This morning the price of the dollar in Costa Rica was extremely high and although my first thought was: Good! I can go shopping for household items today and spend less! I also thought about how this issue affects the Costa Rica people; either it is in a positive or negative way, even if my money is in dollars most of the time, whatever changes are made, will be affecting me too as a citizen.
As I said it before, my first thought was the fact that I could save lots of money by going to the market today, but that is because all I have in cash right now is dollars, if I had only colones I would be in trouble. In Costa Rica, housing is often charged in dollars, meaning that if you are renting and your salary is in colones, you will be paying more for your rent today, those are really bad news.
Now, on the other hand, for us “gringos” this is a real good chance to take advantage on getting real deals in Costa Rica real estate since prices will be cheaper to those paying in dollars or getting prices in dollars. Getting a home in Guanacaste will be cheaper now for those earning money in dollars and trust me, getting any type of Guanacaste properties is an amazing deal, either it is for moving to Costa Rica as it is for business.
The bad thing for Costa Rica is that their currency becomes an issue for those who have loans in dollars since their debt increases and their income lowers, this is something very disturbing for middle class and low class citizens. The only good thing is that their tourism business increased a lot this year, meaning that their economy may be less affected if more dollars come into the country.
My advice to US citizens still hesitant about purchasing real estate in Costa Rica is to take advantage of this currency changes and go ahead with it, this is the opportunity you were waiting for.
