Costa Rica Land Sales – Deceptive advertising or not? Your vote is important!

One of our VIP Members has been emailing asking what we thought about the two promotional emails she and her mother had recently received from a company that sells a lot of land in Costa Rica

Analyzing promotional campaigns is not what we normally do however, our VIP Members said that the photographs used in these two emails are of views that are impossible to find from any land that is for sale by the company that is sending out these two emails.

So we thought we would do the democratic thing and ask our VIP Members to vote – in complete confidence – on these email campaigns. Both of these emails were received our VIP Members in mid March 2007.

We insert the photographs first with the hope that you will remember your first impressions and therefore be able to place your vote without being influenced by the commentary below.

As a courtesy to the Costa Rica land sales company involved – with the hope that they perhaps ‘modify’ their future email campaigns – we will not be naming the company that is sending out these emails.

Costa Rica Land Sales – Email Promotion #1.

In this first email campaign, we might note that this company has historically focused on selling land at fairly low prices in areas that are not that close to the ocean and, at this moment in time, we have confirmed in writing with the Chairman of the company that they do not in fact have any land for sale that would give you the views seen here in either if their advertisements.

“A nice ocean view can be yours” certainly, there is no shortage of real estate for sale in Costa Rica however, according to Costa Rica beachfront real estate experts, buying land with an ocean view like this, obviously very near the water and, building a similar home would start at about US$600,000 and certainly not $60,000.

Costa Rica Land Sales – Email Promotion #2.

The second email promotion received by our VIP Member’s mother made her more concerned because her mother swore to her on the telephone that this was “definitely the view we have” if they bought the land being promoted because it does say “Hey guys! Check out my new view!!”

This could be a mistake that’s made by many people and that’s why we are asking you to vote below so that we can see how many other people might be thinking the exact same thing.

We asked Scott Williams of 2CostaRicaRealEstate who is an expert in Manuel Antonio real estate to identify this photograph and he confirmed that this is a photograph taken of the Manuel Antonio National Park and he added that:

“Many promoters, travel agencies, domestic airline companies, etc use this in their material. However, I would say that is definitely misleading to use this image in the manner shown below – I could be wrong, but I really don’t think XXXXXXX (or any other land developer for that matter) is selling lots with this view. We have two lots with this view listed in our agency; 1 is approx. 2600 (little over a half acre) for $399K and the other one is just 700M2 (approx. 1/5 of an acre) for $600,000.

My best estimation for a 2.5 acre parcel with these views in today’s market would be worth (depending on the topography and amount of forest/usable land) anywhere from $1 to $2 million.”

It’s our VIP Members in the USA that are receiving these kinds of email promotions and we would like to ask you to please vote below – in complete confidence about how you feel about this email marketing campaign.

After one week the results are clear:

34% believe the ads to be “downright fraudulent.”
24% believe them to be “deceptive.”
24% believe that buying land without seeing it is “foolish.”
8% believe that the ads are “misleading.”

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Although Scott Oliver does not personally sell real estate, he would be happy to Help-U-Search for your perfect property in Costa Rica.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.