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Good morning,
I am looking for some thoughts on my future plans…..
My husband and I planned to relocate to Costa Rica in 5 years or so. Every few months I take a look at the market and try to spot trends. Well, you may have seen in the news that the Canadian dollar is at a 30 year high and we feel we should really take advantage of this! We are not prepared to leave now….but perhaps buying property is a step in the right direction that will ultimately save us thousands of dollars.
Has anyone purchased property and let it sit for a few years? Would this be a correct path to take towards my 5 year goal?
Thanks very much!
Costa Rican property values appear to be continuously escalating. The pressure from North American baby boomers, I think, will continue that trend into the forseeable future.
The question I would pose is whether the property you invest in today will be the property you really want to build on when the time comes. Will the neighborhood, the amenities, the infrastructure be suitable to your needs at that time and in time forward from then? Will someplace look better? That, I believe, is the gamble.
In 2003 we decided we were going to retire to Costa Rica and came back and set things in motion, while we got our California properties sold and the money became available (which did not happen until 2005) we watched the type of property we really wanted (a 100+ hectare cattle ranch) being priced out of our range.
Last year we purchased two smaller properties as investments, we are now building a temporary house on one of them and have the other up for sale. The idea is that at the very least the property we have is appreciating at the same rate as other properties in the area. I would buy now, even if it isn’t you final location.Good luck,
Ruth
I would highly recommend that you buy now. I am from Canada as well and purchased property in Guanacaste four years ago, when the Canadian dollar was at $0.72 U.S. I have seen the value of our property triple in the past few years, even with the exchange rate climbing to the $0.95 range today. To take advantage of the exchange rate, we are now planning to commence construction of a house on the property this year.
Good luck!
Thanks for your feedback everyone! I have this pit in my stomach telling me it’s a very bad idea to pass up the dollar rate. It’s a bit of a scramble now, however as we have not researched heavily on property ownership. Where did you learn and make contacts…sites such as this?
My plans are the same as yours. Last year I had 6 years to go till retirement. I made the judgment call to buy at that time rather than wait. I am no Costa Rica real estate expert by a long shot but I believe it is a pretty safe bet land prices will continue to rise as more baby boomers begin to study their retirement plans and opt for Costa Rica.
The annual cost of maintaining the property is not that much and I calculate is far less than the property appreciation for the same time period. Add to that currency appreciations. I also have the opportunity to make some improvements to the land during the next five years.
The big question you have to answer is whether or not you will like living in Costa Rica. My take is that as americanized as it is, day to day living experiences in Costa Rica are going to be quite different than they are up north. I am looking forward to the adventure.
Edited on Jun 04, 2007 08:33
Lawchik,
It sounds to me like it would be a good time to make the move. However I would highly recommend 1. you keep reading this column and get all the advice you can. 2. get a good real estate attorney and find all you can about squaters rights and how to protect your self from the very different laws than the U.S. or Canada.
Good Luck
Terry From TexasWhy don’t you look for a leveraged position? Somebody that wants to sell bad enough they will give you terms? What are you looking for just land? Land with a beautiful house and a waterfall on the property for 10% down 2000 SF in a growth area? The owner will take 10% down. Did you see the titled beachfront Scott has listed in the for sale by owner for $386K? I predicted the property will be worth $1
million or more by the time you retire? That brings up the climate. What temp do you like? Is view important? Do you want to live in town?
Do you want to live where many Canadians have setteled. You must buy Scott’s real estate package for $99 and Peterson’s law book. I ran across new $30K condo’s new in the package. How can you lose?
Stanley PutraEdited on Jun 05, 2007 08:05
After a good sleep to think on it, more and more this seems to be a good idea, provided I can handle and be aware of property ownership responsibilities in CR. I want to rush, but that would just land me in hot water. I received a contact from Scott that I will touch base with shortly. BTW, I won’t be retiring for 30 years. 🙂
Lawchik-
You go for it girl! Depending upon where you decide to buy and if you find a reliable (probably one recommended by Scott, although there are others out there) real estate agent they will probably either check on you property for you or know someone reliable who will do so for a small fee. This should prevent any problems with squatters. Have fun with it.
Best of luck.
RuthI thought I left a reply here. Anyway we are trying to put together a pool of investors together.
Stanley PutraEdited on Jun 05, 2007 18:49
Well I would pay you a return of 50% for a 1 year note.
But what do we want to?
1 make money
2. develope and sell
3. Along with develop and sell do we want first pick so we can have property. Randy’s list just came out. I can do better but Randy is a good guy. It depends what you want. In Costa Rica I want to live with all the comforts I have here otherwise why go there?
Other that that let’s develop the
A list. Let us buy the beachfront Scott has listed. It would cost us $50K a piece and we should clear $1 million each. To answer your question.
I am looking at
1. The waterfall home list on Ebay no reserve
2 1 and 3/4 manzanas by an estuary of the Tarcoles River, that is beach front, for $20K
3 A 40 hectare piece. That has a 1/2 mile of beautiful beachfront, concession included. We are in discussions now because he wants someone to develop it with an option to buy.
I have no interest in these properties and there are 8 people that want to get together and talk real estate, I see no foul. I invest or pool the same amount of money and share any profits equally. No more, no less.Stanley Putra
EDITED BY SCOTT OLIVER BECAUSE APEXIT IS NOT FOLLOWING THE FORUM GUIDELINES….
Edited on Jun 08, 2007 11:59
Notice for APEXIT
You will NOT use this forum to sell your real estate – Last warning!
You will NOT include you real estate project’s website address or your email address in your postings – Last warning.
You will also NOT be allowed to recommend other groups & websites of people working as Realtors ILLEGALLY in Costa Rica selling land and PROUD of the fact that they mark up the land AND who charge a sales commission on top of that AND who are ILLEGALLY raising money from investors to invest in a real estate ‘fund’- This is a group who are the reason for DOZENS of very serious complaints that I have received.
People trust WeLoveCostaRica.com because we do extensive homework on the people we recommend, you obviously have not done the same homework otherwise you would not recommend this group. They may have built a cheap home for themselves in Costa Rica but that doesn’t necessarily make them good people to do business with….
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comAre you saying that Randy is an Illegal Realtor? His name was brought up before in the forum about his Investment Club. I answered the post and there were no adverse comments. What is the story? because I want to be honest and open on this site. If I see something is a good deal, and I have included most of your properties as good deals when , in my opinion , it is. Also you used to email me privately first if I posted something wrong.
Stan
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