When people think about doing something in retirement a B&B or a small Boutique Hotel comes to mind rather quickly. Most feel that if they have people skills and a sense of hospitality needs for travelers, it can be a good business with a minimum of start up training. While this is true, in the past it was not so easy. Marketing ability was the key factor in success as is today so one needed a lot of this experience or savvy.

Today, it is much clearer and easier with advent of Internet marketing, a good Hotel ranking systems (trip advisor) and websites. To really have an immediate impact and improve performance the following can take an existing business and improve the business by large percentages.
Simply embark on a program of personal community interaccion with travel agents and tour operators, area taxi drivers, bar tenders etc. Add this effort to your web site marketing, Hotel ranking and existing customer base and you will have a winner. The best part is that you will have a lot of fund meeting all the contacts in the areas, adjusting to the new lifestyle, making new friend, enjoying the cultural changes and making the extra income.

Here is an example of a couple of good deals at present that one could take advantage of in this market. In both cases they have need to return to their Country for unexpected things that happened in families.
how to do it in Costa Rica.
This one was just reduced to $339,000. It is located in Costa Rica Prime Retirement location, Atenas.  Atenas is set in beautiful Mountains all around. It offers a nice home with pool, good income (recorded) best climate anywhere and many ex patriots in the community. You don’t have to sell anyone on the area. In fact, you probably already have heard about it or been there. It is only 20 minutes from Escazu in the Capital of San Jose with all it’s world class health care, great super Malls and fine dining of every imaginable type. Also, going the other way 45 minutes to the beaches and attractions of the central Pacific.  See this beautiful Atenas Bed and Breakfast here.

This one adds Ocean to the mix. It is located on one of Costa Rica white Caribbean beaches which offer great diving and all the water sports.

It has been reduced drastically to $325,000. This was originally $495,000 and was price right then. It is one of the nicer Boutique Hotels on the Caribbean side.  Owner has emergency need to return home very soon.
See this Costa Rica Oceanfront B&B

Buy a B&B such as these - Live in it as your residence - Budget your time and profit requirements together to maintain a comfortable balance of keeping active, relaxation and discovering the new culture and lifestyle activities.

We have various opportunities in most of our locations across Costa Rica .  If you wish to look into this great alternative, call us and we can give you good counsel on areas and product available that matches your budget and lifestyle objectives.

Toll free 888 581 1786 and in Costa Rica (506) 2293 2446 ask for Robert

If you are one of the victims of a devastated IRA or any other savings or valuation loss.  You are probably questioning when if ever you are going to be able to retire comfortably.

We have been monitoring the inquiries of the past two years and find more an more people are seeking an investment that they can control and from which they can augment income.  People are liking this kind of opportunity because it not only helps them live the second half of their life more comfortably bur it also ……..KEEPS THEM OCCUPIED.

The single most prevalent dissolution is when people retire and find they have nothing to do.  Problem solved …….

Costa Rica is the best of all choices for this concept because of it fame for it’s long term peaceful democracy, friendly people, and good infrastructure just to name a few.

The wisdom of this is evidenced by some of those that have already made the move to get offshore  and hedge their money by managing it themselves in something they can work at.

One such a case is a client that bought a surf Hotel and simply made the rounds to old connections of the Hotel that used to promote it, dressed up the website, got it a good rating and he has never been so pleased.  He was fully booked for the high season and high occupancy for the green season.  that exceeds what you need.

With tourism holding up in Costa Rica and new flights coming this year, the ITC is estimating a 7% increase in visitors.  This is a force for good for this concept.

We wrote about a Costa Rica Boutique Hotel in a very trendy little area  a short while ago.  Here are a few pics of the recent Billabong all girls surf tournament.  It can be aa fun thing creating special events to attract people to your Hotel… and profitable too.

Here are a few more pics showing some activities. For sure the girls enjoyed this tournament.  The owners had fun making it happen as well.

Costa Rica Boutique Hotels are often found in very interesting places such as this one above.  It is located in a very famous surfing area in a trendy little town that often finds some of the biggest names in the entertainment business walking down the main street.  It is a beautiful place, the beaches are wonderful and lifestyle is certainly laid back and different.  People want this after 40 years of hustle for everything.

A good example that has it all…
Here is an example of  a Costa Rica Ocean front 12 room Hotel on one of Costa Rica’s nicest beaches.  The owners are very motivated, it is on the beach, has room for expansion and is full through the season.

If you find this an interesting option for you, please contact me and I will be pleased to send you a list of viable choices. (see below for contact info)

Here is a sampling  of some very good options as well.  some have a good specialty, other low down payment, other location & location and most of all good pricing.

We specialize in these properties so let us guide you to the best choice.

If you are a first timer to Costa Rica and want to see if Costa Rica is really for you, you should seriously consider our Consultation service which features a very comprehensive Lifestyle & Real Estate Tour.  It the most thorough, inexpensive method to do help you with your decision.

Read about the process

The interview
You establish the best time for us to call and interview you
The interview will take 20 to 30 minutes depending on discussion

The Profile
We develop our report from the interview from which we identify Lifestyle and Real Estate elements we need to cover thoroughly for you.

The Itinerary
The itinerary is based on our report and includes all things items necessary to a thorough understanding of the Lifestyle, locations properties suited to your needs.

The Orientation
First morning is orientation for 1 hour (this covers all aspects of relocating to Costa Rica directly related to your profile.

The Tour
Tour covers takes you to Lifestyle areas to visit while the host is explaining the areas and proximity to services.
This is mixed with a good sampling Real Estate that is also geared directly to your potential budget and Lifestyle needs
We summarize after the first day so we may adjust anything that needs more focus for your specific case
The next day will be more of the same approach to Lifestyle & Real Estate needs.

Read more on it here….

The clear objective
to introduce you physically and verbally to the reality of Costa Rica and the areas suited to your profile so you may identify if Costa Rica is really for you.

The cost
$325.00 per day with lunch included.  A nice feature we can offer is that if Costa Rica is for you and you return and buy a property with our firm within then next 12 months, we refund the tour cost to you.

Why you need to use this approach if this is your exploratory visit to Costa Rica

You are about to make a large decision on how and where you are going to spend the balance of your life.  You will never be furnished with enough information from reading as you have to be here and experience the place with people that know it well.

Fact
The better Realtors always qualify clients and if your are identified as just looking, then the service is less than you need for this kind of investigation.

Our vast experience tells us that only showing Real Estate is never fulfilling enough for people to make educated buying decisions.  Those who have been here or had previous Tours have a vastly different view.  A good Consultation Tour is worth the cost many times over.

Offshore living is not for everyone and you need to look at all sides of it before deciding.  Merely reading web pages (which are for the most part search engine optimization fodder to gain position), or making a cursory trip doesn’t cover it like we do.

Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties
It was obvious to us many years ago that a good tour was needed for our clients that were first timers or those who had not seen enough to make a good decision on moving to Costa Rica for the second half of their life.

Since we are getting paid, our object is not to sell you anything on the tour which is very important.  This sets us apart from a self-serving Real Estate Tour.

With vast Real Estate experience and countrywide coverage, along with our years of focus on people seeking relocation and investment, were very well equipped to making consultation tours for people like yourself.

Please check it out here….

With all the turmoil in the world today,  people are looking for alternatives and leaving their countries these days.  One such reason is to semi retire and start a new life and business.  Costa Rica retirement is always good bet for this especially if one is seeking a small Hotel or B&B (tourist related business) for income. Tourism has held up very well in Cost Rica making it a viable location.

Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties  has been finding a large interest in small Hotels and Bed and Breakfasts this year and as a result when we get one we feel good about, we like to promote it.  One such Hotel that caught our eye is located in a very special area.

This is a classic SEMI-RETIRE operation with a good income, high quality trendy location. for only $399,000.

It  is  a profitable Botique surf Hotel with an upscale surf school attached. This trendy little piece of heaven will surprise you with a nice local population and a number of famous people hiding away here in their vacation homes.

It is profitable and offers financials, a complete inventory list and business plan.  It has a beautiful lot adjacent with ocean view that can be a great owner residence and  is not attached directly to the business.

It is distinct because  its a surf destination, upscale surf school and a boutique hotel.  It is nicely furnished and landscaped 100 meters from some of the best surf breaks anywhere.

 The price, at a very low $399,000 or together with a beautiful lot $455,000.  This is a semi retire situation that you can love even if you are not a surfer.  See details of this Hotel.

We have a number of small Hotels for sale in Costa Rica.  Please contact us directly at our toll free number 888 581 1786 or locally [506] 2293 2446 ask for Robert.

I thought I had seen it all the beautiful places and deals

Last week, Mike Paulin our man in San Ramon asked me to visit and see some things he was working on.   We had just been to one of the most spectacular views in Costa Rica in San Ramon just above Berlin.  As we were leaving he asked me to take minute and visit a place he was listing about 10 minutes below the area we had been.

When we entered through a nice gated driveway , we found a small project of 3 homes.  This one was a spectacular small log home with views similar to what we just left .  It as a modest home but very charming and simple. The asking price was $1119,000.

People dream of this kind of  place.  In many of our inquiries clients seek, security, non crowded, country like settings, mountains and yet near to American community.  THIS IS IT!!!

San Ramon is  one of Costa Rica’s very popular towns with it’s good health care, many services, supermarkets, easy access and much more. This is a beautiful San Ramon retirement location in Costa Rica.

Please feel free to call and ask about San Ramon and it’s areas of interest for retirement and investment

Call toll free 888 581 1786 ask for Robert or Mike.

There are many different profiles we find in our interviews for our Lifestyle & Real Estate Tours and not all match this, but for the ones that do, this owuld be a no brainer.

As the saying goes, whenever new roads, bridges or improvements occur, a good Real Estate market is just around the corner.

Costa Rica Developers with vision are the key to this and we are excited about the Lake Arenal area especially the northwest.

We have just decided to include this on Lake Arenal in our Lifestyle & Real Estate Tours as it fits so perfectly for the Retirement or Vacation home buyer.  Not to leave out the person 3 to 5 years from retirement that want to find a low cost piece of gorgeous land and lock in the price.  This is self directed IRA opportunity as well.

Here is why the southwest is the best area of beautiful Lake Arenal.

• It is 22 miles from the Volcano but still see the majestic symmetrical shape in the distance
• It has 50% less rainfall and is green all year round
• It is 5 minutes from the beautiful small town Tilaran with 4 super markets and all services
• It only 20 minutes from the new Hospital in Canas with all it’s services as well
• It is only 1 hour and 15 minutes from Liberia, the hub of the north and the international Airport
• It is only 1 hour and 30 minutes from the famous Guanacaste beaches
• It is only 2.5 hours from San Jose, the Capital with it’s multitude of shops, restaurants, Hospitals and more
• For one of the most famous Restaurants in all of Costa Rica 30 minutes at Nuevo Arenal (the Gingerbread house)
• Only 1 hour from all the hot springs and famous Arenal Volcano in the town of Fortuna.
• Pricing is very comfortable. Example nice lake view home on 1000 sq meter lot for $155,000
• This is an unbelievably good area for  Retirement or Vacation Home Investment or just plain long term investment.

See it in all it’s beauty and splendor here. ( This is the Real Estate portion of our Arenal Tours)
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To find out more about this great area of Costa Rica contact us toll free at:

1 888 581 1786 or locally 506 2293 2446 – ask for Steve, Robert or Albert

Is Costa Rica right for your retirement or investment?
Go here and find out very fast.

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

It is a major step when one is giving consideration to retiring in Costa Rica

When new clients contact us, we usually try to make them comfortable by outlining the obvious many features and benefits of  Costa Rica.  It is nice to see that what we say about our country is substantiated as seen in the following reports.

In early January , New York Times op-ed columnist Nicolas Kristoff wrote a terrific article about Costa Rica entitled: The Happiest People.

1. The title of Deloitte’s April 2010 report about business in Costa Rica is ‘Excellent prospects for the future of business’, isn’t that great news?
   1. Costa Rica was also ranked the 8^th most stable country in the world by The Economist, the 5^th cleanest country in the world by Yale’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and the first country to be designated a Bio Gem by the Natural Resource Defense Counsel.
   2. The 2010 Global Peace Index was published by the Sydney, Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace and ranks Costa Rica was #1 in all of Central America.
   3. In July 2010 Costa Rica was recognized as the Greenest and Happiest country on the Planet by the British independent research group New Economics Foundation. “Costa Rican report the highest life satisfaction in the world and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the new world (second to Canada),” the organization said in a statement.

All of this confirms what we already know, that Costa Rica is the wealthiest, safest and most peaceful country in Central America, that Costa Rica has “excellent prospects” and is the greenest and happiest place on earth 

There are many choices out there today.  Many promotions offer living as low as $600 per month.  Costa Rica probably cannot accommodate that budget and frankly not many people that we speak with have an interest in that level of lifestyle.  Costa Rica as a retirement haven has evolved because of the what the market wants.  One can live very comfortably on a lot less than you are currently spending in north America or Europe. Most important, you can live with pride and comfort that you are accustomed to.

Whether your interest is Investment or Retirement, with our Lifestyle Real Estate Tours, we try to give you a feel for why people say these things about Costa Rica.  We are located in all Costa Rica markets suitable for retirement or investment.  Our Tours are very comprehensive and we fill you Real Estate viewing time very efficiently. 

if you have Costa Rica in your cross hairs, contact us and find out how easy and efficient finding your dream home can be.  Call 1 888 581 1786 and ask for Robert, Steve or Patricia.

Many people seeking retirement today have been forced to rethink the timing due to severely hurt IRA’s and investments in general.  Some have to work longer, others seek lower cost living and other simply accept a much lower standard due to health reason etc.

Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties has a number of opportunities in Costa Rica for those who wish to get involved in something they can control and improve their income while keeping active.  Here is one that is perfect if you want to enjoy the lifestyle and lower cost of living in a beautiful country.  This is a small investment with a big return and good working hours, and a fun business as well. to enjoy the lifestyle and lower cost of living in a beautiful country.  This is a small investment with a big return and good working hours, and a fun business as well.

$99,000 investment that pays $4000 MONTHLY NET NET and is solid.

This is an exceptional small Restaurant in a high traffic area with a very special menu
A DYNAMITE RETURN FOR A SMALL INVESTMENT
BE OUT IN TWO YEARS
REGULAR WORKING HOURS

This unique and interesting location takes advantage of the large number of north American workers that populate the many large buildings all around.

Located in the heart of a major business area of San Jose, where most of the north Americans work and yearn for a good old American Burger as well as the other specially planned menu items.

There are a number of large Sport Books, Embassies and much more All have a large number of employees that flock to this Restaurant for the north American style burgers, chili dogs and more.

It is crowded almost every day. Clients never get tired of this menu.

The English speaking newspaper, Tico Times touted this as ”The Best Burger in Town”

Turnkey, fully equipped, stainless steel and nicely planned, this is an operation where you can see the numbers, the formulas and all costs related to making the product.  All this is detailed impeccably and accurately.

Parking, Secure 24/7 and comfortable working hours.

If you are looking to invest in something that can assist boost your lifestyle and income immediately, THIS IS IT.   If you have an Entrepreneurial spirit, the documentations for menus, cost of producing each item and even the exact ingredient count, makes this a real potential franchise opportunity as well.

Make an appointment to see this and get all financial data showing the profitability.
Contact:  toll free 1 888 581 1786 – ask for Robert, Steve or Patricia.