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I’m a little confused here. Scottbenson…..you are basically saying corrupt tico attorney’s is part of Tico culture and we don’t have the right to say that should be changed. To that I say, you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. I don’t care if you are married to a Tica and have all the exteneded family in the world that are Tico’s willing to offer their opinion of Gringos and the way Gringo’s do things. If we are victims of any type of Tico corruption we have every right to not only question it, but every right to demand things change. That is not demanding that Tico’s change their culture. If Tico’s think corruption is part of their culture are accept it then they have bigger problems than worrying that a Gringo is going to come down here and turn them into little Gringos. The lack of reform in this country may very well eventually be it’s economic downfall. It’s not a booming stable economy as it is. Take the foreign dollars out of Costa Rica and you basically have any other Central American country, with much less progress than Costa Rica has experienced in the last 30 years.
From what I have read, the issue with the companies that have shut down is that they were advertising illegally on US soil, and in some cases operating phone centers on US soil. Obvioulsy they can be prosecuted for that in the US. Whether one agress it is right or not is another argument all together. Also the issue of the us citizens not claiming their winnings on their taxes is a seperate issue from the sports centers themselves. Do a search of http://www.amcostarica.com, there are several articles about the two I know of that have been shut down. I can’t think of their names off the top of my head right now, but it is at least two.
I was actually thinking of going by the Columbus Heights project this week and getting some pictures. I will let people know if I’m able to get over there this week. I did get some good photos of the Costa Esterillos project. So again, if anyone wants to see them let me know. One other note on the Esterillos project, they did just purchase a 5000 m2 beach front lot here in Oeste for 1.3 million dollars. So they are spending at least some of their money on the future of the project and the things they say they will eventually have…I:E: the beach club.
I agree with the advice that you can’t make final judgements on many of these projects or even be critical of them if you haven’t seen them personally or have personal experience with the developers them selves. I don’t mind helping with some first hand info on things I can actually see and take a few pics of. There are a couple of projects in the area that are good people to work with. It comes down to getting as much good information as you can before making decisions.
One would hope the lack of activity is due only to the permitting process. This project does not even have good dirt roads grated beyond the gate they have built. It still amazes me so many people spend $50K so non chalantly on property they have not personally seen.
I really don’t think the lack of progress on most of these projects is due to a slow down in real-estate. Not if their claims are true of being 80% sold out, or in some cases their claim that phase 1 or 2 is sold out and they are on to phase 3, etc. People are buying, they just are not getting the promised progress in most cases and that is the rub with many buyers. Just my opinion.
I think what happens many times with these projects is the process ends up becoming such a hassle the builders fold up and get out of Dodge so to speak. We just met with a gentleman that is in the process of getting his money back from Columbus Heights because he came down a year after putting a deposit on his lot and wanted to see the progress. They are touting on their large billboard near the entrance that they are now 80% sold out. They basically have only built a gate and grated some dirt roads in the last year. His fear is if they are 80% sold out, where has all the money gone and if it has been spent, would selling the other 20% of the project even allow them enough funds to install the infrastructure promised? He chose to get his money back and look further.
The three Paragon projects I mentioned on the road to Puriscal are a good 10 to 15 minutes up into the hills and from what I understand it is in the contracts that Paragon is going to pave the road from the Costanera highway, all the way to the third development, and pay to run cable tv, city water, and phone lines. None of which is available in that area currently. I have no idea what it will cost to pave that much roadway and on top of that run the utilities mentioned…….but it ain’t cheap.
when we remodeled our home in Esterillos Oeste almost two years ago the tile was about $1200 for a little over a 1000 sq ft home. That included all of the prep materials, grout, and tile itself. The labor was part of the over all remodel, so this was just for the material. Even though a lot of building material has gone up about 20% in the last two years, tile is about the same. it sounds like maybe they are giving you what you think is a good price on the labor and basically jacking up the price of the tile. You might try what we did and simply get a list of all of the materials needed from the person you got the quote for the whole job from and then go and get your own price for the materials and then compare. What we found was our builder was adding sometimes 20% to 30% to our material prices. He wasn’t real happy when we started buying the materials our self, but it’s not an uncommon practice. On one hand you can’t blame them for wanting to make as much money as possible, but it doesn’t mean you have to play the game by their rules. What has started happening here on the coastal area is a lot of Tico’s are pricing themselves right out of work because of the “every Gringo is rich” attitude. One Tico builder here did a job for us at a reasonable price and then the next two quotes we got from him were rediculously outrageous. As much as 3 and 4 times what the cost should be. He tried the same type of quotes with several other people and has not worked in almost a year, other than odd jobs. He could have built two or three more homes for people in that time period. I guess the mentality here just does not allow them to realize the difference between the hopes of making the one big score instead of being reasonable and then in the end being left holding nothing in your hand.
Rule numero uno………never send money for property without personally inspecting it in person and then and only then have your own qualified and trusted attorney handle any contract for you.
I have not personally bought any property with Latitude 9, but I have sat down with a gentleman that I believe was Ron and we discussed properties in the area a couple of years ago. Latitude 9 is well established and has been in the Manuel Antonio area for quite some time now. I think as far as doing business with them you are safe.
Not to say it isn’t happening, or if it is, if it’s a good or bad thing. I live in the Parrita vacinity and travel through Parrita on to Quepos quite often and I have not heard anything about the building of canals.
Wow, what a glaring example of unrelated US bashing Scott. The point of the thread was in relation to the legalities of working in your own business in Costa Rica. Even when the topic swerved into the topic of law suits the subject or discussion had absolutely nothing to do with litigation in the US. So I ask you Scott, explain to us why as you put it, when it comes to the discussion at hand do we have to, “….but let’s not forget that the USA is by far the most litigious place in the world where ‘frivolous lawsuits’ cost the tax payer hundreds of billions of dollars per year.” The attempts by the regular US bashers is getting comical and pathetic. Scott I suggest you have a permanent section on US politics where the VIP members can limit their political diatribe to that location. I can tell you that I have talked to more than one person that no longer use WLCR because of the constant unrelated US bashing. That being said Scott…..I still love you.
I too took a pretty long break from this forum because it had turned into a “bash the US” forum. As some of you pointed out, much of the bashing was almost totally unrelated to the particular thread that had been started. I just got through posting something similar on the old “why are you leaving the US” thread, so please allow me to repeat myself here. I think those that move here and are continually bashing the US are not experiencing the Pura Vida they so easily throw out as what they love about Costa Rica. You can not be experiencing Pura Vida and have that much hatred in you. It is sad that so many I have seen on this forum move here and then immediately start critisizing other expats because they are not fitting into what they think they should. They critisize their life style, what type of house they want to build, how much money they are spending and what they are spending it on. Seems pretty hypocritical to say you left the US because you didn’t agree with those in power telling or making you do things you believed you wanted to do different and then coming here and doing the same to others.
I agree with some of your points Tom. The younger generation is definitely much more technologicaly savvy than most baby boomers, but that is whee our agreement ends on the younger generation. I would argue that most young people are not that well educated about the world, but are victims of their own technology and most are merely soundbite educated. I’m generalizing of course, but sit sometime and have a discussion or a debate with one of these young people on any litany of subjects and watch how they sit and repeat the same sound bites over and over to try and make their point. While technologically savvy, many of our young people are not really that educated. Have a discussion about history or geography with many young people. I’m not sure your reason for saying this younger generation is more generous than the boomer generation. The boomer generation has been the most giving in history, at home and around the world. I would argue this younger generation is perhaps the most selfish of all previous generations. They are definitely the most disrepectfull as far as in a public setting.
National healthcare does not translate to good healthcare and in many examples around the world it basically translates to almost no healthcare because the systems just do not work and people fore go healthcare out of frustration with getting to see a doctor or as has been pointed out in other threads about healthcare in countries that have some type of universal care, people waiting sometimes a year or more for certain procedures, many times a potential life saving proceedure.
I agree that mental healthcare is an issue with some of our homeless, and that should be addressed. I would not agree that the majority of the homeless are in that situation because of mental health. I argue this point because I have worked with the homeless and been around them in one of the homeless capitols, Santa Cruz, California. I have a friend that is among the homeless community there and on several occassions as he likes to call it, I go and spend a couple of days with him and play homeless. I don’t sleep in the shelters or eat free food, thus taking it away from ones who need it, or at least make out like they need it. I simply spend the day with him traveling around and sitting with his friends in the community. I met many in the homeless community that have been there for many years, and are there because it’s an easy life style for them and they don’t want to work and fit into what most of society would define as a normal life style. Of course I think that is the crux of the issue of why so many are looking for alternatives like Costa Rica, we want to get away from what most others consider “a normal life style”. That doesn’t make it bad, it just means we have come to a point in our lives where we want something different, something more simple. Many of these homeless people I met actually recieve up to $2000 a month from military pensions,etc. and choose to spend it on their recreational drugs and alchohal. They can easily get two meals a day and the various shelters and church programs, free shower facilities every morning, they can do laundry once a week, etc. All of this provided for the most part by members of the older generation. You don’t see the younger generation working in shelters and doing much in the way of volunteer work around the communities.
People that say they are leaving the US because of Bush, conservatives, Iraq, etc. are some of the most short sited people you see on these forums. They are also the ones filled with the most hatred towards anyone and anything they do not agree with. That is why I pointed out in an earlier post, these people aren’t happy and will never truly experience the Pura Vida that so easily bantor about as one of the main reasons they moved to Costa Rica. You can not spew that kind of bile and really be experiencing Pura Vida. What will they have to complain about when the next political cycle puts who they thought was “their guy” in power. Well, you saw that this last election. The liberals swept into the Congress and the Senate with overwhelming victories in many cases. Where these people on this forum that have been very vocal of their opposition to Bush and anything conservative or Republican happy. Of course not. You actually saw almost immediate postings of conspiracy theories that the Republicans rigged the elections so that liberals would win so that in two years the Republicans could blame the Democrats for all the countries woes. You can’t win with these people when they are that short sited and gullable, and really you shouldn’t try. They are mired in thier own self pity and always will be. The saddest thing is that these people move to Costa Rica and immediately start critisizing other expats that aren’t fitting into what they think they should be doing, how they should be living, what type of house they should have, how much money they spend and how they spend it,etc. etc. etc. Hmmmm !!! hypocrit comes to mind doesn’t it?
I live in Esterillos Oeste and have been up to check out the Costa Esterillos project. If anyone likes I can go up and take some pictures of the project and e-mail them to you. As Scott said though, you really need to see something in person for yourself before making any descissions. My initial reaction was that I was not that impressed. They made a nice paved road going up the hill from the highway, but pretty much as soon as you get over the top of the hill the road is nothing but dirt and gravel and there is nothing more than a few gravel roads and numbered lot signs everywhere. This was a couple of months ago, but at that time there was no machinery or anyone continuing work on the project. I will probably drive up their this week and take pictures and see if there has been any progress in the last couple of months. The company did just purchase a beach front property down here in the village that we heard was going to be their “beach club”.
I think a section that might be very valuable to people is an exchange board. Basically people looking to exchange their home in the US for two weeks, three weeks, etc. for someone’s home here in Costa Rica. Many that either want to, or have to travel back to the US frequently could incorporate a vacation perhaps to a section of the country they have never been and people either vacationing down here or coming down to investigate the possibility of moving here have the option to exchange their home with someone here. The savings on lodging doing this is tremendous. Not everyone is comfortable with something like this, but it is done quite often. Just a thought.
Sicily…..what a great adventure for your family. I wish you great success there and with your future dreams.
In regards to the employment question, I was speaking in general terms as to the labor laws here in Costa Rica. I am definitely not an expert and there will most likely be others that can fill in the blanks as to the possibilities and options you might have, but I believe they are slim when it comes to being able to come down here and find employment. There are American firms operating here. However from most people I have talked to they may only have a handful of their own people that they brought from the states. I believe with most companies such as Intel which is the largest US firm here that the vast majority of even management are Tico. I say this as second hand knowledge, so again, hopefully there will be others here that know first hand. I believe though that companies whether foreign owned or not still have to operate under the same laws as your small Mom and Pop business, where under the law in most cases you can only hier Tico’s. I believe in most cases you are not even allowed to work in your own business. You can own it and manage it, but you can’t work behind the counter, waitress, cook, etc. etc.
It is so true what you say about the skeptics. We experienced the same, but mostly from friends. The family on both sides were cautiously optomistic I guess is the best way to put it. One of our best friends while having dinner with us the last few nights before we moved down here said “I really admire what you guys are doing, it takes guts, and I could never do it.” Well 6 months later having kept in touch with us and continually checking out our website and following our adventure they started realizing they might have some options. Long story short. With in another 7 months they had sold their business in California, have been here 4 or 5 times, purchased property and are starting on a beautiful home in the mountains with a view from Esterillos all the way to Manuel Antonio. Most people just never think outside the box. Best of luck to you and your family.
