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[quote=”elindermuller”][quote=”imxploring”]
I don’t like the idea of a hold back since in my experience it can sometimes lead to legal action when the parties disagree as to whether or not the conditions have been met to trigger release of final funds.
[/quote]
The hold back would be for things like “pool and club house” in the contract but never built. Not for nitpicking….[/quote]
So they put in a pool half the size you had been told would be built, the “clubhouse” is nothing more than a large cabana with a sign that says clubhouse on it, nothing like the artist drawings that you were given when you bought into the project….the one with the exercise area and tables and chairs for meetings…. and all the beautiful landscaping around the pool and clubhouse in the pictures on the website…. well that’s just mud and some gravel when the project is completed.
So the builder has supplied the items required for you to release the hold back… are you writting out that check?
That’s not nitpicking, nor is it something that can’t and doesn’t happen. Better call that attorney because you’re in for a battle!
[quote=”bogino”]At the [b]VERY LEAST[/b] a 25% discount assuming it is priced correctly to begin with. Too many variables. Too many unknowns. [b]PLENTY[/b] of other choices I’m certain. A [b]LOT[/b] can happen in 1 to 2 years regardless of what a great track record the developer may have.[/quote]
I agree that there are a number of variables involved. But based on Scott’s question and the basic information he provided as well as his assessment, if I’m reading his question correctly and not reading too much into it, he would feel comfortable with the project and the sponsor.
In my experience a developer willing to give a discount that large (25% or more) on an already completed unit in a complex in construction would make me MUCH more concerned that the risk was he was very short of capital or looking for quick cash before walking away. When something seems to be too good a deal it usually is! Getting a discount that large would make me more concerned that there was a real concern the developer was going to default and therefore make me less inclined to purchase.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]I am one who always enjoys watching this show and I am positive that Becky has done a great job in showcasing areas of CR…but, does HHI really have any any insight on the growth of Real estate ventures in CR? I don’t think so, but they do cater towards those who dream of living in the tropics …
[/quote]As we know “reality” TV often doesn’t match the reality that the rest of us live in. But it does make for interesting TV for those so inclined to spend time staring at that box with the moving images.
[quote=”costaricafinca”]Regarding bringing ‘Good quality name brand appliances’. Often, these appliances will [u]not[/u] fit into existing homes here, although you could try to sell them here. Used to be a booming market for these here, but they are now available quite easily, and purchasers can select the right size.[/quote]
Good point. While most American styled homes/condos here will have enough room for standard sized appliances you need to aware that a Tico home may not.
The biggest difference in my experience is the space provided for the refrigerator in the kitchen. Seems Costa Ricans don’t feel the need to have a 40 cubic foot refrigerator!
[quote=”bob switzer”]We are sending down a container and would like to have some input on what things we should make sure we pack, or things that are hard to find or of not good quality in Costa Rica
We are sending a car, after that any suggestions?
(household items, tools, construction supplies, household appliances ….any or all things, large or small?)Does anyone know of a good book that might contain a list of must pack things for shipping?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks[/quote]
Here’s a few.
1. Quality tools both electic and hand tools.
2. Electronics and computers
3. Good quality name brand appliances.
4. Personal care, health, and beauty items you use.While some of the items I listed may be available in CR others are not or are much more expensive. In other cases the quality of the CR item is just not the same. In eight years I’ve seen a great increase in the range of items available. If you have the availability of putting this stuff in a container you’ll most likely cover your shipping cost and then some on the savings.
I’m constantly bringing down hair dye, fixodent, and ibuprofen for good friends because they it either can’t get what they need or the price is way too high in CR.
With completed and occupied units as well as the common facilities finished it comes down to confidence in the builder.
One with deep pockets and a proven track record (600 units) of completing projects would make me feel pretty comfortable taking the risk on a competitively priced unit.
So a discount in the 10% range would be reasonable for the “risk” and possible inconvenience of living in what might be a construction zone for a while. Besides it would make for a nice profit in two years when the project is complete!
I don’t like the idea of a hold back since in my experience it can sometimes lead to legal action when the parties disagree as to whether or not the conditions have been met to trigger release of final funds.
Besides taking a risk and putting up with inconvenience should be rewarded with a proper upfront straight sale price discount. And as any developer will tell you, having cash flow while in the building process is very nice!
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”lvc1028″]I am glad you’re part of the world is doing well. But our local economy is not. [/quote]
I’m sincerely sorry to hear that your part of the world is not doing well. And I’m also sorry if some of my comments to you were harsher than they needed to be.
Chicago and to a larger extent Illinois are NOT doing well, our unemployment rate is higher than the national average but maybe they’ll discover oil shale somewhere here and we can benefit from the new oil boom.
Most of Illinois’ financial problems are man-made – the stupidity and corruption of our public officials is WAY higher than the national average.
What tickles me to no end though is that last week our governor vetoed the portion of the state budget that is used to pay the salaries of the state legislature because he pointed out (correctly) they weren’t doing their jobs. If that stands, they won’t get any paychecks a week from Friday. If only we could apply that method everywhere![/quote]
And you didn’t even mention the financial Armageddon that Illinois is facing with it’s state pension system. THAT on a smaller scale will be a preview of what is to come at the national level with the programs the Federal government runs!
“…. the stupidity and corruption of our public officials is WAY higher than the national average.”
Does your use of the word “corruption” include a willingness on their part to lie or otherwise manipulate facts to serve their own purposes?
As to the use of stupidity, I beg to differ there… these folks know exactly what they’re doing and why. Don’t excuse or confuse malicious self-serving conduct with stupidity!
Step up your plans Steve, you’re a smart guy, you see where this is headed.
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”imxploring”]I strong disagree with the method by which they are calculated, was the inclusion of the members of the military years ago to bring down the unemployment numbers an honest change in reporting unemployment or was it a means by which the BLS was able to massage the numbers to make them look better at the time?
[/quote]Including the armed forces would make the unemployment rate SMALLER, not larger. Counting another 1.5 million people (the current size of the armed forces) would make the official unemployment rate 7.4% instead of 7.6%. Why? because every one of those 1.5 million people in the armed forces is employed. The civilian labor force as of June is 155,835,000 and the number of unemployed is officially 11,777,000. 11,777,000 divided by 155,835,000 is 7.55%. 11,777,000 divided by 157,335,000 (civilians plus military) is 7.49%.
In any case the change to the metric was done 20 years ago and that means that it’s not relevant any discussion of the trend in unemployment because the measurement has been consistent since then.
And from your own source that you provided:
[i]”Finally, very few of the people who use the employment data —analysts, academics and economists — actually used the military numbers. One reason is that including or excluding military workers makes very little difference in the unemployment rate. For one thing, these workers make up a relatively small portion of the total workforce. And changes in military employment occur very gradually and don’t necessarily tell you much about changes in the wider economy.”[/i]
[quote=”imxploring”]
The second part of the manipulation is NOT the media’s failure to report the CORRECT measure of unemployment/underemployment. IT’S the government’s goal and their efforts to keep that number out of the spotlight.
[/quote]The monthly BLS press release that the media report from can be found here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
It includes the U-6 number and always has. If the media don’t report that it is their choice. I hardly think that can be categorized as “keeping that number out of the spotlight”. It also explcitly mentions the number of long-term unemployed and how many are working part time for economic reasons – all those things you and others complain that the US government is “hiding”.
[/quote]
Steve, you missed my points. They included the military for just that purpose at the time. Manipulating the pool and including the military had the effect of reducing “unemployment”! Then in 1994 when they changed the rules again they did so because counting the military (the BLS) felt was too convoluted because they couldn’t get a good handle on the numbers. REALLY…. the government couldn’t figure out who they were employing in their own military on a monthly basis? Does that sound reasonable?
So the BLS puts out the U-6 numbers in an obscure press release! How many Main street Americans know that…. or even understand that? Americans for the most part are spoon fed their “news” in small bite size chuncks. The media is no better and reports the simplest information since their few consumers don’t understand much more.
The political machine keeps it simple. Unemployment is at about 7%…. but WE both know that the true numbers are higher when looking at those no longer counted or underemployed! With 70% of the US economy based on consumer spending shouldn’t the FED be talking about underemployment as well as unemployment since lower incomes have a SERIOUS impact on the current economy as well as future growth?
Shouldn’t Bernanke be talking about the LARGER problem rather than the smaller ones? Or perhaps that just not politically convenient?
[quote=”sweikert925″]This horse expired quite some time ago but I am going to beat it one more time in the hopes that SOME light penetrates the dark corners of some of your minds.
[quote=”lvc1028″]He talks about what he reads…not what he lives. “Because I said so”, is not how I live as he says. I based my opinion on what I see…not what I read.
[/quote]Incorrect. I base my opinions on my own experiences [b]AS WELL[/b] as what I read. And what I read is simply what others’ experiences are – including yours. You seem to believe that your experience – and [b]ONLY YOUR[/b] experience – matters in determining what is going on in the entire US economy. I can only imagine what kind of abuse I would get here if I had the arrogance to suggest that only my own opinions and experiences matter.
Why is that only [b]YOUR[/b] personal experience matters? Why not mine or those of imxploring or of my bank teller or of the guy who prepares your taxes or some randomly selected person in Dubuque Iowa or San Jose California or Bangor Maine? The statistics you dismiss so contemptuously are simply experiences gathered from all of those people but you seem to think they are less valuable than just your own. Why is that? I find that bizarre and completely illogical.
[quote=”lvc1028″]I wonder how he figures into the equation all of the people that are no longer collecting UI benefits. They are unemployed, right? So, those millions no longer collecting a weenickel…what would that do to the 7+% rate?
[/quote]Apparently you are unaware that the BLS issues numerous statistics every month on the unemployment situation and one of them – called U-6 – takes exactly those people into account. It tends not to get reported in the media so most people don’t know about it. For June of this year, that figure went up – significantly – from 13.8% in May to 14.3% last month. A very bad number. But that’s only one month’s data. Over the previous 12 months, the number is still lower than it was – 14.8% in June 2012 and 14.3% this June. In 2011 the monthly average was 15.9%, in 2010-16.7%, in 2009-16.2%.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
To imxploring: If, as you insist with no evidence, the BLS engages in publishes lies to make the situation look better than it is, why would they publish that number?
[/quote]Steve I’m very aware of the various metrics the government uses in reporting economic activity, unemployment, money supply and how it relates to the FRB’s monetary policy.
The manipulation is two fold. As you are aware there are different metrics reported with unemployment as there are with money supply(m1, m2, m3, etc). I strongly disagree with the method by which they are calculated, was the inclusion of the members of the military years ago to bring down the unemployment numbers an honest change in reporting unemployment or was it a means by which the BLS was able to massage the numbers to make them look better at the time? Think for a moment, does the census actually capture EVERYONE? What makes anyone think a weekly or month employment statistic is any more accurate or not subject to manipulation?
The second part of the manipulation is NOT the media’s failure to report the CORRECT measure of unemployment/underemployment. IT’S the government’s goal and their efforts to keep that number out of the spotlight. While we might know that there are other unemployment measures and numbers that are much higher and a truer representation of the problem they are never mentioned by our elected officials, just the lowest number possible. The FEDS own meeting minutes and the public statements made by Bernanke about easing off on QE only refer to the lowest possible metric in measuring unemployment. Why, because they count on most people not knowing the truth and believing that “unemployment” is at about 7% and getting better!
Is that the media “manipulating” the situation, nope, that’s the government doing so!
You might find this link interesting. Old info but it gives some interesting insights to the issue.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15768195/ns/business-answer_desk/t/who-does-government-count-employed/
So who was on that presidential commission? Who appointed them? And what do you think their agenda was in adjusting the method by which unemployment was calculated? I seem to remember the numbers went down. What I don’t remember was a lot of the “professionals” at the BLS taking issue with the changes made.
Be sure to read the question and answer from Tony. Seems when they changed the methodology again in the 1990’s it was because the military and they way they reported information wasn’t clear enough for the BLS. So what crystal ball does the BLS use now with the general public if our own military was unable to provide numbers the BLS felt were accurate enough? More of an educated guess I’m thinking, with a little bit of agenda sprinkled in from our elected officials!
[quote=”Scott”]I appreciate your comments but it is not abandoned… They have finished 25% (two of the four apartment buildings) so my question remains…
Anybody else have some constructive feedback?
[/quote]I spent some time touring the Hermosa, Coco, Tamarindo, and Flamingo areas in May looking at condos, and will return in September to look at others. There were a number of complexes that were partially done. Some with completed common areas (pools, clubhouses, and such) others without. Yet others had shells of additional units in place but not completed. Some appeared to be stalled, some have now been downsized with no foreseen completion of the original plan.
The question comes down to balancing the concerns that the project may never be completed and default since the units needed to fund the common charges to operate the facilities don’t get completed. Or that your beautiful new condo will forever be next to an overgrown shell of a building never completed or promised infrastructure that never comes to exist.
Looking at, and determining an acceptable discount for taking such risk is something one would have to base on too many factors and would require getting both a look at the site as well as the financials.
[quote=”pharg”]silly me – I thought the topic was a discussion about the relationship and consequences of the U.S. economy to that of Costa Rica. Instead, we are treated to anti-U.S. polemics and daily cannonades of Sweikert-versus-WLCR.
I was expecting that beloved moderator would terminate the diatribes and suggest that PMs are more appropriate for those who slaver wide-eyed their convictions [or could it be that he enjoys the bashings from the left and the right?][/quote]Not an anti US rant. Just an exchange about the reality we ALL face from our own governments. That includes the folks steering the boat in CR.
The issue is the US economy and it’s impact or connection to CR. What’s at issue in this conversation is that the “facts” we’re being presented with by our governments are not always in step with the reality!
The economy in the US is in serious trouble. The current fiscal policy is going to come back to haunt us, and as such it is a very important issue to CR.
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”imxploring”]… who has more to GAIN by massaging the numbers and the resulting “truth” about current US unemployment, inflation, and current monetary policy…. right wing bloggers or politicians concerned about their next election?[/quote]
Right wing bloggers of course. Graham Summers peddles gloom and doom for a living, he directly benefits financially by making things look bleak.
The people who prepare and publish the numbers are not politicians, they are professional economists and statisticians and you seem to assume that they would let their political bosses tamper with their work without a murmur of protest. And you assume that with absolutely no evidence, merely because you are confronted with a fact that contradicts your preconceived conclusions.[/quote]
You seem to believe that career politicians (Congress, The Senate, elected officals at all levels, and all those political appointees) have no influence whatsoever over the “professionals” that you hold in such high regard. THAT statement in itself tells me you have NO idea how government and politics actually function. With 28 years of government involvement I Can speak personally that nothing could be further from the truth. That’s NOT a preconceived notion, that’s personal knowledge and experience! What might I ask is the personal knowledge you have in drawing your conclusion? Or is it just and idealistic vision of how society should function in the utopia that you envision the US as?
When the State Department spokesman was repeatedly telling the public that the Secretary of State (Kerry) WASN’T out on his boat sailing around while Egypt was coming apart was that a true statement? Were they just mistaken because the professional in charge of keeping tabs on his whereabouts lost track of him? NOPE…. that was an out and out LIE designed to serve a POLITICAL purpose. If that small issue was something they were willing to lie about what makes you think that many OTHER issues and FACTS are not being manipulated to serve political purposes of those desperately trying to keep their jobs?
Was it a Secret Service agent that broke the story that Clinton was getting personal service from an intern in the oval office yet was providing sworn testimony (lies) that he had not? Seems those “professionals” were willing to keep their mouths shut unlike the intern.
It happens EVERY day in politics. Worker bees in government keep their mouths shut and follow orders.There are no truly independent offices in government that buck the system with any true force. Even the GOA is not truly independent or objective. If they were the public would be aware of the true national debt and how deep in trouble the US is!
I guess there’s an interesting question here…. who has more to GAIN by massaging the numbers and the resulting “truth” about current US unemployment, inflation, and current monetary policy…. right wing bloggers or politicians concerned about their next election?
It’s a rhetorical question…. no need for a lengthy retort Steve. LOL
I do agree with David…. perhaps you should move back a bit from the TV…
[quote=”sweikert925″]To Scott:
First let me say that it’s refreshing and appreciated that I get a reply to one of my comments that actually has thoughtfulness behind it and that you don’t resort to insults which some of the less mature participants on this message board feel compelled to resort to.
I also want to head off the comments that would otherwise no doubt come that insist that I think everything is rosy and there is no need to worry. I didn’t state it strongly enough in my earlier comment, but I think there is ample reason for worry – things are not going well (though MUCH better than 4 years ago) and even though the trend line is (in my opinion) positive, there are lots of things that can happen in the near future to plunge us back into recession.
But with all due respect Scott, you can’t seriously expect me to change my opinion based on the sources you cite (with the one exception below) – 2 right wing bloggers with political axes to grind and a financial motive to boot. Graham Summers makes his living by trying to scare the bejeezus out of people and his views have always been of the gloom and doom variety. I could have cited as a reference some opinion piece by one of the sunnier economists – say, Paul Krugman – but I didn’t because one man’s opinion is just one man’s opinion. You can find individual economists that are all over the map about where the economy is now and is headed. But at least the sources of your opinions are better than lvc1028’s (source: “Because I said so”).
I do have a high opinion of David Stockman (even though he’s selling a book and therefore has an axe to grind). His opinions are thoughtful and should to be listened to. There is much that he has to say that I totally agree with as in this:
[i]”The destruction of fiscal rectitude under Ronald Reagan — one reason I resigned as his budget chief in 1985 — was the greatest of his many dramatic acts. It created a template for the Republicans’ utter abandonment of the balanced-budget policies of Calvin Coolidge and allowed George W. Bush to dive into the deep end, bankrupting the nation through two misbegotten and unfinanced wars, a giant expansion of Medicare and a tax-cutting spree for the wealthy that turned K Street lobbyists into the de facto office of national tax policy. In effect, the G.O.P. embraced Keynesianism — for the wealthy.”[/i]
But this statement is, in my opinion, and in the opinion of most economists, utter nonsense:
[i]”There was never a remote threat of a Great Depression 2.0 or of a financial nuclear winter, contrary to the dire warnings of Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman since 2006. The Great Fear — manifested by the stock market plunge when the House voted down the TARP bailout before caving and passing it — was purely another Wall Street concoction. Had President Bush and his Goldman Sachs adviser (a k a Treasury Secretary) Henry M. Paulson Jr. stood firm, the crisis would have burned out on its own and meted out to speculators the losses they so richly deserved. The Main Street banking system was never in serious jeopardy, ATMs were not going dark and the money market industry was not imploding.”[/i]
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/opinion/sunday/sundown-in-america.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
It is true that we lost 240,000 full time jobs in June 2013 over May, but that’s just one month’s data. Year over year, we GAINED 1.4 million full time jobs from June 2012 to June 2013. (It is a mark of intellectual dishonesty to cherry pick your data – as Summers does – and use that to make wild claims of impending doom.)
(See this source, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.htm, scroll down to table A-9)
And on that subject while it is true that the BLS has calculated that 28 million of the 144 million employed are working part time, that doesn’t mean they all want full time jobs. The BLS breaks that down further into those working part time for economic reasons and those who work part time for other reasons – such as students in college who work part time. Of those 28 million, only 8 million work part time due to economic necessity.
(Table A-8 in the link above)
Much is made of the fact that the economy is running on borrowed money. Well borrowed money is a basic fact of capitalism. There is never a time when we are NOT running on borrowed money. There is a wise way to manage borrowing and a foolish way to do so and certainly the way some governments have done it lately is foolish. But I would remind everyone that what got us out the Great Depression of the 1930s was borrowed money, a higher debt to GDP ratio than what is currently the case and we managed to survive – even thrive.
In a couple of years it will become apparent which of us is right about the direction of the US economy and so anyone reading this then will know that. That’s assuming this thread is allowed to remain posted – it’s your message board and you can delete it if you choose. I hope you won’t.
Speaking of which, what happened to the Dengue Fever thread? Why was that deleted?[/quote]
One can find resources to support any argument if they look hard enough. And although you find “right wing” bloggers to be less than credible sources can you really claim that the information being “provided” by the US Government is any less suspect? Do you really think the unemployment numbers truly represent the reality of todays job market? Do they take into account underemployment at all? How about the inflation numbers put out by the US Government? You shop I assume… do you really think inflation is under control and running at about 3% or so? Do you know how they’ve played with how both unemployment and inflation are calculated to serve the government’s agenda?
If everything is so wonderful and under control in the US with nothing but clear skys and a calm sea on the horizon why is it that you, as an intelligent person who has worked hard his entire life, made the right choices, saved, done his homework and considered his future….can’t survive financially in retirement in the place you’ve called home your entire life?
That’s the REAL question you should be asking yourself. After you answer that you’ll start to question all the other issues folks bring up about what’s wrong in the US that you adamantly seek to dispute constantly.
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”imxploring”]
Please take note that the original story and release of this story was by the Guardian…. an English newspaper. You have to wonder why it wasn’t a US based new organization?
[/quote]I should think the answer to that was blindingly obvious – because Edward Snowden approached the Guardian with his information – they didn’t ferret the story out. And he did that for also obvious reasons – The Guardian is a notoriusly left-wing newspaper who would relish printing it. It was they who also broke the story a couple of years ago about the phones of UK citizens being hacked by other members of the UK press, so they have a track record on that issue.
Of course you’d have to ask Snowden how he specifically came to choose that outlet. Or you could just wait a bit – I’m sure it will be in his no doubt soon-to-be-published memoirs.[/quote]
I guess we’re going to have to redefine “left-wing” as a person or organization willing to stand up to the US government and let the truth be heard.
As far as their “relishing” the printing of this story and the facts surrounding it…. isn’t the freedom of the press one of the basic pillars of the checks and balances that helps to keep a “government of the people” from becoming a dictatorship?
Perhaps Snowden is a lot wiser than folks give him credit. He knew that releasing the information to an offshore news organization was the only way to be sure the story was told. That’s a pretty sad commentary on the press in the US.
