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I have built condos and homes and remodeled existing housing in Costa Rica since 1992. In the course of conducting my construction business I have purchased and installed hundreds of pieces of furniture built-in and free standing. I just completed a remodeling project in Belen and furnished the units with recently purchased furniture. I am familiar with all the current costs to remodel and source furniture. If you would like to work with a professional send me a message.
Visit http://www.costaricahomebuilder.com and select the “documents” page to view the Acquisition and Home Building Report I wrote back in 1994 and continue to update as changes within the Costa Rican government take place. Within the Report you will find the Housing Cost Analysis which I provide completed with all the costs involved to prospective owners of homes so they know what shape the home is currently in as well as what it will cost to remodel and add the amenities they would like to have installed.
From having built in GTE for 6 years I have many contacts in Santa Cruz that may or may not still be involved with the Municipal government and could be called upon to assist you. Additionally, several of my oldest friends over the last 15 years are experienced builders and developers out there and they deal with the municipalities every week. Where are you located and who is your builder?
We have 100.0 Mbps internet service for $20 p/month from the Cable Tica company that provides cable TV for $20 p/month, http://www.cabletica.com. They rent or sell a Motorola SB 5100 SURFboard cable modem and a Linksys Wireless-G, 2.4 Ghz Broadband Router, with the Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network the system works great!
We are located in the most convenient location in the central valley of Costa Rica just 10 minutes from the international airport and the drive to the capital, San Jose, in the evenings or on the weekend takes about 15 minutes and during the week at rush hour can be up to 45 minutes. We are 30 minutes from hospitals;
Clinica Biblica, http://www.clinicabiblica.com/english/msocial.php,
CIMA, http://www.hospitalsanjose.net.
Shopping is a 5 minute walk to several small grocery stores or Pali which is now owned by Walmart and 20 minutes away is Pricesmart which is the same as Costco in the USA, http://www.pricesmart.com/Local/Default.aspx
Only 5 minutes away by car on the expressway that connects the international airport to the capital of San Jose is the Real Cariari Mall with 3 floors of shopping, 6 US style cinemas, a fine grocery store and tons of restaurants. http://www.plazarealcariari.com
Less than 5 minutes away across from the Real Cariari Mall, you’ll find the hotel Ramada,
http://www.ramadaherradura.com/english/index/index.htm and
Melia Hotel, athttp://www.solmelia.com/solNew/hoteles/jsp/C_Hotel_Description.jsp?codigoHotel=5894. which are located on the Cariari Country Club golf course, http://www.clubcariari.com/english/index.html.
We are also located near Multiplaza Mall with
8 new movie theaters, http://www.cinemark.com.sv/cartelera/index.php, across from Plaza Iscatzu which contains Outback Steakhouse and Hooters. Within five more minutes is Friday’s and Tony Romas if you’re interested in US based restaurants. I prefer the very affordable fresh chicken and seafood available in Belen within walking distance from the condos. The local roasted (over coffee wood) chicken restaurant charges $4.64 for a 1/4 chicken with salad and tortillas incl. tip. Dinner at the El Dorado seafood restaurant pictured in the photos of Belen of fresh Dorado, salad and plantains was $5.00 incl. tip. The lunch special at the local cafeteria is $3.00 and is more than a normal person can eat.If you would like some advice about this project you will need to provide a website or directions to where it is located so someone who lives here and understands the current real estate market can give you an opinion.
Dr. Steven Kogel, 224-6176. He is listed on MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS LIST FOR THE CONSULAR DISTRICT OF SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA, EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. http://sanjose.usembassy.gov/medical.html. His native tongue is English and he speaks excellent Spanish as well.
You can legally lend as much money as you want here and if you have real estate assets that you are comfortable with as collateral, you’re protected. As long as you do not enter into mortgage or lease agreements you’ve got the advantage and you can negotiate an attractive interest rate. When you sell a property with financing you can increase your ROI by offering financing in the form of an option to purchase. If they default on the option you keep the property and do not have any foreclosure or eviction proceedings. It’s all very simple and legal. I know this sounds crazy and you may wonder why a purchaser would enter into this type of agreement, but in the old days there was very little mortgage money available here and this is the way the Latinos grew up doing business.
My lawyer of 12 years has arranged various loans at attractive interest rates to local businesses that needed cash. This works well as long as you have legal counsel that protects you. My lawyer introduced me to a friend of his who was a young Tico with a growing construction company that needed $100K to complete the infrastructure in a land development project some years back. The property to be developed was several parcels of land in the hills of Santa Ana that had great appreciation potential. The construction company that owned the land had already begun to sell lots in the first phase. To complete the loan transaction the lawyer transferred one of the adjacent undeveloped parcels of land, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars into the name of a company controlled by the lender. At closing an “option contract” was endorsed that stated the borrower could purchase that company within the 24 month term of the contract if they paid the principal loan amount plus accumulative interest of 12% on the 24th month. If they defaulted, they lost the option and the contract expired.
There are several legal methods to sell your property with terms and protect yourself at the same time. Do yourself a favor and hire an experienced attorney who specializes in real estate law to structure the terms in your sales contract.If you’re looking for a comfortable climate and a safe community to live in, check out San Antonio de Belen, Costa Rica. Here you will find all the conveniences you’re accustomed to for much less than most other communities. I have been in CR since 1992 and over the last 15 years I have had the opportunity to live on the beach in Guanacaste, in several communities around the central valley and now in a condo in the center of Belen. The climate here is very agreeable and since the sun shines most of the day it does not get cold at night. In Belen there are a variety of restaurants offering some of the best fire cooked chicken, broiled fish, Chinese, pizza and typical Tico food. The prices are lower here than in most pueblos. I eat out everyday and spend an average of 1500 colones or $2.90 for fresh cooked meals. A beer in the local bar is 500 colones or $.96 and a Johnnie Walker is 700 colones or $1.35. The municipality in Belen is very organized and keeps development under check which enables the community to stay clean. Additionally, it is one of the safest communities because it has its own Municipal Police force in addition to the Fuerza Publica and Transito officials that are present throughout the country. I walk to get everything I need in Belen and do not get stuck in traffic jambs or need to drive all over to find parking. If you want to get to know a community better, walk around as much as you can and say hola to as many people as possible to see how friendly the locals are toward you. In many pueblos it’s difficult to walk around because there is little or no infrastructure. In Belen there are handicap accessible ramps at most major intersections and ample sidewalks everywhere. Visit http://ticotomasino.spaces.live.com to see some photos of Belen.
Hi Terry. I am curious to find out what places you stayed at in CR for $14.00 or less. Would you mind sharing the names and locations of these hotels?
Hi Ron. Last month I was invited to inspect a building lot for a client in new project on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast that focuses on ecological development of the infrastructure and conservation of the existing natural environment. It is located in the area known as Playa Grande just outside of Matapalo in the province of Guanacaste and access is via a newly paved public road, forty five minutes from the Liberia International airport.
This new project is named Baula Hills and is located on a high elevation approximately two kilometers from the beach at Playa Grande, adjacent to the Las Colinas Golf Course. The majority of the lots I saw had views of the Pacific Ocean and Playa’s Grande and Tamarindo.
The primary goal of the development team is to blend the individual lots into the existing natural forest. Extensive design and care have been taken to create a biologically compatible waste treatment system apart from the natural spring aquifers that supply the clean drinking water. All of the winding streets will be constructed of natural brick pavers and all water and electrical distribution is now being installed underground.
Contact me direct at tom@costaricahomebuilder.com if you would like additional information.
Specifications of the expectations you have imagined for your home.
We all have expectations. But some of us are not able to clearly envision how all the components need to be assembled to achieve the end result we have imagined.
Photos help but detailed construction specifications are the best means you have to get your dream home completed to your expectations and the way you imagine it to be.
It is a good idea to thoroughly communicate your expectations of how you imagine your residence to be to your builder so he can include the items you need in your construction specifications and provide you with the accurate cost to install them in your new residence. If you don’t have a good building contract, with detailed construction specifications you may end up spending more than you anticipated and perhaps get disappointed.With a good set of specifications you can be sure that you are getting the total cost for all the work to complete your residence the way you imagine it to be.
Plus if you select a builder with whom you can communicate and someone who understands the manner in which you’re accustomed to living, chances are you won’t be inconvenienced by the inconveniences that happen here in paradise.reply from biologist that opened my eyes.
Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:56 pm (PST)
As a biologist involved in sustainable development, I must say some things here…Some years ago the government had the “smart” idea of giving more money to the farm
owners that chopped down the native plants and instead planted melina and teca. These
two trees are not as good providers of food and shelter for native wildlife as native plants
do.Renewable resources? There is a plan behind the curtains to promote ethanol-biofuels. In
order to get ethanol, the government will give money to cane sugar growers (the president
has most of the shares of one of the main cane sugar companies in Costa Rica). A lot of
acres of forest will be chopped in order to grow cane sugar or corn.If you have lived enough in Costa Rica…remember the nice cool climate in Monteverde?
Well, my friends who work there say it’s now warm as in San José. A friend that lives close
to Orosi volcano says that now there are no clouds over the volcano and water is scarce.
Less forests means less water for all.About FONAFIFO…there are specific dates where the landowners have to fill applications in
order to receive money for conservation. If you go to the Fonafifo office the specific day
and stay outside the door since 4:00 am so that you are the first one in the line, when they
give you the application they tell you: “Hey, you are already #256. It will be very difficult
for you to get money from the government”. Why is that? Because there is a lot of
corruption with money for conservation and the “positions” for the money are already
negotiated and given, although it’s illegal. It’s true that the Fonafifo program gives more
than $10 million per year to property owners, but it’s also true that a lot of those property
owners are wealthy and are not preserving the forests.It’s good that DHL and other companies are funding tree plantations but the problem is
that they continue planting melina and teca, not many native trees. Also, that’s useless
when you see that urban development is not planned: lot of huge hotels with golf fields
and pools means less acres of native forests. Lot of hotels in Guanacaste means less water
for native people (more for wealthy tourists) and more damage to the delicate tropical dry
forest ecosystem. There is a plan to build a huge “eco” residential in my beloved Osa
Peninsula; that’s totally oxymoron because they plan to chop down hundreds of hectares
of primary forest in order to put houses with pools, golf and just some palms.What can we do about it? We should tell our tourist friends to favor small green hotels
instead of big hotel chains that destroy our mangroves and forests. We should favor
environmental education, we should favor native plants, etc.I don’t want to be negative but we really should see the two sides of the coin and act.
Unfortunately for the tons of folks who chose to purchase land in GTE it is a fact that it costs more to build out there. Having lived and worked out there full time from 1992 till 1998 I can tell you that it is physically challenging to work in outside all day long 10 degrees from the equator. Materials transport is costly and keeping the construction workers happy is tough because there isn’t much to do except work when you make as little as they do. That’s why when I have a project out there I build a small kitchen and dormitory on-site to feed and house the workers as well as a bodega to store the building materials. We work 10 days straight from 5am till 5pm and then take 3 days off so they can return to their families in San Jose. All of these items add to the cost of labor and there is no way around it except to hire the locals out there who grew up in a very slow paced environment and aren’t accustomed to working very hard. Building in the central valley is a pleasure compared to the work involved out in GTE and no experienced builder is going to build out there without being amply compensated. I know a few builders from the old days who still live and work out there but they are so busy I don’t even think about referring any new business to them.
Having lived and built in Guanacaste from 1993 to 1998 I am familiar with the type of terrain on the north and south ridges of Flamingo. Many of building sites up there have marginal terrain and would require either pilings and a steel joist system or footings and foundation walls to support the concrete slab of your home. I would spend the money to hire a qualified engineer who should inspect the site and offer you his recommendations in writing. Here in Costa Rica, if you prefer concrete construction, you should construct what is referred to as a “floating slab”. If I were the owner of a dwelling in this area I would justify the additional expense to construct a suitable foundation to support my new home as inexpensive insurance. NOTE: In order to complete a good 3000 psi monolithic pour you will need to be able to get cement trucks up to the building site so the concrete can be poured or pumped into your foundation. There are some areas up in Flamingo where large cement trucks may not be able to access. If access is a problem then you’ll need to have an engineer design the steel piling and metal construction system for your home. Review the following construction guidelines and try to understand how this “floating slab” provides the stability that is needed in a seismic area like Costa Rica. I poured two floating slabs as described below on beach lots where we compacted 1 meter of clean fill for 2 story condos and have had no problems.
GUIDELINES
Excavate 4′ deep trenches where footers are indicated on blueprints.
Provide 2″ x 6″‘s for forms per print.
Set forms for 8″ high and 20″ wide on top of excavated trenches.
Run 2 x #4 steel rods horizontally, equidistant, side by side 4″ from bottom of trench while pouring concrete footers.
Run stickers, using #4 steel rods every 4′ projecting 6″ vertically from top of footer.
Set 48″ poured wall frames block on top of concrete footers with vertical stickers inside of all blocks.
Attach 6′ long #4 steel rods to stickers projecting from wall every 4′, leaving 2′ protruding from top of wall to bend into poured slab.
Pour concrete in all forms or inside all blocks.
Fill inside of walls with fine sand and compress in layers to achieve a solid base and backfill around exterior of footer walls with same or clean topsoil
Compress sand inside of walls several times adding more sand as it is compressed, until top layer of sand is smooth and firm, 4″ from top of walls to accept 4″ of #57 stone following rough-in of plumbing, electric and HVAC tubing.
Dig all column pads and interior footers per blueprint and set forms as above
Run sanitary and water lines 15″ below floor, avoiding pads and interior footers.
Run water line from the tap into the area of the dwelling where the shut off valve will be installed, avoiding driveways and walkways.
Run metal conduit for floor plugs or HVAC pipes per plan.
Set forms around perimeter of footers and foundation walls and then spread #57 stone evenly where slab is to be poured.
Cover stone with minimum 6 mil polyethylene vapor barrier.
Bend #4 steel rods protruding from the top of the footer walls into the floor and connect the steel rod grid system made by attaching additional steel rods to the existing protruding from the footer walls.
Order 3000psi concrete and pump or pour a 4″ solid monolithic slab.We have now poured concrete into and over a steel grid system that connects the perimeter footings through the foundation walls and into the slab. This floating slab is structurally sound from corner to corner and will not fail from seismic activity or settling.
