Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

So, I have great news about my real estate investment in Guanacaste: my offer was accepted and now the payment process has begun. I have to admit I got overly excited when the real estate agent called me to give me the news and I made a small toast and celebration with the family, I am also very happy with the way things worked out and haw fast and easy was the entire process.

Buying land in Guanacaste did require a lot of search and I did took my time to do everything, like any other real estate deal, I had professionals working with me and got a lot of “second opinions”. For now, I will be focusing in working with the architects to design a nice looking housing project, Guanacaste is full of great architects and home designers so, I will be working with a few of them to see which one hits the target.

I would like the housing project to be something in between an apartment complex and a beach villa, although it is not located at the beach, I would like to capture the feeling of Guanacaste and provide that peaceful feeling I have living in my own Guanacaste beach home. The process might be a bit slow but I am sure I will make the best of it…after all, if you want something close to perfect, patience and hard work are the keys.

This will be my second adventure buying real estate in Guanacaste, the first one was when I bought my current home, but it was already built and ready to move in, this one I am taking from the beginning and I plan to enjoy it as much as possible. Properties in Guanacaste are hot in the market right now, so this should not be difficult.

To continue doing business the biggest Newspaper in Costa Rica “La Nacion” has laid off a total of 100 employees since yesterday and has closed several newspaper supplements that have been out on the streets for decades.

La Nacion newspaper is the biggest publication in Costa Rica and apparently the financial crisis has also hit them they have even laid of some of their senior journalists and removed the printed version of their college focused newspaper Vuelta en U. Today every employee is being called in a private meeting to let them know one by one what will be the changes on their responsibilities and jobs, in the case they still have one.

Although it has been demonstrated that Costa Rica has had even worst financial crisis in the past, companies in Costa Rica are taking extreme measures to avoid being affected. In Guanacaste I haven’t seen much movement about the matter, but it could also be because of the high season.

We will have to wait and see what happens to all those journalists out of jobs, it is really sad that professionals in Costa Rica that have such caliber and experience have to go through such bad times. I really hope that tourism and real estate in Costa Rica doesn’t get as bad as other industries, it would be very sad to see more people affected by the financial crisis in Costa Rica.

I have noticed though that most real estate agents in Costa Rica are getting by with renting properties since the banks last year hardly gave out home loans, but the industry itself has maintain good profits.

As probably everybody who reads this knows, Costa Rica is an ecological paradise, where people come to have fun, get some rest, learn about Latin culture and enjoy all the tropical treasures found on basically the entire country. In a previous entry I was telling you about how I find so weird that Panama uses every marketing tool they can get their hands on to promote their country’s tourism, Costa Rica seemed to be a little slower in this matter, but not anymore.

Apparently Costa Rica Tourism chamber has begun a publicity campaign to promote their vacational destinations in to European travelers, specifically from Spain. The main reason why Costa Rica has decided to search for other markets is because the financial crisis in the United States has forced Costa Rican tourism officials to promote the country in other markets. For this, Costa Rica will be sharing a spot in the Central America booth at the Tourism Fair where each Central America country will have enough space to promote themselves separately from the others.

This will certainly increase the popularity Costa Rica has a tourism destination in Europe. Traveling to Costa Rica from Europe believe it or not, is in most cases cheaper than coming here from any other destination in America, so this market will probably a good thing for Costa Rica.

Worldwide surfing organization Ticket to Ride is now offering a sweet adventure in the love paradise of Costa Rica. Surfers from all over the world are able now to opt for a nice 5 weeks trip to Costa Rica where they can enjoy world renown surfing, learn some of the culture of the country and give back to the community teaching English, sports, music and arts in different Costa Rica locations.  

As part of the Ticket to Ride Costa Rica deal, interested surfers will combine learning to surf, with learning Spanish and each Rider will give something back into the local community by teaching in the local school. The first location offered by Ticket to Ride is Nicoya, where surfers will have easy access to some of the most impressive Guanacaste beaches.

In the words of Will Hayler, co-founder of Ticket to Ride: “Costa Rica is a country of outstanding natural beauty. To be able to integrate our Riders into the Costa Rican way of life marks another exciting milestone for what we are all about a Ticket to Ride - Worldwide Surfing Adventures“ The Ticket to Ride Costa Rica adventure will take place twice a year for the moment and depending on the increase of the demand they will set up more yearly trips. All the pertinent information about the Costa Rica trip can be accessed on their website: http://www.ttride.co.uk. They also run surfing adventures to worldwide locations such as South Africa, Mozambique, Portugal and Morocco.

Guanacaste beaches are already one of the surfers’ hotspots so these kinds of trips to Costa Rica can be more accessible and will give the surfers much more than nice waves since they will also learn and help those locations in Costa Rica they enjoy so much.

Apparently people in Costa Rica have now been obligated to give it a chance to container homes: Due to the many homes lost during the past earthquake in Costa Rica, some private entities have donated several containers to be set up as temporary homes, kitchens and laundry rooms in the refuges set up in the Cinchona and Vara Blanca areas.

The INCOFER, entity in charge of the Tren Urbano in San Jose, Costa Rica’s only working train, donated a couple of weeks ago 25 containers to be used as temporary homes for some of the families that lost everything in the Poas Earthquake and now it seems that several private companies came together and donated another thirteen containers to be set up as laundry rooms and kitchens in the refuges where there are still several families that have nowhere else to go.

Costa Rica has shown that whenever there is trouble everyone has to help and people are actually glad to be of help even hotels in Guanacaste and other companies in the area conducted small donations marathons to send over to the people in need in Alajuela, commercial places donated their earnings and several places set up stands to collect food goods and clothes.

It’s been three weeks after the earthquake in Costa Rica and although things are going back to normal very slowly, people are still very scared, especially since after that big one, small earthquakes were felt in Guanacaste and some other areas in the country. Rumors say that people in the OVSICORI are actually expecting a bigger earthquake in the next few weeks but have not released any info to avoid panic. That one I don’t believe, but that only shows that people in Costa Rica are definitely still scared.

I finally chose the property in Guanacaste that I wanted and began the paper work to place an offer for it. The documentation process was actually faster than I expected and the real estate agents were incredibly helpful, it was almost like having assistants working with me the entire time.

I finally submitted my offer to the owners of the property for sale this morning. Guanacaste real estate is actually on demand because of the beauty of the place, the weather and the proximity to the most impressive beaches and forests in Costa Rica. As far as I know, the owner of the land for sale I am interested in has also received a couple of more offers and is analyzing which one will be best for him, I keep my fingers crossed.

If my offer is accepted, then my new adventure will be designing the housing project, Guanacaste has many beach hotels and vacation villas but hardly any long term home rentals so that is the market I want to pursue. I figure that once I get the place occupied I can continue my investments in Guanacaste real estate with the profits.

I have however, told my realtors to keep looking for other nice lands in the northern side of Guanacaste just in case this real estate investment doesn’t go through. I will probably come back with news on this in a couple of weeks; I want to share the entire buying Guanacaste real estate process with the readers so they can really see how all this works and get an idea on how to proceed themselves. Costa Rica properties are definitely a nice business adventure, not to mention that owning a piece of paradise is an experience I recommend for anyone and everyone.

This week Oriens Travel and Hotel Management made a huge step by including Guanacaste into their Luxury and affordable Hotels List on their website www.HotelPURE.com. They recently consummated a contract with Guanacaste Tourism Chamber that will provide assistance and service to all incoming visitors into the Liberia International Airport.

This alliance will increase the quality of services provided to Guanacaste visitors which roughly 50% arrive into the Costa Rica for vacation with no prior accommodation arrangements. They are also featuring some Guanacaste hotels in their website so people can get information beforehand if they need to. In the past the Guanacaste Chamber of tourism only had a booth where incoming visitors could receive brochures from different hotels in Guanacaste and would take care of booking by themselves, now with Oriens’ assistance they will be able to receive a better service where they can choose a hotel and booking will be made instantly by the Chamber’s staff.

I do have to admit that I find it really strange when people go on vacations to a foreign country without making previous hotel reservations, but apparently it is more common than I thought. Guanacaste hotels have different choices and price ranges and you can find everything for a small cabin to a huge ocean view villa or luxury hotels. Costa Rica is one of the most visited countries in Latin America and the paradise like atmosphere brings back visitors over and over again, some of those visitors never leave and begin looking for real estate in Costa Rica after a few visits, I should know.

This alliance will make things faster and better both for people vacationing in Guanacaste and the Chamber of tourism itself and hopefully it will increase the tourism traffic in the area as well.

Apparently the earthquakes in Costa Rica were not limited to the Alajuela area and those of us that did not feel the previous one had to get scared somehow…yesterday there was a small earthquake in Guanacaste. It was not much but with all that has happen in Costa Rica I can tell you that I actually got pretty scared.

The small earthquake rated somewhat 4,3 degrees in the Richter scale and was felt in the lower areas of Guanacaste such as Nosara and Ostional which are not so far from where I live. There were no damages at all but it did give us an adrenaline rush.

While we jumped off our seats, the Cinchona area has been having terrible weather which has made the recovery work harder, people are still living in refuges and several pets were rescued…yet there isn’t much that can be done until the weather settles. The Poas Volcano did open its doors to tourists and visitors this week, although I don’t think much people want to go anywhere near that location for the moment.

Costa Rica is definitely suffering right now, but I have to admit that everyone is strong and it is amazing to see how the Costa Rica people put all their efforts together to help those in need without hesitating. I am extremely happy to be a part of this nation when I see how warm hearted everyone is.

I am off to continue my real estate adventure; today I have several appointments about the purchase of property so I will be pretty busy for the rest of the day. Have a nice day you all.

It seems that ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) has no clue of what open market means and still tries to act as a monopoly. Costa Rica citizens joined together yesterday on strike to avoid sending text message since ICE decided to raise their rates from 1.50 colones to over 5 colones each text message besides all their rates for cell phones and land lines were raised unconsciously and without approval recently.

People are understandably mad about this and ICE claims they will no change this resolution no matter what since basically, they will either cut off some services or raise the rates. Costa Rica people are not dumb and they have established that either this changes or they will just wait for the new USA companies to settle and drop ICE entirely.

This entire situation with the phone rates in Costa Rica makes wonder: is ICE trying to squeeze as much money off citizens before real phone companies arrive or are they just stupid enough to continue thinking that their service is all there is? I really hope is the first choice, it would be very sad to see that they were just the stupidest company in Costa Rica.

So far, ARESEP has not been able to negotiate anything with ICE and phone rates skyrocketed this week, users all over Costa Rica are worried that they will not be able to afford these new phone rates at all and believe that something needs to be done as soon as possible.

After 8 sad years of having a man who hardly knew where he stood as a president, I see my country smiling with brand new hopes for a better future. Barack Obama starts fresh today in his new charge as the president of the United States of America and I just want to wish him the best.

Although I may be living in Costa Rica, but I can see how all the mistake made by the previous so called president reflects all over the over and Costa Rica is no different. Small countries are affected by the actions of big countries all the time and Costa Rica was definitely feeling the pain all the bad decision making from the past government was generating.

I am happy and hopeful like any other gringo will be and here in Guanacaste the American community was happy to watch Obama take over, we feel sorry that he has come and pick up the pieces to what once was a trusted country, but we know he can do the job well and nicely.

As for me, I have a long day ahead of me getting documentation and plans together to continue with my project of housing development; Guanacaste beaches are crowded today since the weather is definitely the best in the past few months and people are enjoying it as much as they can, I would too. Now any other development project is finally getting back on track and Guanacaste is again the city in progress I am used to see.