Retire to Costa Rica?
 

My husband's coworker has told him you can get a nice house on the beach in Costa Rica in the $100,000 range. Is that true? If so, do many Americans retire there?

This website has info specifically about relocating to Costa Rica. Hope it helps!

http://www.costarica.com/index.html

Karen

That used to be true, but no more. Costs in Costa Rica have gone up tremendously in the past 10 years or so. There's been a real "bubble" in real estate. Property costs in Costa Rica are now similar to that in much of Florida, though the cost of living overall is less. For that kind of price, you might look at Panama or Nicaragua.

--Lan Sluder

You can get decent houses in some areas but they might not be the "nice" house you are looking for. They might not be in very good areas either depending on what you are looking for. To me being away from the crowds is good, to others, you might prefer being near better shopping etc. Regarding if there are many Americans, yes there are 10's of thousands who live there at least part of the year if not all of the year.
John Howell is a well known authority on retirement and has a book that you can get. He also hosts- Bulletin Board Choose Costa Rica. Most of the talk is about living and retiring there.

My parents once considered retiring to Costa Rica and began getting a subscription to the local paper, I think the name was "Tico Times". It gave them an ongoing feeling for the local culture, financial happenings, etc. and they just enjoyed reading it anyway...

Thanks for your replies. I will check out the website mentioned.

Got back from Costa Rica last week and that is one of the questions I asked our tour guide..re house prices.

There were home in Grecia , Alajuela, Atenas ,Sarchi etc, that were way more than I thought they would be.
A home I thought would be about $150,000.00 , was over $250,000.00
I did not see anything cheap there.
When we passed a nice home, I would ask, " about how much is that home".?

The answer came back, "about half a million"
It did not look like a half million dollar home to me..but that was the price.
Percy

The Association of Residents of Costa Rica is an orgnaization of just what its name implies. They have quite a bit of information on their web page:

http://www.casacanada.net/arcr_info/arcr.html

Then click on the RESIDENCY link to get some specifics.

The requirements are in a state of flux right now. There is talk of upping the minimum monthly income levels for pensionado and rentista status. All the paperwork must now be done from your home country, but I know of cases of people still getting by with taking care of things while they are in Costa Rica. No one seems to have the definitive answers.

I agree with Lan Sluder that Costa Rica isn't the bargain it once was, and that Nicaragua is hot right now. (I've done a few stories on the subject for The Tico Times.) There's a small but growing expatriate community in southern Nicaragua, especially in the old colonial city of Granada and the beach town of San Juan del Sur. It requires a bit of a pioneer spirit to retire to Nicaragua, but not as much as it did a few years ago.

Costa Rica is NOT cheap unless you are willing to reside in less desirable areas that aren't overpopulated by foreigners. There ARE deals, but you need to be willing to live a non-US lifestyle.

If you are looking for value, Panama and Nicaragua are good bets.

Anyone considering retirement in CR should live here as a tourist for at least 2 months.

Casey