Alitercorpsa,
No offense or anything but,
"Costa Rica is third oldest democracy"
I don't know about that, but it is the 3rd world, doesn't look like what you'd expect for 3rd world, but that's the status.
"And Costa Rica is the most stable country in the Americas."
Um, hello, U.S.A., Canda, maybe you meant in Latin America.
I don't think anybody means to offend you and I'm pretty sure all understand you're just trying to do business. However real estate being over priced in C.R. is fact not opinion. Due to the tourism boom of the 90's, foreign investment and the sportsbook industry, prices have sky rocketed. An example, a brother in law of mine bought 300 hectares near Rincon de la Vieja roughly 10 years ago for about $25,000. What would that go for now?
The reality now, among locals, is that property is passed on through families, daughter gets married newlyweds finance to build on grandpa's lot in X location, etc. Young local professionals finance at ridiculous interest rates in colones or finance in dollars and gamble that there won't be a massive devaluation of the colon in the next 10-20 years while they are paying it off. It's not uncommon to see say 2bdrm condos for $100,000 - $200,000. Perfect example today in La Nacion, San Rafael de Escazu, 3bdrm home for $280,000 or Guachipelin "p/pareja" = for a couple, we can assume tiny $130,000. While on yahoo, Miami, FL, Lakefront 4bdrm 2.5bths, $299,900 or Miami, FL, 4dbrms, 3bths, $275,000.
Take the fact that the sportsbook industry was nearly chased out of C.R. due to the tax situation. What if there were an exodus of foreigners for whatever reason?
IMO, C.R. is a great place to have a nice piece of property to live on, but in a business sense I don't see buying property as any great investment opportunity.