Southern Costa Rica Real Estate - New Infrastructure Improvements
By Linda McCrerey, Sales & Marketing Associate with Coldwell Banker Dominical Realty
One of the hottest Costa Rica real estate markets is the Southern Zone, roughly from Jaco to the Panama border.
Pristine beaches and vast expanses of raw, undeveloped land covered with lush rainforest attract savvy investors to this area. The stunning coastline changes from empty beaches in Matapalo and Hatillo to rocky cliffs south of Playa Dominical to the Terraba River deltas and the intense biodiversity of the Osa Peninsula jungles.
The Southern Zone includes the famous surfing beaches of Jaco and Playa Dominical, Uvita's Whale's Tail reef formation in the Ballena National Marine Park and the Corcovado National Park.
Costa Rica Real Estate Down South - Uvita's Whale's Tail
These are only a few of the attractions that make the Southern Zone one of the best investment areas in Costa Rica. "Over the last five years, we have seen real estate investments appreciate 20 percent to 35 percent per year and occasionally 50 percent to 100 percent," says Daveed Hollander of Coldwell Banker Dominical Realty. "Although our area is no longer a secret, it is relatively undeveloped, with unlimited and untapped opportunities.
"The Southern Zone is attracting everybody from adventurous young people and retirees seeking affordable house lots, to developers looking for larger properties on which to build resorts, marinas, golf courses, condos and villas. This could well be the last place in Costa Rica that offers affordable properties with fantastic ocean and mountain views and beach access," Hollander says.
Southern Costa Rica infrastructure is improving
New infrastructure improvements make the Southern Zone increasingly accessible and easy to navigate. Living and doing business there is getting easier all the time.
For example, the Pacific Coast Highway between Playa Dominical and Coronado has been repaved, widened, lighted and painted with yellow and white lane markers. "The Pacific Coast Highway is one of the best roads in the country, and the most scenic," Hollander says. "It winds along the coastline and beaches, revealing some of the most beautiful views in the whole country."
Costa Rica Real Estate Down South - The highway is one of the nicest
When the Quepos-to-Playa Dominical road improvements are completed, drive time from Quepos will be cut from 90 minutes to less than 30 minutes. Construction has started on the Osa Hospital near Palmar Sur. Daily commuter flights have increased from San Jose to Palmar Sur. The Costa Rican government has announced studies to determine the location for a new international airport serving the Southern Zone.
Officials also announced that the Southern Zone will receive more development and marketing attention as a tourism destination, to help disperse tourism from resort areas that are more famous but over-crowded. Electricity service now covers formerly blacked-out areas south of Uvita. Phone and internet service is available almost everywhere. New internet cafes, banks, businesses, hardware stores and commercial office suites are springing up.
Retail and service outlets also are popping up, offering more shopping options and convenient services to residents and visitors. These include a modern shopping plaza with a movie theater in San Isidro de El General (also known as Perez Zeledon), about 45 minutes' drive from Playa Dominical.
"People tell us that one thing they love about this area is the privacy without isolation. In the Southern Zone jungles and beaches, you can be surrounded by nature and just minutes from a town," Hollander says.
Costa Rica Real Estate Challenge
By Scott Oliver
Half the population of Costa Rica call themselves 'Realtors' because any 'Tom', 'Dick' or 'Jose' can freely call themselves a real estate 'Broker' or a 'Realtor.'
To be involved with Costa Rica real estate, you do not need any qualifications, training or experience whatsoever to call yourself a 'Realtor' and there is nobody watching over the people that do...
Visit welovecostarica.com
Stewart Title International Overview
Stewart's primary operating unit division for international business, Stewart International, directs Stewart's global real estate information operations.
Stewart has established the capacity to carry out business in over 40 foreign countries and has offices in Latin America, Europe, Canada and Australia, as well as emerging markets where legally valid land entitlement systems are just beginning economic development and personal freedom. Stewart International's three main business units - Land Market Development, Land and Real Estate Information Systems, and Title, Escrow and Closing Services - each complement the other in helping Stewart reach the long-term goal of providing clear and readily transferable title to real property throughout the world.
Stewart's core belief is that social stability and increased prosperity are created when private citizens and businesses own their homes, land and buildings and have clear, transferable title to their property. Readily transferable titles facilitate inflow of private capital for mortgage banking and finance of economic development without increased central government borrowing. Mortgage loans on land and other real estate can be securitized and sold on the world money market, thus stimulating increased capital investment, commerce and savings.
Whether entering a new market or maintaining its business relationship over time, Stewart builds on more than 110 years of title and land information experience, partnering with local experts to enhance the existing land and property structure. Stewart is committed to enhancing the property and land transaction process by providing the global market with the experience and technology to enhance every aspect of land development: from privatization of former government-owned lands to the securitization of mortgages to be sold on the world money market. Stewart focuses its business model on providing the local market with the tools needed to increase the speed and security of land transactions, creating market-specific products and services: local solutions for local markets.
Declaring the value... be honest?
There are some interesting developments regarding the declaration of real estate values in Costa Rica.
Property owners have long benefitted from an antiquated system of land valuation. The benefit came from the fact that there is no process for re-evaluating the property, save for if the property owner hired a qualified appraiser to evaluate the property. There has been little incentive to do this since by leaving the current appraised value at say, the 1973 evaluation that was done, the yearly tax on the property was nearly non-existent.
The issue that interests us now is the law that is on the boards to evaluate the property gains tax upon sale of a property. Lets say that your 15 acre, ocean view, walk to the beach, Costa Rica property has a current appraised value of $5,000, and you are enjoying paying the essentially non-esistent tax on that property. So then you sell the property for $350,000 dollars. You will be paying a capital gains tax on the difference between $5,000 and $350,000. Now the official declared value is of intense interest to Costa Rica property owners. More to come...
