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pweisel1, In my opinion, there are beach people and then there are the non-beach people. I’m from Tampa, Florida and spent most of my summers in the beaches from Mobile, Alabama to Key West, Florida. Florida is hot and humid from May through the middle of October (usually). I’ve been living near Playa Conchal, in Guanacaste now for a little over two years. I moved here because: 1) I could not afford to live a 10 minute walk to quality beaches in Florida. 2) If you like the beach, you probably enjoy things like fishing, diving, snorkeling, surfing or my favorite, nothing at all except enjoying the breezes and sounds of the beach and you expect it to be hot. Some people like it and some people don’t want anything to do with it. Things I like about this area include all of the above plus, no traffic, car horns and the feeling that I’m in Costa Rica and not just another city with all the things that come with living in a city. The heat is not like Florida (at least where I live) and until this week we used our A/C as needed. December and most of January this year were great! My point is, don’t let people who don’t live at the beach discourage you if you have a passion for the beach. I personally need to be near the water, but that’s me. Take Scott’s advice and spend time in many different areas and decide for yourself what is best for you. Hope this helps.
Being a rentista, we already had to meet the requirements (letter from police in US stating no criminal record, $60K, visit to the CR police department for an interview, etc…) to obtain our cedulas. Having the child gives us the right to apply for permanent residency since our son is a citizen of CR but does not “speed up the process” or allow us not to bypass any requirements. This is how I understand it from our attorney. If we wanted to have a baby to speed up residency I sure wouldn’t have plopped down the $60K two years ago. I would have done the tourist thing every 90 days and put the money to work somewhere else because I’m definitely not getting rich of the interest.
My wife and I are going for our permanent residency “appointment” at migracion with our attorney on January 12th. Our son was born in CR at CIMA Hospital on December 28th of last year. We are both “retistas” now and have been for a little over two years. Our son has both his CR and US passport. I can let you know how things go in January but according to our attorney we are also eligible to receive the remaining balance in our “rentista account” or whatever you want to call it.
I live just outside of Tamarindo and have been here for Christmas the last two years. I dont think you’ll have a problem as this is one of the busiest times of the year for our area. I do property management and all my rentals have been booked since around July. If you want to check out a typico fiesta, visit Matapalo. I believe it goes from the 22nd till the 27th and has different events nightly and you can always find good food here too. Be assured though, most restaurants in Tamarindo will be open.
My wife and I have been Rentistas for two years. We had to deposit the money into a CR account that is similar to a CD. This account is in dollars and gains minimal interest. Once a month, $1000 (plus interest) is transfered automatically into a colones account. We’ve also recently became first time parents and are in the process of becoming permanent residents. We are now eligible to receive the remaining balance in our account upon receiving permanent residency status.
