A model home under construction in Kalia's Black Beauty Village in the area of Playa Ostional in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Imagine waking up every day to the sound of ocean waves laced with distant calls of the macaw in the rustling of the rainforest. In this beautiful land, your schedule for the day might include a dip in the ocean, hiking beneath majestic canopies of flora and catching a nap beneath a banana tree. If this scenario sounds too good to be true, you haven’t lived in Costa Rica.
After visiting Costa Rica, the pristine beaches, rainforests and happy locals are like a siren song calling you back again and again. A growing economy, political stability, and the tourist-friendly people are a few more reasons Costa Rica is becoming an increasingly popular place for foreigners to own a home. Owning a home in Costa Rica offers a welcome refuge from the daily rat race of working a 9-5 job in the United States or Europe. Whereas Americans and Europeans tend to focus on getting ahead and acquiring physical possessions, the people of Costa Rica place an emphasis on enjoying life’s simple pleasures and the beauty of being immersed in nature. University of Washington studies have shown that being in natural greenery for just twenty minutes at a time substantially lowers stress levels, which perhaps accounts for why Costa Rica residents are ranked among the happiest in the world. (Source: www.happyplanetindex.org)
Surprisingly, owning a home in Costa Rica is easier than one might think. A whopping 20% of Costa Rica’s population is currently comprised of foreigners living abroad, of which one third is American. Financing a home is similar to the mortgage structure in the United States, although financing rates are typically a few percentage points higher. However, land taxes are substantially lower, enabling Costa Rican home owners to save a lot more on taxes than they would through buying a home in the U.S. Another allure to becoming a home owner in Costa Rica is the ease with which a foreigner can do business. Travel visas allow people to conduct business for three months at a time, and once they are ready to establish a full time business they can file for a temporary residency permit. (Source: www.costarica.com) Many popular eco-tourism companies, hotels and restaurants are run by expatriates who have joined the leisurely, enjoyable pace of life that Costa Rica has to offer.
One of the best and easiest ways to buy and own a home in Costa Rica is to find a housing development built by an American-based company. This gives foreigners the hands-on guidance and help they might need to navigate through local laws, financing and regulations, ensuring that they have a smooth, positive experience purchasing their Costa Rican dream home.
