Purchasing Costa Rica Real Estate and Farms for Sale

Costa Rica farms and homes are easy to own

….and a great way to get away from our war-torn world and crazy politics.

Purchasing real estate outside of your native country can be intimidating, but in 2006 I took the plunge and bought 80 acres of land in Costa Rica.  After all, it was a mere 5.5 hour flight from Denver, and air fare has never been more than about $600 round trip.

Ocean view property in the US is out of reach for most of us, but I could own Costa Rica real estate with amazing jungle and ocean views for a very affordable price.  The temperatures are almost always between about 65 degrees and 75 degrees, making this a great “snow bird” destination.

The people there are kind and helpful, and very patient with non-citizens trying to speak Spanish.  My Spanish is not that good, but we always communicate.  “Ticos”  is a non-derogatory term for native Costa Ricans.  I have many close Tico and expat friends there, even though I visit only once or twice a year, usually during the January dry season.

My first purchase was farmland, then I got really crazy and also bought a 5 acre ocean-view lot in Dominical, Costa Rica.  For the first 5 years I would visit the land and stay  in a tent built on a platform.  I built that to have a roof, electricity, a kitchen area and a bathroom, and even a shower! I This was fun, but in 2010 I decided to build a house there, with construction costs about half the cost of US new construction. I was lucky to work with a very reliable and competent contractor, as I was only able to spend a month on site during the construction process. But it was such a fun and creative process!  (That home in Dominical that I called “Canopy Vista” has since been sold.)

My small-town Hoosier (Indiana) instincts caught hold and I decided to focus on my 75 acres of farm land… up until it seemed wise to build a house there too!  I located a Tico contractor who speaks great English.  A couple of years ago, we were off to the races, planning a new home on the Viento Lindo farm.  During my active farming days I had 200 sheep (used for meat, but they had happy lives).  I subsequently concluded that I couldn’t spend enough time there to adequately manage a sheep farm, so we changed over to the Tico’s favorite livestock–COWS.  Now I know beef is not considered so environmentally friendly, but in Costa Rica you need something to eat down the grass, so the caretaker and I agreed that we would have 20 cattle max on the 45 acre parcel of Viento Lindo.  He puts his cows there in exchange for managing the farm. I am comforted environmentally by knowing I had offset the cow dung methane emissions by planting 5,000 native reforestation trees.

Feel free to contact me if you are considering an investment in Costa Rica, and I will freely share my nearly 20 years of experience there. I’m also happy to discuss with you the current opportunity to buy at Viento Lindo Farms.

La Gata 25 acre parcel

Mountain views from La Gata Property

Here is a little more info on me as your resource for buying outside of the US:

Bio on Kathleen Chiras, Real Estate licensee,  Masters in Social work, Certified International Property Specialist

She is president of SkyFor, Inc.founded in 1998. She has a master’s degree in social work, a real estate license, & is a certified international property specialist.

An avid environmentalist, Kathleen was a founding board member and corporate contributor to Evergreen Colorado’s Mountain Area Land Trust. She served on the Evergreen Parks and Recreation board for 4 years, and chaired a committee that helped bring curbside recycling to Evergreen.

She is the founder of  the National Buyers Agents Association, an International Association of Buyer Agents and Brokers.  Websites include this one, BuyerAgentSearch.com, and a quick-access-to agents one at nationalbuyersagents.org.

Kathleen helped create the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents in 1995 and served as its Executive Director  and Consumer Inquiry Director for many years. She then formed another association of buyers agents called the National Buyers Agents Association.

Her associations have helped over 75,000 individuals get connected with good real estate buyer agents, primarily in the US, but also in Costa Rica.

Feel free to contact me for a free consultation.