Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

This weekend I took the time and hit the farmer’s market with my family. These days we are in San Jose, dealing with the architects and rented a small apartment for 2 weeks while I get things done, so we needed to do some grocery shopping. In Costa Rica, farmer’s markets are very common, and they all take place in main cities during the weekend.

It is amazing how big the variety is in these markets: A vegetarian will go crazy with all the vegetables and legumes to choose from, but the thing that impressed me the most is the extremely low prices. Costa Rica takes its name because the soil is rich and there are many different products available. From avocados to bananas and many different fruits and vegetables from local farmers, Costa Rica can easily be heaven for anyone who likes to eat healthy, anyone who likes to cook and anyone looking for unique delicatessen products.

The price gap between the Costa Rica products found in the farmer’s markets compared to the prices given at major grocery stores and supermarkets is huge; it really made me wonder how much a profit are these stores making? Assuming they are buying all these products from the same people that sell them in the farmer’s market. I for one plan on not giving away my money anymore: the quality is just a good if not better than what I purchase in any supermarket, I buy more for a lot less and the experience is nice and fun, you can bargain and even have a great time at any Costa Rica farmer’s market.

I know they had one or two farmer’s market back in USA but for some reason I never took the chance to visit them, probably because my life since I relocated to Costa Rica is so laid back, I can actually stop and smell the flowers. I for one fell in love with everything the farmer’s market had to offer and will make sure I can find one in Guanacaste as soon as I get home.

According to recent declarations from the Costa Rica president, he will not allow oil drills anywhere in the country due to his commitment to the preservation of the environment. He gave these declarations in a surprising way yesterday while attending the presentation of the project for the new rural aqueducts in Costa Rica.

“We will continue with our commitment of not allowing any type of oil drilling or exploration in Costa Rica” said Oscar Arias in this very unusual visit to the congress. Apparently all the rumors heard about possible oil drills were just … rumors that began with declarations from the former minister of Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones (Minaet), Roberto Dobles, who during a press conference in 2008 addressed the need of exploring the possibility of oil drills in Costa Rica along with China.

In my opinion the preservation of the environment especially in Costa Rica rain forests, beaches and several locations of ecological importance should be the main concern of the government, maybe oil drills can benefit the country economically, but only for a while.

The damage oil drills do to the environment is really hard to compensate and after all Costa Rica is already a paradise, why would you want to compromise that? I salute the president that still knows the real value of its country.

In other news, last night I caught up a HGTV’s House Hunters episode in Costa Rica real estate where a California couple looked for a vacation home in Lake Arenal, which is pretty close to Guanacaste. Quite impressive views but they didn’t pick the home I liked.

Hopefully the government starts making plans to develop more projects for real estate in Costa Rica or tourism instead of listening to bad ideas such as oil drills. It would be so sad to see all the beautiful places in Costa Rica damaged just because someone wants to make a few more dollars.

As I have shared with before, there are several international companies in Costa Rica that through call centers provide service to the United States with very well trained professionals, providing something that was once a stable job and career opportunities, as well as great benefits for all its employees.

Most of these companies settled in Costa Rica in the past 20 years offering better work places and good salaries, one of these companies was a gaming computer monster. This company provided great job opportunities in Costa Rica to sales and tech support professionals offering good salaries, medical benefits and a fun work environment.

Many North American companies with businesses in Costa Rica have already established that they will not cut off jobs in Costa Rica, and this company’s employees heard the same story over and over again, as far as they knew, their jobs were safe. A couple of years ago, another huge computer company acquire this enterprise as part of a business strategy and things dramatically changed for all the “safe” employees in Costa Rica gradually, yet they were always told everything will be Ok.

Unfortunately, the work environment changed and just like another North American Company in Costa Rica, employees started losing benefits with the financial crisis: no bonuses, no more Christmas parties and apparently not only they have been losing employees like crazy in the past months, rumor has it they will have their businesses cut by half and all sales employees will now be laid off. I don’t now how true this is, but I certainly hope all those people are able to find jobs quickly. Costa Rica has very well trained professionals and a lot of them work (or worked) for this company, hopefully other companies that are still “safe” can take advantage of their training and knowledge.

I do have a quick comment for all those foreign companies in Costa Rica: be true to your employees, this is not a good time to be out of a job in Costa Rica or anywhere else for that matter and they could have done something about if only they knew what was in store for them.

Costa Rica is a small country located in Central America. In spite of its size, this country has shown to have many cultural and ecological resources. With people residing there from many countries around the world and many endangered species, Costa Rica is a target for many tourists that are looking to buy a property in a tropical place.

Costa Rica’s main income comes from tourism which is very constant; people are always looking to find a home for sale somewhere they can meet with unique species and natural resources which are eclectic in other countries and that is what makes this small country a very special and attractive place for people to look for a property.

Homes for sale in Costa Rica are sold very quickly due to its great demand. If you are looking for a tropical relaxing place; Costa Rica is your best choice. Being an undersized country can be very beneficial for people who own a house in Costa Rica, since everything can be just hours away from your location; beaches with a great weather and environment, extraordinary national parks with different species according to the climate, volcanoes and museums are some of Costa Rica’s great places why people choose to look for homes for sale there.

If you have not made your decision yet, consider making an investment in Costa Rica, you will not regret it. Acquiring a property in this wonderful place is considered to be a great opportunity, even if it is considered to be a third world country,  there are certainly a lot of thing that you will never see somewhere else. Living an adventure is a fact in Costa Rica, so if you have the opportunity to buy a home for sale in Costa Rica, do not waste it. Take a risk and invest in this beautiful country.

So yes, the new blue prints came back with all the changes and additions possible. My Guanacaste housing project is now a reality, in blue prints but a reality. The next step is getting people hired for the construction, but that will be done by the architects themselves and of course purchasing all the materials, this step will also be guided by the architects.

Building houses for rent in Guanacaste was apparently a lot easier than I thought, the process has been slow of course but I am a firm believer that good things come to those who wait and I have been very careful with all the decisions I have made: from getting the right property for sale, to learn all the details possible about real estate in Guanacaste.  

Hiring the architects and designers to come up with all the things I want as a landlord and home owner and come up with the real needs of people interested in renting real estate in Guanacaste has been a fun but hard process, so far I have to admit I am pretty happy with the results so far.

It will probably take from 5 to 6 months for the whole construction to be finished and the details will be added. I already have amazing ideas of what I want the design to be like. Guanacaste is very lovely and warm place, the rainy season is a bit frustrating so there are details to consider when creating the home rental design. This housing project is going to be the first step I take into getting more and more into real estate in Guanacaste and I really want it to be perfect. Those are all the news I have for now.

Right now there are several automobiles expositions going on in San Jose, Costa Rica and if you have the cash, this is your time to buy a car from a renowned agency at crazy low prices.

This weekend we took a trip to San Jose to check on the Transitarte Art fair I was telling you about last week and also went to the Expomovil 2009 in San Antonio de Belen and I have to admit I came back very impressed with what they had to offer.

Prices in several cars were cut down a lot and financial opportunities are every where. Although Costa Rica is going through the same financial crisis everyone else is also experiencing, people still took the time to see what the car agencies had to offer.

Expomovil 2009 has apparently not had the same success it has in past years, visitors so far have been half the amount they were last year and on an interview in a Costa Rica newspaper, managers of the different car agencies have expressed they know they will also sell half the cars they have sold in previous years.

Prices in new models at the Expomovil 2009 have gone down from $4000 to $10 000 and although people visiting the fair seemed excited, there isn’t really much they can do since this is not a good time to finance a car due to the financial crisis. Costa Rica has also experience the huge problem of its roads; most of them are in terrible condition due to the excessive amount of cars and the bad planning of road construction.

So if you are one of the many people who recently went relocated to Costa Rica and did save money to purchase a car, this is your chance to get a nice one with the crazy prices set up by these car agencies. The Expomovil 2009 will be going on all week until next Sunday.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who is visiting and she was telling me about her job as a human resources manager. She was telling me about the many curriculums she receives everyday from people from North America looking for a job in Costa Rica and how her company doesn’t really hire any foreigners at all, of course I asked her why…

Apparently the government in Costa Rica is very clear about hiring people without permits and since it is not so easy to get a job these days if people find out you are hiring someone without proper documentation the company may be punished and in some cases closed, these means that companies in Costa Rica are not really willing to sacrifice business for this.

If you are planning on relocating to Costa Rica you need to make sure you are going to be able to get work permits or if the company offering the job in Costa Rica will be willing to help you relocate somehow, otherwise, you are pretty much lost.

So my advice is this: if you want to start relocating to Costa Rica, make sure you are going to have the proper documentation or that the companies in Costa Rica willing to hire you will be providing you with relocation assistance before hand, otherwise you are going to have several issues getting a jog, might sound redundant but it is better to know that get an awful surprise.

I remember years ago while I was watching a movie with my family and most of the scenes were filmed in a jungle like location according to the titles in the film. That location was supposed to be San Jose, Costa Rica. Although these images were far from the truth I did get curious about this place.

Hollywood has exploited Costa Rica beaches, jungles and several other locations many times, however the picture they have portrayed of the place was usually a set up…nowadays the story has changed and I have to say that makes me happy.

In this season of the very popular show “The Office” one of the characters will be resigning his position to move to Costa Rica and they mention several times that he is moving here because he wants to live in paradise; Guanacaste seems to be the place of choice, mostly because of the descriptions.

Then I have noticed they mention Costa Rica a lot more often these days in different movies and TV shows. People are acknowledging the existence of this beautiful place and they are seeing it for what it really is: heaven on earth. Costa Rica real estate is definitely growing and although properties in Guanacaste are still priced too high for locals, profit can be made through fair businesses. Adventuring on an investment in Costa Rica real estate can be the first step to make things better.

In my case, I plan on really making a difference on how rentals in properties in Guanacaste work, greedy business men make money at first but sooner or later their cover is blown.

Yesterday I watched a documentary on what exactly caused the financial crisis and how it affects the real estate market. Costa Rica has begun a slow transition into these recession times which has been as good as it gets, yet people have started to get worried.

Apparently the whole credit crisis not only is affecting everyone, since home owners and investors made terrible financial choices: in one hand the real estate investors want more money ad the banks need mortgages to buy and sell so they just gave home loans to people who were not really the capacity of paying their debt, therefore their properties are foreclosed. When a bank or financial entity has too many foreclosures and not so many paying customers there is really nothing they can do, so other investors leave them hanging with undervalued properties in foreclosure that are not really good for anything.

People no longer own their homes, banks are not receiving money, investors are not seeing their investments work therefore there is really nothing beneficial to anyone going on. Costa Rica real estate did not see that issue coming as big as it is since banks were usually very careful about home loans and mortgages, but not anymore. In Guanacaste for instance, getting a home loan for a local is close to impossible, since it translates into several trips to San Jose and loads of paper work, most people just rather deal with private investors and companies to make things easier for them, although the price is much higher.

As you can see, not only the real estate market in Costa Rica is having it rough, this same credit crisis is the one affecting the United States and all the little countries that are under its wings as well. I just wanted to share some financial knowledge with all of you, hope it helps.

I was sitting yesterday with my friends that are planning on relocating to Costa Rica and I was surprised to hear them talk about how cheap they though real estate in Costa Rica is, it made me think about myself a couple of years ago when I started my own relocating adventure.

And their thoughts about buying property in Guanacaste are definitely similar to what mine were: I was happy to be able to buy a beautiful luxury villa near the beach at a low price, a price so low that back home it would have meant that I was able to buy a modest home in a fairly nice neighborhood. Relocating to Costa Rica was not that hard and to be honest I enjoyed the whole experience and learned a lot.

But there is something that after living in Costa Rica for a while and after making friends that are Ticos I have to admit bothers me incredibly: Locals just cannot afford a home in this country, real estate in Costa Rica is not regulated at all and people do charge impressively high sums of money for real estate, the worst part is that us gringos are the ones that can afford those prices and pay them like it is nothing, allowing this to happen.

I told my friends they should do I what I did and negotiate the properties for sale they find interesting for less money than the asking price, recession times do not help bring many real estate investors and they need to learn that we are not the stupid gringos they think we are and if we are planning on relocating to Costa Rica that would be the best way to start helping our new community: moving to Costa Rica? Start living like a Tico then…