The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Study links half of bankruptcies to illness: “‘Unless you’re Bill Gates, you’re just one serious illness away from bankruptcy,’ said Dr. David Himmelstein, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of medicine.
I get asked by nearly everyone that I talk to in our office, ‘who is buying land in Costa Rica?’ Everytime that I am asked, I pause a minute and think over the last sales that we have made here and I consistently come up with the same list. Investors, people nearing retirement age, young bucks that have some money… somehow, and want to buy land. But no matter what category they fall into, nearly all want to, at some point, live in Costa Rica. Granted, the place is nice, really nice. Its like living in a big garden, with extremely nice people all around… but under the hood ain’t too bad either.
The article that I have referenced above details one of the several major factors behind why United States-ians, in particular, are looking to get the heck out: the cost of medical insurance. Now, I’m no great source for health insurance information in Costa Rica, but I can tell you that it is a whole lot less here than in the states. (for information regarding insurance and the ability to dialogue with others that live here, I use the CostaRicaLiving newsgroup at Yahoo.)
The significantly lower cost of living here is a big draw. United States-ians have enormous monthly overhead. Before you even buy anything, a family of 4 or 5 must make thousands of dollars a month. Even for those that are living well in the States, it is a constant pressure. I suspect that one of the reasons that we are doing so well here in Costa Rica real estate is when people visit here, and see all the expats living here, and they take a look around, they consider what that would be like. “Could we really get by on $2,000 a month?”
A lot depends on the “car” issue here (fodder for another post), but we can definitely live here for a whole lot less plata (money) than we could up there. Take a minute and read the enlightening article that is linked to above.