Costa Rica Real Estate Nightmare – Guanacaste gone mad?

This is not a happy story and there will be readers who don’t want to read this but… While I normally try to tell happy stories or see some humor in whatever event I’m focusing on, in this case, I can not. It’s hard to separate the “what I saw” from the “assessments I was left with” so what follows is a mixture of both. (Not all the developments fit the following description but unfortunately many, many do.)

As a Developer: Generally, I am left wanting to disassociate myself from “developer” and “builder” — For the most part I was simply aghast and appalled at what I saw and I really think Costa Rica is screwing itself by not having (if they do, it isn’t evident to me) an overall master plan which is thought through and followed.

It seems to be a case of each developer doing what he wants with no, or virtually no, regulatory controls in place.

I find it hard to believe that permits have been issued on many of the developments I saw. Where the water and electricity will come from I’m sure hasn’t been addressed. In Tamarindo, one of the major growth areas, the nearest gas station is a fifteen minute drive outside of town.

There is no evidence of new civic services or infrastructure in or around any of the small beach towns… They are still beach towns which never did have an infrastructure or a civic administration to speak of.

Now they are surrounded and infiltrated with helter skelter chaos in and around them. For the most part, roads are what they were before construction started – dirt or gravel, pot holed and rutted beyond belief, many not wide enough for the current, let alone future traffic and parking? Forget it, it doesn’t exist now and won’t exist in the future. I saw some really ugly (in my opinion) units with air conditioner’s hanging off them stuffed in whichever way they can with no harmony, no commonality nothing to make a “community” or “neighborhood”.

Some of the developments are quite exclusive and very expensive: Large homes perched on hillsides shored up by 40′, 50′ + high retaining walls. The houses themselves are accessed by 30+ degree inclined roads. Gorgeous views but I have to question the soil stability and what happens in 20 years when the galvanized cyclone wire holding the retaining rocks together rusts and gives way and this concern doesn’t even include thoughts about the earthquakes which we have on a regular basis?

How they ever got approval for this based on our experience and when we’ve been told that the maximum road incline is 15 degrees – one can only speculate.

As a Builder: Playa Potrero: A three story, 6-plex building with a center common area located on the beach about 1,000 sf + outside with uncovered parking for 1 car. This is what is included you got: A “living room” which was not only very small but the design did not allow for the placement of furniture. The kitchen was disproportionately large for the size of the unit. It was a long kitchen with sink at one end, fridge located at the opposite end and stove in the middle.

Lots of counter space with an island about 30″ wide with overhanging counter which wouldn’t comfortably accommodate two people. The space for the stove was one meter wide; the majority of ranges are 30″ leaving 9″ for what? Garbage? The small set of upper cabinets were short; no valance lighting. There actually was a 30″ wide range hood but the plug in was exposed and off to the side. Neither corner cabinets had a shelf nor a lazy susan to make best use of the space. All of this was lit by an 18″ track light with three 40W incandescent bulbs.

The second bedroom was adequate size; the only window opened onto the inner common corridor providing virtually no light nor ventilation. The closet was small and had no doors – maybe they just forgot to put them on? There was a small en-suite bathroom. The laundry room had a window from the hallway (what a beautiful thing to look at). It too was disproportionately large. The washer and dryer stuck out from the wall way too much because they had not recessed the water or the dryer exhaust hose.

The master bedroom was adequate in size with a small walk-through closet to the master bath. The closet itself had no doors. The master bedroom looked out onto the uncovered parking lot and roadway. Lighting!

Throughout the condo/apartment, there was virtually no lights. Each bathroom had two or three 40W lamps. The living room and each bedroom had a ceiling fan with a 30W lamp in it. The unit was air conditioned. There was no tile design in the floors in any of the rooms. The doors had no trim–only the door jamb. The common swimming pool was not more than 5′ from the sliding glass door in the living room and the private terrace had to be accessed through the common element area.

For $450,000 + appliances, this could be your Costa Rica real estate nightmare!

In Tamarindo we visited a 7 storey, 35 unit condo which was nicely done. We saw several floor plans which I can’t fault. They were tastefully done and generally well thought through except for the following: Instead of using recessed halogen light fixtures which give a crisp, clear light, they used recessed 50W incandescent lights which just don’t cut it.

The kitchens were way shy on upper cupboard cabinets, no valence lighting, only 10 cm high granite back splash with the remaining painted drywall. No provision for space saver microwave and range exhaust units. The granite counters had no profile on the edges, only 1″ rounded corners and the eating counter was only 12″ wide, not wide enough for a glass and plate and not enough room for your knees.

The bathrooms were ordinary size but tastefully done, no valance lighting above the vanity mirror and no medicine cabinets. In fact, one of the designs had open spaces for towels and baskets. In all designs, the Jacuzzi was in the corner of the master bedroom. Each bedroom had a closet with wooden sliding doors. The interior partitions were dark melamine. The room doors and entry door were metal knockdowns with simulated wood finish–quite tasteful actually.

Two parking spaces–one covered and one outside. A the back of the covered space, there was not more than a 3″ clearance on either side; there was not enough space for car doors to open and a person to exit. The turning radius to access the parking space was very substandard and when the opposite side was filled with a car, would be virtually impossible. Storage lockers are sold separately from $5,800 to $13,500

Depending on the design and view, the prices ranged from around $450-$600 per square foot or US$4,500-$6,000 per square meter.

I spoke with one real estate sales agent while on my travels who felt there was going to be a big day of reckoning in a couple years and a lot of hurt buyers.

Unfortunately, the country will still be saddled with the mistakes which were allowed to happen and the nature of the landscape, loss of community identity and the socio-economic fabric of the area will be forever changed. Foolish purchasers will be chastised and of course instead of blaming themselves for a foolish decision, they will badmouth Costa Rica.

How do I feel about what I saw? “Disgusted” comes to mind along with “depressed” because I’m convinced there will be a lot of heartaches and disappointments in the future for a lot of people…

What can you do? As my friend Scott Oliver (founder of this site and the author of ‘How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate…’) is always saying, it’s easy to make sure that you are only buying from “experienced developers with a proven track record of delivering quality real estate in Costa Rica.”

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Brian Timmons is a Canadian citizen and developer living in Costa Rica, we will be featuring his new project when the time is right but if you wish to see his completed project in Santa Ana, you can read about that here.

If you would like to discuss the prices and quality of construction that you have seen in Costa Rica, please visit the Construction Quality & Prices in Costa Rica Discussion Forum here.

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.