Greed exists everywhere at all times; however; during the economic downturn there has been an inverse relationship between this less than admirable human quality and scarcity of economic resources.

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Of course, this makes perfect sense to most as the human condition naturally tries to hoard resources – money, effort, etc. – when faced with the possibility that these resources will run out. Like the squirrel collecting nuts for the winter, we generally try to save our pennies and spend less during a recession.

The other day, I was contacted by a friend of a friend who was traveling in Costa Rica and was interested in the possibility of investing in real estate.

Since we have evaluated hundreds of properties at this point and are very much aware of the intricacies that surround assessing and purchasing land and buildings in this country, we were happy to meet this fellow to give him the “low-down” on things.

Since we have no vested interest in actually selling real estate, we would consider our unbiased opinions to be valuable to someone like this and agreed out of courtesy to our friend to meet with this gentleman.

We happened to be in an area close to him when he called and we met at a plaza in Jaco, after he arrived in a taxi from his hotel, and then walked to a restaurant. We kept things simple and ate sandwiches while discussing the ramifications of investing in Costa Rica with his goals in mind.

In the end, after providing detailed information on the country as a whole, our advice was to simply refrain from investing in Costa Rica. His goals did not match the conditions in this country and his resources did not allow him to navigate the issues and concerns that someone with greater resources would easily manage.

He seemed like a pleasant fellow with big dreams and a cautious direction. After asking us to send him information on “everything”, we suggested that he do some online research. Of course, we have compiled a great deal of information; however, we were starting to get the impression by this time that he simply wanted us to go out of our way to help him gather statistics so he could show his “real estate investing mentor” how he was able to do so.

He finally told us flatly that he “probably would not invest in Costa Rica anyway”. He invited us up to his hotel to check out the view and then informed us that he had no cash to pay for lunch as the restaurant did not take credit card, so we covered the lunch with his assurance that he would pay us back for his lunch after he stopped at the bank. We drove him to the bank and waited.

Then we drove him back to his hotel where he seemingly forgot to pay us back, but did buy us a beer and a glass of wine. We went out of our way for this fellow with no reciprocation whatsoever.

Now, here’s the point. From my perspective, if I was to ask of someone their time and advice (over two and a half hours) and essentially a ride home, I would be inclined to show my appreciation by, at the very least, buying them lunch and drinks.

I realize that this sort of thing happens to real estate agents all the time and I don’t envy them at all! The difference is that people seemingly justify taking advantage of brokers because they have a vested interest in selling something to someone. This is unfortunate and disrespectful, but many times that level of disrespect when there is no vested interest in “selling” anything.

The aforementioned is only a minor example of greed at work.

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The day before this occurred we had a Tica friend recommend a friend of hers to move a bunch of stuff from the city to the beach, between two of our properties. He, like so many Costa Ricans right now, was struggling to find work of any kind but had a “huge truck” and would be “very cheap”.

After receiving a ridiculous quote from a moving company that we have used before, we showed him what had to be moved and although we were shocked at his size – he couldn’t have been more than 5′ 3″ – he had a big personality and assured us that his “very strong” friend would be helping.

The price was in line with what it would have cost in Canada if I had rented a truck myself and hired two much larger guys to help, since it became apparent that I would be moving half the stuff myself. That was fine. I needed some exercise anyway and it was too late to go back to the ridiculous moving company quotation. Our thoughts at that point were that we would rather help someone who needs the money than go with a company that was trying to gouge people!

After some classic Costa Rica disorganization, the move ensued with a truck not too much larger than our project vehicle and only a frame around the flat deck about 3 feet high. This fellow’s friend was only a little taller but a bit bigger – mostly around the middle.

Thus, there was no way that we were going to be able to move everything in one load and I would be shouldering half of the weight myself. In fact, we had to load up our truck and make two loads and two trips as well. Of course, we still thought we were helping someone local and were happy to do that.

At the end of the two day move, since his truck was also not capable of navigating the two and a half hour drive under five hours, we gave him a bit extra feeling bad that it turned out to be such a big effort. We thought we had made friends for life, buying them dinner and drinks the previous day and discussing all the other ways that they could help us in the future.

Apparently, “amigos por siempre” (friends forever) meant that he wanted to charge us double the price agreed because there had been two loads. This, of course, was never mentioned until the end and we were livid.

I explained to him that he quoted us a price to move everything and we never discussed a price for each load, since I didn’t know how big his truck was and only showed him what needed to be moved. He said he was sorry, but that was the price. I then explained to him that for the same cost, I could have had the ridiculous aforementioned moving company do everything in one load on one day and I wouldn’t have the bruises on my arms and legs and the two days of strain.

(I didn’t mention that I enjoyed the exercise and was using the bruises to garner sympathy from my wife.) It was the principle behind this that he just didn’t seem to get, or at least he didn’t let on to it.

We ended up bargaining to a point but we still paid him just shy of what the moving company would have charged and I ended our friends for life pact. We did this because he was a “friend of a friend”, otherwise I would have told him to leave under threat of bodily injury. Needless to say, we won’t be helping any other friends of friends in the near future.

These are two small examples of personal and very recent experiences, but I could tell of a multitude of instances much worse than this occurring to friends and acquaintances around Costa Rica. The trend that I have seen related to instances like this is in direct correlation to the contraction of the economy.

People are thinking about today (hoarding) and not about tomorrow. Vendors are doubling prices and would-be investors who really have no financial means to invest are gathering information at the expense of others. Personal relationships are on the decline as respect for others disappear and self-interest becomes pervasive.

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When things are booming greed is always a factor – certainly in Costa Rica over the past 5 years. When things are tough, greed grows exponentially and is, ironically, our worst enemy in combating recession.

After a couple of weeks we will most likely forget about these moments in time, continue to try to show our appreciation to others, and in a little more time be willing again to help friends of friends. Although much more difficult to do in the short-term for those with less resources at their disposal, I can only hope that others will realize that this is the only way to sustain an economy, and more importantly live a decent, happy life.

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Written by Dave Playfair who has run an IT consulting company in Canada for many years and tries to spend as much time as he can in Costa Rica.

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