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Don’t mind my english, I’m a french canadian and I speak and write english and spanish equaly, just anough to be well understood, I hope so.
My wife and I are 50 years old and we will be retired in about 3 years. We’re in good health. We are used to live in the country with low people density and simple life. We live on a 20ha land. Winters are long, tough and costly out here.
I love taking care of a garden, trees and I grow several kinds of exotic medicinal and gourmet mushrooms for fun.
After reading half of M. Scott’s book and lots of comments on the forum, here’s how it had influenced me and my perspectives, and some questions to be pleased answered:
Please correct me, depending your opinion, when you think it’s wrong and why it’s wrong.
After calculate the difference in taxes plus a lower cost of energy, by living in CR I almost eat for free.
Buying in Costa Rica is complicated and costly procedures including a lot of people making it risky.
Discussion on Security in CR are something noubulous with ambiguities for me till now. Some more real infos about it and good education I need about the culture. Some say it’s a safe country, others say it’s changing to a dangerous country.
Why people live in gated communities and in almost prison houses if you say it’s a safe country?
About 70% of what we have read on the country is positive.
We finaly took the decision to go in Costa Rica october 18th (tickets are bough) and evaluate by ourselves what has been read till now.
1. We will go in Caribbean south east region first for 2 or 3 weeks.
2. 2 to 3 weeks In the north valleys of San Jose
3. 2 to 3 weeks at Arenal’s lake.At each place visited we will try to make good contacts and evaluate life style. I know 2-3 weeks is almost nothing but we have to start somewhere. If we like a certain place we will come back next time longer(in winter maybe) to better evaluate the region and how could be our life in that region in CR.
We’re looking for a simple house with commodities and with plenty of space on the land with lots of different fruit trees and at a good price. Far from big cities but near health services. We don’t like big tourist development, it’s the reason why we don’t go west. We have seen properties with some good rivers. As I speak and read a good spanish (it’s like my english) it maybe will help us to integrate the community.
Do Ticos take care of their environment or they throw their garbages in rivers or slumps?
Please tell us if you know one of the 3 regions we mentioned above and can give us contacts with good real estate agents to meet that we can make a list, or you know some quiet region to visit that is responding to our search.
For each region we’d like to visit and stay a while, do you know where we could live for a good price and in a quiet place? Could you tell us the price if you know. We are not looking luxury.
Only the security questions is bothering us. What is real about? You’ll know if we get back here in one piece!! Ha! Ha!
Joke apart, hopping that by the time we will be there and look out will reflect the truth and we will find a country with his residents who can adopt us to give us the chance to live far from costly hard winters and very high taxes. It would be a pleasure for us to share time, life experiences and knowledges with all kind of people.
Is it real that being stolen is part of daylife?
Hopping my english was not to bad,
Thanks to you helping us to discover Costa RicaThanks again
MicololoYou are asking a LOT of questions Micololo and the best way to find those answers is to do exactly what you are going to do… Come visit Costa Rica and take a good look around different areas BEFORE making any serious life changing decisions.
If you love gardening, it will be difficult finding a better place for that than Costa Rica where everything seems to grow.
We had a lovely couple here recently from Florida who are paying $25,000 per annum in property taxes and $800 per month on electricity. I pointed out to them that as a couple, they could easily live on and cover all expenses in Costa Rica for what they are only spending each month on electricity and property taxes in Florida.
I have no idea of your monthly expenses but would suggest that if you have cold winters, you’ll enjoy the weather here… And the areas that you plan on visiting, you will probably not need air conditioning and unless you plan on building at very high elevations, you certainly will not need heating.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com$800 electricity for a month!! There shoud be an error. $25 000 taxes. Well that means that the propertie is probably valuing easily more than 12 millions of dollars.
Those people are in another league and would it be a pleasure for me to learn from them. I did not have the opportunity to meet that kind of people in my life.
Thanks to you responding
Micololo
I can assure you that from the emails I receive every week, there are a lot of people paying $500- $1,000 per month for utilities in the USA…. And forgive me for saying so but their property is not worth anywhere near $12 million.
I was paying nearly $15,000 per year in property & school taxes in Westchester County, NY back in 1995 on a home that was worth about $500K
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comSurprising me
Here in Québec Canada you’ll get a very big brand new house for that amount. A big house with 100ha land in the country. I’ve read in a newspaper (can’t remember wich one) that Québecors are paying the most income taxes and taxes generaly in America. Me and my wife together are paying more than 50% in income and general taxes from our revenu.
I’ve seen in your book that you’re talking on this website about Canadians and the taxing relationship with advantages in Costa Rica. Where it is?Thanks M.Scott for your envolvment and your patience to understand us.
Just a head’s up that electricity rates in CR have risen sharply over the last year. Perhaps not a big deal if you are in a condo w/ a shared pool, or install solar (pretty rare)or generally are energy frugal. If you live in full US “comfort?” it adds up. My relatives there have a fairly large pool, live in staff, and 2 spare villas that are in use perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 of the year. Electricity is now over $500 per month, and they estimate that half of that is for the pool pump.
Also, since you have such a nice chunk of time, I recommend checking out the Pacific side! There are many places more desirable, on average, IMHO. I’m biased towards the southern pacific zone, places like Uvita/Ojochal (coastal) and San Isidro de General (Mountains/farmland, but only .5 hours to Dominical beach). Good real estate values there and strong expat community – plus not over developed w/ polluted beaches & hordes of tourists. PS the new hospital Ciudad Cortes is now open!
Good luck and have fun searching!
And electricity costs are going to go higher in the future too…. I am not in favor of increased electricity costs for the poorest of people in the humblest of homes but since electricity remains cheap compared to most places, we should implement a better system so that the bigger residential users pay more.
Why someone with an olympic sized swimming pool should pay the same rates for water and electricity as we do is absurd. In using a finite resource – and remember here that water = electricity – they should pay much more. Would you not agree?
A favor please pweisel1 would you email me some up to date digital photographs of the new hospital and maybe the basic facts about the hospital?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comIt’s only fair, just as in many places in the states, that people pay the same base rate for a limited amount of water or electricity, and then a higher rate for use above that. How much more is fair, I am not sure. It certainly would encourage alternative energy approaches, the use of which seem almost non-existent by ex pats in Costa Rica. I mentioned alternative energy once to a expat while I was on our lot – he looked at me funny and said “Why don’t you just hook up to the grid?” Lots of education is needed… and high energy prices certainly help that along 😉
Wouldn’t the cost of electricity to the consumer vary for the service area in CR? It must have a higher production and distribution cost for consumers along the southern Pacific coast and in other more remote areas than it would for consumers in the Central Valley.
The last I read on this site was that an electricity bill could be as low as $25 a month for a small apartment in the Central Valley. I have little doubt costs have gone up but I am interested in seeing what Scott’s project on cost of living comes up with. Won’t all figures be quite different depending upon the region?
Edited on May 15, 2008 15:09
Edited on May 15, 2008 15:10
The recent announcement about increased electricity costs ranged anywhere from 11 – 71%, with the highest escalation going to those who use over 300 kw per month. I’m about as frugal as I can be in my house down there and yet I still use just a little over that 300 amount. I have no dryer, no TV, no computer, no microwave, and a minimum of other electrical appliances. I turn out lights when I’m not in the room, and I don’t light my terrace unless I’m out there, and often not even then. My electric bill for last month was C16,000, who knows what it will be with this month’s bill, but I know vecinos in my hood who have regular $70 – $90 a month electric bills, but they’ve got their TVs on all day, use the dryers all the time, and generally haven’t thought about what a 70% increase would really mean to them in the long run.
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