Guys In The Zone Real Estate is Closed – Sort Of

“I heard that you guys have decided to dissolve your real estate office. I hope that is a positive change for all of you involved.”

“It most profoundly saddens [wife’s name] and me to learn you had to shut down Guys In The Zone. I am sort of at a loss for words other than to say your exit from the commercial side of Uvita is a great loss to the community. We understand the range of emotions you likely are experiencing now, as we too, have had a similar experience a few decades back. We wish you well in whatever new adventures life offers you in the future and we hope to see you still in the area upon our return at the end of Oct.”

 

Rod & I have indeed decided to close Guys In The Zone as a real estate agency here in Uvita. I’m profoundly moved by the response we’re getting from friends/clients as the word gets out.

However, I’d like to clarify a point or two here. This change is a good thing. With the downturn in the economy, Rod & I were spending quite a bit of time showing property, and very little time actually in business transactions – the life blood of a commissioned real estate company.

Rod was/is a die-hard lover of the business of real estate. I recommended on a couple of occasions that he go and hire on with one of the agencies that were getting leads from their page 1 of Google ranked web sites. He was a bit reluctant to do this.  He really enjoyed what we had as a partnership and he loved the idea of us surviving and coming out the other side of the down time with this business that he loved.

Well, life happens, and so Rod is now working over at Properties in Costa Rica, and very happily doing so, I might add. He is busy with people truly interested in acquiring property here in the zone, and they are, no doubt, enjoying the fact that they somehow managed to find the best realtor in Costa Rica. So Rod finds himself supporting his family and doing so in the industry that he loves.

As for me, well now there is a horse of a very different color. I find myself identifying a bit with Jill Bolte Taylor.  “Who the heck is Jill Bolte Taylor?” you ask. well, You can see a Ted Talks video of Ms. Bolte Taylor talking about a stroke that disabled the left side of her brain and how it affected her by clicking here (opens a new window so you can stay here and finish reading.) She’s a brain researcher who was stimulated by the ability to observe her own stroke and its effects as it happened.

Ms. Bolte’s experience is somewhat akin to what I think that I’m passing through at this time in my life, some 2+ years after I survived a near-death violent attack that caved in the left side of my brain. I find that I’m not so inclined towards the business side of things, but instead have a greater interest in activities such as singing naked on the beach and learning to draw.

My problem, of course, is that I have yet to find anyone that wants to pay me to do these things.  So I am re-engaging with my former, more creative line of work, which has to do with design and working with people here in Costa Rica’s southern pacific zone.

I’m still formulating how this is going to look, but it is starting with renovations of my web sites www.dominical.biz and www.uvita.biz. From there we’ll see where it all takes me. Frankly, I am a bit relieved, in my current state of mind, to be able to move about as I please and chart course based on whatever my fancy is at a given moment.

My ideas are to make myself available as a consultant for those interested in moving to The Zone (also known as Costa Ballena). All of the standard questions that people have when they are considering a move to Costa Rica, and that I used to manage with my clients in real estate:

• how much does it cost to live in Costa Rica?
• should I import a car, or buy one here?
• how do you get residency?
• how do you open a bank account?
• what is the story with corporations and do I need one?
• what lawyer should I use?
• I don’t speak Spanish, what should I do?
• how can I learn Spanish?
• etc…

I don’t have the business model for the consultancy worked out yet, but I’m getting a pretty good response from those that I tell about my idea.

So, it is certainly a time of change for The Guys, but we are still as close as friends can be. Rod and I have a partnership that transcends our business pursuits, and I will continue to work in a support role for Rod in his new agency.

Many thanks to all you well-wishers and commiserators of the Guys In The Zone office closing. But please rest assured, The Guys are doing well, and are very happy to be living the lives we have chosen here in Costa Rica.

Oh, and as for this blog, it is going to continue.  Rod is super busy so I don’t know how much of his authorship we’ll be seeing in the short term.  But I LOVE this blog, and it pre-dates even Guys in the Zone, so I’ll be keeping it alive from not just a participant’s point of view, but also as an observer of the real estate industry as it goes through its ebbs and flows.  I also have plans to hog-tie Rod for the occasional talk show.

We look forward to the future as it unfolds and both Rod and I remain available in our complimentary capacities to be of service however they may be.