Thursday, January 15, 2009

Cheap Real Estate in Costa Rica

I started doing a search for cheap real estate in Costa Rica after a recent trip to to this lush and wonderful paradise country. I was curious about moving there because the natives are educated and friendly, American goods are available, the weather is perfect and the cost of living is cheap in comparison to the United States.

After quite a bit of research contacting several real estate companies in Costa Rica I came to this conclusion, real estate in Costa Rica is cheap.

The question though is why is it so cheap?

The main reason is that Costa Rica is in Central America and even though it is considered an Industrial Country, the infrastructure of Costa Rica is at least 50 years behind the United States.

On top of that, Costa Rican economists have predicted that Costa Rica is entering a recession making prices of real estate in Costa Rica even cheaper.

How cheap is Costa Rica real estate though? Here is an example to show you the cheap prices of Costa Rican real estate.

A home in the Atlanta, GA area priced at $500,000 USD will cost you in Costa Rica around $125,000. Looking at these real estate prices,if you are looking to retire and own your own home in the United States then Costa Rica is the perfect place to buy and invest in real estate.

Thus even if you sold your home in the United States at 25% loss, you would still come ahead after buying some of Costa Rica´s cheap real estate. In addition, the cost of living here is cheap when compared to the United States.

For example, the cost of living in Costa Rica is around $300 per month if you want to live like a local. If you plan on living like an American with American Food then you will probably need around $1,500 a month to live the good life(if you a house).

For an extra $500 added to your monthly budget, you can hire yourself a maid/cook.

The drawbacks to cheap real estate in Costa Rica is the change in lifestyle, the process of moving there which includes a lot of paperwork and being away from family and friends.

In the end, if you have the money and want cheap real estate and a low cost of living then Costa Rica is the place for you. All it takes is the will to move to a small country the size of West Virginia that is located in Central America

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