Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

If you happened to live or plan to move to San Jose, Costa Rica and get a chance to use their buses there is a huge issue that cannot be miss: the poor planning on bus routes. In Costa Rica, public transportation has been going through several changes in the past few years, mostly because of the several efforts the government is making to safe gasoline and put an end to the very bad traffic jams in the metropolitan area. It is obvious that in Costa Rica there are more cars than the roads can manage, therefore traffic jams and huge ground holes are a common issue in down town areas.

One of the solutions was the addition of the Tren Urbano, Costa Rica’s old train back in business has become a great solution for people who need to travel from the east to the west and viceverse, cutting up traveling time by half and giving a choice for people who used their car on these route. They are actually considering including a route from San Jose to Heredia to help with traffic problems in the Prospero Fernandez highway, although it appears that including this route in Costa Rica transportation between provinces might cost more than expected.

Another awesome resort (still in the works) is the fist Interlinea buses in Costa Rica. This was offered a while ago and unfortunately there has been quite a lot of planning and several discussions about it, yet it appears that the issues preventing the route to begin operations are resolved and it might start running next month. Costa Rica business expectations with this new route is to avoid having people waste time going downtown to otherwise close neighborhoods.

This change will be very beneficial to properties in Costa Rica that are not so easy to access in the main cities and for sure will show a price difference in real estate. Costa Rica is now on great path with all these transportation improvements.

One of the most difficult changes one has to get used to when moving to Costa Rica is definitely the very weird weather. Costa Rica is located almost in the middle of the earth so there are a lot of differences between the seasons and temperatures here than the ones people who come for up north, like me, or people who come from the south of the continent. Tropical weather is in fact a bit warm, yet it does not mean that I will get cold; another thing is that is does rain a lot and that is exactly why all these tropical countries have such beautiful forests, beaches and mountains. Costa Rica is basically the best example of this type of weather.

Properties in Costa Rica are of course built to last under these conditions and more. Because of the volcanoes located all around the area, tremors an earthquakes are very common, so every single home or building in Costa Rica is designed to remain intact as much as possible in case of any of these natural disasters. Costa Rica constructors are used all kinds of weather swings so, no need to worry on that issue.

There are only two seasons in Costa Rica: Summer season and Rainy season. Although they are not so different from each other, there are certain details that separate one from the other:

Summer season: The hottest Costa Rica season for anything to do. During the months of November through April the sunny weather is enjoyed by thousands of people. There might be an occasional rain, yet it only makes things better for tourists and Costa Rica vacationers all over the place. The main difference is that during these months it is definitely raining in the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, for some reason, they have the seasons backwards.

Rainy season: This goes from May through October, being September and October the rainiest ones. Costa Rica takes advantage of this weather promoting the many pristine and beautiful rainforests in the area, completely worth to check out.

It is very common and necessary that your Costa Rica home has proper ventilation, also air conditioning and fans are a must. Make sure that when you are browsing Costa Rica real estate listings all those little details are taken into consideration.

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.

Everyone has needed directions at one point of their lives, especially in foreign countries. We have stopped and ask for a location many times in our life and have probably gotten the correct information. In Costa Rica, addresses are not so easy to understand. There is a very unique issue in Costa Rica: locations such as streets and avenues are not named. According to some people they were named at some point, and some people will claim they now their street number and aware of which avenues go by where, but it may not be true.

There are specific ones that everyone knows, most of them in down town San Jose: avenida 10, avenida central and avenida segunda are the ones people know the best, not because they are named but because is common knowledge in Costa Rica to know this information. If you happened to need directions for a restaurant they will use key points to guide you: a sleeping dog, a famous building or store, a library that went out of business so you can no longer see the sign or a cut off tree, very weird things like that, Costa Rica directions are definitely priceless.

One tends to get used to it just because it comes with being a Costa Rica citizen and because people don’t really know any other way to give directions. But now, all of those freaky directions will be over! Grupo Corporativo M&M designed a project that will begin installing the first street signs in the municipalities of Tarrazú and Limón in the coming weeks; San José will follow as the next municipality to get street signs on its roads before the end of the year. Costa Rica was the only Latin-American country without street signs and people just got used to it somehow.

The iniciative and project will help postmen and regular citizens a lot; sometimes giving directions was a struggle, especially for people in rural areas where there are not so many key points. Other municipalities in Costa Rica that will get street signs will be Nicoya, Pococí, Siguirres, Alajuelita, Curridabat, Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago.

When looking for a property in Costa Rica, I am sure you all are aware of the things you need to consider “building wise”, yet Costa Rica has a wide variety of locations and although it is a small country, the diversity of advantages and disadvantages from one location to the other can make a huge difference: Access to commercial locations, safety, type of area, access to main cities, culture and much more.

The more secluded areas in Costa Rica may be the most peaceful and beautiful ones, yet that same seclusion can translate into big expenses in gasoline and car repair, not mentioning that the farther the location, the more security you will need both against wild animals and perpetrators. The available real estate listings in Costa Rica may not include this type of information, so make sure you ask the realtor before hand.

Lovely home for repairs: Say what!

If what you have in mind is a big property or hacienda like home, consider the cost of maintenance. In Costa Rica, weather can be a relentless enemy: rain, humidity, heat, dust and any kind of natural disasters such as earthquakes and storms will deteriorate your property. Proper maintenance may be pricey on big properties, especially if the location is too far away from main cities.

Cost of property in the main cities of Costa Rica can be pretty similar to beach homes. Costa Rica has a very neutral price range when it comes to real estate; main differences are seen depending on the location and the size of the property. If you are planning on living in the city, check for quality of services (electricity, water, telephone lines, etc). Telecommunications are very good in Costa Rica, yet some places do not have access or the coverage is a bit poor.

In cities such as San Jose or Heredia, there are very nice neighborhoods, but also some dangerous towns may be close to those neighborhood, ask questions about the surrounding towns and do not be afraid to investigate by yourself just in case; Costa Rica realtors will explain most of this information to you, but it is good to get second opinions as well.

In Costa Rica, real estate is a legal term like in many other countries. It refers to any type of property that involves land and/or buildings or in a fixed in location. Every country has its own real estate laws. Costa Rica for example has a very well marked differentiation between local real estate business and foreigner acquisitions. In previous articles I referred to the common requirements for a foreigner to purchase Costa Rica properties.

The real estate market around the world includes a variety of legal formalities that may be similar, but depending on the jurisdiction and the local laws, some formalities may change. In Costa Rica, real estate agents do not need a license to operate, but the transfer of property requires a lawyer to be processed. Also the easiest way to purchase real estate in Costa Rica is through an enterprise or company that includes a Costa Rica citizen as an associate; although there are other ways that will make the process easier depending on the property you wish to purchase.

The Latin American market for properties is considerably cheaper than it is in the United Estates or Europe, also tropical locations are considered an impressive investment since the value of property rises quite often. Costa Rica has the advantage of having lovely beach properties as well as rainforest areas and mountain side land, which opens up the variety of listings offered in real estate.

One good thing that is going on in Costa Rica is the improvements that will be made in transportation and roads, this will increase the value of some locations and open up the market to secluded areas in Costa Rica, expanding the choices of properties every where in the country. Real estate in Costa Rica has also begun to include apartment buildings in downtown areas that include luxury properties and amazing views.

Today we are experiencing the beginning of one of the most expected sports events of this year: The Beijing Olympics. The best Athletes from all over the world will compete for the most important sports honors in the next few days and Costa Rica has send its most impressive performers to show and prove their skills.

In Costa Rica, athletes have been very successful in previous Olympic Games, and nothing less is expected from the group that is participating this year. A total of 8 athletes are right now waiting for their competitions that will take place during the next couple of weeks. All the competitors come from different parts of Costa Rica. These are the athletes and the schedule their competitions will be on:

Kristopher Moitland: Black belt for Tae kwon do. Competition will be held on August 21^st at 7:00 pm

Henri Raabe: Cycling Road. He will be the first Tico to participate this year: Competition will be held August 8^th (today) at 9:00 pm

Federico Ramirez: Cycling Mountain bike. Competition will be on August 23^rd at 1:00 am.

Nery Brenes: Athletics 400m Men. Race will be on August 17^th at 7:00 pm.

Allan Segura: Athletics 20km walk Men. Race will be held on August 15^th at 7:00 pm.

Gabriela Traña: Athletics Marathon Women. Race is scheduled on August 16^th at 4:30 am.

Mario Montoya: Swimming 200m freestyle Men. Competition will be on August 10^th at 4:30 am

Marianela Quesada: Swimming 100m freestyle Women. Competition will be held on August 13^th at 4:30 am.

All the schedules above are given in Costa Rica time. These athletes have participated for Costa Rica in many world championships and have returned to Costa Rica with good scores, medals and trophies; they traveled with their coaches and some with their family as well. As you can see Costa Rica treasures are not only in real estate or the beautiful beaches ad rainforests: people are quite valuable too. Good luck for all the athletes in the Beijing Olympics 2008.

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.

After a while “in training to be a Tico” I have come to realize that, when you have a house in Costa Rica, there are certain items that you are almost required to have to be a real Costa Rica homeowner, or least prove that you are living the Tico lifestyle. It is part of the necessities of the area, small details that are not included in any Costa Rica real estate guide or listing, small thing you didn’t think you would need until the time came for you to find it out.

The first thing you find out is that in Costa Rica, mosquitoes come out in evening and when they come out they are hungry and you are fresh blood. Bug repellent might be kind of awkward, but there are also ambiance repellents, make sure you get some of both.

While you are at it, in the supermarket they also have the two main ingredients for a regular Costa Rica meal: rice and beans; you will need these especially if you like to invite your friends over, they will always expect these two legumes to be part of the meal. To cook any Costa Rica traditional meal you will need Salsa Lizano, it is a cheap home made sauce found anywhere, quite tasty if I may add. Fruits and vegetables are bought at La Feria as I explained in previous posts, so you will need your own shopping cart to run this errand.

While in the US, we are more used to wearing slippers at home, let’s remember that Costa Rica tropical weather is warm, for this matter Ticos wear flip flops, yet they call them chinelas. Costa Rica homes do have lots of windows, but if your home doesn’t have air conditioning you will need to get fans for every room.

When it comes to having guests, there are certain items that in Costa Rica are well known: Imperial beer, Guaro Cacique and Tapa de Dulce, these are regular beverages of the area, be careful with the Guaro, since it is basically industrially distilled moonshine. As per snacks, there are many delicious items: pejibayes, deviled eggs and home made dipping souces are always part of the deal, yet my favorite one is the Yuca, which you can make deep fried or just boiled, either way, it is one of Costa Rica’s most tasty meals. In Costa Rica, home owners always take care of their yards and the land is very rich, so if you have any fruit trees take good care of them, because whatever grows on them, you will consume. And don’t forget the Chorreador, although you will find coffee makers anywhere, Costa Rica coffee tastes better if it is made in a chorreador.

If you are planning to relocate to Costa Rica, there certain things you should keep in mind: inflation rate, useful laws, education and common subjects that will come up once you move in. Costa Rica properties are usually the most important matter I refer to in my articles, yet there are some other things that need to be considered:

• In Costa Rica, economy grew nearly 5% in 2006 after experiencing four years of slow economic growth, yet it still has the fourth place among Latin American inflation rate.
• The government in Costa Rica offers tax exemptions for those who are willing to invest in the country.
• Electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism are the prime industries in Costa Rica.
• Costa Rica coffee beans are one of the most important gourmet beans in the world.
• Costa Rica is an active member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
• There is huge race diversity in Costa Rica: population includes 94% white (including) castizo, 3% black, 1% amerindian, 1% chinese and 1% other.
• The literacy rate in Costa Rica is of 96% and public education is guaranteed in the constitution. Primary school is mandatory.
• Costa Rica government is democratic and there are claims that the country has had more than 115 years of uninterrupted democracy.
• Costa Rica has not had an army or anything similar since their civil war in 1948.
• The main language in Costa Rica is Spanish, yet there are some indigenous dialects spoken in small secluded areas; In Limon it is common the listen a Jamaican dialect called Patois and also a big percentage of the population speaks English. Finally due to the high immigration rates from all over the world it is usual to find people speaking mandarin, Italian, French or German.

As you can see, Costa Rica is not the regular Latin American country, I was definitely not aware I was moving into such a rich culture, with high standards of education and hard working people myself.