Las Olas – Esterillos Oeste – Insight Please

I have no knowledge of this development, but I do have a general word of caution to share.

If this effort has been inactive for any length of time, for any reason whatsoever, proceed very, very carefully. Don’t put any money down on anything until you have seen this (or any other project) with your own eyes and until you have done [u]your own[/u] due diligence.

Other contributors here and I have warned before that you should not take anything at face value or as represented by anyone who has any interest in consumating a deal that you’re involved in. Don’t trust the word of the salesperson. Don’t trust the word of the owner. Don’t trust the word of other purchasers. Don’t trust the developer’s attorney. And if, somehow, I were to get involved (and I’m not), don’t trust me either!

Hire your own attorney to verify all the legal matters. Then hire a second attorney to check the work of the first.

If (say) utilities such as water, electricity and telephone are important to you, verify for yourself that they are available. If paving the roads is important to you and they are not already paved, how and when will that work be completed? How can you be sure?

Hire your own surveyor to survey the property. And if you buy, have him register that survey in the National Registry.

There is a rich record of residential community developments starting with a bang and ending with . . . nothing. It’s easy to print up some brochures, draw subdivision plans, establish a phone bank, etc. It’s much more difficult to actually do the work on the ground.

Please be sure you’re dealing with a legitimate project with a high likelihood of successful completion before you invest anything more than time and airfare. This may be a great opportunity for you, but know the facts first. Then write the check. It’ll still be there.

Dave Treadway. He can be contacted thru this site….Dave will fill you in ….[/quote]

I know Dave Treadway and he can help you.
My own home is in Bejuco and I know the Las Olas bldg was closed in january.

1st rule is : get up and go visit for yourself.
Try Spirit Air.
Meet Dave personally…rent something in the area.
Drive around with Dave…see it up close and personal.

I was a prospective buyer of a lot at Las Olas. I sent a 10,000 dollar escrow deposit per the reservation agreement to Latin America Title. We booked travel, and the Las Olas staff was supposed to have booked accomodations and airport transfers for us. When we arrived, no one was at the airport to meet us. I was finally able to contact the sales person on his cell phone. He told me he had been abruptly fired and was sorry to hear that I was stranded but gave me the phone number of David Aven, a principal at Las Olas. I was able to contact Mr. Aven after several tries. He told us to arrange for our own transportation and accomodations. We had been approved by the sales person to stay at Los Suenos, but Mr. Aven wanted us to stay someplace cheaper.
We met Mr. Aven the following day at our hotel and he gave us a showing of the property. He gave us all the information and a P& S agreement. After a brief deliberation that evening we decided against purchase.
1) The site is near a wet area
2) we asked locals (Ticos) about the project and they weren’t very happy about the conditions
3) we didn’t think it was a good value (the prices have since dropped by 50% however)
Meanwhile, Latin America Title was attempting to contact me. The contract was expiring when we were in Cosat Rica but I couldn’t access an email attachment from them so waited until my return in a few days to the States. I contacted Latin America and they told me the contract had expired and that they had given the escrow deposit to Mr. Aven. I had been told previously over the phone by the sales person that the contract period would be extended.
That was over a year ago. I retained a law firm in Costa Rica to retrieve the funds and expenses. Initially they were encouraging, but later indicated it would be high risk and discouraged me from pursuing this.
To date, the escrow funds, airport transfers expenses, and accomodations for 2 nights that were in the reservations agreement have not been recovered. I don’t expect they will be either. I have tried to stick with facts that I can document here. Hope this helps

I guess that an upside to not being well to do or rich is that i have no money to do stupid things with. lol

Not trying to beat on any one person; but some seem to pay lots of “stupid tax”

In actuality i most likely have done some very stupid things with my money! Just on a smaller scale! lol

[quote=”michaelm”]just wondering if anyone heard anything more about this.[/quote]

I contacted the sales guy by email from the A.M. Costa Rica e-newspaper site. They are running ads everyday.
The guy now sends me his sales e-mail every week or so. He makes lots of claims about how the owners bought this land 7-yrs ago, own it outright and never suffered any setbacks.

I reiterate my standing maxim: “Go See for your self”
Talk to anyone and every one local. Drop in at the Low Tide Lounge and make friends.

If you do your research for real. you will find this development is solid, no debt titled lots and just look around Costa, stuff went sideways everywhere, they are moving on roads. power poles, surveying etc.

If you don’t think for 49k it is a good deal, you are poor at research.
Hills of Esterillos, CostaEsterillos, don’t even compare.
I bought in phase 1 and have all titled documents, met the owner etc, this is as solid as Costa Rican real estate is.