Costa Rica Real Estate Sales On The Rise
Brokers are seeing increases in real estate inquiries and offers in Jaco and around Costa Rica. While the North American market is imploding, the Costa Rican market has seen price adjustments that are more in tune with market conditions. As a result, many buyers are looking at Costa Rica as a low cost alternative for their annual 5-6 month retreats, often called “snowbirds.”
Today “snowbirds” are no longer aging, retired people but people in their 30’s and older. Many people are still working and often have tele-commute workloads or can work remotely which allows them to live abroad. Costa Rica has all of the technical advantages of North American internet access but with a lower cost of living.
We asked Lisle Head, Broker/Owner of Coldwell Banker Jaco what his theory is on when the market up north is drying up, it is just getting heated up down here in Jaco. Lisle said “Myself and my staff have been receiving increases inquiries via email and on our toll free number asking about Costa Rica buying opportunities mostly in the Jaco and Esterillos area. The majority of people contacting us are from the US. From the many phone conversations people are looking at capital preservation and maintaining the style of living they are accustomed to back home and with their stock portfolios reduced they need to reduce the overall living expenses and Costa Rica is the perfect place for this”
Lisle added “Costa Rica has been a big market for real estate market in the past because of the advantages we have here like the low cost of living. Now we have the US market with people looking to reduce monthly expenses yet unwilling to lose their own level of comfort are for the first time taking a look at Costa Rica. We are extremely pleased and feel this is a market niche that nobody has targeted. As we receive more and more calls, our staff has been able to understand the concerns of these new clients. These concerns come down to three things; technical infrastructure or the ability to work remotely, total monthly living expenses, and the living standards for their families like schools for their young children.”
We recently did a sampling of real estate websites around Costa Rica while many discuss the lower cost of living most did not address Costa Rica as a solution to the economic downturn in the states. La Nacion ran an article a few weeks ago that mentioned many US workers have been looking at Costa Rica to stretch their savings accounts and reinvent themselves here. A Costa Rican based company called Offshore Savings Solutions, which specializes in outsourcing of office work has seen large increases in consultations from the US market.
This is good news to a beleaguered real estate market where past buying was predicated on high value. Now with the lowering of real estate prices, buying is now being driven by the lower cost of living for a different demographic that is still part of the work force.
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What is the best development down in Jaco at the moment? Has any of the developer folded. I heard that Wyndham, Ramada, and DayStar stopped their projects. I was in town last year looking at different options and I am still interested.
Bruce
My husband and I are coming to Costa Rica looking for a home in the $50to$60,000 range. We are interested in the beach and love the mountains and believe we can live comfortably there on our retirement income. Problem is we don’t have adequate cash for say a $100,000 to $150,000 home. Can you tell me of opportunities in Costa Rica near the water that don’t cost that amount. Thank You for your time.
Sincerely,
Annette Horn
“Technical advantages of North American internet access”…?
everywhere I go in Costa Rica the Internet connection is poor, it must drop out on an hourly basis, though people keep saying it will be improving in the future. I also understand that unless you apply for citizenship you can’t have it installed in your own home, and new rules on citizenship apply from Feb 2010.
Power spikes and the humidity are also a problem for remote workers using computers, don’t forget your surge protector.
Greetings Tony and thanks for your comment.
You would find many people, if not most, agree with your observations about the slow internet and the ability to acquire it. However, the article was focused on the developing areas where infrastructure is being improved as a result of residential development. For example, Playa Bejuco would not see internet or cable tv unless it was convienent for ICE to provide it but because of the increasing demands for communication services, ICE took advantage of becoming part of another international network. The new communications network similiar to ArcosNet on the Carribean side but runs along the Pacific directly from Los Angeles provides POP for the entire central Pacific area here.
If you are looking for like services for what you are accustomed to back home, San Jose has it all. But if you are here to travel in remote spots, you will be able to find internet but it would be slow because it is most likely a dial up connection. But in the newly developing areas such as Jaco, we are running on fiber optics for service delivery and then the tradition local distribution such as cable modems or ADSL where services are like what you would expect back home.
Increasingly, there are more people moving to Jaco to work remotely and are able to do so successfully. In the Jaco area we have not seen a spike here since 2005 and it locally affected Hermosa residents only. Outages are common but when 85% of your nations electricity is produced without adding tons of carbon smoke into the air, you would be willing to live with the occasional outages that range from momentary lapses to hours. Costa Rica powers 85% of it’s country via hydro-electric generation and the only reason the it is 85% is that remote areas are simply to far from the generation point to make it economically feasible to deliver. I would wager, if a country like the US had to rely on 85% of its power produced from water, you would see much more outages than you see here. Costa Rica has been doing this since the 50’s they know what they are doing and are doing a “heck of a job” at keeping us electrified.
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