Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

Costa Rica is not only the new “in” location for “near-shoring.”; but is also becoming a favorite for “corporate relocation”

With a population of 4 million people, Costa Rica possess several features that set the country apart form the rest of its competitors; like having the region’s oldest democracy, solid political stability, good infrastructure, and an impressive 95% literacy rate.

Not good enough? Let’s take a look at the following information.
The now famous Free Trade Agreement with the United States has companies such as Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Stream, and Intel making significant investments in Costa Rican outsourcing call centers. This have carry more than good results in terms of world class ranking; for despite the lack of experience between Costa Rica and powerhouses like India, and China, the call center ranking given to Costa Rica place the country just a couple of points behind them; and is now being considered as one of the most complete, and most competitive offshore outsourcing destinations offering both high-paying, highly sought-after jobs.

Two Major points to consider

The business conditions are certainly stable and very secure, unlike other countries with noticeable lower levels of working conditions and quite unstable governments. The Costa Rican Call Center scene offers the highest quality in bilingual call center support for wages that are surprisingly 40%-80% lower than those found in the United States centers.

Having a Central Standard Time zone, mix with Costa Rica’s key geographic location, turns Costa Rica an into and ideal solution, ensuring easy access to near-shore delivery capabilities.

Just consider the time and the money that it will take to flight your personnel and equipment to a city in India, and once you have done that get a couple of minutes to weight those numbers against the possibilities that Costa Rica can offer you, as “the new India” of our American Continent.

I have done some research since my first visit to Costa Rica, and let me tell you that several reasons are coming together in order to keep things the way they are for this Central American jewel.

It is no secret that Costa Rica has the hottest real estate market in Latin America today; and when you do look for opinions from well known experts you will come across statements like:

“I think the story of the year in Central America is Costa Rica. Talk is cheap, but finally we are seeing tangible results.”

Those were the comments from Scott Berman (A principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers) a couple of years ago, and from what I’ve seen as a reident of this country for over a decade, more and bigger results are showing up year after year. Scott’s actual words when asked to name the hottest real estate market in Latin America today were:

“From a resort perspective, clearly Costa Rica,”

I am not too big on quotes; however I will include one more, this one is from the Managing director of the Latin America operations for Jones Lang LaSalle, Shannon Robertson.

“Costa Rica is the…flavor of the day, there are some real problems infrastructure-wise, but because of the brand name among Americans, it’s got a lot of momentum.”

Time has gone by and several of the infrastructure problems that were present in the past are been systematically dealt with by the Costa Rican government; that has deemed wise to move quickly in order to provide a much more attractive panorama for current and future projects in the Guanacaste Area.

As we continue to move forward in the year, the presence of new projects such as the ones from the Intercontinental, and Hilton franchises, are definitely giving another boost to the “face lift” initiative from the local government, making things get better a lot faster than the usual time.

Year after year more American, European and Canadian investors are being drawn to the surprisingly rich real estate market in Costa Rica; discovering not only the fact that it certainly offers them a genuine alternative to the insecurity of other equity markets, (Unfortunately quite a common trend this days); but that it also presents an escape from their expensive domestic property markets.

Reason#1: Real estate opportunities to acquire land, a house, or a beach condo in Costa Rica offer prices that are highly affordable; and even though the current boom in the market is leaning to inflating prices, the levels have yet to reach those shown in the US, UK or Canada. (Keep in mind that the country also has a strong resale market.)

Reason#2: There are over 50,000 US citizens already living in Costa Rica and the country is accepted by North America as a politically and economically stable country, as a result many US brokers are able to arrange different finance options for property purchase in Costa Rica.

Reason #3: Another reason to move to the country or retire to a beachfront condo in Costa Rica is the very favorable and by now well known low taxation regime that the country currently has. Add to this great feature the fact that land ownership is widespread and that property ownership rights in Costa Rica for foreign citizens or non-residents are unrivaled across the whole Central and Latin American area.

Reason#4: One of the main reasons as to why the Costa Rica real estate scene is booming has to do with the profile of this Central American country, which has been steadily rising under the influence of huge companies such as: HP, Procter & Gamble, and Intel just to name a few, that have decided to move to Costa Rica lands, to establish their new call center support headquarters. Here they have encounter not only superb English speaking skills among the local population; but also highly educated individuals with amazing profiles. The successful results shown by these international giants have caught the attention of yet bigger companies, all eager to move and invest on Costa Rica real estate opportunities.

So if you are looking for a new home, or perhaps evaluating your options for “corporate relocation”, the Costa Rican real estate market is full of great options.

My name is Charles D Constantine, and like many other Americans I have chosen to move to Costa Rica since I retired from my previous job in the US. Here I discovered the great advantages that living in a small country can offer to people interested in making good investments, I just wish I could have known more about this a little early in my life.

As I am looking forward to start this Blog about Costa Rica real estate, and the many hidden treasures this Central American country has to offer, I give you thanks in advance for your time reading through my posts, and I promise to do my best to keep it daily updated for you all.