This view of Playa Hermosa is very similar to the view from a condo I crave in Playa Panama in the Guanacaste region (north Pacific coast) of Costa Rica.
When I was there in January, Mike Simons told me - no, showed me - all that's happening in this region of Costa Rica. We hear that prices are dropping ... but much of that is the dropping of unrealistic asking prices and "never sold at" prices, rather than declines in actual prices.
Kevin Brass is the international real estate reporting guru for the International Herald Tribune. Today he posted a blog with his impressions of the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica.
Would you believe all this is just a 30 minute drive from the international airport in Liberia, Costa Rica? Mike proved it to us when we were there.
So - all of you who are still having snow, or rain, or cold ... think south and warm and casual and welcoming. Think Costa Rica!
SImply beautiful, sharon. I am such a sucker for water views like this. I could live there.
Jeff
Hi Sharon, I hear so many people buying property and retiring out of our country and between Costa Rica and Belize and Baja California , they must be getting a lot of our investment $$. I think it might be the land of RE opportunity and maybe a fun place to go even before retirement especially as trained real estate professionals. Sounds pretty tempting. Michael writes a great blog.
At Reveal Real Estate, we looked at the 7 most expensive regions in Central America for an ocean view condo. And although 3 of the top 7 regions were in Guanacaste, the differential between the regions was less than we expected. The upshot: Guanacaste is an attractive market given its relative maturity and level of infrastructure development. Thanks for covering it.
Jeff - like California, but warmer and less crowded.
William - the price of homes isn't that low, but if you buy for cash, you can live very well on just social security.
Claudia - you can always find less expensive areas with less infrastructure.