Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties

I felt I should give some real examples of the market as it exists in our life. To that end I have submitted the following for the editor to consider for publication.

To: Editor - AM Costa Rica:

I have been following the comments on the real estate and crime appraisal of your contributor. I wish to comment based on some facts I have at my disposal.

Please note, I do not plan to have an ongoing dialog here. This will be the only comments I offer on this subject as I am merely trying to relate our own experience.

While inquiries have slowed, we are still finding a number of serious buyers. We have seen no discounts at all in the central valley nor Atenas unless they are related to distress situations. In fact very recently in the central valley the following example are our experiences directly, one house sold for the asking price of $525,000 due to competition and another fell through, because of financing. The asking price on that one was $450 and the price agreed was $435,000. In Atenas, a lot was sold for the asking price, another house was sold for $450,000 which was very close to the asking price and these were in Atenas. These are just a few current examples.

What we  have seen is more caution, certainly, fewer inquiries and the mix at the moment is more upper income people such as Medical professionals interested in Costa Rica Retirement.

Remember what I am reflecting here is a short time frame and in no way should be construed as the profile of things to come.  I am merely replying to what I think is an extreme exaggeration of the Real Estate market. I have documentation to show these figures as well.

To asses the current market, one needs to take into account that there are  many Retirement in Costa Rica information sources that have popped up in the form of web sites. This makes the Real Estate market fiercely competitive and very confusing for the first time visitor interested in Retirement in Costa Rica. The confusion scares people, especially when they are receiving sensationalized information and this always results in less activity. The competition I speak of here is a large factor here and cannot be discounted.

In cases where a developer gets caught with the recent central Bank cutback on construction loans, I can see an issue here. Coastal overbuilding, I can see an issue here as well. Any underfunded product will always suffer when volume drops.

Developers that were thinly funded in the first place looking to pre construction sales payments is a situation whereby aggressive discounts may be applied. There should be focus placed on this kind of thing that surely affects the price discounting and more important the safety of the investor.

Astute Real Estate office won’t sell those projects and they can get desperate and prices could drop drastically to keep afloat putting our clients at risk.

Many coastal boiler room projects (USA call centerer operations) cease to exist for the moment. The drop in these sales can surely be a factor as well.

Finally, Costa Rica is no different than any other country that gets caught up in up markets. We have had that for years and we have our corrections like anyone else. With all the frenzy, maybe we are overbuilt. That can lead to slow down for sure. Worth a mention….Developer inquiries have slowed considerably.

The situation is clearly augmented by the slow down, but was coming anyway in those cases.

My focus these days is to firmly address the Costa Rica Retirement market as Costa Rica still part of the solution for many. The numbers haven’t changed and there are some 65,000,000 plus Baby Boomers becoming of age. Costa Rica is still the umber one destination for Americans retiring offshore.

Is cost of living a factor?  Cost of living is going up here, but it is everywhere. How can it not?

Would you be more comfortable living on whatever your budget is here and paying $200 taxes on your $350,00 or home or picking up a retirement condo in Florida very cheap now and paying all their future debt at God know what rate of all their different taxes. Then you have the health care factor, the Hurricanes to deal with and at least 3 years until there is some light at the end of the tunnel politically. We are still a viable solution for many.

I am aware that one can refute this in that Miami offer 4 major sports, south Beach and much more. Our clients are looking for retirement now and they want what we have with all our problems and mainly they want difference….. There may even be a large number of retired professionals that will come to our aid in moving us forward faster in the areas we lack.

The USA will respond to their problems as they always have. Some just cannot wait and will seek alternatives. Costa Rica is still the best bet with all it’s reported problems.

Did you know, there are some recent statistics (that I won’t quote here) that makes Costa Rica a pretty palatable place in comparison to many nearby countries.

People may wish to investigate what Costa Rica is doing about crime. I am asking for an updated report on this so I may assess properly what our future holds. Currently, there are laws that provide incentives for criminals and these are being changed. I also know that our Police force has recently been awarded a large budget for a great number of new Police in excess of 1000.  Cameras are being installed all over the place. This is a good start and I know a lot more is going on.

Back to the Real Estate market.  Numbers are down, no doubt. We are out of season, it is raining like crazy and early this year, hurricanes are threatening and the US economy sucks. Yes, things have slowed. But 50% price reductions, I don’t think so.

I have spoken to 3 of my top associates in the business and we are all desperate to find the 50% discounts he mentioned. I would even welcome 20% discounts to include in my marketing plans for our clients promotional activities.

I do not have my head in the sand. I carefully watch the USA economical problems. I am aware we have some fallout. I cannot believe with  the potential we have for retirees coming our way we won’t have the benefit of this. Our country must want them and show it for sure.

I am fully aware of crime as well.

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