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My land costs were just a wee bit more, so when I added in everything — house, land, lawyers (my lawyer’s fees were only a few hundred bucks), architect, excavation, 6 trips to Costa Rica, upgrades on sinks, etc. and a bunch of other piddling expenses here and there, my total cost — for EVERYTHING — is about $51.00 per square foot — where I live in Colorado the cost is $270 per sq foot. So when people start throwing around building costs of $250,000 in Costa Rica, I have to chuckle — just the house I built in Costa Rica would cost $470,000 where I live and the land would be ten times as much! Everyone who has seen my house — especially in the last stages of construction — literally drop their mouths and go WOW! And the bestest thing about all of this is that the house is totally paid for — NO MORE MORTGAGE! And that’s what makes Costa Rica an ideal place to live in my opinion — you can be mortgage free, which immediately eliminates a LOT of stress in our uncertain financial times.
Maravilla – I am having so much fun I can barely contain myself ….
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comHAHAHA — that’s great! For me, the fun part is KNOWING you can build an American-standard luxury home for not a lot of money. Then actually DOING IT!
Also, I would like to add that there are probably many reasons why people move to Costa Rica, but it seems that a lot of people are flocking here because of all the hype about cheap beachfront property and making a killing in real estate. I cringe when I hear the words “my investment”! I’m not into losing money, but making a killing wasn’t my prime motivation — living mortgage free and having less stress were my primary motivators. The idea of living in a glitzy, high-priced gated gringo community really turns me off — it only serves to separate one from the people whose country you invaded! By Tico standards, my house might seem grand, but it’s really humble compared to where I live now where the average home is 8 – 10,000 sq feet. Yes, our CR community has a night guard, but we are not fenced in. I happen to love mingling with the Ticos and don’t want them to view me as a rich gringo who moved here to take advantage of the human resources available, or to snatch up their land just to make money. I want to be PART of the community and not cordon myself off in a little gringo enclave. I’ve seen some of those developments down on the Pacific Coast — I wouldn’t live there if they GAVE me the house. Your biggest worry living like that is how to protect yourself and your goodies from all the have-nots who believe you have too much!!
Maravilla,
Thank-you, Thank-you Thank-you!!! My husband and I are planning on early retirement and are coming to CR in Oct. just to look around and possibly purchase some land. We had been looking at the Carribean side which I know is still very underdeveloped in the Puerto Viejo area. I’ve had my hesitations, but my husband seemed set on it. Anyway, to get to my point after reading your post I looked up some info on San Ramon, and showed my husband some pictures. He NOW thinks we should look in that area. So my MANY thanks to you. I owe you a big hug!! I am awaiting Scott’s info on Iguanaland (earlier post) I did see there website and lots looked very nice.
Debbiep.s. I forget to ask if you can recommend a place to stay in the area?
Thanks again,
We owe you a dinner when we get there! My Lizano products I ordered just came in the mail today. I’ts time to make Gallo Pinto!
DebbieUh-oh! San Ramon was the best kept secret in Costa Rica until I opened my fat yap! LOL The best place to stay is
http://www.AngelValleyFarmBandB.com — my friend Beth and Andrew own the place and they are wonderful! San Ramon has it all — it’s not glitzy or glamorous and there are probably more cows than people, but it has everything you need for a nice life — supermarkets, movie theatres, doctors, hospitals, good dentists. I love it there I’m sure you will too! But don’t tell anybody else about this place or it will become Gringolandia! LOLSan Ramon is a very attractive locale. Another, a bit closer to San Jose and its amenities, is Grecia where we are. We have a very vibrant gringo community here and are always happy to welcome newcomers. In Grecia, I can recommend La Terazza B&B. Tell ’em Dave sent you. http://www.laterrazab-b.com/p1.html
You can get fixed-price building contracts from Tico builders, but be sure that they have the financial substance to stand behind their guarantee. We built a guest house that ended up costing over $51 per square foot. Some of that was attributable to upgrades but most of it was due to unforseen circumstances that you, too, might encounter. For example, we ran into poor subsoil and had to extend part of our foundation down to about twelve feet.
Maravilla,
$1,300 sounds cheap for an archetect. Were the plans very comprehensive? Or did you have to fill in the blanks?
Fill in the blanks? Whatever do you mean by that? My plans were complete — all 6 pages of them or they would never have been signed off on at the muni. $1300 was last year’s price. This year it’s $1600, and my architect is very very good, and by some accounts, famous in Costa Rica.
WOW! I need names. We’re building a 1 bedroom house that is costing us $3400. in architect fees and permit fees and he estimates it will cost $40,000 to construct. It is only 81 m2. OMG we’re being ripped off. Need help in the Tilaran area.
I have a builder in Tilaran, actually three brothers who have a great reputation and do great work. The brother I am using to build presently is Luis Alvarez-Villalobos, cell no. 506-385-5260, home 506-438-1541. Ask him about his brothers who work out of Tilaran and let him know Juan Comparetto recommended him to you! He is very reasonable based on my own experience! Hope this helps!
Thanks so much, it looks like we’re committed to this engineer for the small house but we are also building a 3 bedroom when we move to CR. Having someone who can build both of them for a reasonable price restores our faith in the CR dream. Thanks again.
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