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Writing a blog about Costa Rica real estate has its perks. We’ve got readers out there who are doing some pretty creative projects and we don’t even know about them… until they get ready to go to market with their project. Such is the case with Sierpe Del Pacifico (SDP). Fred and his son Cassidy approached Rod & I about a month ago to tell us about their project in Sierpe. I think that this type of inquiry wouldn’t normally have much interest to us Guys, but Fred had written such an eloquent and well crafted introductory e-mail that we were intrigued.
Sierpe is a bit out of the way, on the fringe of “The Zone”. I’ve also heard that it is hot and buggy. I’m not much for hot and buggy, but in truth I couldn’t speak from personal experience regarding the place, so I kept an open mind.
What Fred & Cassidy have done is they have formed a father & son team and are passionately developing a piece of property that offers what, I suspect, a lot of readers of this blog are looking for: a truly unplugged, solar powered, bio-digesting, boat access project, surrounded by some of the best fishing, both fresh water, brackish and deep sea, in the… country? World? I don’t know, but you always catch big, tasty fish when you go out with them.
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Rod & I sold a piece of property yesterday and I’d like to tell y’all about it. Be ye buyer or seller I think that it will be informative and hopefully helpful.
The couple came to us from a Canadian referral, primarily to view the San Buenas Golf Resort. I’ll call them the Schmerds.
After viewing the course and deciding that it was for them – they’ll likely get a clubhouse condo for investment and income generation. All this plus the fact that they like to golf made that a no brainer. They asked if they could see some general market properties as well.
We started in Uvita with some lovely whales tail view properties. 
Bella Vista Lot #6 has occupied “The Best Deal in Uvita” slot for some time, but was recently nudged into second place by a fire sale opportunity that we had just received.
The Schmerds LOVED #6, with its beautiful ocean and jungle views and absolute privacy. A little over 2 acres and end of the road quiet.
From there we went to Bella Vista #5 
which is a re-sale and was formerly “Ben’s Favorite Uvita Property” but it too has been relegated to the #2 position by another property that I’ll describe here in a minute. (more…)
I bumped into a developer today that told me of some inspections that are going on in Costa Rica’s southern zone.
Since this is all just now happening I’m only able to report on what I know and have found on some news sites on the net.
There was apparently a large construction site that was shut down in a project that was called both “Hermosa Arriba” and “Playa Hermosa Arriba”. The project was cited for not staying within the confines of it’s building permit. The project went whipping right by its permitted size of 5,381 feet to construct a house of 37,673 feet.
Here are a couple of links to what I’ve found so far:
The La Nacion article is the most in depth, and actually was written prior to the current inspections. The article cites the above mentioned oversized house.
The El Financiero’s report quotes a fellow as saying that “the coastal mountain range is bleeding”. Evidently some aerial photos played a part in discovering developments that have cut roads and building sites into these jungle clad mountains without permits, or with questionably obtained permits. One of the big concerns is the orange clay runoff that washes into the Pacific and that then chokes the coral. This issue is likely to continue with some heads rolling as the mayor of the Canton de Osa is being investigated for his records of these events.
I have received some inquiries from concerned property owners as to what effect these inspections and development/construction closures may have on them. So far I don’t see any concern to any of our clients.
We call our business “Dominical Dot Biz Select Properties” for this very fact. We select properties that are compliant with good development practices and reject listing others. (Just thought I’d put that plug in)
The effect will most likely be that the land deals here will be a bit more arduous in the due diligence stage. This has got to be a good thing since it is nature’s radical presence here that has attracted us all here in the first place.
The so far sketchy info and street talk that we are hearing here is that there are numerous projects being subjected to well deserved scrutiny. I’ll post more as I hear it.
