Investing in real estate in Costa Rica is not a new concept. Its been going on for years. In the more recent years however, it has taken on a voracious scope. However, this has been primarily up in the Northwest in the Guanacaste area. Playa Coco, Conchal, Playa Flamingo, Papagayo and so on.
Dominical entered the scene as a bit of a johny-come-lately, but it’s a funny thing, this is not due to being less desirable. In fact, what we hear down here in Costa Rica’s southern zone is that “we have finally found Costa Rica”, after having looked up in the Guanacaste area and around the Caribbean.
So why is the Dominical area and the southern zone so late to be discovered? There are a number of factors that all make some pretty good sense, one being access. Getting to the southern zone was a bit dicey in the past. For Guanacaste one could simply fly into the International airport in Liberia and short-drive it over to the coast. Whereas for the southern zone one had to fly into San Jose and then long-drive it (4+ hours) to Dominical, on rather unsavory roads. Although for some, the access was the reason they chose the Dominical area.
Also, there is the question of conveniences. We’ve got ‘em now, but in the very recent past, we didn’t. For instance, the highway was paved just in the last 5 years. What is now a 15 minute drive from Dominical down to Uvita, used to be an hour, and you weren’t really ever sure when you set out if you’d be able to make it, what with river crossings and all. Go to Ojochal? No gracias, that would put you out in the middle of nowhere on a car-abusing road with no services anywhere. Electricity was available in some spots, and there was a public telephone in Dominical, but you might get stuck behind a young Tica gal talking with her heart’s desire and so you might find the wait prohibitive.
So, for those that came into the area back when it was like that, and that for some reason decided to buy a large tract of land, and who then went off to make boatloads of moolah when the place got discovered, my hat is off to them. They invested a buck in what could only be deemed an extremely high risk venture, and they got $120 back for that buck.
This was all going on down in the Dominical area on raw land while hotels were already being built up in Guanacaste and as nearby as Jaco. There has been this gaping chasm between Quepos and Dominical that seems to have stopped the big development efforts right up there in the Quepos / Manuel Antonio area – that chasm being the bumpy road. This bumpy road is, as we type/read being improved and prepped for paving.
The new-ish highway that runs from Dominical down to Palmar is reputed to be one of the best in the country, and I ‘spect that’s true. You can almost use cruise control on the thing. If this is the quality of road that we get with the Quepos / Dominical link, we will be a mere 25 minutes from Manuel Antonio, which is reputed to be the number one tourism destination in Costa Rica. This will undoubtedly make the southern zone much more accessible for yet more investors to “discover” Costa Rica for themselves.
And then, of course, there is the much touted International Airport slated for construction in Palmar Sur. This means that travelers will be able to fly direct from say, Los Angeles to Costa Rica’s southern zone, no muss no fuss. The question of access is being addressed.
I think that with those two things, plus the “Third Thing” that I wrote about some time ago, we are in for a bit of a wild ride in our world of Costa Rica real estate here in the southern zone. For those of us that work here and support our families, the money is good, although, not at all like those that were here buying 10 years ago. We all live and work in a world that is probably a lot like what one experiences in Sacramento, or Des Moines, or Denver. We get up and go to work, hoping to make enough to live how we like. Of course, it looks quite a bit different here than in those places, but everywhere has its virtues and negatives.
There has been big money made here, word is out, numerous indicators suggest that the future is bright for the Costa Rica’s southern zone, what should we do? Should we jump into the fray? Should we come down to Costa Rica and get a piece of land and then subdivide it? How do we go about getting our piece? What about global warming? What about the fact that Guanacaste is lacking the necessary water to make life there comfortable? What about all this development in this land that was one time “third world” and that is now becoming the sweetheart of the world’s vacationers and consequently, the world’s tourism merchants? There is so much at play here.
So if speculation is your game, you might want to read up a bit on this new frontier in Costa Rica Real Estates new frontier – the southern zone. Check out “The State of the Market” and “The Third Thing”