When one is considering offshore retirement Costa Rica usually comes up on the radar rather quickly. The reason is that Costa Rica is a Brand and that is usually related to quality and stability. The choice by Baby Boomers for Costa Rica Retirement is not a fluke as evidenced by it’s very large expatriate community.

If you are trying to decide on location to hang your hat for the balance of your years, perspective plays a large role. One needs to know that he or she can expect economic stability, lower cost of living, activities, climate, amenities and also not having to give up everything they are leaving behind.

While some countries offer excellent incentives, remember all that glitters is not gold. Costa Rica can stand the test of comparison to any Country in the region and come up head and shoulders above.

Even the Costa Rica Real Estate market has settled down finally and excellent buys are available and many with owner financing as low as 5%..

It Is very important that one considers all aspects of living in a country and not the incentives. It must match up with your lifestyle, budget and personal needs which may include health care.

Posted: APRIL 8, 2009
Agreement on New Income Requirements for Pensionado & Rentistas?

Mario Zamora, the Director of Migracion y Extranjeria, in an interview published in La Nacion, on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 is quoted as saying that as part of the Immigration Reform Bill currently pending in the Asamblea Nacional, that the legislators reached an agreement to increase pensionado and rentista income requirements to $1,000 per month for pensionados and $2,500 per month for rentistas. The current requirements are $600 and $1,000 per month respectively.

The bill is not yet scheduled for a vote, but the current term of the Asamblea’s Extraordinary Session ends on April 30, 2009. It is likely that some type of vote will take place prior to the end of the session.

No further details as to the amounts were provided in the article. You can read the article in Spanish at http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/
abril/07/pais1929922.html – look for “Ajuste de montos.”

Here is a synopsis of the new immigration regulations as summarized by the Association of Residents

Key Changes To Costa Rica’s Immigration Law:
1.    Pensionado income will be $1,000 per month, increased from the current $600 per month. The $1,000 applies to both a single applicant and to the family unit (applicant plus spouse and/or other dependants under the age of 18). So, the one pension covers both the husband and wife — same as now.

2.    Rentista income increased to $2,500 per month and applies to BOTH a single applicant and to a family unit (applicant plus spouse and/or other dependants under the age of 18). So, it does not make any difference if the applicant is single or is married and has a spouse and five kids, the applicant will have to prove exactly the same amount of unearned income: $2,500 per month.

3.    No increased income requirement when renewing carnet. The second sentence of Articulo 263 – Transitorio II, which would have applied the new increased income requirements to all non-permanent residents at the time of the next renewal of the residency carnet, was deleted from the final text. So, if your residency was approved based on a pension of $600+, or $1,000 rentista income, you will have no changes in your income requirements when you renew your carnet after the new law goes into effect. This key change in the text of the law came about as a direct result of our e-mails, which let the Asamblea know someone really cared about this issue.

4.    Mandatory membership in CCSS. Residents will have to join “La Caja” and will need to present proof of membership when renewing the carnets. La Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (La Caja) is the National Health Insurance System of Costa Rica. Membership in la Caja is mandatory for all Costa Rican employees, workers, managers, etc., but membership is currently voluntary for foreign residents. Membership fees (health insurance premiums) are very low compared to health insurance rates in the U.S. and other industrialized nations.

5.    Law goes into effect six (6) months after the approved law is published in La Gazeta, the official Costa Rica government newspaper. Therefore, any residency applications filed prior to the effective date of the law would be treated as filed under the “old” income requirements of $600 for pensionado and $1,000 for rentista.

6.    Many changes address human rights issues. This is not the right forum to address those changes but I want to mention that the new law creates an Immigration Commission and a system to appeal the rulings of Migracion y Extranjeria.

Here is a good source for more detail on the current residency requirements.

If you are planning an investigation into Retiring or Relocating to Costa Rica, our Lifestyle Property Tours covers all aspects of living in Costa Rica.
We do this every day and do it very well. To speak to someone live call toll free 1 888 581 1786. Ask for Steve or Robert

One of the biggest challenges of providing a good service as a true buyer’s agent is to identify areas that our clients will like.

Many of our clients have requested to be in a place away from the city and the desire to be part of Costa Rica where it is safe and untouched and with opportunities to be part of a local community.

Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties has found a beautiful location that will be perfect for our clients looking for adventure, beauty and peace. This is a great option to include in our Lifestyle Property Tours.

Chomez is located on the Pacific Coast in the province of Puntarenas, the eastern edge of the Gulf of Nicoya only 2 hours from San José, and 1 hour from Liberia. This area is situated in one of Costa Rica’s top 3 regions for property value increases. Imagine this: 2 hour from the Alajuela international airport,  1 hour to Liberia International Airport and only 45 minutes to the great beaches of the Central Pacific also 30 minutes drive to Monteverde’s rain forest. You can have the best of both worlds and a great thing is that with the new road being finish on 2010 from Ciudad Colon to Caldera, the capital will be within a one hour drive

The gulf of Nicoya, the mangroves and the salina offer those who love birds and photography many different species and variety of birds such as pelicans, herons, parrots, Montezuma oropendula, bellbird, white iris, great egret, etc. You can have easy access to 9 different islands and good fishing. The area covers three types of wet environments: mangles, sweet water, and a line on the Golfo de Nicoya shore. These ecosystems are of vital importance and they must be preserved. This is a pure Costa Rican place where you can experience the typical activities as Bull Riding, Horseback Riding, Mangroves tours, Tour by boat to Palo Verde National Park or the islands in the area. It is also a paradise where you will find the perfect point of balance between peace, excitement and adventure. Chomez is the kind of place where everybody will look at you and say “Good Morning” even if they don’t know you so don’t be surprised about that it’s just part of the charming of the region.

I am pleased to announce that we have identified a very special new development that is designed to allow people to buy at least 1.5 acres and build their dream home. It is similar to years ago when one could buy an acre of land and build whatever size one wanted and not cost you a fortune. These beautiful lots are nestled in the mountain, located in a safe and peaceful place where you will enjoy the ocean breezes surrounded by beautiful trees and rolling hills. It has a flat topography perfect for building your dream home and the price right now is just $37k. Beach, Mountain, River just name it.

This beautiful new development is conventionally located just 5 minutes to the nearest beach (Playa Blanca) where you can have access to 9 different islands and a great fishing experience, also 5 minutes to the most spectacular clean water rivers for all sweet water lovers. This great opportunity will be published in our Website soon and we should all kip our eyes very open for something like this.

Puntarenas is a nice typical tropical port and Chomez is the perfect place to be if you are not in to crowds and there are lots of beautiful places to explore. This is a location where you will become part of the friendly lifestyle of Costa Rica.

For more of the details on this special place, call me at 1 888 581 1786 and ask for Steve or you can click HERE.

Both Brazil and Colombia are among the most dangerous countries in Latin America for business executives, according to the Index.

The Latin Security Index measures the danger level in Latin America based on homicide rates as well as other factors affecting corporate security and the safety of foreign business executives. FTI Consulting bases its ratings on official numbers from public security secretariats, local police, governments, NGO’s and institutes of crime investigations.  Each country receives rating from 1 to 5 with 1 representing a non-dangerous country and 5 representing a very dangerous country.  If you would like to know more about safety and what it’s like to live in Costa Rica  – Email me at 
Carol@CostaRicaRetirementVacationProperties.com 

Relocating or retiring to Costa Rica affords a lifestyle that is simple -unique-and if you love nature – a paradise.

Simple because you realize you do not have the need for the many material things that control your life in other places . The Lifestyle in Costa Rica   is dependent on the basics and not over the indulged. Many Costa Ricans work to live but do not live to work.  Here you realize that there is a uniqueness to that attitude and you find yourself not having to possess as we are guided to do in the north America . Opening the windows in the morning and closing them at night is the norm and having that coffee in the morning sets the tone for the day. You enjoy the slower pace of life and what it offers .

Nature is all around and not a distant drive from anywhere in Costa Rica . The beaches are natural  and provide a back drop of sunsets that compare with anywhere in the world. Mountains are also a close proximity in any direction you go . Many hidden spots are found that are a get away from the city .

Living here grows on you and when you travel away, you do miss Costa Rica.

If you purchase property in Costa Rica,  it is becomes your own homeland even more.  Once you are stable – it becomes affordable and you have more time and money to enjoy the life – Pura Vida-

For more on how to learn about Costa Rica Lifestyle and how it relates to you, contact me
toll free at 1 88 581 1786. You may wish to checkout our Lifestyle Property Tours that encompasses all lifestyle aspects as well as property and cultural things.

Rudy Mathews, Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties

 I took my family last Sunday morning early and travelled to Esterillos for a short vacation. Travelling for fun rather than to investigate properties gives one a totally different perspective.  The journey is 2 hours at this time and encompasses some magnificent  mountains, quaint little towns such as Atenas,  Lagarita, San Mateo,  Orotina, Jaco beach, Playa Hermosa and Esterillos.

It has been months since I just sat back a took in all the sights.  We have a new highway completing soon that will join the ever popular central Pacific with the Capital. The quality and progress of this route are very impressive. Even now with construction and detours, it only took 25 minutes from Orotina to Jaco.  Soon it will be only a total of 45 minutes from San  Jose to the Coast and it’s many great resorts, the very famous Jaco Beach resorts and Vacation Properties. This opens up the ever growing Central Pacific Real Estate market for retirement living due to it’s closeness to major world class health care facilities of the San Jose area..

A little further along we came to our Hotel, Mirador del Mar at Esterillos where we stayed for 2 nights. This was our first time here as a guest.  We have been recommending this place for some time now and mainly because we like the quality, tranquility and the excellent pricing for our clients. We look for this so our people get a real feel for the Costa Rica benefits and not just experience the pricy tourist places and prices.

What a great place and was it ever relaxing. Accompanying me were my wife Karla, daughter Claudia, son Adrian and granddaughter Faviana of 2 years.

The luxury of this 10 room charming Hotel is incomparable.  The beds and room decorations ranked with some of the best on the coast. The rooms all had large quality TV’s and satellite channels with movie rentals if you cared to.  The ocean view was stupendous and the breeze delicious. My wife commented that it gave you a feeling of being your home with the spacious rooms, nice beds and bed coverings, sitting room in a common area with ocean views. 

Activities abound if you want to do more than just lounge around. Five wonderful beaches very near including Esterillos east, central and west. Playa Hermosa, the famous surf beach is only 10 minutes away and Jaco Beach 15 minutes, To the south is the most visited area of Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio with it’s very famous National Park. En route, you can stop and see one of the most pristine areas and beaches starting at Palo Seco and on down.  The Hotel has a whole host of recommendations that you can book right there as well.

After checking in, we decided to check out the beach which was 5 minutes exactly by car. It was Sunday and we had some company, about 35 people and beach as far as you could see. Later we had lunch at a small but very popular restaurant that served a varied menu.  My family liked it so well we returned for dinner that night and it was equally good. Dinner for four was $30.00 for the four of us and the two year old.  Adults had drinks.

The next day we visited another beach about 10 minutes away and enjoyed it as well.  We found a very popular small secluded restaurant in the small Pueblo for dinner that night. It is called Los Almendros owned and operated by a very nice lady called Karen. It is tucked away in an area that is very unsuspecting but once you enter, you know this is different and truly, it was. We all enjoyed our meals, the service of the staff and the ambiance, be it humble. We had a varied menu that included Cerviche and main course and the total bill came to less than $50.00. Eighty five percent of the clientele that night were north Americans living in the area.

 
The next night we decided to  live it up like tourists and went  to a popular restaurant of the area that is frequented by tourists.  We had 3 orders of spaghetti and meat sauce, one Corbina (the local fish), 2 deserts, 2 cocktails and 3 fruit punches for a total of $85.000. Not a gourmet dinner but pricy nevertheless for what we ordered. If we ordered steak or seafood for all, It would have been in excess of $100.00.  My point is not to put down the expensive restaurant as they have their place for sure, but for the people desiring retirement, a simple way of life in nice small and quaint areas, we  don’t want you to be scared off by the tourist prices you pay when visiting here.

Locations for Costa Rica Retirement are determined by the lifestyle, personal needs and budgets.  The Costa Rica central Pacific has some prime locations and great options.  One has to be careful that the touristy places don’t interfere with your decision making process.

I wrote this because we bring people to Costa Rica very frequently and use our Lifestyle Property Tours to fully acquaint them with all aspects of living here.  We try to identify the time you wish to allow for touring properties and fill that time up to the fullest with everything that matches your profile from our database and our associates in the areas of interest.  Mixed with that we like to show you places like we mentioned above so really have a feel for what you can expect.

I am aware that so many people come here and never experience what I just described. After all, that was a vacation too and if you can do it comfortably, find the neat little places, save few bucks and enjoy it to no end, then do it.

We are Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties, we do Lifestyle Property Tours and do them very well and do them every day of our lives.

Note:  Even if you are coming just for a vacation, call me, Robert, toll free at 1 888 581 1786 and get our special rate at the Mirador del Mar

PS:  The owner has just recently encountered some health problems and has this beautiful property for sale. It featues 10 beautiful rooms inlcuding a penthouse residence. The land is an engineers dream as it has many areas for expansion for at least 30 more units. Contact me for more on this at 1 888 581 1786 . 
See Hotel here