On 20 April 2005 at 02:49 Kathleen Peddicord who at the time was based in Ireland for International Living (a travel magazine online and also now in print) wrote to me saying that “Costa Rica isn’t a destination that we promote for a number of reasons.”

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Wow! I hadn’t realized so much had changed during the short two year period between then and now because International Living is again promoting Costa Rica in their ‘Return to Costa Rica’ campaign and one of our VIP Members wrote to me jokingly saying; “there goes the neighborhood.”

On the 15th April 2007 “Costa Rica makes sense again….” wrote Kathleen Peddicord – who is based in Ireland – in her newsletter. “No, our reasons for shying away from Costa Rica these recent years have had nothing to do with the lay of the land. As I’ve explained, they’ve had mostly to do with pricing.”

“In the 10 years since we last told readers of International Living to consider Costa Rica, however, prices elsewhere in the region have risen dramatically… so that the Costa Rican market is no longer “expensive,” relatively speaking. Furthermore, in those 10 years, Costa Rica has improved its roads and internal systems, so that the infrastructure is more on par with what you would expect given property values.”

On the 19th April 2007, Don Edinger, who is not based in Costa Rica, wrote that: “Prices have moderated throughout the country”.

One can not be sure exactly what this means because according to all my sources, who live in Costa Rica and who are professionals in the real estate business, prices have increased quite dramatically every year for the past ten years…

International Living probably have hundreds of travel writers, some of them are terrific and on their International Living website, you can see that they write about living in:

  1. Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales.
  2. Central and Latin America: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Repulic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Africa & Asia Australasia & Pacific.
  3. Africa, Asia and the South Pacific: China, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, South Africa, Thailand, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand.
  4. The Caribbean: Bahamas and Bermuda.

And boy! In their newsletters, for a time, they did indeed return to Costa Rica, it would appear that none of their writers live in Costa Rica and it also seems that not all of them speak Spanish but they still write about living in Costa Rica:

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  1. On 25th May 2007 Don Edinger wrote that: “The trip was breathtaking. After leaving the Central Valley the bus slowly made its way up the mountains and then started a descent down the winding highway to the coast. “
  2. On 7th May 2007, Susan Haskins – who was based in Mexico at the time, not Costa Rica – wrote about a Canadian that had moved to Costa Rica and that: “But the biggest magnets pulling Jan and Greg to Costa Rica were the “wonderful and generous” people they met here. The couple says they owe their new friends a debt of gratitude for helping make their dreams come true.”
  3. On 2nd May 2007, in a newsletter entitled ‘Mugged (Almost) in Costa Rica’, Don Edinger wrote that: “Did this incident sour me on Costa Rica? Not at all. Crime is simply a problem that knowledgeable people learn to deal with in an otherwise beautiful, friendly country.”
  4. On 26th April Susan Haskins – who was based in Mexico at the time, not Costa Rica – wrote that: “Happiness. Costa Rica scores near the top of international well-being surveys. Happy people have higher levels of endorphins and stronger immune systems.” In her biography they state that: “In the last several years, they have been to Costa Rica (where they were married – at least they think they were, as the decree is in Spanish which they can barely read)…”
  5. On 18th April 2007, John Barret, who states that “my command of the Spanish language is limited” and who is not based in Costa Rica wrote that: “Costa Rica is one of the most popular destinations for foreigners looking to retire, invest, and find a better quality of life.”
  6. On the 17th April 2007 Susan Haskins who was based in Mexico at the time, wrote that: “Despite its natural beauty, low cost of living, Edenic climate, and friendly populace… in this tropical paradise you can still find a home for less than $100,000…” You may recall that Susan can “barely read” Spanish so one might wonder how well she can get to know the people, the culture and the customs in a Spanish speaking country.
  7. On the 16th April 2007 Don Edinger wrote that: “The climate is near-perfect, property is reasonably priced, and health care is excellent.”
  8. On the 9th April 2007, Jessica Ramesch, who does speak Spanish but is based in Panama and not Costa Rica, wrote that: “Costa Rica is known as one of Latin America’s most peaceful nations (and one of the most politically stable – it has enjoyed 59 years of uninterrupted democratic rule).”
  9. However, in their 11th May 2009 newsletter entitled “Why Not Costa Rica?” In pushing Panama and insulting Costa Rica, International Living fails to mention a number of fairly crucial pieces of information. Kathleen Peddicord says that: “Crime has become a serious concern for both travelers and foreign retirees.” Although she conveniently fails to mention that Panama’s murder rate is nearly 50% higher than Costa Rica.
  10. Ms. Peddicord states that: “The cost of living has increased… the cost of real estate has ballooned in some regions…and, meantime, the infrastructure has remained status-quo. That is, broken down.”

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    The cost of living has also increased in Panama and let’s not forget that Costa Rica has made an enormous commitment to improved infrastructure… The new highway from San Jose is very much near completion and the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo has approved US$850 million loan to help rebuild Costa Rica’s roads, bridges, ports, airport, cycle paths and even the Metropolitan Electric Train.

  11. “Costa Rica Correspondent David Stubbs, living in the country for the past five years with his family, tells the story of friends who bought a house in an inaccessible spot…because they were assured a road was going in. Years later, their home is as difficult to get to as the day they bought it. Still, no road…”

    PS. I can’t actually find any articles written by Mr. Stubbs but at least he lives here…

    Come on eh! Is Costa Rica to blame because some naive buyer believed what he was told without doing some sensible checking and bought a home “in an inaccessible spot?” This could never happen in Panama, right?

  12. In one paragraph, she states that “the cost of real estate has ballooned in some regions” and then a few lines down we read, “Like many real estate markets worldwide right now, the Costa Rican real estate market is down. In particular regions, the Costa Rican market is down to crisis opportunity levels.”

    So the real estate market in Costa Rica is clearly schizophrenic; it has “balloned in some regions” but, “like many real estate markets worldwide right now, the Costa Rican real estate market is down.

    13. ”

    Hmmm!

  13. Let’s not let the 25th March 2009 newsletter about Panama slide either which stated that: “You told me about the construction and the road works, about the tourism figures and the Canal revenues.”

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    But I bet you they didn’t tell you that state revenues from the Panama canal were down 80% in the first quarter: “State revenue from the canal was $73 million for the first quarter of 2008, but the first quarter of 2009, the revenue has dropped to only $16 million.”

  14. And in same 11th May 2009 newsletter, they have to give a nasty little insinuation with: “There’s something else, too…something less quantifiable. In Costa Rica, there’s an attitude among the Ticos…I don’t know…almost as though they don’t want you there.”

How things change after two short years when the same newsletter was saying how “Costa Rica makes sense again” and gushing about the “wonderful and generous” people they met in Costa Rica.

Yup! Costa Rica is a beautiful place alright, positively overflowing with stunning scenery, sunshine and smiles however, you might bear in mind that unlike 99.9% of these contradictory travel writers who do not live in Costa Rica and most of whom do not appear to speak the Spanish language, 95% of the articles written for WeLoveCostaRica.com have been written by people who actually live here – a radical idea I know – and most of them speak Spanish well.

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Although Scott Oliver does not personally sell real estate and does not earn a 10% sales commission which is typically charged by International Living to their developer clients, he would be happy to Help-U-Search for your perfect property in Costa Rica.


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