Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

Today I am very happy to announce that I have compelling prove that al the beauties I speak about Costa Rica have, in some part been validated by a world known entity: The Punta Islita Hotel in Nicoya, Guanacaste has been chosen 9^th among the most beautiful hotels in Latin America and number 94^th in the world by the travel magazine “Travel+Leisure”.

Punta Islita is located in a tropical dry forest and is one of many beaches you can find in Guanacaste, it is located right on the Peninsula de Nicoya and it is one of the most peaceful and pristine beaches of Costa Rica: seclude peaceful areas, wonderful forest trails and long beaches all around can be easily compared to heaven. Guanacaste is of course known for its paradisiacal views, mountains, beaches and natural reserves, as well as volcanoes and a variety of activities and Punta Islita is of course part of this wonderful place.

Also the Punta Islita Hotel is one of the few hotels in Latin America that practices “responsible tourism” meaning that they have compromised to do business without compromising any of the natural resources in the area and actually taking care of the environmental treasures that surround it, helping the Guanacaste, Costa Rica community and even holding an Art museum in their premises.

It is very important for Costa Rica tourism that all these wonderful places are recognize worldwide, since actually tourism is one of the most important economic activities of the country. Also, it is important that people interested in Costa Rica real estate opportunities are aware that most of the developments in the area do care for the ecological resources and that no harm is being made to Costa Rica treasures at all.

Living in Costa Rica is my dream come true, it is really funny how you imagine your retirement to be peaceful and fun; the places where you see yourself resting, the views everything, you never know there is actually a place like the one you imagine until you set foot in Costa Rica.

Guanacaste is my home, it is the place I worked so hard to enjoy and I love it, but I have to admit that there are so many wonderful places here, I might move around a little more and I have learned so much about Costa Rica real estate, I know now exactly what to look for in most of the places I am interested in: construction, architecture, services, location, prices and little details that a year ago I would have missed.

This town is guarded by a powerful volcano in Costa Rica

Guanacaste properties for example are usually quite big: one of the perks of living on the pacific side is that big properties can be taken advantage of with nice fruity trees or big pools, so that is a plus right there. Another good thing is that the weather during the summer time is not humid at all, but very dry instead, so cruising around from beach to beach is one of the most fun activities. Costa Rica has also the advantage of having both: great rainforests and beaches and either one is accessible through Guanacaste.

Now the San Jose area is well known, greatly developed and although traffic can be torture, Costa Rica shows a very cosmopolitan side on this area: theaters, shows, art galleries, awesome restaurants, beautiful buildings and access to every other province is a lot easier from San Jose. Costa Rica can be an awesome destination and the Capital can be a nice place to start getting to know the culture and prepare your schedule during your vacation.

Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia are very peaceful: amazing volcanoes, impressive sightseeing and fun activities can take you on a trip through out Costa Rica history and ecological treasures, if you don’t really like to live by the ocean per se; these are good choices since these towns still keep the peace of the Costa Rica yesteryears.

Stripper Cow and “Bistek Encebollado” : Cow Parade Costa Rica

(Pictures by GGC)

This year Costa Rica joined many other countries around with the very much expected Cow Parade, which is the world’s largest public art event: Artist from the selected country will create original designs on cow statues provided by the organization and for a few months all these original art pieces will be exposed to the public on the main cities of each country; at the end of the show, the cows are auction and the money collected will be donated to an specific cause. While the cow sculptures remain the same each artist is supposed to bring it to life with inspiration and creativity.

Costa Rica was picked to hold the Cow Parade this year and did and excellent job just like previous cities have such as France, United States, South Africa and England. During the first week of the exposition a lot of confused locals looked at the cows shocked and at the police had to intervene to make sure the pieces of art were not vandalized. Costa Rica is well known for having very talented artists and it was definitely shown during the Cow Parade: ecological themed cows, ordinary portrays of the life in Costa Rica, social themed and even some were made tributes to well known characters of San Jose.

The auction for the Costa Rica Cow Parade auction took place last Wednesday at the Museo de los Niños and although not all the cows were sold, they managed to raise a good $108 000, which will be all donated to charities in Costa Rica such as the Hospital the Niños, Hogares CREA (drug addiction rehab center) and the Fundacion Obras del Espiritu Santo which is a charity organization created and managed by just one priest and a whole bunch of volunteers that take care of underprivileged children of San Jose, Costa Rica. The rest of the cows will now go on a tour through rural cities in Costa Rica so they can also participate and enjoy the fun and beauty of the Cow Parade.

Un Techo Para Mi Pais (A roof for my country) is an organization that should be admired. They have helped giving a real home to those who cannot even afford a small room to sleep with the help of Costa Rica companies and people’s donations. Costa Rica is in fact a very rich country, unfortunately there is an ugly side to all the beauties this country has: Poverty in Costa Rica has increased over the years and more and more families suddenly find themselves without a place to live.

Another big issue that contributes to these people’s dramatic lives are the natural disasters caused by earthquakes and storms, the poor planning on some housing developments in marginal areas of Costa Rica have left hundreds of families on the street. 

Little kid in Los Guido, Costa Rica and volunteers building Un Techo Para mi Pais

The organization was created in Chile and has grown over the years by including more and more countries with a successful rate. Costa Rica is now part of the organization and this week, hundreds of volunteers will be conducting a massive collection of money with a campaign called “Un rojo por un techo” (a red for my country: 1000 colones bill is red). A lot of Costa Rica university students and middles youngsters have enrolled as volunteers and will asking passers by to donate 1000 colones to help built homes for all those people who need it. They set up a display in downtown San Jose of small room-like structures made or zinc, carton boards and old wood that resemble very accurately the type of homes these people are forced to live in.

Costa Rica properties in these neighborhoods are usually donated by the government to help families, but although they receive a small piece of land; they have no resources to build a home. Some other families just arrived on the area put together a wood and steel structure and hoped not to be removed from the area. In Costa Rica it is very common to find non-lucrative organizations to help those in need and the success rate of these campaigns is quite promising.

When I finally made the decision of relocating to a environment my main goal was to find peace, although I was never looking to get away from learning new exciting things. Costa Rica caught my attention when I friend of my brought pictures of his last vacation: there peaceful sceneries as well as great variety of fun things to do, so I began my research about all the possible locations I might like in Costa Rica. Guanacaste was of course the winner.

I fell in love with the views: Guanacaste Mountains seemed like another dimension to me, being so close to the ocean, the way the colors looked and that calm sensation was priceless. I first came to Costa Rica to get an idea of what it may feel like to live in such place and it was exactly what I wanted. Then I visited possible areas in Guanacaste: Flamingo beach was nice, but the nightlife was a bit overwhelming for an old guy like me; I liked the marina, so I knew I did not want to be too far away from it. Next stop was Tamarindo: great for youngsters and surfers, my children would enjoy it and it was a pretty neat town, although I was not a fan of the tourists (ironic, isn’t it). Playa Panama was so beautiful I honestly thought it was the place, until I realized I was going to be too far away from commercial places like supermarkets and drugstores. One of the most impressive beaches in Costa Rica is Carrillo it has one of the top ten sunsets in the world but again, not so close to urban areas.

Yes, this could be your everyday sunset for the rest of your life…

It was a hard search and it took a lot of work to finally come to the conclusion that if I was going to enjoy Costa Rica, Liberia was the best choice: every single place I loved was close driving wouldn’t take me more than an hour in most cases and it had every single service and facility necessary to live comfortable. Costa Rica was exactly what I was looking for.

In Costa Rica, luxury villas a lot cheaper than they would be in the US, and a lot more luxurious if I may add: a four bedroom, 2 bathroom villa with air conditioning, nice size swimming pool and a very decent piece of land could cost from $225000 to maybe $900.000 and that doesn’t even count the incredible views, weather and variety of activities. Guanacaste also has many residential projects and a condo can be purchase a very fair price anywhere in Costa Rica. Schools are available anywhere and the most prestigious private schools have branches in Guanacaste as well, so if you have children, no matter if they are in elementary school or college, education is nearby and accessible.

As you can see, there was really no reason to hesitate on my decision. My only recommendation is to be completely sure of what kind of property in Costa Rica will work best for you and you half way there.

This information really makes proud about choosing to move to Costa Rica. Reading the news yesterday I found a little piece of history that supports my idea of how wonderful a world without an army (like Costa Rica has lived in for over 50 years) could be better.

Since 1980, Costa Rica, the first country in the modern world to abolish its army, was chosen to become head quarters of a very important institution: Established by the United Nations, University of Peace is an independent university for postgraduate studies. From Costa Rica, University collaborators have been establishing programs in Africa, Central Asia, the Asia Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and North America where they aimed to teach inhabitants to do things based on the UN Charter, the Declaration of Human Rights.

One of the main reason why Costa Rica has become a top destination for both vacationing or relocation is the fact that the way of life in this country is based under a “peace comes first” ideal and this view of the world has catapulted Costa Rica destinations to be part of the most important in the world.

The University of Peace was established in Costa Rica because of that view and because that view is exactly what they want to portray and teach the world. From Costa Rica, they have managed to expand missions defending peace and human right all over the world. At this moment, John J. Maresca, the Rector of UPeace is beginning the expansion of the University to take detailed care on Human Rights issues that may have been neglected in the past. Graduates of the University of Peace are now leaving Costa Rica to become spokes persons for peace and the respect of human rights all over the world.

Now, this reassures me that relocating to Costa Rica was a great idea. Sometimes, real estate in Costa Rica focuses too much in the cold areas of property selling and forgets that buying a property in Costa Rica not only includes a piece of land, but also includes learning to live a place where guns or fights have never had the last word.

The old Costa Rica National Stadium is gone for good

Apparently not only the Costa Rica athletes are working hard back in Beijing Olympic Games: The National Olympic Committee of Costa Rica (CON) has confirmed that on Thursday they finished up negotiations to receive help from the Chinese government to create and developed sports medicine clinic plans to exchange efforts to train athletes and coaches.

The help was requested by the president of the CON Mr. Roberto Verdecia and the idea of a sports clinic in Costa Rica has been projected by the CON since this pat June. The project was supported by the National Counsel of Sports and the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS), entity in charge of health issues in Costa Rica. The idea was proposed on a meeting between Mr. Verdecia and the deputy head of the General Administration of Sports Mr. Feng Jianzhong, who agreed to provide all the requested help.

The government of China has been helping Costa Rica developments for a while now, including the reconstruction and remodeling of the Costa Rica National Stadium in San Jose. The sports clinic will be an addition to the current support the Chinese nation is providing to Costa Rica athletes, encouraging young people to practice sports and find better ways to live and  be successful.

The good thing about these projects is not only the wonderful upgrades made to the stadium and the very necessary addition to the clinic, but the fact that China is caring for the status of sports figures and athletes in Costa Rica. The country itself has been so grateful with the Chinese nation that plans of building a little “China town” in San Jose is being developed by San Jose’s mayor Johnny Araya to pay tribute to all the given help China has provided.

As you probably already know, there are only two airports in Costa Rica: Juan Santamaria in Alajuela and Daniel Oduber in Guanacaste. The Daniel Oduber airport was built only a few years ago to comply with the high increase in incoming visitors to the area and to help with the huge load of work the Alajuela airport was receiving. Since a big percentage of visitors were actually coming to Guanacaste, it was a great addition.

The Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism (CATURGUA) is estimating an average of 530,000 tourists will be expected to arrive in Costa Rica via Liberia’s Daniel Oduber International Airport by 2010. There has been quite an increase in arrivals between 2001 and last December, when the number of visitors showed a big 574% increase rate. Although the numbers of these projections will call for urgent expansion plans, yet estimated changes won’t be occurring until 2010. 

According to The National Concessions Council an international public bidding packet, No. 01-2007 was published for this project. This bidding packet establishes public infrastructure concession terms for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the new Daniel Oduber Airport. Guanacaste can expect big changes, yet it will have to wait a little bit to see them happen. 

In Costa Rica, Guanacaste is one of the most chosen destinations for tourism, mostly because of the beautiful, pristine beaches and natural reservations: volcanoes, forests and amazing sites. Also Costa Rica real estate market includes many properties in the Guanacaste area, vacation villas, hotels and residential properties are always at the top of the list. Costa Rica has been promoting their ecotourism everywhere and people like me, that have moved to the country looking for a better, healthier and more peaceful lifestyle are also encouraging others to do the same. Soon, Costa Rica will need to make even more changes to comply with the high demand.

If you have heard about Costa Rica, you know that it is known no only because of the natural beauties, rainforests and beaches, but also because in Costa Rica peace is one of the most important treasures of the country. They constantly thrive to keep violence away and one of their methods is not having an army at all. The last time Costa Rica had an army was in 1948 when the last civil war took place, after that battle army was permanently removed until this date.

A few years ago the current president of Costa Rica won the Nobel Prize for Peace, because of his strong efforts to keep violence and fighting away from Central America. Children are often brought up to believe in peace and keep Costa Rica life as simple as possible. It may be harder nowadays, yet there are still many efforts being made to keep it as peaceful as possible.

At this moment, Costa Rica is joining Brazil signing into law a ban on child abuse by parents and guardians. This law is looking to eradicate violence as a punishment and clearly states that they want to change the “Rights of children and adolescents for discipline without corporal punishment and humiliation”. This law has been part of the U.S code of conduct for years now, yet in Latin America it has not been instated until now. With this law, the Costa Rica government plans to teach parents to discipline their children by setting up examples, getting to know them, negotiate and avoid using physical and humiliating punishment.

According to a study conducted by IDESPO 2003, in Costa Rica homes, 65.3% of parents beat, kick and pinch and 74.2% yell and verbally abuse their children. This comes from generations and generations and it is part of Latin American traditions. Also, these changes are part of the struggle people in Costa Rica are making to diminish violent behavior among youngsters, since it has been quite clear that crime rate and violence related issues have been increasing in the past few years and Costa Rica homes, families and mostly children deserve to have a society without violence.

While searching for properties one should always keep a detailed list of basic needs: land size, location, facilities required, construction age, and type of property, price range and such important details. Costa Rica land sales, real estate and property market is quite big and has and extensive variety, therefore, one needs to be wise before jumping into a business. Different type of locations includes different types of perks or issues. Most of the information is in fact available on the real estate listings; Costa Rica is in fact quite clear regarding property investments.

Dealing with companies may be a bit more expensive than dealing with the property owner, yet Costa Rica laws regarding real estate businesses with foreigners tend to be a bit confusing and realtors might be quite handy: requirements, partners, paperwork, all of those very annoying steps to follow might be easier to bear having someone who has certain experience on the field. From my own experience, Costa Rica realtors are very knowledgeable and helpful.

In Guanacaste, Costa Rica has an impressive variety of properties: condos, villas, apartments, lots, farms and many different opportunities. A luxury villa may sound pricy at first; yet, once you see the market potential and beauty, not to mention the unique locations, prices just become the smallest problem. Now, if you happen to find a lot while searching Costa Rica properties, building prices are actually cheap, as well as decorations, details and labor.

Regarding areas, I am afraid I have to repeat myself: be clever and investigate! Some places may sound incredible and the price may sound fair but, since Costa Rica is such a small country, an incredibly beautiful location may be surrounded by dangerous or crappy places and you will be losing money, no matter how amazing the property is built and finished. Costa Rica real estate blogs and forums are great places to find information, so check them and do not be afraid to ask any questions.