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We were visiting Escazu this month and what appeared to be a partially demolished house, was in reality a huge THEFT. I don’t know how long the house was left unoccupied but I am told that it took about 3 weeks to dismantle it.
It started with a couple windows being broken. My guess to establish if someone was living there. Shortly there after, it was a free-for-all. They took everything! The doors, windows, metal roofing, roof trusses, furniture, all fittings, bathroom, electrical, flooring you name it and it is gone. The only thing that appears intact is the walls made from cement block. My guess is if they could figure a way to dismantle these, they will go as well. The amazing thing is, this is in a relitively up scale neighbour hood. From what I am told, this house left as a piece at a time on foot, on peddle cycle, in cars and no one did anything to prevent this, whilst in the process. Many people saw this taking place and was finally reported to the Police who showed up a few days later. I asked why didn’t someone step in and try to put a halt to this? I was told this was not a good idea with those involved.
My point for bring this up is to make those people who are contemplating CR as a second home to be aware, of what can happen if you don’t have someone constantly keeping an eye on your property, when you are away for extended periods. It doesn’t cost much but worth every colon. If you are in a gated community, you and your property are safe. This mainly pertains to homes which don’t have visibly established security. Can you imagine how this home owner will feel returning to find just walls where once stood a complete home!
Edited on Jan 29, 2008 16:28
I posted in this forum last week inquiring whether anybody had experience monitoring and looking after their property with low cost internet video cameras and nobody responded. As I build my second home in CR, I plan to install such a system to compliment my main house and caretaker unit.
I employ a caretaker to watch just a piece of land I own. I have no home built there yet and when I do build, I will BE THERE nearly 100% of the time and when I leave for any period of time lasting more than a day, I will have this gentleman stay at the house or at least check on it daily.
My attorney drew up a short contract with a trusted local man to do this work. The contract spelled out exactly what his duties were in grooming the property…no trees to be cut, etc., and his “salary” was listed. I have spent some time talking to this guy and visiting his home. I drop in every time I visit the country. I cannot imagine doing this any other way and I am not in san Jose or any neighborhood. I am in a farming community near san Ramon.
I am reading of all kinds of thefts and armed entries in Escazu and other gated communities where american wealth concentrates. Those are not places I would choose to live for that reason alone.You may have seen my advice to our VIP Members NOT to build a home in Costa Rica unless they are present. Too many things can end up going NOT according to the architects’ plan and they should have someone they trust on site…
24 hour security is a good idea while construction is in progress especially if you are building a $250,000 home in an area populated by people living in $25,000 corrugated tin shack homes.
Your internet video cameras may work flawlessly but, even if you can clearly see people carrying away pieces of your home and you have all of this recorded on film – what then?
Might be very entertaining but even with the film, the probabilities of you helping the police to catch them are minimal and even if you do catch them, what then? Do you think they will be able to replace the construction materials and rebuild the house for you?
Of course not … By all means put up video cameras for entertainment purposes but please don’t think this will deter thieves.
I wrote about a similar event at [ https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/671.cfm ]
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comFirstly, my sympathies to the person(s) who had their house dismantled. I think in a perfect world the suggestion of being on site full-time during construction and after completion is great advise. Since I can’t be on site full-time during construction, we are taking a hybrid approach. I’m visiting every 5-6 weeks. In the interim, the plan and agreement with my builder is to never leave the site totally unattended during construction (including a watchman when the workers are on leave). My builder is very tech savvy with internet capability (text-voice-photo) with his Treo. So, we stay in touch and try to resolve issues very timely with the tech approach. We’re also going to set up the internet camera — not for entertainment value — but to use as a tool primarily to stay in touch regarding construction issues. Post construction, the plan is to have a salaried couple living on site in the separate caretaker house to maintain the primary house, the grounds and pool, and maybe make some extra money cooking for guests. Post construction — the remaining in-place camera system would serve as continued operational surveillance and security complimenting and in addition to the full-time caretaker couple.
Hi, I’ll be taking my first trip to CR soon. If i move there in 4 or 5 years it will be as a snowbird cause I want to come back to where my kids and friends are every summer, so Cr would be for about 9 months every year. I take it looking at a condo would probably be suited to this lifestyle, as I would think it would be fairly safe from burglaries, theft, etc???? Not sure what areas but outside of San Jose, possible on the Pacific coast. Is my thinking correct on this?
The fact is even if you are home but go out for dinner or someting, they are watching you and they will rob you when the opportunity arises. You need full time security period and very close to your house. Robbery is the national pasttime here. Remember costa rica is not paradise but roll of the dice.
chao
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