Costa Rica-Real Estate Condos for sale in Guanacaste

I have some good updates about the progress of my housing project in Guanacaste that I would like to share with you:

The architects have been hired and are currently working on the designs possible for the land that I bought, we had a meeting last weekend in San Jose, architects are funny people, they seem all serious at first but once they get excited about a project they go crazy, I like to see that kind of drive in a professional. They are going to help hire construction workers and everything and although they have not told me anything about the designs they are thinking about, I know they are up to something good.

In Costa Rica, Guanacaste is one of the driest places and working here in construction must be terrible, I admire all those construction workers everyday doing hard work under the sun. This whole adventure as a real estate investor in Guanacaste has really opened up my eyes to many things I didn’t consider before and I have to say I am learning so much and getting so much feedback from every single move I make on this housing project that, if everything goes well, I might go into another property search sooner that expected.

According to my plans, I will have workers already building things in a month or month and a half, hopefully I am not mistaken, and I really want them to start when the temperatures are not as warm but not in the rainy season, since things might get delayed. Right now, I am off to one of the nearby Guanacaste beaches for a lunch date with the wife. Happy Valentine’s everyone. 

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.

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.

Since yesterday, the entire Poas Volcano area, Vara Blanca, Cinchona (the new ghost town) and nearby towns have been feeling new earthquakes that have brought back all the sorrow and frightening feelings. After an entire week after the earthquake, Costa Rica is finally getting back to normal, plans to get roads fixed and families moved away from shelters into new locations a little more settled and specific, but the fear remains.

People in Costa Rica are still very afraid of a new earthquake and to be honest even if the epicenter is far away from Guanacaste I am a bit scared as well.

In other news my trip with the real estate agents in Guanacaste was very nice and useful; both the properties are definitely a deal, the property in Santa Cruz is as big as I thought it was and all I need is a soil check to see if it a good place to build a housing project, Guanacaste is full of mountains and valleys and it is good to have the area checked before building anything.

The property near Africa Mia…is not as big as the property in Santa Cruz, but it is big enough for my plans. This property for some reason seems more interesting to me than the one in Santa Cruz…more appealing if I may call it that.

I received a couple of calls from two of the Costa Rica real estate brokers I contacted after the holidays, apparently those two properties are actually owned by the same person yet handled by different realtors. One of the properties for sale is conveniently located close the Guanacaste Zoo Africa Mia and that is a huge plus since business in the area is quite prosper; the other property is located in the road to Santa Cruz, which not as good but the property is incredibly big.

I will be meeting with both of the real estate agents in Liberia today so we can drive up to check properties together, one of them also mentioned having some other similar properties for sale in Guanacaste available so I will go with him and check it out.

Since I am not looking for anything specific the search should pay off today and maybe I will see something I like and worth to consider. My main idea is develop a housing project for professionals or students that come to work in Guanacaste, so I don’t really need any property at the beach or remotely close, I rather just get a good location with easy access to the main towns.

I have to start getting ready to leave, so I will catch up with you later, If possible I will bring back pictures of the areas so you can get a glimpse of what a good Guanacaste property looks like. I will also stop by the Red Cross and leave all the goodies I purchase for the people in the earthquake in Alajuela and check if there is anything else the need and come back with the info.

This weekend I went on a Costa Rica road trip to a place I heard a lot about but hadn’t had the chance to visit with enough quality time: Cartago. Costa Rica has 7 provinces and Cartago is apparently the oldest one, there is definitely a lot Costa Rica history in the place and the architecture of some places is just stunning.

The main thing that attracted me was the incredible cheap real estate in the location: huge lots and farms set at ridiculously low prices. There was even a sign stating that you could separate a lot for only 50 000 colones which is less than $100!

Costa Rica real estate is definitely cheaper than real estate back home; this really surprised me, especially because the entire place has lovely views, good soil and overall nice weather. Properties in Guanacaste, although they are not expensive, are priced way higher than in Cartago, and even knowing that it is because of the proximity to the beaches in Guanacaste, I have to admit that there is also a lot of beauty in Cartago as well.

In Guanacaste, lots for sale can be found costing at least twice as much than a Cartago property, this makes me think that maybe in Costa Rica don’t know how impressive this area is and that maybe it is under priced, if only the Tourism Chamber of Costa Rica showed a little more of the beauties inside the country these locations could be a lot more appreciated by visitors. The inside of Costa Rica is full of green valleys, lagoons waterfalls and awesome forests, why is it that they only advertise the beaches in Costa Rica?

Now that all the running around during the holidays is over, we are still a little bit overwhelmed from all the eating and partying of the past couple of weeks. Yesterday we decided to spend the day chilling in another Guanacaste beach, a little further away from our Villa: Playa Avellanas. Costa Rica apparently has lovely beaches everywhere and this one was awesome: good waves, not so crowded, incredible views and fresher air than Tamarindo and Flamingo beach.

I went there because a friend of mine talk to me about a new development project called CR Beach Homes and they apparently have nice luxury Guanacaste Villas for sale. I drove around looking for some other properties for sale in Avellanas, just in case and I have to admit that I found quite a few interesting ones. There were small beach cabins, nice houses and ocean view villas…great choices for sure. Although since yesterday was a holiday I only looked around, gather some emails and phone numbers and I will start the real search on Monday.

Buying real estate in Costa Rica has actually become quite easy for me, while learning and giving advice to other I feel very confident about finding a nice deal on a Guanacaste beach home pretty soon. I want to find something similar to what I own right now and start renting it for vacationers, which is definitely a good business in this area. Beach hotels in Costa Rica are sometimes a bit pricy or people are actually looking for a little more privacy and it is amazing how easy it is to rent beach villas in Guanacaste. Hopefully I will find a nice property to invest on next week.

So yesterday we spent the day at Tamarindo beach. Guanacaste has incredible beaches, this one in particular is very well developed and has many awesome hotels in the surroundings, there is even a Golf course nearby, massage parlors, souvenir shops and stores, restaurants and a couple of beachfront bars.

There were a lot of people enjoying the day: surfing, sunbathing, doing exercise there were even people trying to fly kites, it was quite nice to see whole families having fun and enjoying the day. I do own a small lot in Tamarindo, I am not so sure what to do with it but some real estate investors in Guanacaste have contacted me to develop villas for rent. Costa Rica has many of these types of villas for rent in most beaches; people seem to prefer these because of the privacy and the price, which is definitely lower than staying at a hotel.

Tamarindo beach in particular is a bit crowded for my taste, there are several other beaches in Costa Rica a lot more secluded and way more peaceful, but we decided to spend the day here because of the easy access to commerce, grocery stores and because I had to check on my property in Tamarindo. I am going to give it a thought about the Villas for rent idea, who knows, it might be an interesting business after all. I wouldn’t move to Tamarindo just because I like my house where it is, but the drive is quick and I could just hire someone to take care of the property for me.