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Someone i have been getting info on Costa Rica just recently made the move. They did a through investigation talking with many people before and did much research before making this move.
Even paid an attorney $1400 dollars to start the residency process.
Arriving around 2 weeks ago they were very dissapointed at the cost there. They are in the Grecia area and even stated that the Feria’s were not cheap. They met with other expats who recently made the move and most felt they should not have not move.
They felt like they were misled by many people and or organizations. I have a very good retirement and was planning on settling in The Grecia area also.
Although it not affect my plans it does throw re flags up about the information you receive.
They should [b]not[/b] have started any residency application based on what ‘we’…those who already lives here … told them but based on their own time and experience tells them by visiting first, for an extended period.
On every CR forum, people state that costs have risen, but on many ‘blogs’ life is wonderful!
[i]So, no, they didn’t do a very thorough investigation.[/i]
[quote=”davidd”]this is great news!!! the less americans here the better.
Ah, the We Love Costa Rica Welcome Wagon once again in action.
The cost of living in Costa Rica is certainly a topic we’ve discussed at length here and I would encourage you to use the [url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/cfmbb/search.cfm]’Search’ engine here[/url] to see more threads.
The cost of living has increased everywhere – including in the US – and let’s not forget that the buying power of the US dollar has also declined quite dramatically..
My question is if expats can’t live on their income – and for the purpose of this conversation, we’ll assume that income is more than $1,000 per month as per residency requirements – how on earth do you think the average family in Costa Rica seems to survive quite healthily on half that amount?
Scott
[quote=”orcas0606″][quote=”davidd”]this is great news!!! the less americans here the better.
Ah, the We Love Costa Rica Welcome Wagon once again in action.[/quote]
orca.. you made me smile :):):) the welcome wagon
but scott is right.. the problem is NOT costa rica
the problem is the decline of the dollar’s buying power.. and since people living in the bubble that travle and think the dollar is supreme often wakes up from the dream state.
this happened to a friend of mine that recently went to europe and it cost him $20 bucks for a few slices of pizza :D:D
by the way.. I just came back from a small soda type restaurant and I ate a nice casado.. with beef and vegetables, platanos maduro, rice and red beans plus small salad and a cass natural drink for 2700 colones which is about $5.40 cents. not too shabby
also paid my caja insurance which covers myself and my 3 kids and wife.. $40 bucks. not too shabby.
btw the hospital in heredia is as good as any large public hospital back in the U.S.
i almost forgot. I just paid my property insurance on my house which sits on 2 acres and close to 4500 feet.. $600 for the year.
the feria is one of costa ricas gems.. pineapple 1000 for 2.
you can also spend alot of money here if you like if you dine in the fancy places. dining in the fancy places is nice when your single and your on the prowl or for couples
but once you have kids and family those places become irrelevant.
[quote=”Scott”]The cost of living in Costa Rica is certainly a topic we’ve discussed at length here and I would encourage you to use the [url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/cfmbb/search.cfm]’Search’ engine here[/url] to see more threads.
The cost of living has increased everywhere – including in the US – and let’s not forget that the buying power of the US dollar has also declined quite dramatically..
My question is if expats can’t live on their income – and for the purpose of this conversation, we’ll assume that income is more than $1,000 per month as per residency requirements – how on earth do you think the average family in Costa Rica seems to survive quite healthily on half that amount?
Scott
[/quote]
scott
if you make $500 per month.. you are on the poverty line my friend.. middle class here I would say starts at $1000 to $2000 per month and this will depend on where you live
Hmmm . . . I’m not convinced that the dollar’s buying power [u]in Costa Rica[/u] has declined so dramatically. While it’s true that it did peak at about $1US = c576 two or three years ago, it’s been hovering right around $1US = c495 for at least eighteen months. That’s a pretty steady rate of exchange. When we arrived here in 2005, it was $1US = c475. Or maybe I’m wrong.
Our property taxes are about $325 on our three acre coffee farm with two houses which is also outside Grecia and at about 4,200 feet.
We shopped at Grecia’s feria yesterday buying imported apples, a cantalope, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, lettuce, etc enough to fill our shopping cart and keep the two of us for a week and we spent less than $20. What’s not to like? It’s gotta cost something! (Were it not for the apples and the strawberries, it would have been more like $14.) Two dollars a day for all the produce two people can eat? That’s expensive?
I think newcomers who reflect on their expenditures here may be mixing two issues. First, there is the day-to-day cost of living. That can be almost as much or as little as you choose to spend. You can eat in one of Grecia’s excellent restaurants and spend $40 or more (much more if you include wine or drinks and dessert) or you can eat in the [i]tipico[/i] restaurants and sodas, as orcas described, and get a perfectly good meal for $5 or $6. What’s not to like? It’s gotta cost something! (And try to buy the same meals in the States.)
Second, there are the costs of getting settled and established. No doubt about it . . . Furnishing a home, getting your residency, buying a car and other “up front/one time” expenses can add up quickly, but those do not truly represent the cost of living here.
i think people in general have an unrealistic vision of what life here SHOULD cost as opposed to what it DOES cost. i am about as frugal as they come and yet, i am starting to feel the pinch of increased prices for nearly everything — compared to just a few years ago. two stellar examples come to mind — the cost of eggs and the cost of milk. 3 years ago i paid C500 (about a dollar) for a kilo of eggs from the local farmer. now they are C1300-1500 for a kilo. i used to pay C350 (about $.70) for two liters of fresh, raw milk. now i pay C500 a liter!! so the price of organic eggs here are the same price as in colorado. but for me to get raw, organic milk there i had to pay $8.00 for a half gallon. like david, i did my feria run yesterday — a whole week’s worth of fruits and vegetables (including a kilo of chicken livers and deboned chicken thighs for the dogs), and a big splurge of a carton of huge strawberries (reputed to be organic at C2000 a carton), still only came to $26.00. Usually i spend about $30 – $34 a week (up from the $25 a week it used to cost three years ago) and that will include fish, shrimp, and dog meat. If i bought those same things where i shop in Colorado, my bill would be way over $75, so even with the increase in prices, i am still better off here. what i have found in talking to people is they think these things should cost pennies instead of a realistic figure. the people i know who spend the most on food are buying packaged junk — chips, crackers, cookies, canned items, imported processed food, etc. — none of which i ever buy. when people complain about the cost of basic living and i make suggestions of where they could cut down, they look at me as though i have three heads. give up $9.00 a bag Oreos? Never! Give up over-priced, GMO soybean oil-laced Jiffy peanut butter? Never again. it is very hard for people to wean off the packaged food teat, but if you want to live cheaply in costa rica, you pretty much have to. i have often lived in places where those packaged food items didn’t exist, and i had to live on only fresh food, as most of the world does if they want to eat at all.
Just a little perspective here—my property taxes are $2400 a month for my $100,000 house on two lots. I live in a tiny town in NW Kansas. An apple costs almost $1.00. Forget about buying strawberries or blueberries for sure. Plus the cost of health insurance leaves me uninsured.
[quote=”davidd”]this is great news!!! the less americans here the better.
[/quote]Then why don’t you leave smartA$$
$2400 a MONTH for taxes? is that true or a typo?
apples don’t grow here (at least not the kind we are used to) so they are all imported either from the States or Chile. I paid $.70 each for granny smith apples to make a tart. if you eat what is local, it’s still pretty cheap — a pineapple costs $1.00 here. Papaya $.80, cas, guanabana, and guavas are all pretty cheap, too. but most gringos have no experience with these tropical fruits so they are reluctant to eat them and then pay through the nose for the other stuff.
Nd Davidd i have a healthy retirement with money reserves. So this is one Gringo you will see come down.
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