Today’s Links

The Guanacaste investment is coming from the hotel chain Sol Melia which will be uplifting a 381 room 5-Star eco-luxury hotel in the Paradisus Papagayo Bay. The Santa Ana new luxury hotel will be an 81 room hotel under the name of “The Studio Hotel” which will gear it’s marketing to business execs and also Costa Rica medical tourism.

Along with the Costa Rica vacation industry seeing some investment there are other industries with Wal-Mart opening a number of new stores this year in Costa Rica and even Papa John’s Pizza which will now be competing with Pizza Hut and Dominos as Central America’s best slice of pizza.

Costa Rica Real Estate Investing

These are just a short list of names you might be familiar with that are investing in Costa Rica. There is much hope for the economic future here in Costa Rica. Along with all of this the sale of Costa Rica beach real estate is seeing an increase from what it has been in the last two years. It still seems like a great time to get in on the fun. If you are looking for a vacation home in Costa Rica or just a solid investment, buying in Costa Rica is still one of the best options.

So if you are looking to spend a luxurious Costa Rica vacation or invest in some Costa Rican real estate now might be better than ever.

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This blog entry is about a different type of investment that ultimately involves land also. It is the jatropha plant of Costa Rica. When looking at this plant, it does not look like much compared to the beautiful plants of the tropics. However, it might just hold the answer to Costa Rica being one of the larger exporters of biodiesel. United Biofuels of America (UBA) is heading the idea for making an attempt of a million gallons of jatropha a day. This will be a challenge, but if it works, it will surely “bear the fruits” for the Costa Rica economy. Biofuels often face critics who say they are too expensive to produce. Another criticism is that growing food for fuel takes food away from the people that need it most. The jatropha turns out to be a plant that is not edible and will not take on as many critics as others. UBA is considered by other energy companies as one of the top 25 entrepreneur companies in the world.

It is quick bits like this in the news and the idea that Costa Rica’s leaders of state will be hosting a conference this June 14th – June 16th for all to attend (those that will pay the $800 ticket price) to listen to some of the ideas for the future of the economy with the theme being “Accelerating the Shift Towards a Low Carbon Economy“.

Well it turns out you do not have to be living in a vacation home or visiting Costa Rica and staying in an ecolodge to experience living green. There are more and more technologies making their way into the market for everyday living and building. The new science of biomimicry is one of the fastest growing trends that architects feel will take living green to the next level. The biomimicry is basically designing homes and other parts of society around some of the concepts of nature.

Costa Rica is the perfect country to take on the new challenges of developing in a sustainable and green form as the country has a number of sources of clean-energy, a booming ecotourism market, and the desire to be carbon neutral by 2020.

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This study was based on a total of 405 cities from the America’s. The top cities were New York and Chicago and Mexico has four cities in the top 10. The cities of Alajuela, Heredia, and Santa Ana (suburbs of San Jose) were also high on the list for being what is called the top Micro-cities. The micro-city is referring to smaller populations.

This is a positive compliment for the city of San Jose that each day it begins to look more and more like a capital city that people from all over the world are starting to discover.

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A good sign for the Guanacaste area because this means the 900 passengers that fit in the airport before will now fit 1500 and even some room for a coffee shop and food court.

From looking at this from a real estate perspective it can only mean good things to come. If the infrastructure is improving starting with the airport and roads which are all pretty much improvements of the past then the sky is the limit for those that want to invest and give this “gold coast” a try.

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This should be interesting and personally if I was an owner of one of the new IPhone 4’s which someday would be nice I would probably get on line or call one of Apple’s 800 numbers. Nothing against ICE but do you really think the customer service of an IPhone 4 fits into the daily agenda of the many things ICE has going on?

I will say though on a bit of a more positive note for ICE I have always been impressed how the tech support in your local ICE office has quite a bit of knowledge of the many different brands and types of cell phones that come their way. I am a blackberry guy and they have been able to do everything needed so I guess we should give them a chance with the I Phone 4 before we make any assumptions that it might be too much for them.

Properties in Costa Rica

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Why did Messi not Play?

I am not your average sports daily writer but with the buzz around Costa Rica of why Messi did not play I thought I would break it down to simple economics. If you were watching the game you noticed before the game even started that there were commercials for “Real Madrid vs. Barcelona” which is a very important game that is being played in Spain next week. Unless you live on Mars you probably know that Messi plays for Barcelona and Barcelona pays Messi a lot of money. Just to give you an idea of why Messi did not even for a second consider playing you might want to take a look at these numbers of what he was making during that game for sitting on the bench.

Daily Pay: $49,600

Hourly Pay: $6,204

Paid per Minute: $102

This is what we call a serious investment and by Messi not playing Barcelona was just protecting their investment like any good business would do. It is unfortunate that we did not see Messi play against “La Sele” but when you deal on the professional level as Messi does you have to realize that: professional is defined as – engaged in a specific activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than a pastime.

Don’t worry thought I think Costa Rica will beat Argentina in the next world cup in Brazil and I am sure Messi will play then.

The North Face brand is one of the more common outdoor brands in the USA and produces quality clothing, bags, and shoes. You can even buy a tent if you are looking for one or just get a rain jacket for the soon to come rainy season here in Costa Rica.

There are many new stores in Costa Rica and this is one that the country of Costa Rica was missing. Being a place of outdoor beauties they were lacking the outdoor apparel stores which Columbia is now also competing for the market with North Face. The Multi-Plaza Mall is located in Escazu and the North Face store is located on top floor at the exit of the new extension of the mall.

Interested in Real Estate in Escazu?

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Here in the tropics you will have a pretty solid dry season from January to April and then after those months you are looking at a 2 hour shower in the afternoon. The heavy rainy months are during September and October.

These rainy months can vary depending on what part of the country you are looking at. The Guanacaste area as become one of the more popular areas because of it’s lack of rain. This gave everyone the idea of beautiful beaches and lots of sunshine.

In recent years though with the construction of the new highway and the improvement of the coastal highway many investors have decided to make the central and southern zone down by Dominical their area of searching for real estate. You might get a few more inches of rain a year but having evergreen plants as compared to deciduous plants of the Guanacaste area is worth to many the sacrifice of just a few less days of sunshine throughout the year.

If you are interested in shopping for Real Estate just let us know and we will try and give you the best idea of the many different micro-climates of Costa Rica and it’s tropical weather. All in all what you hear most is that Costa Rica is the eternal spring and if you are coming for a Costa Rica family vacation or to shop for some real estate the enternal spring is hard to beat.

Where to buy in Guanacaste

It all depends what you are looking for when you are deciding what to shop for in Guanacaste. There are a number of different places you can shop. The airport of Liberia lets not forget is just less than an hour on good roads to the town of Tamarindo. The Tamarindo area is a bit crowded and very developed and is often used as a place for people on their Costa Rica family vacation. It is still a great spot and great investment if that is the vibe you are looking for. Also you can find a number of beaches that run along the peninsula of Guanacaste such as Playas del Coco, Playa Potrero, Playa Conchal, and Playa Flamingo just to name a few. All of these beaches are beautiful in their own way