Living in Costa Rica is a Practical Choice

In today's society, people consider practicality as a big factor when deciding where to live. After all, making a living is not always easy, so it's only logical to be practical.

Being practical, however, is often seen as being cheap. This is not entirely true. Practicality doesn't necessarily mean spending the least amount of money. It's about getting the most for your money.

Here in Costa Rica, this very essence of practicality is observed. To understand better, take for instance the example mentioned in our previous article "Cost of Living in Costa Rica". For comparison purposes, we used asthma medication and explained that the prices here range from 25% to 70% less as opposed to the US. The key takeaway is that the medication is exactly the same including the same brands. This means that for the amount you would have spent on say, 4 canisters of asthma medication in the US, you'd have at least one more canister in Costa Rica. The same goes for other things such as food, clothing and other concessions.

But this does not end with everyday items. Even for larger expenditures such as for property, Costa Rica is all about practicality. Using its Northern neighbor as the same point of comparison, houses in Costa Rica generally have lower prices with regards to real estate, as specified in another Properties in Costa Rica blog post. For example, an upscale property here may only equate to a mid-range residence in similar tropical areas like Miami.

The difference is even more evident when evaluating high-end properties on both sides. Looking into our Luxury Estates listings page, you can get an elegant multi-bedroom estate in Costa Rica for around $1 million. Whereas in Miami's most expensive neighborhoods like Venetian Islands, Golden Beach and Brickell, veteran local realtors Discover Homes indicated the usual prices of luxurious properties and some of them are over 40 times more expensive. For that same price, you could potentially invest in several real estate projects in Costa Rica or invest your money in other things.

It's worth noting, however, that the same cannot be said when it comes to vehicles. Unlike houses, cars and other vehicles are mostly imported as there are no manufacturing plants in the country that are capable of mass-producing vehicles. In most cases, Costa Rica's factories operated by automakers are limited to fabricating specific vehicular components which become available in the local market as spare parts. So with the addition of import taxes and other relevant fees, cars are usually more expensive in Costa Rica than in the US.

More importantly though, a life of practicality in Costa Rica translates to intangible returns as well. Due to getting more value for your money, you're going to be able to enjoy more activities. In the article "Enjoy a Stress-Free Lifestyle in Costa Rica", we listed all sorts of things you can do in the country – from the usual outdoor pursuits like hiking and snorkeling to more hardcore adventures like surfing, bungee jumping and parasailing. The coastal nation is also famous for its volcanoes, some of which allow entry for trekkers around its premises.

Plus, the blog site Discover Share Inspire emphasized that there's a high level of national pride in Costa Rica in terms of businesses. Hired help is easy to come by, and you can be guaranteed that entrepreneurs and other service providers such as carpenters, boatmen, etc. are going to give you the best possible quality of service that they can put out for a perfectly reasonable price.