Expanding our sales force
We are offering sales positions for various areas of Costa Rica and seek experienced sales or motivated individuals with a good marketing sense.

We seek
Associates that have the ability to become well versed in our philosophy of client care service and who will strictly adhere to the company’s code of ethics.  We require that you clearly understand the reporting policies and your role in client database procedures that accomplishes this. 

The Company: 
We are country wide with franchises or sales agents in all areas suitable for retirement and investment. We are completely data base driven utilizing the best technology to serve our sales force and clients alike. We specialize in the retirement and vacation home markets and feature our Lifestyle Real Estate Tours.  We prioritize use of our systems and marketing programs. The company is very well known and our business model is quite unique. We are found very high in Google for all search terms that relate to our business objectives. 

Our Technology
Our website, coupled with the power of MSN, Yahoo!, Google, and numerous other marketing entities presents our portfolio of homes to those interested in Vacation homes or Retirement in Costa Rica. The combination of technology and personal sales service creates a platform for effective home searches and also results in the most qualified buyers for your property.

Contact:  Robert at 1 888 581 1786 toll free  or 506 2293 2446

Atenas is a very popular Real Estate choice
for retirement and relocation alike…..

Atenas, Costa Rica is a very popular choice for Costa Rica Retirement or Relocation.  It’s year round excellent climate, proximity to everything (20 minutes to the capital and to the 50 minutes to the Beach), makes this a prime location.  More, the location usually offer gorgeous mountain and valley views.  The small town of Atenas is bustling these days with all it’s new population.  It is a prime area for people seeking semi retirement and wanting to have a business. Atenas has all the services for living comfortable, good internet, television and major health care services only 20 minutes away.

Here are a few examples of what you can find. 
1614 sq ft home with beautiful views, 2 bedrooms with computer/office space $249,000
2282 sq ft home with pool, beautiful views, 2 bedrooms plus computer/office space $329,000
These two villas are built on 2 adjacent lots, setting up a perfect family complex would make would make a
perfect family complex or, 1 residential and one rental for income. Price $ 550,000 for Both.
4400 sq ft home with nice infinity pool, 3 bedrooms, 2 pavilions, computer/office space, one acre lot
with great mountain views $585,000

Fully serviced Lot of over 4 acres fronting public road $165,000

This project emphasizes Bali-inspired tropical architecture, featuring open floor plans, peaked roof lines, deep covered decks and patios, inside/outside features and visually-open wood-and-glass walls. The community is unique in terms of tropical architecture in Central. The  site is mountainous with fantastic panoramic views: to the northeast, the Atenas Valley with Póas, Barva and Irazú volcanoes in the background, to the southwest the Rio Grand Valley and to the east, the Central Valley with thousands of lights coming alive at nightfall.

Access to the project is by a good public road from central Atenas (2km).  It is located inside the Cerros de Atenas protected forest reserve, dotted with a luxurious vegetation, including many specie of precious trees like the Guanacaste and Matapalo, flowering trees such as the brilliant orange Poró and many fruit trees including mangoes, limes, bananas, papayas and oranges. A wildlife corrido extends from the Rio Colorado, and carablanca monkeys, sloths, anteaters, and birds including toucans and trogons are regularly seen from the villas.
This particular project focuses on land development and creation of residential communities in Central and South America. They are a boutique land developer creating investment value for clients along three themes: nature, architecture and culture.

We have sold a great number of homes in the area and for people looking to retire in this climate we always feature Atenas Real Estate on our Lifestyle Real Estate Tours.  
Call us for more on Atenas 1 888 581 1786 Ask for Robert

Part 2 Permitting continued…

There is no one, single way to do the permitting process, and there is no single entry point. How you do permitting will depend a lot on who you hire and how much you’re willing to spend. Many of the procedures discussed in this chapter can be carried out in parallel, either legally or extra-legally. Permitting any sizable construction project, however, is not a do-it-yourself experience, and for the most part you’ll start out by hiring the professionals you will need for the process.

After drawing up your construction plans, you’ll be doing permitting in an attempt to please basically four government entities.
The Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y Arquitectos (CFIA) will want to know that your construction plans include all the basic elements that construction plans should. They will also want to know that for the project, you have hired professionals registered with the CFIA.
The Secretaria Técnica Nacional Ambiental (SETENA)needs to be satisfied that your construction project will not significantly damage the environment or the local community. If you’re doing a development of a high enough density, the Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo (INVU)has a whole list of different permits and go-aheads you’ll have to get from different government agencies before it will give your project the green light. And finally, the local municipality where you are building will want you to present the CFIA, SETENA, and INVU approvals (plus perhaps a few others) before it will grant you your construction permits.

An important point is that each municipality requires different documents for the granting of the final construction permits. But even if the municipality grants you a construction permit without one of the permits you need from some branch of the central government bureaucracy say, the environmental certification you still need that permit. This redundancy of authority is one of the curiosities (some would say absurdities) of the Costa Rican system: Just because a builder has construction permits from a municipality does not mean the construction is legal. The other permits for the construction must be obtained regardless of what the municipality says or you could be shut down at any moment by a central government regulator. Keep this in mind if you’re tempted to bribe a municipal official to get your permits. That ill-gotten permit won’t do you much good if the cen¬tral government decides to bring down the hammer.

At the same time, however, the bitter irony (as long-time developers in Costa Rica will tell you) is that there are so many regulations and restrictions administered independently of one another by so many different branches of the Costa Rican bureaucracy that sometimes you don’t fully comply with the law even when you want to. Do your best.

A final important principle to keep in mind as you approach the permitting process is that land in Costa Rica is under the Napoleonic legal regime, not the common law regime found in the United States and Canada. In practice, that means that while you technically own the land, you don’t own any natural resource on top of it or below it. Trees, mineral deposits, well water, rivers, lakes, springs, wildlife, and all the rest are property of the State. The principle to follow, therefore, is that if you are going to remove, use, or modify any of these things on “your” property, there is probably a permit or concession you will have get from somewhere.

Bureaucracy glossary

It helps to be familiar with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies you will be dealing with during the permitting process. Following, a brief list:

MINAET (www.minaet.go.cr): The Ministerio del Ambiente, Energía, y Telecomunicaciones, or Ministry of Environment, Energy, and Telecommunications. This is the big cheese when it comes to environmental regulation in Costa Rica. Permits to cut down trees, drill wells, and mine anything must pass through one of its many branches.

SETENA: The Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental, or the National Technical Environmental Secretariat. A branch of MINAET. SETENA is the bugaboo of many a would-be developer, as this is the agency that reviews the environmental impact of developments and gives them the thumbs up or thumbs down. Its infamy comes from the incredibly slow process of the environmental review. For developments that have to do a full impact study, the entire processes takes about two years, often more.

ICE:The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, or Costa Rican Electricity Institute. The government monopoly that controls all electricity generation and distribution and, until recently, telecom-munications.

AyA:The Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados. Ba-sically the state water utility. AyA does not have national coverage, and in many parts of the country outside the Central Valley, developers have to get water permits elsewhere.

ASADA:Asociaciones Administradoras de Sistemas de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Sanitarios, or Administration Association of Sewer and Aqueduct Systems. In some parts of the country, these are the as-sociations that manage the water supply. They are local, and whether you have to deal with one depends entirely on where your property is located.

INVU:The Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo, or the National Housing and Urbanism Institute. INVU is supposedly in charge of urban planning, meaning that all condominium and subdivision developments need its seal of approval.

ICT:The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, or the Costa Rica Tour¬ism Board. Anything that has to do with the Maritime Zone (i.e. –coastal land within
200 m. of high tide) happens through the ICT. Also, permits for hotel and restaurant operations.

Ministerio de Salud:The Health Ministry. Salud oversees every¬thing having to do with public health, including wastewater disposal and water treatment, as well as health certifications for hotels and restaurants.

CFIA:Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y Arquitectos, or the Federated Association of Engineers and Architects. This government-sanctioned professional association must give the OK to all construction projects. The Association is primarily concerned with technical design issues.

That covers the process and the agencies. to the average person, it may not be adequate so if you wish to discuss it further and/or arrange a conference call with our engineering firm to assist you in understanding better our process,call
 Robert at 1 888 581 1786   local number is  506 2293 2446.  If you are a Costa Rica land owner here and would like to investigate best use of your property, whether it is a large tract of land or Condo project, we will be happy to give you a presentation complete with pricing.

part 4  - the permitting
Developers and home-builders face is the enormous variety of permits that must be obtained before building.  To develop a property larger than 500 m2, you need the OK from at least half a dozen separate entities, probably more.

Developing a subdivision or a condominium in Costa Rica adds another layer of oversight from another regulatory body, and when all is said and done you’ll probably need to have hired at least seven state-certified professionals, including an architect, a civil engineer, a topographer, an environmental engineer, an archaeologist, an anthropologist, and a biologist. All that, and you haven’t even started construction yet.
All told , the permitting process for a small Costa Rica development can take anywhere from a six months to several years and cost the developer some percent of the total value of the project. Construction of individual homes on properties covering less than a half a hectare must pass through a similar process, but with substantially less regulation.

The regulations are constantly changing, they vary in each of the Costa
Rica’s 81 municipalities, and no matter how sure something seems, exceptions pile upon exceptions.

This outline seeks to be only a detailed overview of construction permitting in Costa Rica, and is meant to compliment the expertise of a highly-recommended team of professionals that you should hire to handle the permitting process for you.

If all this sounds too complicated and expensive, and is tempting you to cut corners on permitting and environmental compliance of your development, you wouldn’t be the first.

Government regulators have simply not kept pace with developers during the last decade, causing severe backlogs. That encouraged many developers – especially in Guanacaste and the Central Pacific to throw up their hands and begin construction without all the necessary permits, muttering the mantra that it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Other developers have turned to corruption, dolling out bribes to government officials to get things moving.

A lot has changed here and I wouldn’t recommend this approach today
Costa Rica is very environmentally conscious and to that end has really clamped down on shortcuts that quite often lead to destruction of our natural resources.

Today, cutting corners on permitting costs more than it saves, both in time and money. This is mainly because the government is finally improving enforcement, significantly increasing the chance that un-permitted construction will get shut down long before the developer has a chance to ask forgiveness. Indeed, the year 2008 saw a series of high-profile crackdowns on construction sites all over the country that got the developer community’s attention. Legally, the penalties can include everything from fines to even jail time. Along with the crackdowns, the government is also making a few key changes in the permitting process – particularly in the environmental review – that promises to make permitting move faster, meaning that bribes, in addition to being a crime, are no longer worth the risk.

If you think doing permitting the right way is onerous, wait and see what happens when you do it the wrong way. Without the meticulous attention to detail that the permitting process requires, you could end up unnecessarily delaying your product an extra year or two.

Finally, cutting corners on permitting hurts everyone in the long run. Improper waste water management, the illegal clearing of forest, and the interruption of biological corridors by private roads destroy the very reasons people want to live in Costa Rica in the first place – namely, jungle, wildlife, beautiful landscapes, and friendly local communities. Permitting in Costa Rica is complicated and frustrating, but it is intended to protect the goose laying the golden eggs. Even better, think of it as keeping your neighbor from building a monstrosity that would lower the value of your property.

More to come on Permitting……   For more information or a conference call with our Engineering team, arrange it with
Robert at 1 888 581 1786 toll free or locally 506 2293 2446

“Identify with what  people seek  in these times, then make it for them”
and…… sell it all year long

What do they want? 
Comfortable pricing,  to be a part of something, lifestyle choices, lower cost living and most of all,  something real.

There still exists today,  a large number of people seeking retirement, relocation and investment in Costa Rica.  There is a lot of uneasiness among them.  They are much different breed from what we new in the 2008 era.  This is reflected in their caution, unsureness, afraid to get in now because they feel there is a deeper bottom coming,  and fear of losing more of there nest egg and yes, trust.

An Eco development including a  sustainable farm unit
Imagine a lifestyle where you can build your home in a beautiful part of the world, live in a community that is dedicated to sustainability, have your own food grown organically, use horses or golf cart for transportation,  be self sufficient for electricity and water.  When you want to go out for a change, it is only 15 to 20 minutes away from  some the best beaches in Costa Rica, famous Manuel Antonio that sports 1,000,000 million visitors each year.  good infrastructure that takes you through to the OSA Peninsula and more.  The other way toes to the famous Hermosa beach where the Billabong Surf tournament was held.. It has it all, the Lakes, River, Valleys, flat land, high Mountain, access and character.  It can be one of the finest in the world.

Attention Costa Rica Developers…
Here is perfect development property  and it affords a huge preservation area and very adequate build out to be very profitable.  It can comprise anything from condos, homes, hotel condo, high rise with ocean views and more.

This is an example of a large tract of land for sale and is priced to sell and can house a multitude of venues that would include a sustainable farming unit, medical tourism (very popular in Costa Rica), condo hotel and various levels of retirement and resort products. 

This is a new horizon and Costa Rica Development is about reflect the new clients interest very soon.   One Company exists now and are beginning to take form in the south Pacific.  It is a pure community effort, like all these projects should be  should be with emphasis on sustainability and the project’s people interacting to achieve the sustainability aspects.

To be updated or arrange conference call with Engineers that did pre studies for this great piece of developmental land, call us and we will arrange everything.
toll free is 1 888 581 1786 and local is (506) 2293 2446.  Ask for Robert Shannon.

Part 2   –  ”Discounting of today’s Costa Rica Real Estate makes it worth taking a look” 
You can find deeply discounted properties offered with as much as 40% off in prime locations and a variety of different sizes and types such as prime Beachfront,  large Eco project land for a combination of homes, condos which can be developed as a self sustaining Eco project supplying all food stuffs, energy and water.  This is becoming a very popular approach to the current market and creates a most interesting appeal to today’s offshore home buyers.  This is especially true when the destination is Costa Rica with it’s reputation as  one of the leading Eco sustainable countries in the world.

 Example of Developer opportunities in Costa Rica today….

Approach to market …. is very important given the world economy and the buyer’s current nervousness. 
If product is designed to the market of today and you proceed accordingly, it sells.  It is very important to have scope in pricing with good choices and options. If your starting price point is good and matches up to the amenities offered, it will be a success even today.
If your project is properly funded and you can show it, then you remove the stigma that is harbored by many buyers in projects today which is a major obstacle in completing sales.

Clients  have learned what to look for in projects that have failed in the past.  These failures for the most part are not the fault of the developer as they were designing to the current market needs and excesses.  When Bank  financing was halted by our Central Bank, they got caught and many with all of their own money in the projects.

Example of a NOW opportunity..
Here  is one example of a project that was stopped. Right now is the perfect timing for someone to pick it up cheaply and redesign within the approved  footprint to the pricing and needs of today.

The project  – Located in the central Pacific, Oceanfront, 120 unit, can become 170 for new pricing utilizing all permissions that exist today.  A of the 21  buyers will remain in,  all proceeds went to land improvement, have one building almost completed and second one started. The project can be picked up as a complete buyout for $2,000000 million.  It will take another 5 mil to build to a comfortable cash flow and show good product.   The price points will be as low as $135,000  and is an Oceanfront project in a very desirable area.  The owners prefer to stay in and joint venture. That says a lot in itself.

Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties marketed this one and we saw first hand how it was received. We sold 4 units there of the 20 that were sold.

There is no secret among the more aggressive Real Estate companies that there are buyers still coming.  One of the biggest problems is finding product that matches up to the new buyer.  Ask Carol Odonnell, who manages our marketing of the central Pacific.  She will  update you on how that is a fact.

Watch for our next sampling of a great opportunity for developers that features
Almost 1000 acres of beautifully versatile Costa Rica Development land near to Quepos/Manuel Antonio with all the area draw and this one is only $4,500,000 and was in contract for $7,000 just 14 months ago.  It has a build out net of  $90,000,000.   We will talk about how this can be one of the best areas, what makes this such a special area and property.

If you share in any part of this  thinking, it will be worth your while as a developer or investor to start looking seriously NOW.    This is a point in time. 

We are very  familiar with projects we feature as examples and are authorized to send complete business plans to qualified inquiries.

 Watch for  our next one very soon.

First in a series -  “Discounting of today’s Costa Rica Real Estate makes it worth looking at”

Understanding today’s new pricing of development land
Costa Rica Development land has taken a hit like most Real Estate. In many cases it is now at levels of four and five years ago, Buying land is still one of the most viable Real Estate investments today.

Historically, land values tend to stabilize during downturns in the housing markets and commercial developments. Land values are driven more by population growth in good areas. That hasn’t happened for two years anywhere as many of the good areas have been seriously hampered by the world economy of the last two years. No gain in value for two years and the discounting that is available today is worth looking into if you are a developer on the sidelines.

In Costa Rica we have seen some of the best land values appear that we haven’t seen in years. In some cases. people are caught with too much of their own money in the land. Others just clearly understand the real pricing of the market today and if they wish to sell they must identify with today’s pricing.

Landowners who have the luxury of time and cash, simply take the attitude that their property has lost 35% of it’s value and that is the base price today.  They are investors so they are simply going to accept the loss to date and view it as a new investment and sit on it until they make a profit.

We tend to refer to deeply discounted Real Estate as distressed property.   It may be considered distressed in the eyes of the owner, but reality says it is today’s new pricing. There are certainly some exceptions but as I wrote in an earlier blog, “There are three people that will know about it before you” Banker, Lawyer and Realtor.  If it is a really knocked down deal, what are your chances of getting to it? **See below how to get a shot at some of these deals.

Real estate has always been one of the best investments and Land has the best stability record of all.

A lot of developer/investors sitting on the fence, not knowing when and where to get off.  If they are waiting for “Blood in the Streets”,  that happened a year ago. It’s time to start looking very judiciously right now.  You don’t have to build immediately, which is another consideration.

At this point in time, waiting for things to go lower may only result in finding properties that haven’t dropped yet.  For those developers looking to move forward now with a good selection of some of the best deals, they are already out there.

We have seen a perfect property for an Eco Retirement project lose $2.5 million dollars and it
had a pre evaluation study that was incredible.

Other opportunities today fall into the category of product designed to the market.

Developers on sidelines can buy now read on……….

Here is a list of examples we have reviewed and find them  to be at discounted by at least 35%

HERE IS WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT….. Timing opportunites for Developers and investors alike

A gorgeous piece of development land slashed by 33% and you can even buy control of it and sit  it out if you wish, or proceed and design to the market
Here is one that is perfectly geared to this market we are in.  A fractional program of 10 week units totalling 300.  This long term and in an excellent location.
Gorgeous large  lake lots that have been scalped. Buy 5 and  sit on them.
Golf Condos that are prepared to throw in initiation  and discount deeply the Condo to get it populated and with no debt.  Buy the building , rent them and wait.
A magnificent and stunning oceanfront shovel ready project in the north that was reduced from 25 million to 17 million
Long term Teak investment that is designed for college funds, savings for grandchildren, getting IRA back on track, pure  retirement growth,
An oceanfront project halted for shortage of funding. Sold 21 of first 50 units, clean as a project can be and very marketable with Realtors waiting for this to come back on line.
A 300 total unit fractional project that is perfect for this market looking for investor

Attention developers: Call and let me help layout, strategies to take advantage of the pricing that exists today.
Some great opportunities exist at the moment.  Some are shovel ready, some raw development land (this can be good for those who want to buy do all the necessary preparation only at this time only)
To discuss the different and new concepts that fit the market today, strategies and types of investments available in Costa Rica, call me, Robert Shannon and I will be happy to cover all aspects of it with you.

Watch for the second article  in this series soon which will give some excellent examples of actual properties available that fall into the NOW category.

You may recognize these quotes of days gone by.  They offered pretty good advice.:
“Find out where the people are going and buy the land before they get there.”

WILL ROGERS

ANDREW CARNEGIE:
“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.”

MARSHALL FIELD:
“Buying real estate is not only the best way, the quickest way, but the only way to become wealthy.”

For a discussion on development land opportunities in Costa Rica, call Robert Shannon 1  888 581 1786