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that’s good advice, sue, but the people i know who have $2000 a month coming in are spending ALL of that to support their lifestyles here. I have a little more than that in total income and yet i live on about $800 a month, but then i am adhering to the new cool of being FRUGAL so i stash what i don’t spend for just those emergencies you mentioned.
[quote=”sueandchris”]David and Lynn:
This forum is exactly the place to “bombard us with questions”. Most of us received immense kindness and generosity of forum members when we were researching a move to Costa Rica. We have now been living here in Atenas for a year and traveled extensively in Costa Rica for nine years previously.
We also really like San Ramon and have good friends there! I hope your trip is wonderful! Sue[/quote]Thank you Sue and David and everyone else who has responded. We are so touched by eyeryone’s kindness and willingness to pass along helpful advice. We are very excited about our trip to CR and we hope to meet some (all??) of you while on our sojurn.
David, in my opinion, the areas you will be visiting are certainly best accessed with something that is 4-wheel drive, just in case you want to get a bit off-road to the beaches, etc. Get a real 4-wheeler, though. Not the Suzuki Jimny that the rental car agencies will try to rent to you.
Dominical is our favorite, and we recently purchased land there after about 3 or 4 trips to the area. You will absolutely love it.
[quote=”tmergens”]David, in my opinion, the areas you will be visiting are certainly best accessed with something that is 4-wheel drive, just in case you want to get a bit off-road to the beaches, etc. Get a real 4-wheeler, though. Not the Suzuki Jimny that the rental car agencies will try to rent to you.
Dominical is our favorite, and we recently purchased land there after about 3 or 4 trips to the area. You will absolutely love it.[/quote]
Thanks for the tip – we already have Dominical on our ‘must see’ list. Do you have any suggestions for where to rent a 4-wheeler other than the ‘Budgets’ etc??? – they all want an arm-and-a-leg for a months rental. Where do locals rent?
“Where do the locals rent”? The locals rent at their nearby bus stop. Most Costa Ricans don’t rent vehicles.
Rental cars in Costa Rica are expensive. There’s just no getting around it. Part of the problem is the mandatory insurance and part of it is voluntary insurances and taxes.
There are a small handful of “grey market” rental agencies which offer a limited number of choices of vehicles of uncertain quality. Sometimes that works out well for the renter; other times, not so much. As in the rest of life, you usually get what you pay for.
Were I taking time off work, flying to Costa Rica, and hoping to see some of the country in a limited amount of time, my least desirable pastime would be fooling with a mechanically inadequate car or one that didn’t perform the way I expected. Your mileage may vary.
Falling out of favor? I don’t think so.
http://www.teletica.com/misscostarica2011/#general_console
Pura Vida:shock:We just returned from a week in south Florida. We watched two relatives find out that their properties (in “excellent” areas) had dropped respectively 67% and 40% in value. I had urged them to check Zillow and request “recently sold” data on both their neighborhoods and they found out their worst fears were FAR worse than they realized. This was unbelievably painful to watch. The economy there and in so many other areas of the States are completely moribund. Even Canada is beginning to show cracks in their system.
Here in Costa Rica, the economy is cooking along at a decent rate. Many Central and South American countries have robust economies. What we are seeing here in Atenas is an amazing rental market with expats who are living here but no longer can afford to buy. The rents here are really high and occupancy is very high. For those who still have investment monies, owning rental properties here has proved attractive.
We constantly meet folks from Canada and the U.S. who are here trying to figure out how to “make it happen” after big economic losses. I for one have certainly not seen any signs that Costa Rica is falling out of favor.
We have met a couple of folks who are looking at Ecuador for a cheaper lifestyle!
[quote=”pharg”]Falling out of favor? I don’t think so.
http://www.teletica.com/misscostarica2011/#general_console
Pura Vida:shock:[/quote]Hmmm! Johanna Solano….
Esta mujer es una Puravida Tica!.
When you say the rents here “are really high” what specifically do you mean. For example–in the Atenas/Grecia area–what are you seeing for a 3 bedroom2 bath house built to American standards house rent for? $800? $1000? $1500? I’m just curious? Thx.
[quote=”bogino”]After reading all the different commentaries it seems fair to conclude that with $100K a year to live off one can live like a king there. Am I correct?[/quote]
Sure. I spend about 2500 a month. In Miami I spent 10 grand/month for the equivalent.[quote=”maravilla”]yeah, and with that $100,000 a year lifestyle, be prepared to have full-time bodyguards.[/quote]
Where ? In Miami, or here ?
I AM my bodyguard.8)[quote=”maravilla”]here one would need a bodyguard if one lived a $100k lifestyle, but why would one want to???[/quote]
Well. 2 employees in Miamistan ran me about 20K/year/pp. Property taxes were 10 grand. Electric ran $700/mo.Car insurance (mandatory) was $2300 a year.
Homeowners/hurricane/flood ran about 3 grand.
100 grand in Miami is nothing to brag about. $2500 a month does ok here.
Contrary to the “info” from Christopher ??? ( I need to buy a comb)my gardener costs me $600 a month if you include the INS policy and seguros. Add to that aginaldo and vacations.
The girl that works in the house is the wife of one of my construction employees-best buddies so she just works day to day.
I’m getting her a music keyboard-organ for “aginaldo”Bogino: I can’t speak to costs in Grecia. But here in Atenas our friends looked for several months for a decent, Gringo-style house. Their budget was $800 per month with utilities additional. They had a heck of a time and ended up settling for less than they desired to stay in that price range. Good 2-3 bedroom houses in Atenas probably START at $900 and it is really easy to spend $1,300. But again, Atenas has remained a strong market.
Oddly, the houses selling here seem to be in the $400K and above bracket…some much more!
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