Guys In The Zone: Costa Rica Real Estate

“Few people actually stumble into wealth.”
- Smith Barney (although I couldn’t determine if it was Mr. Smith or Mr. Barney?)

In Part One of this article, I outlined how million dollar houses fit into the Costa Rica real estate landscape, specifically in the southern Pacific zone (The Zone).  There are a few obvious reasons to buy a luxury home in Costa Rica—

*  It’s A Buyer’s Market (Prices are down approx. 50% from the peak in 2008.)
*  Desirable Area (International Living Magazine rated The Zone as, “one of the top three real estate destinations in 2010.”)
*  Stable Prices For Construction Materials And Labor

The three-year Costa Rica real estate trend has reflected a significant drop in value, including property in the luxury home category.  Although there are some very nice million dollar homes in the area, this young market enables another popular strategy— Buy-And-Build.

Buy and Build

The majority of buyers who come down to the greater Dominical area with a plan to purchase a house, often end up purchasing raw land instead.  The reason is the area has a relatively small inventory of quality homes with floor plans and finishes that appeal to most North American and European home buyers.  So, they end up buy raw land or a lot in an established development, design their home with the help of a Costa Rican architect, select a builder, and then start the building process. Read the full story

Are you an entrepreneur who wants to relocate in Costa Rica? Many of you have ideas of what you would like to do but you don’t know if it is feasible. Do you buy a well-priced piece of real estate then develop it to your liking? Or, do you buy a turnkey business in one of the small towns of the Southern Pacific Zone (SPZ)? Those are two questions The Guys In The Zone are asked often, and I thought I would shed a little light on the possibilities.

Buy land, build structure, announce grand opening.

Relocators who lean toward the Buy & Build model are the most common brand of investor. Rarely, does the building process go perfectly smooth especially if you are a “first timer” in Costa Rica. Even with a good contractor, we encourage most owners to be on-site often. In fact, the more you can be there to answer questions and provide direction, the better. There’s nothing worse than flying down to check on the status of your building only to discover the size of your custom kitchen and bathroom have been interchanged?! If you follow this advice and move down to oversee the building process, then there are the obvious costs associated with living here (rent, bills, food, gas, etc.). However, this increases your chances to end up with the small (or large) business you always dreamed of. I have attended a few “Grand Openings” in the past few years, and most owners smile with pride, albeit with a touch of fatigue.

Most of our commercial land sellers are open to negotiating price and/or carrying paper (seller financing) as long as there is a significant down payment. Currently, we have excellent “raw land” properties that can accommodate businesses ranging from a small hotel-restaurant (listing #224) and one of the best “large commercial” pieces on the Costanera (listing #312).

Or, buy a landmark!

Until just recently there were very few businesses to buy in the SPZ. Over the past five years, the ticos and early bird gringos have successfully Read the full story

I received the below e-mail last week and have been working with “Jim” (name is changed to protect…).  His situation is one that I think a lot of folks will be able to relate to.

Reading through your blog it appears that purchasing a home or property in the southern zone is now just for the wealthy. Those who have 5 or 6 other houses and for which one more is just another investment. There are those of us who would like to make Costa Rica our new home and leave the corporate hassles behind. We just may not have the $300K – $1M in cash for such a move. What do you recommend for those of us who are a little ahead in the US real estate game and are looking for a quiet, secluded, place to raise some fruit, veggies, etc. and settle down?

Nicely put, and meaty. I wrote back:

I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to answer your question with some questions. Nearly all of our deals here are cash deals. What amount of cash Read the full story