South Pacific Ocean Views from $120,000 | Pathfinder International

Sunday, April 03, 2011

You'll find boutique hotels in the dramatic setting of Costa Rica's South Pacific

Dear Reader,

I was browsing property listings on a scouting trip to Costa Rica last week, and an ocean-view lot grabbed my attention. Located in Guanacaste, the lot was in a private community. It was less than a third of an acre, and the asking price was $550,000. Now, while I like Guanacaste, I know that I can get ocean-view lots in another part of Costa Rica, with more upside potential, and a lower price tag. In fact, I can get a half-acre lot in a private community with stunning ocean views for $120,000.

If you're wondering why the price is much lower, there's a simple answer. Unlike Guanacaste, this other area in Costa Rica hasn't boomed yet. Its boom is only starting...

And it's far more beautiful than Guanacaste.

Where is this place? It's Costa Rica's South Pacific...home to breathtaking landscapes, a growing bunch of savvy expats, and some unexpected amenities...

Take a Success Story...and Repeat...

Back in the 1980s, Guanacaste was a tough five-hour drive from Costa Rica's capital, San Jose, on rough, potholed roads. While backpackers and surfers braved those roads, mainstream tourists stayed away. The airport at Liberia only had occasional international flights. But a group of real estate developers realized that they couldn't get the number and caliber of guests they needed to justify their luxury resort hotels, and luxury residences, with luxury price tags, without decent infrastructure.

The road was re-paved...and the developers persuaded Delta to start regular international flights to Liberia in 2002. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. In 2003, 50,000 visitors used Liberia airport. In January alone this year, more than 31,000 visitors used the airport.

Prime property in Guanacaste quadrupled in value in the three years after the direct flights started. More tourists traveling here meant that more tourists fell in love with Guanacaste...and wanted to own a piece of it. Resort and residential developers snapped up land for hotels and private communities. The inevitable happened.

Prices soared. Condos in Tamarindo, a popular seaside town, now average $300 a square foot. A one-twelfth share of a three-bed villa in Peninsula Papagayo will set you back $225,000. And third-acre ocean-view lots come with $550,000 price tags.

Costa Rica's South Pacific was also tough to get to. The Inter-American is a narrow, twisting mountain road that reaches 11,300 feet at the highest point...not a comfortable, or easy drive. The alternative coastal road was in terrible shape... with rickety bridges and axle-deep potholes. Clouds of dust obscured your view in dry season...and sections were impassable in rainy season. The little local airstrip is just that...and takes 12- and 18-seat planes.

Hard-core surfers and sport fishermen put up with these conditions. Tourists and property buyers, however, simply looked elsewhere. They didn't think they were missing out. They were wrong, of course... but it meant that property prices stayed low in the South Pacific.

In January 2010, the new, upgraded coastal highway opened. And what a difference it made. You can now drive from San Jose (and the international airport) to the heart of the South Pacific in three to three and a half hours. One short section of the road that took almost two hours before the improvements takes just 22 minutes today. The drive down is easy, comfortable, and quick. You can even enjoy the scenery...

And government plans for the South Pacific call for an international airport. Already, with the new road, more tourists are traveling here...but the airport will really open it up, as it did Guanacaste.

Now, if you think that you will have to rough it in the South Pacific, not so...

A Lush, Natural Landscape

The scenery is gorgeously lush, like an ancient Chinese watercolor of cloud-ringed mountains meeting ink-blue ocean. Velvet-green forest carpets the majestic mountain peaks, ridges and spines that curve across the horizon. The mountains fall sharply to the dark-blue ocean that shimmers in the sunlight. A flock of scarlet macaws flies past... bright toucans swoop through the treetops...and a neon-blue butterfly as big as a man's hand dances on the ocean breeze.

You'll spend a lot of your time relaxing outdoors here

Costa Rica's South Pacific is a special place. National parks and preserves cover two-thirds of the land here. Ballena marine park plays host to breeding humpback whales from December to April, and turtles from May to November. Corcovado is a real wilderness, home to 124 species of mammal, and 375 species of bird...including quetzals, jaguars, anteaters, sloths, otters, and tapirs.

If you love the great outdoors, Costa Rica's South Pacific is heaven. You can go sea fishing or kayaking, white water rafting, hiking, horse riding, bird watching, surfing, or swimming year-round, thanks to the tropical climate. You'll spend a lot of time outside. Homes usually have large terraces where you can sip a rich coffee in the mornings...enjoy lunch or dinner with nature as your backdrop...and rock in a hammock in the afternoon sea breeze.

You can build a custom home for $100 a square foot here

A small group of expats call the South Pacific home. Most come from Europe, but North Americans are cottoning on to the beauty, affordability and relaxed lifestyle the South Pacific offers...

Life's Little Luxuries

The amenities on offer in the South Pacific include an 85,000 square foot hospital, opened in April 2008 (a necessity for an international airport)...a deli filled with imported treats (cigars, fine wine, cheese, chocolate)...and tiny restaurants serving up French, Indonesian, and organic fare...a place that does spit-roast chicken and wood-fired pizza...a coffee shop...and a French bakery.

And you can buy a half-acre ocean-view lot, in a private community, for $120,000. For now, anyway. Once the international airport is up and running, those prices will belong in a history book...

Come and Visit

It all stacks up:

a magnificent location that's easier to get to on the new coastal highway, with a planned international airport
a chic and cosmopolitan feel (no high rises, no fast food joints, no crowds of screaming spring breakers)
perfect for outdoors living
low property prices
and all in a country that's a short flight from most destinations in the US

We've seen it happen in Guanacaste--now it's the South Pacific's turn.

But a big part of buying a property overseas is seeing it with your own eyes. And you can do this for $250 per person in the South Pacific.

You'll travel the new coastal road...spend time in the largest private community in the area, with those ocean-view lots for $120,000...enjoy freshly-prepared, delicious meals...explore the beaches and parks nearby...and try on the South Pacific for size, and see if it fits...

All you have to do is get to San Jose, and the developer will take care of the rest. Airport transfers, meals, transport, and accommodation...all taken care of...for $250. You get to sit back and soak up the atmosphere...

Contact the developer here today to book your place.

Margaret Summerfield

P.S. These South Pacific trips are incredibly popular, and limited to 18 people. Since the new coastal road opened last year, the developer has gone from running eight trips a year to four trips a month. It's still not enough to keep pace with demand. If you want to see this place for yourself, don't wait. Contact the developer here today and lock down your spot.