Costa Rica … Vacation, Invest or Retire
It’s true. Costa Rica has risen to the top of travel destinations for vacation, investment and retirement. According to Travel & Leisure, Costa Rica ranks #1. As T&L’s Ronny Rojas writes, “I'm always drawn back home. In the northwest, a dry tropical forest stretches down the Nicoya Peninsula. The laid-back beach towns that dot this part of the Pacific coast include Nosara, a mecca for surfing and yoga, and my favorite, the lesser-known San Juanillo, which still has the charm of a small fishing village.
Venture inland and you’ll reach the Guanacaste pampas, with its sabaneros — Costa Rican cowboys — and rich pre-Columbian and colonial history. I love to walk through the town of Nicoya, one of the first Spanish settlements in the country and the home of the Chorotega people.
On the Caribbean side of the country, you’ll find the freshwater canals and serene rivers that meander through the rainforest of Barra del Colorado National Wildlife Refuge and Tortuguero National Park. If hiking is your passion, try the Camino de Costa Rica, a 174-mile trail that cuts across the country.”
Those are some of the experiences and destinations that make Costa Rica … appealing for vacation. On any given flight to Costa Rica, I am surrounded by repeat travelers, chatting about their first experience that led them back. And then the next likely phrase,” I wish I could come more often, even live here part of the year.
While Costa Rica is no longer “dirt cheap,” I believe a window remains open to get in beyond vacation to either invest or retire. I see that window open for the next 36 months. Why 36, well two cataclysmic events happened to keep it cracked ever so slightly. One was COVID and the second is a global inflationary period that ratcheted up interest rates. Well, COVID’s hangover has past, but rates remain high. That makes investing or retiring in a home that’s above $500K and below $1.5M somewhat unattainable. The window is tight because once rates go down, expats who own property will raise their purchase prices and the window to reasonably attainable will close.
Of course, you can go the affordable condo path to secure some investment. But will you love the property enough to enjoy it when you’re not renting? Maybe and if so, go for it. However, If you are looking for a home, privacy, land with tremendous appreciation yet to be realized, then honestly there is only one path today. Search for homes with owner financing that allow you to put a minimal amount down with a three to five year window before a balloon payment. With that approach, you can bypass the banks, the mortgage process and land in a property that should most definitely appreciate in the coming years as the market trajectory changes significantly.
Pura vida.