Most people live very simple lifes here, nothing fancy. Still some stuff is way cheaper and income tax is not as high as it is in the US.
Cheaper: food, medicine, labor (maids, mechanics, gardeners, etc) , education, housing, going out, utilities (water, electricity, phones).
More expensive: cars, gas, clothing, electronics, sports equipment, basicaly all imports.
Every day life is cheaper, luxury stuff is way more expensive. I see it that way.
Plus if your income is in $US then you should be ok.
this one is puzzling to me, since its more than a few times I have seen it mentioned.
Medium/High class tico would (imho) LIKE Gringos.............socially they are 'in' and of course they are a direct reflection of all the tv that we watch (90210 meets Chepe) plus they have money (I know I know....they are all not rich but this is like a bunch of normal Ticos showing up in Haiti......they are going to think we are all rich when we are not , its all relative)
now if the problem is the attitude with gringo prices well......it would come as no surprise since every minority has complaints about how they are treated (simply google 'latino black mortgage rate discrimination' and you will see how major corporations apply 'minority' price gauging)
what happens all the time too is that the gringos get taken by lawyers or just about anyone that knows our law (what it is/how to manipulate it etc), example, gringo gets off the plane ........and soon he is bragging to his buddies at home how he has this great gf (or more than one)........6 months of cohabitation go by.....sure enough......under our law (it may or may not suck , it doesn't matter) is as if they were legally married. Another one, gringo gets off the plane looking to buy property, goes to talk to a lawyer.....puts it under an SA (not necessarily but not uncommon that they do this in a febble attempt to escape Uncle's Sam IRS) ....lawyer takes the $......and then crook lawyer steals everything.
as for laws that don't make sense, rest assured that after my almost 10 year 'stint' as the husband of a Gringa.....I have my share of US laws that do not make any sense whatsoever, as a matter of fact, the more I learn the more I realize its 'the same shit just in a different place'
My biggest gripes with my own country are
a) how we drive and the shape of the roads
b) crime (but anyone that has travelled knows this is relative.....I was shitting my pants in Guatemala......simply by remembering how their army 'disappeared' people not that long ago)
c) property prices (food has skyrocketed Worldwide......and well, car prices I can live with I guess) but looking at the real estate section of the newspaper....you might think that you are shopping for property in Malibu
d) this ridiculous 'perpetual tourist' situation, what kind of BS is this that you can come for 3 months /leave 3 days and repeat ad naseoum?????? You want to live here? .......pay some $ and get a 1 year stay permit (am I going on the 'they are all rich/get their $'? LOL)
as to solutions
a) .......part of the problem is education and part is so little space for so many cars, you can educate the crap out of us that it wont work with so few roads and the resulting traffic jams, it doesnt help either that everyone wants to live in Escazu/Santa Ana
b) unfourtunately here its a DIY situation for the foreseable future, so just buy a gun and practice
c) eventually the speculation game will end and sellers will have to settle with Tico buyers, so hopefully that will take care of itself
d) we just passed a new immigration law and they are already rewritting residence requirements (of course doing it stupidly in the process) so I have zero hopes there
ok enough rant for a Monday...........
Food is definately not cheaper here.Just go to the grocery store and do some shopping jack. Oh i forgot you live at home and mommy and daddy buy the food for the house. My electric bill was 89k for one month and I live in a modest sized house. Housing haha been shopping around for a house or a condo a basic condo in escazu, santa ana area is running over 200k. Looking for a house with a yard average price well over 200k and they arent even that nice. This place is not cheap anymore. You can still live on the cheap if you go down to mercado central and get all your veggies and meat but why risk the chance of getting stabbed for a cell phone. I wont be leaving anytime soon but I wish they would clean up the corruption in the government and the police would focus on the crime instead of coming up with draconic laws for drunk driving etc.
I do the grocery shopping for my house. And a few months ago when I was in Florida I did the grocery shopping for me and my girlfriend since she was at school most of the time. So I have a real point of comparison. Food is cheaper here.
Electric bill, get that shit checked cause its not normal. Something must be wrong with the medidor or con el sistema electrico. Do you have A/C?
Houses, are you fucking kidding me? You are looking for a house in the most expensive and fastest growing area of the country, the place where pretty much everyone wants to live, a place full of foreigners who are big spenders, and you expect to find something cheap? Come on dude, Escazu and Santa Ana is like buying property in the most exclusive areas in the US. I can guarantee you that a condo that is $500k in the Escazu area will sell for millions in certain places in the US.
Same goes for housing in the beach. Prices are ridicoulus. How many tico families can afford a place at the beach that starts at $250K, a place just for weekends. Why do you think those prices are that high? Its mostly gringos and Europeans buying those places.
My girl rents a place in Gainesville, FL. One bedroom apartment, not a new place, nothing fancy, $700 a month. A have a friend here who rents a condo in one of the towers near UCIMED in Sabana Oeste, $800 for a brand new 3 bedroom place.
I am currently looking at places in Davis, CA. A 2 bedroom apartment starts at $1100/month and the go all the way up to $1400. You can rent a brand new very nice 4 bedroom condo for $1000 here.
The drinking law was something we desperately needed, drinking and driving is something we ticos were used to doing. Thousands of people got killed or injured in alcohol related accidents, every single night someone died. I guess if some drunk driver killed someonce close to you, you would appreciate laws that are trying to reduce the amount of drunk drivers out in the street. What really amazes me is that people constantly complain about this law, well if you don´t break the law then you have nothing to worry about. Don´t fucking drink and drive, it all comes down to that. And let me tell you, its working. Last times I´ve been out I pretty much see everyone drink 2-3 beers, and a lot of people I know, when they go out partying they are hiring drivers for the night. If you can´t go out and drink responsibly then you are the one who has a problem.
Yes police sucks here. It sucks every where else in Latin America. And yes I hope things change. But hey, its the same police that doesn´t give you shit when you walk down the street smoking a joint. Its the same police that will not throw you in jail when they find the cocaine you´ve been snorting all night. Yes they might try to get your money. Let me ask you something. Have you ever tried to get out of a ticket/penalty by bribing a cop here?
second that commen about Raoul electric bill
I run 3 computers, have 2 fridges, have an electric dryer which gets a lot of use plus run an AC minisplit at nights mostly
and the electric bill is around 60k (and have 'assorted goods' that all eat 'juice' )
About the condo in Escazu (" Come on dude, Escazu and Santa Ana is like buying property in the most exclusive areas in the US. I can guarantee you that a condo that is $500k in the Escazu area will sell for millions in certain places in the US).... those 'certain places' can be NYC ,LA and San Francisco but thats it. there has been a very strong price correction in many other major cities and well, you can find small places in Chicago (an excellent place) for 200k. I guess its the fault of the morons that pay 500k for a place here to start with......the quality of life that you can have in major cities in the US can't be found here and obviously you have a better chance of paying 500k for a condo in Chicago than 500k for a condo in Escazu since the pay is much better there. In summary, housing here is NOT cheap (which is one on my pet peeves since I am Tico and obviously live here)
and about " wish they would clean up the corruption in the government " I agree but it goes both ways, right here in therx you see people bragging how paying a tucan gets them out of trouble.
About the drink and driving I agree with Jack EXCEPT that all the other fines/sanctions in the law........truly belong to the former USSR or may be one of those places like Singapore etc where they cut your arm if you steal a loaf of bread. Its even more stupid when you realize that it would take 10x the amount of traffic cops......to START enforcing the 'ley de transito'
I run 3 computers, have 2 fridges, have an electric dryer which gets a lot of use plus run an AC minisplit at nights mostly
and the electric bill is around 60k (and have 'assorted goods' that all eat 'juice' )
About the condo in Escazu (" Come on dude, Escazu and Santa Ana is like buying property in the most exclusive areas in the US. I can guarantee you that a condo that is $500k in the Escazu area will sell for millions in certain places in the US).... those 'certain places' can be NYC ,LA and San Francisco but thats it. there has been a very strong price correction in many other major cities and well, you can find small places in Chicago (an excellent place) for 200k. I guess its the fault of the morons that pay 500k for a place here to start with......the quality of life that you can have in major cities in the US can't be found here and obviously you have a better chance of paying 500k for a condo in Chicago than 500k for a condo in Escazu since the pay is much better there. In summary, housing here is NOT cheap (which is one on my pet peeves since I am Tico and obviously live here)
and about " wish they would clean up the corruption in the government " I agree but it goes both ways, right here in therx you see people bragging how paying a tucan gets them out of trouble.
About the drink and driving I agree with Jack EXCEPT that all the other fines/sanctions in the law........truly belong to the former USSR or may be one of those places like Singapore etc where they cut your arm if you steal a loaf of bread. Its even more stupid when you realize that it would take 10x the amount of traffic cops......to START enforcing the 'ley de transito'
I can live with the increases in electricity, housing, and rising prices in the supermarkets...I can also live with the increasing costs of gasoline and certain restarants...I can even live here with the increasing costs of playing golf....
But I have to put my foot down or up somebody's ass when the increase prices at my local gentlemen's clubs around here...that I get annoyed...
But I have to put my foot down or up somebody's ass when the increase prices at my local gentlemen's clubs around here...that I get annoyed...
You can buy a 3-4 bedroom house with a nice yard in the suburbs of chicago for 200-250k. My complaint with the government is about what they are doing to people who have concessions at the beach. They have raised some peoples taxes in my area 1000-1500% more a year. They are trying to charge a friend of mine who has several hectares 43k a year in taxes. people that were paying 20,000 colones are getting hit with 20k tax bills its insane.
