What the fck is going on in CR?

[alitercorpsa]

Truthteller, out of curiousity, how much are you spending per month to live in your gated community? If you are in either Busques de Lindora or Parque Valle Del Sol - the likelihood of your house being continuosly broken into is very low. However, what is your definition of a gated community? Are your guards on duty 24/7? Do they just let anyone in? I don't mean to antagonize you, but most of the guys here want to spend $450 per month, and of course you will be robbed all the time. Location, location, location... and that's not to say that even if you live in the most expensive, exclusive area that you won't be robbed but the chance of it lessens when you are paying for security and have a home security system like ADT helps too.

Just for the record, our property in Curridabat has never had a break-in and is extrememly secure. The property in Alajuela is a lot that is ready to be developed, not a house.

Aliter Corp S.A.

 

[American]

Alitercorspsa....SO $450 A MONTH HERE GETS YOU ROBBED ALL THE TIME? Holy shit...time to get the f*ck out of this place then.

$450 a month gets you a decent place to live in almost any place in the United States. Please explain to me why anyone should be paying MORE to rent or buy a home here in Costa Rica than in the U.S. The implication that one needs to spend at least a $1000 a month on rent or "get robbed all the time" sums this country up.

With all the vacancies there are, no way you can sell me on the idea that the demand is greater than the supply.

Don't try to sell me on the natural beauty of Costa Rica arguement either. Unfortunately, CR's dirty little secret is out, and it's becoming common knowledge to foreigners that San Jose is a SUBWAY TOILET and the way of life offered here in CR has become a shit product. People vote with their dollars. They're voting "NO" to CR. Foreign investment has plummeted in this country in the last year, dropping CR from 15th place to No. 79 on the list of countries attracting foreign investment. There's been a $500 million drop in the last year, partly due to the unsavory and unethical business practices of the Tico government.

I want to know why you people in real estate and many owners of property here are under the impression that real estate values generally exceed that of the U.S., when the Ticos with repectable jobs still make $500 or $600 a month.

Why are condos in Santa Ana for sale at a price of $300,000 when you can buy TWO condos for the same amount of money overlooking the ocean in South Beach Miami, Florida?

If you ask me, I don't think anyone knows what anything is worth in this country anymore. And I also think that within a couple of years the banks that loaned money based on these inflated real estate appraisal values are going to get stuck with a lot of these properties, which is going to lead to some MAJOR bank failures. It's a mathematical certainty.

[This message was edited by American on October 06, 2003 at 10:50 AM.]

 

[American]

Alticorpsa....You made it sound like people DESERVE and SHOULD EXPECT to get robbed for having the audacity to try to live in a $450 dwelling. Coming from some cocky realtor, that sickens me.

Truthteller...Why not explain how much you spend a month on your place? I'll bet a dollar and a cent that it's MORE than $450 a month.

 

[truthteller]

This Alticorpsa is an idiot. I own my house, I don't rent. And my house is worth over $250,000. And guards are on duty.

I got news for you pal. The OIJ just took in one of the guards for questioning because they think he was in on it.

 

[BeverlyHillsBookie]

True, very true. Gaurds are in on it a lot of the times. Hasn't happened to us yet (crosses fingers).

 

[alitercorpsa]

Truthteller and American obviously you both seem to have the need to put us down because we are in real estate. We do business here the same way we do in the USA - with actual exclusive listings and ethical realty practices - we are not some maid or gardner or taxi driver or hooker that will show you a place and jack up the price with a net listing so we can rip you off. We actually do business legitimately and with realistic pricing - and do not tell anyone that some house that is worth only $125K is on the market for $250K and a bargain at that. But, many so called brokers will do that so they can make a fast buck off the naive gringo. There is little legislation here in the way here to stop those practices.

The fact remains that a residence for $450 per month is not going to be in the best neighborhood to be in and furthermore, you seem to be disillusioned that you can live in a decent neighborhood anywhere in the USA now for $450 per month. If so, I'd like to know where. Not in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale where we are from that's for sure. In fact, not even in what's considered an undesirable neighborhood is it possible. People talk about how you can live here for next to nothing and you both should know better - unless you've been here so long you've lost touch with reality. There are decent places to live here that are relatively inexpensive however, depending on what amenities come with the apartment, condo or house is how to gauge what price you'll pay. If all you care about is a place that has suicide showers without a reserve water tank, a tico style kitchen with mini appliances and no washer/dryer,etc. you can get a decent place for little money. But, if you want to live like you would in the USA - that's a whole other story. Just so that you know, our house that rents for $1100 has never been broken into, has no guard living in it and is in a gated community. We manage a large community here in CR - anyone that works in house for us actually keeps their passport in our safe and anyone that works for us out in the field we have their passports scanned and we only deal with licensed security companies that can supply us with background checks on their guards - not some guard that walks around with a .38. If you think CR is so bad and overpriced - well maybe you should move back to Miami for $450 a month and then tell us how great it is.Here you complain that the govt does nothing but at the same time, you say that the OIJ has arrested one of your security guards - so obviously they are doing something and do care about what is going on. We aren't cocky - but when we show people houses - we give them backgound on the neighborhoods they are in. Maybe for $450 in Miami you can get a place in Overtown - it probably even comes equipped with crack. We'll be breeding Bouvier Des Flandres dogs here in 6 months - they make excellent guard dogs - perhaps you should consider getting one - then potential theives will think twice before picking your house to rob. Another point, usually theives will go after homes in the best areas - they have material possessions that are desirable to that element of society. Don't attack the realty company for telling it like it is - you admit to living in a $250K house - why aren't you in the inexpensive apartment or house? and I'm sure all the other realtors who post here will agree with us.

 

[WildBill]

I only agree that life around San Jose is a rip off. I was offered a job my last trip down there and after looking over the situation and the money I was getting I said no way is this place worth the money people are getting. There surely has to be better places in the world with much bigger bang for your buck than CR. Hey its nice in some ways, but my goodness to have to pay US prices for US amenities is ridiculous plain and simple. We pay US prices in the US for good reasons, if the situation in terms of jobs and simple things in life is less than why should people still pay that kind of money, ESPECIALLY if I have to fear for my safety so much that I have to look not only for a secured place, not only a gated place, but a top of the line gated place???

You are right that $450 a month in Miami won't buy you much, but from what I saw there are good places just outside of Miami that you can easily get into for $700/month. You can't really get much in CR for $700/month and when you leave your place you are constantly reminded that even though your place and your surrounding blocks are nice, there is a lot of crap to deal with once you get outside your precious gates.

Just telling the truth, I wanted to think better of it, I wanted to believe I would enjoy living there, but reality kept smacking me in the face. In fact I met a couple people that even though they weren't going to badmouth the place since they choose to live there, they quietly said it wasn't a good idea to live there. If you have other options its not the place to come to was what I heard from quite a few people. I want to know, what happened to all the supporters of the place???

 

[wolfie_cr]

PLEASEEEEEEEEEE everyone try to understand that CR is a third world country, its not a clone of the US by any stretch of the imagination, pointing out that stuff is "more expensive in CR than US" is a bit more than obvious to me.....somethings ARE cheaper somethings are more expensive, if you are looking for "another US in a tropical land" I dont think you will find it ANYWHERE , plain and simple

Living in a foreign country its just that, foreign, strange, different, you might like some/none/all of it but its what it is

you cant ask any country in the world to have a replica of your homeland

in a nutshell and from my point of view

food: cant get any cheaper, try to fill a cart in the US with 100 dollars and tell me how far you get

services: water/electricity CANT GET CHEAPER, quality of it? I agree its not perfect AT ALL specially electricity, phone works fine ONCE you have it installed which can take A LONG TIME

roads and cars lets not even get there

medical attention, I supose its pretty decent, many people come here because its similar quality and much cheaper than what they would pay in the US, by this I obviously refer to private attention

telecommunications.........lots of room to improvement but still far better than other latin american countries (not trying to make things look perfect but realize that you have to compare apples to apples and comparing services here with the US or a developed country such as Japan or a European one is NOT going to work at all), I do HATE the ICE, market pressure will eventually take care of it one way or the other

security= complete disaster, the problem here is of course the system, more population= more crooks and if you add poor wages = more crime , problem is , we dont have enough jails to put them and even if we did the crooks have more rights than you, hopefully something can be done about this

education= VERY good here,full university paid off with less than what 1 year of similar education would cost in the US, thats why many companies can outsource many of their operations, that in turn is another problem because with everyone trying to get a degree who will take care of the fields where our food comes from? thank god for the immigrants that help us in that regard

If you like your life in the US stay there, it probably wont get any better here or anywhere else for that matter, there is no place like home and moving to another country specially one with a different language can be specially problematic.

My two costa rican cents

without any "agenda" or "ridiculous patrioticism" in mind

 

[American]

Wildbill.....Well put.

Alticorpsa...You did nothing to convince me that Costa Rica isn't extremely overpriced. Like Wildbill said, in the U.S. we pay"u.S." prices, but we're getting "U.S." quality. There's no quality here. And once you get outside your caged off house and then exit the gate enclosing the street you live on, and wave to the guard who you depend on to protect you (who inside hates you)...then what? You step into a world of shit called CR.

And if in CR $450 is not going to get you a place to live in a respectable neighborhood, please explain to me how the economy works here. MANY Costa Ricans in respecable jobs earn $450 to $500 a MONTH, many earn LESS than that. Where are they supposed to live? (Maybe a crack neighborhood, which you seem to know a lot about, BTW.) When prices are so high that locals can't afford them anymore, that means that foreigners are holding them up. When the foreigners won't/can't support the inflated prices anymore, there's no where to go but down. Look around in these "nice" neighborhoods in CR now...there are vacancies all over the place and for long periods of time. Because the Tico's are prideful and stubborn for the most part and are slow to react to changes, they don't lower the prices. So the houses just sit there collecting dust. I'm seing this all over the place. There's not enough foreigners anymore to fill these higher priced properties and the locals simply CAN'T afford them. The economics of this country don't even make sense. Something has to give. Anyone can see the writing on the wall for this place.

And don't tell me the OIJ is doing everything they can just because they picked up a guard for questioning. This place is beyond saving. Even Ticos are bitching about the poor quality of life here, and that NEVER happened before. Time to abandon ship.

"We have just lost cabin pressure."

 

[wolfie_cr]

"When the foreigners won't/can't support the inflated prices anymore, there's no where to go but down."

counting on that before I buy a house

, I live in a very nice/safe house for 450/month but no way I could ever afford to live in Escazu (I dont even like the place , its too warm and busy anyway)

Whats going to happen here (Again CR point of view) is that there is going to be a massive devaluation of the colon vrs dollar and then the ones that are stuck in mortages in USD and make colones are going to pay the price big time, your mortage payment will double while the wage you get in colones can get you half of what it used to buy

CR has to do a better job getting all the jobs that are leaving the US (outsourcing and the like) because of high costs up there, our main competitor here is India (and it doesnt matter how ugly its to live there its simply an issue of cost/benefit for the fortune 500 corporations, they are not going to move here to run a call center they simply hire someone to do it)

 

[American]

Boy do I agree with everything you said.

Smart move to wait on buying the house too. Trust me, these prices are going to crash. Prices will be like they were 10 or 12 years ago here. You'll get a great deal if you're patient.

 

[HEART]

PLEEEEEEASE !!!! GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME !!!
PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON IT !!
PLEASE !

 

[kayaman+]

Queen of Hearts,

Who do you want to go home?

 

[alitercorpsa]

American, I not trying to convince you that Costa Rica is not over priced and is not
f-cked up for that matter or that the OIJ is doing everything that can be done, shit half the time you're lucky if they come. But I don't worry about the "writing on the wall" as long as Costa Rica stays a stable goverment I do worry that the Costa Rica's goverment's don't seem to care.They think that they can break contracts and dishout poor quality for services and just wait for the next plane of Americans to come to get ripped off. Unless we get some honest and bright people in the goverment Costa Rica will learn by hard knocks as they see the plane go and go and go!And then price will drop until they get with it! <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by American:
Wildbill.....Well put.

Alticorpsa...You did nothing to convince me that Costa Rica isn't extremely overpriced. Like Wildbill said, in the U.S. we pay"u.S." prices, but we're getting "U.S." quality. There's no quality here. And once you get outside your caged off house and then exit the gate enclosing the street you live on, and wave to the guard who you depend on to protect you (who inside hates you)...then what? You step into a world of shit called CR.

And if in CR $450 is not going to get you a place to live in a respectable neighborhood, please explain to me how the economy works here. MANY Costa Ricans in respecable jobs earn $450 to $500 a MONTH, many earn LESS than that. Where are they supposed to live? (Maybe a crack neighborhood, which you seem to know a lot about, BTW.) When prices are so high that locals can't afford them anymore, that means that foreigners are holding them up. When the foreigners won't/can't support the inflated prices anymore, there's no where to go but down. Look around in these "nice" neighborhoods in CR now...there are vacancies all over the place and for long periods of time. Because the Tico's are prideful and stubborn for the most part and are slow to react to changes, they don't lower the prices. So the houses just sit there collecting dust. I'm seing this all over the place. There's not enough foreigners anymore to fill these higher priced properties and the locals simply CAN'T afford them. The economics of this country don't even make sense. Something has to give. Anyone can see the writing on the wall for this place.

And don't tell me the OIJ is doing everything they can just because they picked up a guard for questioning. This place is beyond saving. Even Ticos are bitching about the poor quality of life here, and that NEVER happened before. Time to abandon ship.

"We have just lost cabin pressure."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[kayaman+]

"And if in CR $450 is not going to get you a place to live in a respectable neighborhood, please explain to me how the economy works here."

Maybe I'm just lucky but I pay $220/month, 3bdrm, 1bth, car port, yard, private water, private neighborhood, one way in same way out, 24-7 guard, childrens park in neighborhood.

 

[American]

alticorpsa....I agree with everything you just said, too. As far as the governments stability goes, that is debatable. If the poverty continues to rise the people will eventually revolt. There is a growing economic and social instabilty that is an immediate problem. That is what is scaring investment away from this place, IMO.

kaya...Exactly. There are affordable places that the locals live in. So what{s with these crazy prices

 

[kayaman+]

I totally agree with you that the prices, in particular the ones we see here on the rx and the ones in the Tico Times for that matter, are absurd.

Just check out this example.....
http://therxforum.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=100090022&f=6050914291&m=69110275

The people with these types of rentals prey on the newcomers to the country that don't know any better, and also those foreigners that are afraid to live in average local neighborhoods.

 

[HEART]

KAYA MAN:

I AM JUST WISHING "PEOPLE" LIKE "AMERICAN" WOULD GO BACK HOME SO THEY CAN STOP SPREADDING THEIR "POISON" !!!!!!!!!
GO HOME, GO HOME, GO HOME !!!
AND, IF U CAN'T BECAUSE, WELL, U KNOW, THEN .... TOOOO BAAAAD !!!!! JUST TRY AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SH........ !!!!

 

[American]

Queen....You should go to the states too. At least there would be hope for you to control your financial future. In CR there's almost NO opportunity to achieve financial freedom and almost 100% of the people will have to work til they die or til they can't work anymore. See you in the land of opportunity!

 

[alitercorpsa]

Kaya man, no one is praying on anyone, when I show newcomers the average tico homes, they would rather pay more and have a house with all the things that they had in the states, dishwasher ect. whats so bad about that? I just rented out a one bedroom condo out in Weston Fl for $1700 a month my client could have spent less but he would get less also, that the market he wants to be in.<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by kaya man:
I totally agree with you that the prices, in particular the ones we see here on the rx and the ones in the Tico Times for that matter, are absurd.

Just check out this example.....
http://therxforum.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=100090022&f=6050914291&m=69110275

The people with these types of rentals prey on the newcomers to the country that don't know any better, and also those foreigners that are afraid to live in average local neighborhoods.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>