Comments on: Crisis Hit Latin American Real Estate?

By: Ray Stanbrook

Ray Stanbrook — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:41:00 +0000

thanks David I’m looking at going over there next year.

By: Willy

Willy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:18:00 +0000

Good luck. We are glad to have the ugly Americans out of Latin America. Perhaps a lesson on Latin American culture would have been helpful to you before you embarked in this venture. Good luck looking backwards. Evindently you do not have the character to live outside of your small world

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:12:59 +0000

John – All you say about Argentina for Americans is true in addition to their great wines. I’ve made frequent business trips to many of their cities, but for the Argentinian folks they were hardly getting by and their inflation rate up to about 2003 used to be over 1000% a year. many areas were dealing with mob actions of folks running into grocery stores and clearing the shelves. Many stores had armed guards on their doors and only allowed 5 or so people at a time to enter, no one could enter with a back pack, all the banks had armed guards and would often limit the amount of money that could be withdrawn to the equivalent of $50.00 a day. Many of the older folks would parade around the outsides of banks banging metal spoons on the metal bars over the windows in protest to not being able to get their money out of the banks. There’s no FDIC in Argentina, when the banks fail it’s just ‘audios mucho denaro’ . . .

By: Tom Roucek Broker

Tom Roucek Broker — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Joel
This would depend if your question is based on climate, what you like to do, or future values.
Climate being my first choice is most important to me. When I first came to Costa Rica I went right to the beach. We bought some oceanfront properties and even a commercial property for a future office. Over the years I have seen many people do the same thing. As things go we soon figured out that the hot weather, high humidity, and Air conditioning driving our utilities up was not what we had in mind.
When visiting friends in the central valley it was like stepping into a spring day. Very refreshing and the air felt crisp and clean. In talking with friends we were amazed that their electricity bills were $30 @ month compared to ours at $120.

We started to explore the possibility of moving to the higher elevations. As we looked into it we found several options and each had pros and cons.
The higher density areas we found like the beaches to have higher crime rates, the areas out in the country there were less services available. In the end we found a home in Escazú a nice North American suburb outside of San Jose. This worked well but now as everywhere it is getting too big and it feels like the city.
Once more I started looking around and have come to love a nice town (17,000 people) called Puriscal. It is about 45:min from Escazú, there is a new hospital under construction, they have high speed internet, a very large shopping district, low prices, and best of all, nice country people with no crime or pollution.
Obviously I am a real estate broker; our company has listings all over the country. Everyone has their own idea of what their dream home should be like and I respect that. This is just the chain of events that I personally went through that may be of some help to you in making your choices.
We have a 4-bedroom home; taxes are $360 @ yr. electricity is about $30 @ mo. We don’t have A/C or heat (never needed it) our neighbors are wonderful and someone has a party almost every weekend. Yes, you can retire here on a social security check and you will be amazed to find how many have.
I hope this has helped you and please feel free to contact me with any questions about C.R. from fishing to real estate. http://www.costaricanrealtygroup.com

Tom Roucek

By: David Anning

David Anning — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:54:32 +0000

I lived in Costa Rica for 4 years before having to return to Australia last year.
I have a house in central San Jose which is currently under contract.
I can honestly say, Costa Rica is one of the most livable countries I have ever experienced.
I am sure high end real estate has dropped in value, but a lot of it was overpriced to begin with.
For anybody looking for a very comfortable lifestyle in a friendly latin American country; I would look no further than Costa Rica.
David Anning.

By: John

John — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:49:22 +0000

Argentina has it all….wonderful people, excellent medical care, and reasonable Real Estate prices. The cost of living is half of that in the U.S.A.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:46:29 +0000

David you are 100% right is very hard to live with stupid peoples the are doing things deferent way then a Western World. I visited the 3rd World Countries and after two weeks I can not wit to see civilize World perhaps Argentina, or Panama City my be okay ,the rest is good for a 2 weeks in a good hotel on the beach only.

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:47:20 +0000

I’m looking into Costa Rica for retirement. Would you say that you prefer the Coast over the Central Valley?
What are you seeing for nice condo prices close to the ocean?

By: Walter A

Walter A — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:16:54 +0000

I have lived in Costa Rica for the past year in a very touristy area on the north pacific side. Real estate is almost dead. Many are holding out for bubble prices. When a property sells, it is usually at a deep discount because the American owner had to sell.

I am waiting for prices to fall to between 10-25% of the bubble peak before I buy. There are signs of this in some areas already.

By: Dave Kropelnicki

Dave Kropelnicki — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:13:17 +0000

After living in South America for over five(5) years, I will be happy to leave and never return! The place is full of abject poverty, over priced and controlled by the Catholic Church! They are at least 100 years behind the US and will never catch up. The people are very stubborn and do not want to learn anything new or different from the primitive system they are used to! I would not pay one US dollar for the entire continent!

By: Armand Boissy

Armand Boissy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:15:53 +0000

In lake Atitlan, the real state market have not been yet affected as in other places… Prices of the property for sale have not come down as most of the times people who are selling are not in need of money. But the demand is right now more toward houses under $ 100k or land to be acquired for the future betting that the market will pick up. Also here most of the transactions are cash on hand. Still a great value for what you get

By: david

david — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:33:51 +0000

It depends? Yes, it depends…it depends if you have a clue as to what you’re talking about.

The value of expat residential real estate is directly reflective of the net worth of the expats, and we know the current story there. And the growth in the expat markets was a direct expansion of their markets back home. And now the fantasy that real estate is a great investment, in and of itself, has been exposed for what it is, and most Americans and Europeans are back to viewing res. real estate primarily as shelter. And then we have the funding which is MIA.

!!!!!!!Which is why residential real estate of interest to most readers of EFAM has taken a serious pounding around the globe as new buyers have disappeared!!!!!

Ask any expat dependent developer.

By: Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:52:59 +0000

Just bought a two bedroom two bath condo in Las Vegas, NV for $30 K in an upscale area of town. Brother Dave can’t move the condo he bought several years ago in Costa Rica. He says there are no buyers. The Costa Rican property is gated, and beachfront. Beware rosy sales talk by RE agents.

By: German

German — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:38:12 +0000

The real state market in Latin America its different, in most Latin Countries when people buy a house they have to put down 25%-35%, so in Latin America there are not toxic assets only real assets, so the variations in price are minimum,like in any other country the price depents on location, location and location
but you can still buy an apartment from 75.000 to 125.000 the same apartment that in Florida it will cost
you 350K-400K……..In other workds the equity down there is real not like in the USA that is a mirage….

By: Rosana Hart

Rosana Hart — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:15:53 +0000

As an American who has been living for 3 1/2 years in the popular expat area of Lake Chapala, just outside Guadalajara, Mexico, I have watched real estate sales drop in our area. A couple of reasons for this are[1] that people NOB (north of the border) are waiting for their homes up there to sell before they can buy here, and [2] that the Mexican drug cartels have gotten huge publicity NOB.

But like you say, here too prices do not seem to have fallen as much as they have up north. And homes in the more moderate price range are getting a lot more attention.