Costa Rica Baby!!

I found a beautiful place on earth, a place where I feel like I could really spend the rest of my life. Warm water, hot sun and wonderful people who always seem to be smiling. Perhaps this is just a gringos illusion, I know paradise can only exist from the inside out and that no "place" can offer you true peace. But after working out the inside stuff Costa Rica is a place I like to practice being happy and she is a wonderful country to foster this practice. So instead of talking about real estate in New York, I will share some information with you about this wonderful little country.

As some of you may know, Cheryl and I own a piece of property in the Central Pacific about 2 km's South of Playa Hermosa de Jaco. We took a chance and purchased about 1.3 acres of land that at the time was part of a large farm. There was nothing but a trail leading into a very wild setting with the promise of roads, a gatehouse, water and electric to come. Well like everything in Costa Rica it took time, about two years longer than expected...but the developer came through and completed the project. We look forward to building our little casa in the near future, a place we hope to spend a few months a year and eventually retire to. This will just be an introduction to Costa Rica as there is just so much to talk about and so many things you need to be aware of before investing in this country. The surf is what first drew me here and believe me it did not disappoint! You basically have near perfect waves all year around which can range from large challenging beach breaks, like at Playa Hermosa to the more (gentle) waves at Playa Guiones. There is also great surf on the Caribbean side, most famously "Salsa Brava" a large narley reef break. I have not to been to this side of CR yet but we look forward to a little trip there when we are back down in August.

First I would like to say I did not purchase property in CR hoping to get rich and quite frankly I have been very skeptical of much of the development that has been going on. Unfortunately there have been many charlatans marketing property via  slick websites with the promise of large financial returns in exchange for wiring your money to them to secure a lot in a "development." Many of these projects have been shut down by the government because they did not have the proper environmental permits. Others did not even get as far as building out the promised infrastructure and now claim they are broke and the deposit you sent....that's gone.

Go to Costa Rica because it's a beautiful place, respect it and it's people and perhaps you will then come to understand what is "Pura Vida". If you do decide to purchase some property to build a house or maybe to hold for the future, I would greatly recommend that you get in touch with Freddy Quiros. He works for Richard Garson who was sort of a pioneer in developing affordable property and a community geared towards surfers and anyone else who may want to own a little piece of paradise(they also offer rental accommodations and surf trips.) They have a few different projects, (Freddy is their sales manager) that offer affordable homes and land. Freddy would be an invaluable resource for all things Costa Rica, as he grew up there and can guide you through all the procedures and local customs of purchasing real estate. Click on his name and you can browse through there websites. Don't forget to check Rovercam for daily surf reports and pictures!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about investing in Costa Rica real estate as well. I love talking about all things Costa Rica! I would be happy to offer you suggestions on where to stay, surf and explore. So this is just a little introduction to this wonderful, magic(check out Carton Surf, he can build you a magic board!) country. I will continue to write about it and tackle different subjects each each time. Pura Vida.