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I have to agree with all my heart with Scott on this especially when I read Jay this morning say “A lot of real estate agents wish that we would promote the country more. Note some of the reader letters. But our first obligation is to readers in general and to tell the truth as best we can. Otherwise we would lose your trust.”
Although few do these days, surely a journalist has an obligation to tell the truth without stooping to making outrageous claims and coming up with no evidence whatsoever to back up those claims otherwise they will lose the trust of their readers.
With this episode AmCostaRica has lost my trust and my respect.
I am assuming that you will be writing more about this Scott???????
I am starting to feel like this “baby Boomer” retirement thing is starting to sound like the “they are building an airport or the highway is coming” thing.Lol! When brokers like Terry tell us about 76,000,000 boomers retiring is a reason that Costa Rica real estate is going to be going strong into the foreseeable future, I for one am very skeptical of this assertion. As pointed out somewhere else less than 10% of all US citizens have a passport just for starters. The US is a very big country and at this point you can retire here as easily as you could in Costa Rica, there are many very beautiful parts of the country where you can buy a house for well under $200,000 and if you do a little research in places like Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Washington State, New York State, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Georgia, Montana, California, Arizona you will find some very cool places that would work well for a retiree with low taxes and all for around $100k. Perhaps some of you retiree’s are overlooking this, I have friends and family that live off there SS income including my Grand Parents(well into there 90’s!) of course they don’t have a mortgage. I believe based on my experience with people here in the US very very few are going to be willing to retire in Costa Rica, out of 100 people invited to our wedding maybe 25 are coming, and our families are pretty typical segment of the population most either in the north east or Midwest, quite frankly they think we are crazy and I can tell you none of these folks will be on that boomer train to CR lol! I am also a real estate broker and it is very very rare to hear another broker tell you the market is bad and I don’t think I have ever heard a broker tell that to a client they were trying to sell a property to. My point is I think it is not quite right to throw out that big “76,000,000 Million Boomers Retiring” thing as a reason to invest in Costa Rica or as a reason that the market will sustain itself while the economies of the buyers of CR property are coming a bit unglued. It may happen it may not and when that’s your mantra I believe you are being sensationalistic and it sounds more like something i would expect to hear from a “boiler room” pitch man than a knowledgeable broker. Just my 2 cents. http://www.realtor.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctid=424&mnp=13&mxp=17&typ=39 Lets all remember Costa Rica is just like any other market, when things accelerate to quickly based on “irrational exuberance” they will eventually unravel-that is the nature of the beast.
Lotus, there is NO PLACE in the US that has the climate of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. To the extent that climate is important, Costa Rica simply cannot be bested by any other place with a similarly friendly culture and beautiful scenery.
Sprite said: “there is NO PLACE in the US that has the climate of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. To the extent that climate is important, Costa Rica simply cannot be bested by any other place with a similarly friendly culture and beautiful scenery.”
Friendly culture that speaks Spanish… that does a retiree a lot of good. For those retirees that have passports, few are motivated to learn a foreign language so that they can communicate with that friendly culture. And no matter what they heard about good health care in Costa Rica, most still will not trust. Health care is a huge issue.
As for the weather in CR, it sure is a long way to go for weather. Go to CR and isolate yourself from family, friends, an English speaking community and much much more for the weather? Turn on the heat… the air conditioner.. easy. Yeah, they’ll be in doors, but it isn’t likely retiree will be going to the community center in Costa Rica where everyone speaks Spanish (yeah, I know, everyone know ONE retire that is adventurous, but we are talking about the majority, not those adventurous lone rangers).
Many places one can retire in the USA without resorting to Costa Rica. Places that actually have stores who employ English speaking associates.
I guess these questions will go ignored.
Valid questions about kick backs go ignored, but that is okay, because I think everyone knows that no one would involve themselves so much for nothing.
Right Scott?
Dockers said:
“Health care is a huge issue.”
“isolate yourself from family, friends, an English speaking community”
“Many places one can retire in the USA without resorting to Costa Rica. Places that actually have stores who employ English speaking associates.”I’ve been watching this thread develop, and found it enlightening up to the posting of the above comments Dockers—
Let me tell you, I’m moving to CR because of the reasonable cost and high quality of healthcare, due to a large community of English speakers, a number of close friends being there and so that when I do grow old I won’t have to work as a greeter at Wally world in order to afford to pay my medicare co-pay and heating bill. Also wondering what the crime rates are in those neighborhoods in Birmingham where those 50K properties are located. BTW I plan to rent a home when we move to CR—
ed fvoice of reason:
scott runs a website called we love costa rica and makes money with the real estate market there….
shhhessss think about it……….it called bias and its inevitable and NOT objective
not that he is dishonest or deceiving…..hes stating his opinionreally would you ask the restaraunt owner if his food is any good? if so, give me a call as i want to sell you my house in LA
now…….as for someone with some objectivity….me….i dont own CR property and have been looking awhile and watching and learning……..the “hot deals” from 3-4 months back are still “hot deals”
so from my perspective the market has and will continue to slow…..talk to CR lenders and you will see a big reason why………sure they’ll loan you money at a high interest if you have great collateral….gotta ask yourself why??
so, its buyer beware…..there is money to make in CR real estate whether its going either up or down…..
but as docker said….he wants his property to be tangible to him and close by
i imagine he has studied owing CR property from afar and decided there are way too many risks in CR….the laws there are not exactly what i would call real estate investor friendly…..at least thats what i decided….and the other problem is even if you live there you gotta jump thru all sorts of stupid procedures to stay there every 90 days…etc…etc…
now,,,,,as to CR being a beautiful and magical place….maybe its worth it to someone to pay for it and NOT worry about if they spent too much…or just rent>
my dos colones
Stephenf – great voice of reason! I liked 99% of what I read.
“scott runs a website called we love costa rica and makes money with the real estate market there….”
The above part is still bugging me, because Scott uses the cover that he does not sell real estate and because of this, his advice on the subject isn’t biased (he is implying that he makes no income from sales). It is pretty obvious that he is cashing in indirectly so like I said in my other post folks, beware!!!
“it called bias and its inevitable and NOT objective
not that he is dishonest or deceiving…..hes stating his opinion”I just saw this one… ut oh, what if his opinion is always the same? buy buy buy!!!
Some of those Birmingham neighborhoods are quite nice, my point is there is a lot of affordable real estate in the US now…a lot! Not just in Birmingham either here’s a cute condo in Taos, New Mexico http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?ctid=5895&typ=3&sid=2c0ff2aed8f54f8ebed5bfae65137ed7&lid=1081909811&lsn=8&srcnt=556#Detail I love Costa Rica and am a property owner and am not trying to tell anyone not to go, but you are deluding yourself if you think you have no other choices, there are a million here and its a big time buyers market! To live up to North American standards in Costa Rica ain’t cheap and if you think living in a house in say Escazu that is not part of a gated community is worry free? Ask Hals wife at abroadincostarica or ask Hal about there security features. I mean people are buying condos in Santa Ana in gated communities for $350k, I agree they are beautiful but the average retiree is not going to live there on SS payments. How about y’all living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina great year round weather and a golfers Mecca…http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?ctid=5509&ml=3&typ=3&sid=b84e0c4d23714a1e81c595eb82a6568d&lid=1081037563&lsn=6&srcnt=6456#Detail This looks like a safe neighborhood? I love Costa Rica because of the world class surfing and we are beach people, love the tropical lifestyle. We also bought land in a gated community 2kms from world class surfing beach Playa Hermosa for $6 dollars M2-to me it was a no brainer, I would not pay $350k for a condo in Jaco and I would prefer the high country of the Carolinas to the central valley if I had to choose a permanent retirement base.
frankly, i wish those retirees and other expats who refuse to learn spanish and who isolate themselves in gringo enclaves and who think because they are waving dollars in their grubby little fists that every shopkeeper should cater to them in english, would just stay in the US where they belong. When i first moved here 4 years ago, i could hardly find a shopkeeper in my town who spoke enough english to assist me, now they all want to practice their english with me. i didn’t move here to speak english and behave like a typical gringa, and (in my humble opinion) it’s realy arrogant of those expats who refuse to assimilate into this culture and who have no basic spanish skills. I am constantly reminding gringos i know that this is THEIR country; it’s THEIR culture, and it’s THEIR language, and if they don’t like those things then they should get the hell out of here and go back to wherever they came from. as for medical care, it’s better here than in the US, and a lot cheaper, too. most americans are doctor-addicted anyway. they’d rather pop pills than change their lifestyles. for those people CR is a great deal! i’m going to a local doctor next week and his office visit is $20 — 1/6 of what my doc in the US charges just to walk in his door. it really rankles my ire when i here people say they only moved to costa rica because it was cheap, which it ain’t any more! it may be cheaper than some parts of the US but almost everything — from food, to services, to ICE luz has shot up in the last couple of years, and it’s only going to get worse when the multinationals move in and takeover the services previously provided by the gov’t. yeah yeah, i forgot, that’s what most gringos want — a little version of the US in a cheap foreign country. As for the weather, it’s day three of constant drizzle and torrential rains. battling the humidity and the mold and moss is a fulltime job unless you want evertyhing you own to be ruined. there are a lot of pluses in costa rica; but there are also a lot of warts, but that’s what i love about this place.
I agree with you Maravilla. In the US we go to great lengths and great expense to cater to other languages and cultures and expect the same for ourselves in other countries. The ATM machines here in Washington State are in English, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and Russian. There are entire classes in our public school system that are nationality specific at the taxpayers expense. If you are going to live in a foreign country….leran the language!! (no capital letters as per Scott)
A significant part of the beauty of CR is the process of assimilation. Thank God I have a latin mother (Argentine) and the gift of being fluent in the 2nd most spoken language in the world. I truly adore the latin culture and have never considered myself to be 100% “American”. Can’t wait to call CR home.i’m with you on all of those points, and i also do not consider myself an american except for the fact i happened to have been born there — my parents were european and raised me as such. in every country i’ve lived in i spoke the language, in deference to that country and its culture. but i hear gringos whine all the time about how not all Ticos speak english. go back to the US is what i tell them, and don’t let the door whack you in the butt on your way out. it’s those people who only last a few years then hightail it back to the security of their suburb and their gringo counterparts. admittedly, third world living is not for everyone. . . thank goodness.
maravilla said: “i’m with you on all of those points, and i also do not consider myself an american except for the fact i happened to have been born there”
haha, well give up your citizenship…. it is easy to do. until then, you shouldn’t be broadcasting such garbage until you have the backbone to match you words with action! hey, then you can apply for a tourist visa to come back and hey, they just might not give you one.
yeah, i bet you don’t act like a gringa in costa rica.
you crack me up, dockers. obviously you know nothing about what it takes to renounce your citizenship, and why should I? it’s not my fault i was raised in a home where English was the third or fourth language my family spoke and i was constantly reminded of my european heritage, which goes back many centuries. i have another passport, and could get two more if i wanted, plus i have legal residency in costa rica. i consider myself to be a citizen of the world, and how would you know how i act in costa rica? i’ll bet i speak better spanish than you do!
well marv all more reason to renounce your citzenship, but you come up with a lame reason to keep it… it is just too much trouble… rip up your US passport, that will be a good start.
“english was the third or fourth language my family spoke” – you aren’t sure? sounds like a lie when you don’t even know your own family. you should know exactly how many languages were spoken in the home. it matters none though, because it is very difficult to pass those language on to offspring when parents know English. kids cling to what is spoken around them the most. there is little need for so many language in one home, i live in California so i know lots of immigrants and always, never just sometimes, only TWO languages dominate the household. if the parents know english, the parents usually speak to each other in their mative language and the kids usually speak in english to each other…. if the parent are lucky, their kids will be able to understand their parent’s language when heard, however the kids rarely are able to speak in the parent’s language when their parents know english.
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