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The climate is a huge factor for a lot of people. When we remodeled our house we had budget in mind and had no intention of putting AC in the entire house. We have smaller room ac units in the two bedrooms and rarely use them. A lot may be attitude, but your body does adjust to a certain extent. I agree though that many people end up staying cooped up in their air conditioned condo or home and perhaps that adds to the frustration that causes a lot of people to pack up and head back home. I grew up in Ohio where the humidity can be pretty intense during the summer months, but my wife grew up in California where there is basically no humidity. That was my big concern if she would adjust. She will tell you though, she has adjusted as much as you can and still agrees she would not want to live anywhere else.
While it is true that some people do not consider the negatives to living on the coast,in my experience for the majority though it comes down to “different strokes for different folks”. The majority of the people we know have the attitude “the positives outweigh the negatives”. We love living at the beach and accept the negatives. We like being able to walk out our front door and walk a 100 meters to the beach and take morning walks along a jungle lined coast line. We don’t want to be anywhere else. The people that make an impulse decision on moving to Costa Rica after spending a couple of weeks vacation at the beach in a house or hotel where they are not concerned with the maintenance required when living on the coast full time are part of the statistics of people that go back to their home country within the first two years because they can not make the adjustments to a climate or culture they are not used to..
The lots in Bob’s project in Esterillos actually start at $75K. That is not to say they are worth that. This project started out refusing to sell just lots. They would only sell a house with the lot. One wonders why the change in policy now. I am visiting the Columbus Heights project today and I can perhaps give you a first hand evaluation of their progress if you haven’t personally been there in a while.
You definitely need to visit the country. My wife and I tell people straight up, “it’s not for everyone”. It’s not Barbados, but there may be some similarities. It makes a difference moving from suburban America to a small fishing village in a foreign country, and some people ultimately can not make the adjustment. With that said, you might be one step ahead in this regard since you already live in a different setting than what the majority of the people moving here are coming from. Plan a visit soon, and ask a lot of questions. This site is one of your best resources.
Expensive is a relative term here. As is the case with most things, you get what you pay for. Is $295 a month plus your initial equipment cost expensive when the system is reliable and delivers the needed service? Probably not when you compare it to a $99 a month system that doesn’t work. I have two personal aquaintences who have invested in their own satelite systems and both work very well and they are happy with the service. One is a business here on the Central Pacific coast and the other is a client who purchased a home about 30 minutes up in the mountains.
Michal lives here in Esterillos Oeste where we do. We know quite a few people that have used her services and they all recommend her.
It definitely doesn’t surprise me that we would get different answers, and I don’t advocate drugging you pet. As I said previously, our vet advises against it.
David, I am not sure where you came up with the statement “The airlines will not knowingly accept for transport any live animal which is either drugged or not in apparently good health” Is this just your personal opinion or did you pull this out of thin air? Out of curiosity I contacted two different major airlines and they said they have no regulation against a pet having been given a sedative and both stated that it is a common practice. An animal that is obviously not in good health is another story, but with a health certificate and prescription from your vet, the airlines will most certainly accept a pet for transport that may have been given a sedative.
I will add, I disagree with the advice of giving your pet valium. Our vet did not recommend doing that because in his opinion, the pet in many cases is more freaked out by being drugged for the first time than from the travel. Our cats were a little freaked out, but they came through the entire trip with no emotional scars.
We flew two cats with us in the cabin and did not have to put them in the bulk luggage area. Check with your carrier. We flew Continental and they allow only two animals in the passenger area, no matter if it’s first class or coach. We booked enough ahead of time that no one else had booked with a pet. They were considered as our carry on luggage, Which was fine, except for the fact that we had to pay $100 per cat. My complaint about the $100 shake down as I felt it was fell on deaf ears of course. The pet carriers must fit under the seat and take the place of your carry on luggage, so what justification is there for charging $100 per pet? Their attitude was, “that is the policy and that is the price, take it or leave it”. All you have to have is a health certificate from your local vet that is no more than 30 days old. When we arrived in Costa Rica, Customs and Immigration officials were not even interested in looking at what was in the pet carriers. My wife had to actually go ask someone where we needed to drop of the certificates. We could have simply walked right through customs. Not that I would suggest trying that. It is really a simply process though.
Perhaps the reason you have seen nothing written about a difficult market in Costa Rica is because it is not a difficult market. The Central Pacific area continues to be strong with many developments still selling a large percentage of their inventory before they even break ground. From what I have read and the people I have talked to, the Central Valley area, especially the Escazu and Santa Ana areas continue to be strong as well. While it is true that prices are not going up 50% to 100% in 6 to 12 months as they did a couple of years ago, the market still is experiencing at least a 10% to 20% increase over that same period. The market increase is perhaps more realistic now, but definitely is not difficult. I would disagree with the blanket statement that the US market is in the toilet as well. While there are still many areas that have leveled off and prices in some areas have come down, there are still many areas that are still experiencing strong sales. On a recent trip to California I recieved a real estate flyer in the mail listing 20 homes that had recently sold in that area. 75% of the homes sold for more than the asking price. There is still an incredible amount of disposible income that many people have and a good portion of that is still finding it’s way into Costa Rica. When you have a feeding frenzy during a “seller’s” market, anyone can sell real estate. The majority of the complaints I hear about the market here is from people that are finding it difficult to unload a crummy piece of property that they over paid for 2 years ago expecting to double their money. They refuse to invest anything in improving the property or invest anything in marketing it properly.
It has been proven over and over again that illegal aliens over all use far more in public service dollars than what they contribute, so it is a mute argument that illegals are contributing tax dollars. You have to take into account the vast number of illegals clogging the US legal system and jails, all of which our tax dollars go to support. The numbers are not even close as to contribution versus how much illegals cost the people of the United States.
Almost everyone in the United States has access to some level of healthcare. Every major city has county hospitals that rarely turn anyone away, no matter what their income level or insurance status. We have many Canadian friends that describe the Canadian system as basically a failure. You may have access to healthcare in Canada, but you do not have access to the best healthcare. Those that can afford it use private care, just as they do here in Costa Rica because the level of service and quality of service in the public system is marginal at best and major proceedures can take months if not years to schedule, both here and in the Canadian system.
The project you are referring to is called “The Hills of Esterillos” I personally do not recemmend that project to any of my clients. I first questioned the quality of their contruction when I went into their model/sales office and noticed almost a 1 inch gap in the window frame in the kitchen area. Granted, the maker of the window probably screwed up on the size, but one would think you would go the extra mile to make everything as perfect as possible on something you were using as a model of your product. Many people are questioning how the lots are being cut as well. If you drive by the project right now you will see sand bags on the sides of several lots to hold them up. We know someone personally that did buy in that project and their home was just completed recently. When they arrived, different tile had been installed in the kitchen than what they had ordered and the layout of the laundry room location had been changed without their consent. There were already cracks in the plaster coating on some interior walls. This is a house that was just completed a few months ago. The project is inexpensive compared to most others, but their starting price of $129,000 is for a house that is only 680 sq feet.
I have taken several clients through the property. They have some rough roads grated in that can be driven through to see the property and some of the lots that have been staked off. John and Brenda who head up the sales office are able to take clients on a tour through the property and point out some of the lots that are available and where the golf course is actually going to be. John is an avid golfer and he and Brenda have actually purchased a lot for themselves in the project. They are over 50% sold out now on the fisrt phase condo units and are scheduled to break ground on this first building soon. A lot this time of year depends on the rainy season, which we are just going into the heart of. I do believe they are committed and have sound financial backing though. One thing I have appreciated about them is their realistic time tables.
I live in Esterillos Oeste and know Aaron Dowd, one of the principles involved in this project. I would agree with Michael that the principles are as I would decribe, “doing it right”. This is not a low end, inexpensive project, so the price and size may turn off some investors. They are not giving buyers an unrealistic impression as to the time frame for the total project to be completed. For a project of this size, this really is one of the best properties along the central Pacific coast line.
