature of the topography.

And then there is the matter of consciousness.  Costa Rica news headlines are rife with reports of catastrophes and subsequent damage control that rampant development has caused in the earlier developed areas of Costa Rica.  We here in the southern zone are benefitting from the mistakes made elsewhere.  There is a genuine interest on the part of foreigners and Ticos alike to preserve this gem-like portion of Costa Rica, a consciousness that transcends the turning of a buck.

Well, we’re hoping so.

So much of how we’re doing here as a species, living in the finite space of this planet, is defined by our use of land.  Just in the last week I’ve enjoyed the conversation mentioned in this article, and others with developers, house builders and residents alike that are focused on “green” and “sustainability”, in their truest sense.

There is a construction company taking shape in Dominical that is no less than visionary in its approach to the building materials that will be used to construct human habitat.  There is a company in Canada that is about to make solar homes with thatched roofing affordable to land buyers here in the zone.  There are efforts on the part of developers to employ ecological easements to definitively restrict the further subdividing of their lots, into perpetuity – all good.

We are about to see a major change here in the zone.  More people are going to find their way here with the paving of the bumpy road that links Quepos in the north to Dominical, the gateway to the zone.  Development and progress are going to happen.  It seems to be an irresistible force in human society.  More, bigger, better.

So, why are we here?

Perhaps it’s the differences as compared to where we come from.  Perhaps it’s the value of quieting the inner dialogue that ran so rampant in our minds “back home” – freedom from media saturation – a connecting with nature and the spiritual side of things – an opportunity to “get involved in what is here as opposed to what I had already lived”.

How we answer this question may define how things look around here in the coming years.

 If you would like to send us your answer to this question, please fill feel free to cut loose with your creative thoughts.

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Some are touting the global phenomenon of Yodeling Naked as the possible solution to the many divisive problems now confronting mankind. Originally developed as a privacy measure for property in Costa Rica’s remote southern pacific zone by none other than us here at Guys In The Zone, “Yodeling Naked” has swept the globe. Some are calling it the “New Yoga” as Muslims, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, New Agers and others are being witnessed in the activity.

“I used to hate my neighbors” said Mildred Dinglewhitz of Scottsdale Arizona, “now I love them”. This quote was taken as Mildred was coming in from her back porch after letting fly with a good yodel in the buff. She credits her new ritual of yodeling naked for 5 minutes twice a day, for the change in attitude.

There is a proposal being presented to congress in the upcoming session that a 7 minute congressional Yodel Naked session would help to “add clarity” and “breakdown barriers” as they deal with today’s thorny issues. A similar measure is being drafted to present to the World Religious Counsel.

All right, enough of that. I must admit though that I now understand the power of the Title. I have received tons of comments and e-mails from my article here that contained the words “Yodeling Naked”.

Costa Rica real estate, the theme of this blog, limits my ability to come up with some really grabbing titles. I am hard pressed to equal the curb appeal of a title containing the word “naked” juxtapose with “yodel” and then “fire sale” thrown in for good measure, but I can assure you, I’ll be trying.

I had a rather positive experience come out of that article in the form of a gentleman, Brian Requarth. Brian has put up a website that endeavors to list properties throughout Latin America as well as helpful information, similar to Guys In The Zone. You may recognize the name since Brian is a regular commenter here on Guys In The Zone.

Brian contacted me and asked if I would be available to do an interview over the phone, actually we used Skype. I was honored. Brian recorded the interview and posted it to his website. I have posted it here for your listening enjoyment.

So, spread the word! Yodel naked for world peace!