State of the Market

A New Kind of Seller Part I

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The big question of the day seems to be, is Costa Rica real estate being affected by the topsy turvy current global economy? In a word: yes.

In a previous article dated December of 2007, (click here to read) I had simplified the possible affect of the economic downturn in the States. I wrote that the affect can be negative, neutral, or positive. My conclusion at that time was that the affect had been positive. I’m modifying (please note my choice of word there) my position now that we’ve been in “the change” for some time. Please note that I’m not changing from my position, but as you will see, I am detailing out the affect of the global changes. I am still of the mind that, overall, the change is in the “positive” column.

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A New Kind of Seller Part II

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Evaluating a property here in Costa Rica is a dicey prospect, and “comps” as often as not, are based on what someone else is “asking” for their property, and not so much in what something comparable has actually sold for. The problem is, there may have been a gap of time since a nearby property has sold, and what the seller calculates his property to be worth now. This is based on the word-on-the-street about land value appreciation here. Or there may be an anomalous sale somewhere in the zone that can be referred to. So there is often a huge disparity between what the last nearby property sold for, and what the seller thinks his property is worth.

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The Current Market December ’07

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Its changing. (Now there’s some real insight for you). The global markets are in the throes of change. The US dollar is at an all time low. The Canadian dollar is, for the first time in some fifty years, stronger than the US dollar. Even here in Costa Rica, the Colon, for the first time … Read more

The Current Market January ’07

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Click here for part 2 of this article. Our main web site www.Dominical.biz has a sort of Dominical-centric perspective to it, and so it is from this vantage that I view things here. Its kinda funny though, this perspective, because really, what the heck is Dominical? It’s a fun question. People travel here like they … Read more

The Third Thing

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For a long time we here in Costa Rica’s southern zone have been talking about how the real estate market is going to be affected by two big events. The road being paved between Quepos/Manuel Antonio and Dominical The coming international airport in Palmar Sur. These two events are bound to impact our market-place significantly, … Read more