Good News for C.R. & Latin America

[crhomebuilder]

Good News for C.R. & Latin America
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is providing $105 million for Costa Rica. Two projects will assist first-time homebuyers and small and medium-sized enterprises (Sees. Robert Mosbacher, Jr., President and CEO of OPIC announced $105 million in new private sector investment in Costa Rica. He made the announcement during his eighth trip to Central America since the signing of the CAFTA Implementation Act in August 2005. http://www.opic.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/pr100108.asp

Foreign Trade Offsets Worldwide Economic Crisis – Trade is boosting the outlook for Latin America amidst the worldwide economic crisis. Latin American exports to the United
States increased by 18.1 percent and trade with Asia and Europe is growing at a faster pace than with the United States, providing new markets to offset any potential U.S. decline.

Hilton Hotels Company is planning to quadruple its presence in the Caribbean and Latin America over the next five years. The company’s growth is expected in all of the region’s capitals, as well as secondary markets such as Liberia, Costa Rica; David, Panama; and Leon, Nicaragua. This will be complemented by active pursuit of opportunities in the principal resort destinations of Guanacaste, Costa Rica; Antigua, Guatemala; Atlantic coast of Honduras and Belize; and Pacific coast of El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama. The company recently debuted three hotels and resorts in Costa Rica and has six approved deals in the Central America pipeline. Opened in January 2008, the company welcomed three hotels to Costa Rica: Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa; Doubletree Resort by Hilton Costa Rica – Puntarenas; and Doubletree Cariari by Hilton San Jose. Six recently approved transactions include: Conrad Los Micos in Tela Bay, Honduras; Hilton San Jose, Costa Rica; Hilton Panama; Doubletree by Hilton Panama; Embassy Suites by Hilton San Jose, Costa Rica; Embassy Suites by Hilton Panama City, Panama; and Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport, Costa Rica which opens later this year. http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2008_3rd/Sept08_HiltonLatinAmerica.html

Emerson Boosts Latin Sales – U.S. based energy and technology conglomerate Emerson is growing strongly in Latin America, where its sales increased more than the total growth of the entire company. Emerson Latin America President Leo Rodriguez said, “This is an excellent time to be in Latin America.”

[*Lotus]

I love your optimism but as I watch the European and US markets tumble I have to imagine there is some truth in this article, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aeWRhkAoaDlE , Also regarding future developments of Hotels etc..that can stop on a dime as it did with many projects here in the US. One of our biggest developers The Related Group pulled the plug on a number of condos even after signing contracts and taking deposits. luckily they are well funded and everyone got there money back, still many people were not happy. Costa Rica for me is about the easy going Latin life style, simple food, simple life. For those of you investing I wish you all the best. Are there enough baby boomers willing to move to CR? I don’t know, I just hope this gold rush mentality doesn’t hurt this wonderful place.

[grb1063]

There are more boomers considering the move now more than ever, but only those who are well travelled and may have lived in foreign countries. You have to admit that someone born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa or Billings, Montana probably could not handle living in Central America. The smartest thing CR did was not place their nest egg and faith in the US market.

[DavidCMurray]

Friend grb, I think you overstate the case and understate the ability of expats to adapt. While I wasn’t born or raised in either Des Moines or Billings, I hardly consider myself well traveled, and I never visited a foreign country (Canada aside) until we made the move to Costa Rica three years ago. This is an easy place to get used to.

[grb1063]

Let me rephrase that in more straight forward terms dm. Those who are comfortable in thier bubble and never have a desire to leave for lack of wordliness (never been farher than 500 miles from home), fear of the unknown, or the verbalized attitude of “why would I ever want to leave this state, there can’t be anything better than this” are the people I am refering to. These people are from America’s less cosmopolitan, rural areas and/or the agriultural or blue collar heatland…a large geographical area. It would be interesting to actually see some quantitative data on where most expats move from. I would venture to guess, from a psychological perspective, that the significant percentage are from major metro areas or suburbs thereof.

[DavidCMurray]

Now that is funny!

As fate would have it, we moved to Costa Rica from central Michigan where we spent our adult lives. You have described the good people of Michigan perfectly. The question on everyone’s mind during the spring is always, “Where in Michigan are you going on your vacation?” The primary question with regard to retirement planning is, “Where up north (in Michigan) are you planning to retire?” It’s uncanny.

[grb1063]

Here in Washington, we simply go to the eastern side of the state, the high desert, where the sun shines 300+ days per year and temperatures in the summer exceed 100, but in the winter get to 0. Many people do not realize that 2 hours from Seattle the weather transforms 100%. We need somewhere to go to avoid going crazy due to lack of blue sky for months on end. We get the dark like Michigan, but not the frigid cold and snow.
There is a good reason for Alaska Airlines being successful shuttling hoards of Western Washingtonians to more sunny locations. We just simply escape to CR for 2-3 weeks every 6 months and are looking forward to a permanent move as soon as fiscally possible!

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