www.CostaRicaTicas.com

This is another reason to be very careful when contemplating buying land in CR. Squatters can turn out to be a serious problem, and it only takes 3 months!

5,000 are being evicted from land in Alajuela
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Fuerza Pública officers are evicting some 5,000 persons from 11 hectares (about 27 acres) in the Los Pinos sector of the Provincia de Alajuela.

The land belongs to the Urbanización Santa California, which is owned by a private bank.

The squatters moved onto the land in 2002, and legal action began that year to remove them. A recent Sala IV decision empowered police to remove them physically. About 1,000 families are involved.

The squatter's village or precario is known as La Candela, and it is near Juan Santamaría airport.

Rigoberto Rodríguez, the regional director of the Fuerza Pública in Alajuela, said about 90 percent of the residents are foreigners. These mostly are Nicaraguans. He said the evictions would be made in three steps, the first of which began Wednesday.

Those who are being displaced are eligible for three months of government aid to allow them to rent quarters elsewhere.

The residents of the precario have demonstrated in the past in an effort to keep their land. They found some support among members of the central government, but the Sala IV ruled against them.

Land invasions are frequent in Costa Rica. Land owners have a long legal battle to remove squatters after the first three months. When the land belongs to the government, politics sometimes reqires officials to look the other way and let the squatters keep the land.

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

So the key is to find land that is owned by the government!

I'm hijacking this thread since I don't want to start a new one about real estate in CR when this forum isn't about RE at all (some might start thinking that the P4P is boring us if too many RE threads are here!).

More of this what is to come to CR in the coming years:
http://www.welovecostarica.com/public/963.cfm

The development and house appears to be the best I'm seen and I don't think you have to rush to CR to get a house before the prices go up. I think there is more of these developments to come to CR and as more and more spring up, the efficiency in building these complexs within a gated community setting will most likely keep prices in check.

Everyone knows RE prices have skyrocketed in CR along with the USA market. Look for a downturn in prices in CR (my opinion.... many opinions out there). I'm in California and I have a friend in Reno who said the market has crashed in a huge way in the Reno/Sparks area, because the RE market in California has stablized (sales are slower but prices haven't declined). A lot of Californians were sellout out in CA and buying huge homes in Reno and paying in cash from California RE profits. Anyway, I look at the CR market like I do the Reno/Sparks market.... as prices fall and stablize here in the USA not many will have the gains like in the past to invest outside the country or even inside the country for all that matters. Does anyone remember when you had to keep property in the USA for 5 years just to break even after paying your realtor? - those days are upon us.

Anyway, I thought I'd share that link because it truly is the best I've seen in CR. The local guys may have seen even better housing with competing prices.

D2864,

Good link. Thanks. It's always fun to contemplate an early retirement in CR, but there is much to consider (and much has been written about here).

Tanager

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Why own when you can rent?

5,000 people on 27 acres ??

must have been high rise shacks and shanty's

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

After thinking about it.....I suppose it's possible. I remember visiting a chica friend's house in Desamperados last February. It was a cluster of shacks and shanties for as far as you could see. Horrible living conditions....really made me think how fortunate I am.

The day before the visit, this same chica [Nica] asked me to go with her to Mercado Central to buy some fruit and vegetables for herself and her bebe. We left with 5 huge bags of fruits and vegetables....very difficult to carry till we found a cab. The next day at her house, she prepared dinner for me. Upon looking around, it was obvious that all the fruits and vegetables I had bought were not there. Knowing the good hearted person she is, I'm sure she gave out a lot of the food to her needy neighbors, which was OK with me.......I'm certain it was the best money I had spent on that trip, and the food went to good use.

Zebra

Zebra wrote:



That is a very common thing in CR. When someone in the neighborhood has food everyone has food. Simple people? maybe, but I think they know how to live life on a higher level than people in the US trying to one up their neighbor will ever understand.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine