www.CostaRicaTicas.com

So yeah I work for one of those well known gigantic Americano companies that have been well known for moving their labor offshore to save costs. My particular company is in the retail business, but my job is in the IT field. I'm sure its a matter of time before my job goes there too, but for now, I"m in a pretty decent situation where I'll be traveling there next month to train a new team.

I may have the option of transferring down there, so I've been seriously trying to get as much information as I can about living and working in CR. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to keep my US salary. It would be adjusted for cost of living so it would end up being about $20k.

Question is how comfortable could I live on that kinda money? If income tax would be 25%, I'm figuring about $1200/mo to live on.

I barely get by here in the US because of the high cost of living in my area so I don't get to spend much on frills. I'm used to cooking my own food and eating cheap. I'm mainly looking to live somewhere safe and friendly where I will be able to enjoy what CR has to offer.

for housing, my needs are:
-safe, secure; in a neighborhood that I dont have to constantly worry about a burglary, where I could possibly walk around at night.
-within 30 mins of San Jose by car
-enclosed garage (i wont be driving for a while, but I might not be able to resist buying a junker to wrench on)
-1bed, 1 bath would be fine with me
- must have high speed internet for work
- must have heating/ac
- must have washer/dryer hookups

Can you guys recommend safe areas to live in, or even names of apartment complexes that I could look into? I've read names mentioned like San Pedro, Ecsazu, Heredia, Santa Ana but how do they rate or compare to each other? Any help would be much appreciated.

I've read through a bunch of realty sites, but you can never tell just by the pricing. I understand that prices can vary greatly, but lets say you wanted to raise K*ds (not me). What's the closest City to San Jose that you would feel safe raising your K*ds in, for the lowest housing cost? What would be the next area on your list?

Safe is not a word you can use in virtually any city near San Jose, especialy not at night. There are cities that are safer than others, but even Escazu or Santa Ana (two of the safest IMO) have muggings and the occasional incident.

However, safety and rental prices are diametrically opposed. The safer you are, the more you will pay in rent. You could live out in the boondocks, but then it's a lot harder to get around without a car.

And cars are *EXPENSIVE* in Costa Rica. expect to pay 2x the price you would pay for the car in the US. Even junkers. And parts are not cheap either, so buying a junker won't save you a lot of money.

$20,000 a year is an ok salary for costa rica. That's about what most english speaking costa rican's at high end call centers. A laborer will likely make 1/3 of that if he's lucky.

I'll tell you, you can make more money here working under the table as an english speaker than you will working legitimately. You'd make the same salary, but not pay taxes. Not that i'm advocating that, of course, but i know lots of people in that boat.

Expect to pay $400-600 a month for a small apartment in a "safe" neighborhood. If you want to sacrifice some safety, you can get down to as little as $150 or $200 (but they likely won't have garages). If you can survive on Rice and Beans with the occasional meat thrown in, you can get by pretty cheaply on food, but if you want imported american things.. (Mac & Cheese, Campbel's soup, Kellog's cereal) then it's going to be more expensive than living in the states food wise.

Gas, if you do get a car, is roughly 1.5-2x the price as it is in the states. When Gas was $4.00 a gallon in the US it was about $5.50 here, and now that gas has gone down to $2.xx a gallon it's about $3.50 a gallon here.

If you can get your company to fly you out every so often, you can pick up sundries back in the states... When i'm home, I stock up on Advil, cold medicines, vitamins, etc... and buy clothes, all of which are usually more expensive here in Costa Rica than in the states, though values can be found at the discount shops if you're willing to look for them.

Companies think the cost of living here is cheaper because they can pay Costa Rican's so much less, but Americans wanting to live the standard of living their used to, it's more expensive than back home.

This topic has been discussed ad finitum. I personally couldn't live anywhere on $20,000/yr. If you plan on living solo and not sharing any expenses, I believe it would be difficult. Think about...housing and food alone would take up half of that budget, easily. Even a studio apartment in Barrio Mexico (the ghetto, not a safe and friendly place) would blow up the budget. So, given that housing and food would take up half the budget (probably more but let's be optimistic), that leaves $10K for the rest of the year. That's $833 remaining for the rest of the month (you mentioned taxes, I'm not figuring taxes. Obviously much less if you consider taxes.) and we haven't talked utilities/taxis and miscellaneous items. Then, the entertainment that you desire.

I know after this post, you will get a throng of people who say it can be done easily. Great for them. I just know I couldn't do it. As for a safe place outside of San Jose....I'm perfectly happy with Cartago.

dapanz1

I think I would forget about wanting a car. It would be too much of a hassle especially if it breaks. You don't say your level of Spanish. But when a Tico mechanic sees a gringo with a broken car.........CHA CHA CHING!!!! and the slot machine hits!

Cartago, is a great idea. I like Heredia. As an English speaker, you could also moonlight. Living there, you will have a better oppty to meet non pro regular chicas eliminating some other expenses(as DR & KL).

PURA VIDA!

_________________
Livin' & Lovin' in Key Largo....oh....And the one in The Keys, too!

But you're a Tica and don't have to pay for pu*sy (or do you?), that might eat up half his budget.

I was talking about ChronicRelief's budget not your novios. Beaner are you now or formerly a working chica? I've met several at the HDR that also worked at call centers.

Is your novio gringo? Sounds like he has a good income if only 10% keeps you happy.

I probably live on 12 - 15k per year but I live pretty simple...

you sound young, so go for it, worse thing is to be old and have to have things perfectly or it just won't work... try it, if you don't like it you can always go home..

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I know nothing, nothing!

Beaner,

Yes, I know average call center jobs pay what you mention, I said specifically high end call center jobs (and they do exist). And yes, experience helps in that matter.

$300 a week is typical in high end call center jobs, which comes out to about $1600 a year, but then when you add in Aguinaldo (an extra $1200), vacation pay (if you get any, some places do follow the law), Overtime, Caja, etc.. it's closer to $20k

But the point is, $20k is not a lot if you want to live a gringo lifestyle. Rice and Beans is a metaphor. No, not literally always rice and beans, but rice and beans will make up a large part of a frugal costa rican diet because they're cheap and filling. Why else is the national dish Gallo Pinto?

You can live a little better on the same sallary if you sacrifice a few things. No cable or Internet, for instance. And if you walk everywhere or get a bike (but honestly, you hvae to be kind of crazy to ride a bike in this country). A scooter might be an affordable option. Just don't go expecting a Chica to get on the back

Thanks for the responses, especially the detailed ones! I know this topic has been discussed many times so I apologize, but us guys asking these questions always need the most up to date info from the locals.

More about me. I'm 35 and technically uneducated, but "techie" educated. I don't have a college degree or any certification, but I'll be headed to CR for 4-12 months to train a new team of admins. Most likely only for 3-4 weeks this time though. With so many IT jobs moving down to CR lately, its only a matter of time before my job would go too...probably within the next 3 years. With the high cost of living in CA, I pretty much live paycheck to paycheck right now and my rent is $1400/mo for a 1 bdrm apt. With the major things listed below among other things, my monthly expenses are about $2700.

- gas guzzler car, payments and insurance
- 1 bedroom apt in gated community
- cable tv
- high speed cable internet
- cellphone with data
- food, but i am already used to eating cheap

I'm hoping that CR might offer me an opportunity to live a similiar lifestyle for less, but also allow me to afford college. I figure if I can live a little better for the next 5-10 years and get an education out of it, I can always come back to the states to make money and travel to CR to visit until I'm ready to retire there.

I'm looking forward to the mongering experience, but its not my main reason for wanting to move. I'm just looking for an opportunity at a better life. If I end up getting laid off in a few years, it may be a little difficult to get another job quick because while I'm capable, I dont have a degree or certs, just lots of really valuable experience.

My options are:
1) Look for a new, higher paying job in the US now when most companies are cutting back. I could certainly command more salary, but the risk of
of moving to a new job that will also be offshored is high right now in my field.
2) Transfer to CR with my current company at my current job, but salary adjusted for cost of living in CR, about $20k. This would allow me to still be in bottom management and more income than the average tico. Then I wouldn't have to worry about being laid off anytime soon because the success rate of the project in the long run would almost be guaranteed.
3) Look for a new job in the US that allows 100% telecommuting. It may pay significantly less than I'm currently making, but may be twice as much as my salary if I transfer to CR with my current job. I'm not sure how this one would be possible legally though. I'm thinking I'd have to be in CR is a tourist and leave for 72hrs every 90 days and figure that into my work schedule. So many times have I thought of doing this one here in the US....live in the mountains and telecommute as long as I had high speed internet. Then cost of living would work out with lower pay.


MadGerman, I'm totally open to earning extra cash as an english speaker, hook me up buddy! $400-$600/mo rent for a safe sounds good to me. I'm street smart, and can deal with walking around on the streets and running from a mob if I have to, but having to deal with buglaries at home would piss me off. My current rent is slightly more than 1 paycheck as it is now. Is $600 enough to comfortably live and possibly save anything for the other necessities? I'd like to own a car eventually down there, but am not planning on it for the first year if I were to move. I guess I'm not too concerned with trying to live American in CR. I know how to eat cheap and not glued to american brand names. I'd actually enjoy living like a tico, but being a stranger from another country not knowing anyone, you gotta pay for the extra safety until you get to know the people and how things work.

As far as my spanish, I took the usual 2 yrs of required foreign language classes in highschool. I live in an area where at least half of the things are usually marked in both english and spanish. I haven't practiced speaking spanish in years so I know I gotta brush up but I'm confident I can learn quick. Right now I'd say that you'd think I'm an embarrassing broken-spanish-gringo-tourist who took spanish back in highschool and slept through half the classes.

Cartago...will research further
Heredia...will research further

If you need Cartago info, PM me. The only drawback, if you want to call it one, is that it takes 30 minutes on a good day to get to downtown SJ. On a bad day..who the f' knows. After the typical rush hour traffic on any day, it usually only takes 30 minutes.

dapanz1

Dapanz1,

what time does the bus stop running to Cartago? I always meet fine Ticas from there? Worth a look. Moravia too.


PURA VIDA!

_________________
Livin' & Lovin' in Key Largo....oh....And the one in The Keys, too!

Dapanz1, thanks for the kind offer but after looking at the map, it looks like unfortunately I need to be on the west side of SJ. My office will be in Heredia where all the other megamart companies are.

I looked at some rentals in Cartago on craigslist and the view in the area is awesome. Looks like the less city/more suburb that I want, but unfortunately its too far from work.

I'm starting to look at Heredia and Ecsazu. I don't mind riding the bus, but for work I'll have to carry a laptop....he shorter the trip, the better.

The barios of La Garia (sp?) and Los Colegios in Moravia, and Los Jardines in Tibas all have middle class Tico neighborhoods (i.e., very few gringos).

The same housing goes for about 60% of what you would pay in Escazu. (There won't be the very top end Escazu options--but it doesn't look like that's in your near future anyway).

These are all prettty safe neighborhoods (as good as you can get in CR).

They are essentially located between Heredia and downtown SJ. Public transportation by bus or taxi to either location is straightforward.

Good Luck on you seach.

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