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The entire Pacific coast is booming. I think considering the still lack of good infrastructure things are way over priced in the Golfito region. There are still decent deals to be found up and down the coast. I don’t think you have to go all the way to Golfito for good deals. To go there and spend time looking for good deals for investment I think is worth the trouble. Buying into one of the big development companies is a lot longer term return on your investment. In all cases though, it depends on what you are looking to get out of the money you spend. Previous post have mentioned that one Tico will be selling his land for $20 a sq meter and another right next to him $60 a sq meter. I’ve seen that as well. Even in the area I live, Esterillos Oeste right by the beach. I saw a lot with a small Tico house sell for $45K and the house next to that one the guy wants $90K….basically the same lot and type of house.
I have talked with Bob by phone and am supposed to be meeting him hopefully this week to see the site. I discussed with him about helping sell some of the lots. It looks as though much of it is already pre-sold. I have seen the surveyors out, and the signs just went up in the last two weeks, so it looks like they are moving forward. These things can take time though to get off the ground. E-mail me directly and I’ll follow up with you anything I find out when I meet up with Bob.
sschmidt, don’t be discouraged….it is a wonderful place to move to. Research is definitely a good thing. Traveling here as much as possible is the best research you can do. My wife and I traveled here quite a bit before making our move in April of 2004. We were ready by then to move on a good deal that came along and make a purchase on our first investment property. Our experiences have been great with very few problems.
I personally would be very leary of any of Paragon’s properties or their claims. I live near Parrita. I have seen their Gables project. Like other Paragon projects I’ve heard of they sold the 165 lots and then basically dissappeared. Nothing but a bulldozed mud road cut through the property. No infrastructure electric phone lines etc. in place as they promised. One gentleman that came to the project early on and was able to walk the site and pick out his lot at the top of a hill which gave him a great view, returned 6 months later to find that his lot# which was in his name was now assigned to a lot at the bottom of a hill and the hilltop lot had been re-sold to someone else…..my guess is at a higher price. He is still last I heard trying to get back his money. There may be success stories people have for Paragon, but if you do any searches through this forum as well as the other forums, the complaints about them far far out weigh anything positive. One red flag for anyone regarding Paragon should be their use of different names. While it is good business to tie up domain names on the Internet so you can direct traffic to your main site, it makes no sense to advertise under a different name. Last week there was a commercial on the Fox News Network (not cheap advertising) on investing in Costa Rica. The name and website given in the commercial I believe was buycrland.com When you go to that site it goes straight to Paragon’s website. If Paragon is such a legitimate company, why would they not promote their own name in a commercial on a national network such as Fox? My guess is they are getting such a bad name they have resorted to trickery to get people to their website.
We are in Esterillos Oeste……22 km (13 1/2 miles) south of Jaco. it is still a little fishing village. We hope it’s still awhile before any bigger hotels come in the area. For now it’s an awesome place to just relax a little. There is a good mix of Tico’s and ex-pats.
If any of you come down and are in the central pacific coast area, my wife and I love to host travelers for a drink and share travel stories and help show you around the area here. We like to share our perspective on relocating since we have recently done it and may have a different perspective than someone that has already been living here for 5 to 10 years, or longer in some instances. Please let me knwo if I can help.
Everyone has different taste Jerry. We like being by the beach. We are not in a touristy area, but are close enough if we want to shop or go watch the Super Bowl on a big screen at a sports bar we can do that. The mountains are not for everyone. I happen to like the moutnains as well and we want to have a weekend place up in the mountains at some point. Others like the mountain living and having a weekend place close to the beach. Like I said, everyone has different tastes. It doesn’t mean you can’t experience Pura Vida or the real Costa Rica if you don’t live out in the country.
Scott, I think your comment that Tico’s do not have the same concept of time and money as people in the U.S., or other foreign countries probably for the most part, really hits the nail on the head. I have experienced that so many times already when it comes to bids for work. Invariably someone will quote me a fair price for doing some work. When I want something similiar done the same person will quote me upwards of 4 times the amount they did similiar work for the last time. I had someone that wanted to build 5 small homes on some land they had purchased. The Tico that had done my construction at a reasonable price gave me a quote. I took him inside a simple two room cabin that had been built for about $15,000 1 1/2 years ago….materials and labor. Apparently he thought thought he would make a big score now that he had already done some work for me. He quoted me $70,000 to build that little 2 room cabin. What he did not realize is that by bidding so rediculous of a price he lost out on building 5 homes in the amount of about $25K each of which he would have probably made $3000 each on for himself after paying his other workers. This person has sat now for close to 6 months since and has done an odd job here and there and probably made the usual $300 to $400 a month many Ticos make. He could have made $15,000 in about 6 months.
Jenny……I thought you said in the other threads you didn’t like to argue. Well then stop. We all have just as many success stories as you have nightmare stories and as many times as you have said in this thread that if someone wants to throw their money away then let them, or you have said if someone wants to live in the gated community and spend millions, let them. Well…….LET THEM! You aren’t helping (as you say) anyone with this back and forth arguing of hear say stories.
Like I said Jenny, you seem the type that creates it whether it’s there or not. You do not know the lady I spoke of or their family. So you can’t be African American and not have experienced prejudice here. She has to have experienced prejudice because you say so? Please tell me where in God’s name did you come up with the supreme knowledge that a 10 year old black boy is probably not Afro American? Sounds like a little prejudice coming out there Jenny. Might want to search your own heart and look in the mirror before you come back again. Maybe I was not privy to the beginning of the thread and it being a discussion about Scott asking you to write about what it’s like being African American in Costa Rica. I was commenting on the subject of prejudice which was brought up in the postings in this thread. I made a very simple statement, and factual statement. I know you are the type that always has to say the last word. That was proven in your previous arguments you always seem to get into on the forum. So I won’t do the back and forth with you Jenny, not on the forum. If you would like to continue our discussion outside the forum that’s fine. Now go ahead…..have the last word Jenny.
Give it a rest Jenny. I can see you are a very bitter woman with many issues you need to deal with. I made a very reasonable comment. I don’t have to be African American to know about or see prejudice. I’m sorry, but you don’t have a corner on the feel sorry for me club. My experiences in Costa Rica are what they are. I have seen no prejudice towards African Americans here. If you have, that is unfortunant. Judging by your rediculous response to a well meaning post, you strike me as one that looks for trouble when there is none there. That is really unfortunant. My suggestion is “Life’s too short….don’t waste it” Good Lord!…..just live your life and stop whining.
before my wife and I moved from California to Esterillos Oeste, Costa Rica in April of 2005, we pretty much did all of the above. We subscribed to the Tico Times. It was delivered about 2 weeks after publication, but gave us some insight to what was going on. We were online every day on forums, realestate websites, etc. We made about 5 or 6 trips prior to making our move. We had a 3 to 5 year plan but saw what prices were doing here and figured we may not be much further ahead financially in 3 to 5 years. Everyone’s situation is different of course.
Alright, I have sat back long enough. Jenny, I’m sorry but you have no clue what you are talking about. You quote a couple of experiences of people you have heard of. I don’t think you have any desire to instill words of wisdom to anyone. You have some wild hair and feel the need to start something. This whole exchange looks to me to be kind of phony. That is one mans opinion…..and it’s not open for discussion.
