Costa Rica Jaco Beach Central Pacific Real Estate Truth!

Current market info written by CR Beach agent Colin, to a Seller, who is now more motivated!

2012-08-24T12:43:00Z

The owner of a home in Jaco that has been for sale under another agency's " Exclusive" agreement for more than 3 years, without success, asked Colin about current market conditions and how we could help her sell her home now that she is highly motivated. I thought this would be good to share with you all. The home had been rented most of the time, but now she really wants to sell. This is what CR Beach agent Colin Miller wrote to her on August 21, 2012, with a few extra comments by...(read more)

Where is the best place to live in Costa Rica?

2012-05-01T20:50:00Z

Best place to live in Costa Rica? That's easy after having lived in various areas over the past 19 years-the Central Pacific area,specifically Hermosa Beach de Jaco. We are only 10 minutes south of Jaco so we get all of the benefits without the noise: 1. like tons of restaurants from overpriced to underpriced-from exotic to tipico; all kinds of shops including a used bookstore; new 4plex movie theatre with a/c & surround sound; conference center for plays and special events; new central park...(read more)

Why Costa Rica? Why Jaco?

2012-01-29T13:41:00Z

Since I had named this blog Why Costa Rica?, I thought it might be good to consolidate all the reasons previously stated on the CR beach website, and put them in one location. I will update this as new awards are awarded. Awards & Honors Some of Costa Rica's most notable recognitions include: TripAdvisor 2011 Travelers' Choice Beaches Award for top beach in Central and South America; Apple Vacations 2011 Crystal Apple Award for Best Destination , the Condé Nast Traveler Readers'...(read more)

2012 Hopes, Dreams, Realities

2012-01-28T22:30:00Z

Happy New Year everybody! We hope this year will be much better than last year, and our dream is that our dreams will become realities. Seriously. The "experts" say that last year was the absolute worst for sales and new home construction. We believe that this year prices will hit rock bottom, and begin to climb back up, ever sooooo slowwwwwwlllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. We are optomistic. Call us and you'll hear it in our voices. Sincerely, Jeff...(read more)

Firesales with Financing, Now Available!

2011-10-13T17:37:00Z

Jaco Costa Rica Beach Fire Sales! UPDATED: August 26, 2011 by Jeff Fisher, Owner-Broker CR Beach Investment Real Estate We just sent out a newsletter in September promoting some of our firesales that now have Seller Financing! Call or write us to get a copy! Has the Global Recession "bottomed out" as some economists are stating ? Will Costa Rica 's new highway to the Central Pacific, Jaco Beach area help to create another boom? Will you have waited too long, hoping for that last additional...(read more)

Why buy now in Costa Rica Central Pacific Jaco area?

2011-03-29T03:43:00Z

Jaco Costa Rica Beach Fire Sales! UPDATED: March 25, 2011 by Jeff Fisher, Owner-Broker CR Beach Investment Real Estate www.CRbeach.com Has the Global Recession "bottomed out" as some economists are stating ? Will Costa Rica 's new highway to the Central Pacific, Jaco Beach area help to create another boom? Will you have waited too long, hoping for that last additional 10% discount and miss the opportunity of your dreams? We watch the U.S. news stations, and we know what's going...(read more)

Is now the time to buy in the Costa Rica, Central Pacific, Jaco area?

2011-03-29T03:33:00Z

Jaco Costa Rica Beach Fire Sales! UPDATED: March 25, 2011 by Jeff Fisher, Owner-Broker CR Beach Investment Real Estate www.crbeach.com Has the Global Recession "bottomed out" as some economists are stating ? Will Costa Rica 's new highway...( read more )...(read more)

Luxury Tax Opinion rendered by Owner-Broker Jeff Fisher

2009-12-13T21:15:00Z

Owner-Broker Jeff Fisher hopes to help your understanding of this new law by posting a mixture of facts and opinions. Laws generally do not take effect in Costa Rica, until they are ruled upon after a challenge has been made to the Sala Cuarta (Costa Rica's version of the Supreme Court). We feel this will soon take place, prior to the required payments being due! Please keep in mind from December 19, 2009 to January 4, 2010, ALL public sector employees are off on their Christmas/Year End vacation....(read more)

UNBIASED POSITIVE REVIEW OF COSTA RICA

2009-11-24T21:34:00Z

LATIN BUSINESS CHRONICLE Monday, November 23, 2009 BY WALTER T. MOLANO " Costa Rica has one of the healthiest economies in Central America." Tightly wedged between the Pacific and Caribbean, Costa Rica is the picture of entrepreneurship and industry. Unlike most of the countries in the region, Costa Rica does not brim with mineral riches. It lacks the oil and metals deposits that abound throughout parts of the Caribbean and Latin America However, that is not to say that the country never...(read more)

FIRESALES IN JACO, COSTA RICA, really?

2009-11-24T21:29:00Z

Jaco Costa Rica Beach Fire Sales! UPDATED: Nov 1, 2009 by Jeff Fisher, Owner-Broker CR Beach Investment Real Estate Will the U.S. recession and Global Crisis terminate by the end of the year as some economists are predicting ? Will Costa Rica 's new...( read more )...(read more)

Still Optimistic about Jaco!

2008-08-21T15:53:00Z

Quick thoughts as to why I am still optimistic about Jaco! by Jeff Fisher, Broker-Owner CR Beach Investment Real Estate Aug 16, 2008 Hello from my beautiful semi-beachfront bungalow home in Playa Hermosa, just 8 minutes south of Jaco. When I first wrote this I had just posted in our "Costa Rica in the News" section that the town of Jaco was awarded a Blue Flag. We have one blue flag now and well on our way to having the actual beach receive a blue flag. And we are getting a beachfront boardwalk!...(read more)

Jaco Market Analysis July 31, 2008

2008-08-21T15:39:00Z

Our Own Top Sales Executive Brian Smith responds to our favorite online thread, July 31,2008 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CostaRicaLiving/ Although I agree to a number of things, I must take a moment to clarify the area where my expertise and knowledge are strongest, the Central Pacific. 1. Virtually dead RE market, prices dropping ?. Not here! We've seen price stabilization in the last six months, but no real price drops except on those properties that were clearly overpriced in the first place....(read more)

The 'Right' Way to buy real estate by Brian Smith

2008-06-10T15:30:00Z

"WHY would you use ANY Real Estate agent without checking references?...CHECK OUT your Real Estate agent...Don't be scammed...deal with reputable owners and agents...'showing fee' up front should tip you off...Don't get ripped off" I've been wanting to comment on the number of warnings about crooked or terrible RE agents in CR for some time, now is as good as any I guess.... First, the "showing fee". I do know of several agents, particularly around Escazu,...(read more)

More tourists travel to Costa Rica in 2008 ... 17% more!

2008-04-30T16:06:00Z

More Tourists This year’s first quarter, the number of tourists increased by 92,000 - or 17% - compared to the first three months in 2007. The overall number of visitors corresponds to those flying into Juan Santamaria and Daniel Oduber international airports. According to Minister of Tourism Carlos Benavides, a majority of the visitors come from the United States, in spite of fears that recession in that nation would result in a decrease in the number of leisure travelers....(read more)

Hounded by Costa Rica mass marketers?

2008-03-06T13:15:00Z

Buying Costa Rica Land From The Telephone Boiler Rooms by Scott Oliver

Sept 1, 2007

http://www.welovecostarica.com

Thousands of people who have bought land from the dozen or so companies that send out millions of emails per week and then have someone in a boiler room in Florida or California beat you to death on the telephone to "close" the sale are now waking up to reality and realizing that their land is not at all easy to sell...

As far as we know, it's not illegal for a high-pressure salesperson in the USA - many of whom have never even set foot in Costa Rica - to sell you land in Costa Rica using this method, but it's just not a smart thing for you to do, especially buying land in a foreign country without seeing it first and doing your homework.

We've been writing about Americans selling land in Costa Rica by this high-pressure method for about five years now and even though there are about 20 different projects that we can think of with thousands and thousands of acres of land and, from what we are being told, during this time there have been less than 20 homes built in all of the projects combined.

One problem that people did not expect, having listened to their salesman tell them that they could buy the land, split it into two and sell off one lot to pay for their new home - Yeah right! Is that most people who have wanted to sell their land have been unable to do so.

Buying Costa Rica Land Is Easy - Selling May Not Be.

Why can't they sell? Because there is no open market for this kind of land...

Who are you going to sell it to? If you are really lucky, the company that sold it to you 'may' buy it back from you and resell it but why would they want to buy it from you to resell your land to one of their customers with a tiny mark up when they can sell their own land with a stratospheric mark up and huge commissions to that same person?

Nobody else in the open market wants it... It's an artificial closed market where the price action is determined by the marketing people.

The reason this land increases in price is NOT because of supply and demand, it's not because people are banging on their doors to buy it, contrary to what they may insinuate and what their email marketing campaigns show - this is not prime ocean view land - the only reason their land prices increase is because they increase them. Simple.

Buy Now Before The Price Goes Up!

You see it's always useful for a salesperson to have a 'sense of urgency' so if they have a regular price increase, it makes it appear that this land is in demand and, the salesperson can genuinely say that: 'You'd better get on board now because prices are going higher at the end of the week" before he pockets his double the industry standard 10% sales commission...

And please remember when the next Costa Rica land salesman calls that the #1 focus for these companies is to sell you land for a much higher price than they paid for it so that they can make money.... They don't give a damn whether you can build your dream home on that land or not.

Some of them claim that they will help you build your homes but since we have seen less than 20 built in the last five years, this promise does not sound promising.

From a recent WeLoveCostaRica.com Discussion Forum thread:

"When he first went there, some dude called Flores said they would build his home for $90 per square foot and that construction price would be rock solid for two years when he planned to build his home which was one of the main reason he bought a land there. Then only five months later (not two years) they tell him the construction costs would not be $90 per square foot but $130 and he is real mad because for his house plan which is just about 2,500 square feet that's and extra US$100 grand he has to find and they lied about the roads which they said would be brick pavers but are now going to be asphalt and he don't believe them much about anything anymore."

Are these boiler room salespeople lying to you too?

Martin Gill mentioned that; "... we do get guys asking us to re-sell their lots..." and..."The big problem is that these developers sell this as an investment and people think that they can flip their lots and make money, but they forget that there are 2,000 lots just like the one that they have." And "unless you have an awesome ocean view the homes will be hard to sell."

If They Don't Build It For You, Who Will?

And if they don't build your home for you, who will? Because if you are thinking of building a single family home anywhere in Costa Rica from a distance, may we politely suggest that you rethink that idea...

We get emails every week from people saying they bought lots in one of the 'Sold-Me-Hard Projects' and could we recommend a Realtor to help them sell their land. Unfortunately, my response always goes something along the lines of: "Sorry we have already asked our recommended Realtors to see if any of them would be interesting in helping you out but there is not one single Realtor that I know of in Costa Rica who is remotely interested in selling your 'Sold-Me-Hard Projects' lot and would be surprised if you find one..."

These land promoters make it difficult for their potential buyers to visit the land they are trying to sell them - unless they have already paid a big deposit BEFORE they have seen it (??) - so how difficult do you think it is for an outside Realtor to gain access?

Depending on the overall market conditions, land can be a very illiquid investment, meaning it can be difficult to sell in a timely fashion but when your Realtor can't even visit it, it's impossible to sell.

If you are planning on buying land in Costa Rica and wish to invest your money where it has the highest probability to make you money with the lowest possible risk, I would suggest that the next time you hear from one of these boiler rooms, you tell them that you are not interested and hang-up.

Instead, find yourself an experienced, trained Costa Rica real estate sales professional, like CR Beach agents, that will sell you the land you want, often with the developer living on the development and, when the times comes, he or she will also be happy and proud to help sell your land for you...

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore. © 2007-2008 WeLoveCostaRica.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.