Any traders living in Costa Rica
- Thread starter WhiteOut56
- Start date
JBahn/Brad
Do you know much have property prices dropped since the peak in 2007/08?
I understand there was a massive rise in prices between 1193 and 2008 so that a nice house would cost $300k-$400k, not so cheap any more.
I guess if I was looking to buy I would look somewhere near the coast (Peninsula Papagayo!) or Escazu near San Jose. But that's based purely on my brief visit and based on what I've read.
Really need to pay another visit...
Do you know much have property prices dropped since the peak in 2007/08?
I understand there was a massive rise in prices between 1193 and 2008 so that a nice house would cost $300k-$400k, not so cheap any more.
I guess if I was looking to buy I would look somewhere near the coast (Peninsula Papagayo!) or Escazu near San Jose. But that's based purely on my brief visit and based on what I've read.
Really need to pay another visit...
"Bradrholt - I am not sure about Cartago, but many places have cable internet now which is MUCH more reliable than ICE. Where I am (Papagayo area) we have the choice of Amnet or CableTica. Both only offer speeds of up to 4megs and both are priced within a few dollars of each other. I find I have fairly reliable up time. Its the electricity that I dont trust."
Reply - I hear ya there. I have heard the Papagayo area gets hot in the summer with no rain. How do you like it there. In the hills, the services are not to competitive, but its coming. I am not sure about the DSL speeds, but at least it is better than dail up. When we first bought the farm, we had no telephone took three years to get that, so we are moving up in the world.
We bought the farm near Orosi, Costa Rica about 12 years ago now. We put a house on it as well as some nice gardens. My parents live down there and take care of things while my brother and I continue our careers. I plan on retiring down there when it is time.
"brad - do you actively grow beans? If so, I was reading a piece the other day that said exports in coffee were significantly down. As you know, the presence of accurate journalism here is ofter kind of scarce.
If you are growing, I was curious what your take on it was."
Reply - We do grow coffee on the farm. SHB Arabica beans. Right now we sell to a beneficiary that export mostly to Starbucks and other roaster in the US. As far as exports, I know the supply of coffee has been down a bit, but what I have seen is that the demand is up as China is now drinking coffee, and there is a lot of demand there if you know what I mean. I was in a Coffee Break Out trade for a bit, but the swings were gut wrenching so I have been out for a while, I think I made 20 or so cents.
When we bought the farm coffee was trading about .50 cents a lbs. now I think it is somewhere around 2.00, so we are doing fine there. As far as making a lot of money, we basically have a farm administrator and a housekeeper that we employ with the money we make from the farm.
"Do you export coffee? I presume someone runs the business on your behalf whilst your trade from another location...
Was thinking of importing some beans to sell in the UK."
Reply â Sorry we sell to the Beneficiary, that processes the beans and then sells them. The beneficiary pays us for the beans and that is the end of our business. Look for SHB Costa Rican coffee and there might be some of ours in there. Starbucks generally buys most of the coffee from this place. Do you Roast? I used to roast coffee a while back.
"Do you know much have property prices dropped since the peak in 2007/08?
I understand there was a massive rise in prices between 1193 and 2008 so that a nice house would cost $300k-$400k, not so cheap any more.
I guess if I was looking to buy I would look somewhere near the coast (Peninsula Papagayo!) or Escazu near San Jose. But that's based purely on my brief visit and based on what I've read.
Really need to pay another visit..."
Reply â We bought the farm at a good time. Not at the beginning, but in the middle of the boom. Basically there are two economies, one for Ticoâs and one for Gringoâs. We were lucky as we have some tico friends that helped s look for the right place and got a Tico price for it.
I travel down there at least once a year for a month. I am looking forward to getting back there as much as I can.
Reply - I hear ya there. I have heard the Papagayo area gets hot in the summer with no rain. How do you like it there. In the hills, the services are not to competitive, but its coming. I am not sure about the DSL speeds, but at least it is better than dail up. When we first bought the farm, we had no telephone took three years to get that, so we are moving up in the world.
We bought the farm near Orosi, Costa Rica about 12 years ago now. We put a house on it as well as some nice gardens. My parents live down there and take care of things while my brother and I continue our careers. I plan on retiring down there when it is time.
"brad - do you actively grow beans? If so, I was reading a piece the other day that said exports in coffee were significantly down. As you know, the presence of accurate journalism here is ofter kind of scarce.
If you are growing, I was curious what your take on it was."
Reply - We do grow coffee on the farm. SHB Arabica beans. Right now we sell to a beneficiary that export mostly to Starbucks and other roaster in the US. As far as exports, I know the supply of coffee has been down a bit, but what I have seen is that the demand is up as China is now drinking coffee, and there is a lot of demand there if you know what I mean. I was in a Coffee Break Out trade for a bit, but the swings were gut wrenching so I have been out for a while, I think I made 20 or so cents.
When we bought the farm coffee was trading about .50 cents a lbs. now I think it is somewhere around 2.00, so we are doing fine there. As far as making a lot of money, we basically have a farm administrator and a housekeeper that we employ with the money we make from the farm.
"Do you export coffee? I presume someone runs the business on your behalf whilst your trade from another location...
Was thinking of importing some beans to sell in the UK."
Reply â Sorry we sell to the Beneficiary, that processes the beans and then sells them. The beneficiary pays us for the beans and that is the end of our business. Look for SHB Costa Rican coffee and there might be some of ours in there. Starbucks generally buys most of the coffee from this place. Do you Roast? I used to roast coffee a while back.
"Do you know much have property prices dropped since the peak in 2007/08?
I understand there was a massive rise in prices between 1193 and 2008 so that a nice house would cost $300k-$400k, not so cheap any more.
I guess if I was looking to buy I would look somewhere near the coast (Peninsula Papagayo!) or Escazu near San Jose. But that's based purely on my brief visit and based on what I've read.
Really need to pay another visit..."
Reply â We bought the farm at a good time. Not at the beginning, but in the middle of the boom. Basically there are two economies, one for Ticoâs and one for Gringoâs. We were lucky as we have some tico friends that helped s look for the right place and got a Tico price for it.
I travel down there at least once a year for a month. I am looking forward to getting back there as much as I can.
Thanks for the insights Brad
I have so many questions but an internet forum isn't really the best place for it...I heard great things about Orosi Valley...
Did you set up multiple monitors and the like at the farm? That would be pretty cool trading coffee based on real time crop reports!
I'd probably not be brave enough to buy a farm without some local knowledge, more likely I'd end up paying top dollar for a luxury condo.
I have so many questions but an internet forum isn't really the best place for it...I heard great things about Orosi Valley...
Did you set up multiple monitors and the like at the farm? That would be pretty cool trading coffee based on real time crop reports!
I'd probably not be brave enough to buy a farm without some local knowledge, more likely I'd end up paying top dollar for a luxury condo.
I suppose just to balance up this thread with some cons, perhaps we should mention that economically there are some risks in Costa Rica...
The currency seems to be in a permanent state of depreciation with regularly high inflation. There is a very big social security safety net, and since the credit crunch that seems to have exacerbated some of the structural deficits. Of course CR is not alone here, you could say the same about many of the so called 'developed' economies. And taxes seem reasonable, I suppose it depends on what the tax authorities consider to be 'foreign earned income' when you are sitting at a desk in CR trading using an IB account based outside of CR. I am non-US national so would not be impacted by the US claim to worldwide earnings.
Presumably you guys hold most of your savings in non local currency. Do you hold the bulk of your wealth in US dollars and do the local banks allow you to hold other currencies? Would the local banks hold physical gold on your behalf in their vaults? I notice that HSBC bought up a local bank fairly recently. The idea of being forced to hold local CR currency which is losing 10% of its value against the US dollar each year is not so appealing, and I think there is some requirement to hold local currency if you want to become a resident.
For me I think the appeal of Costa Rica would be as a second or third(!) home, somewhere to visit for two or three months when the weather elsewhere gets too cold. But maybe I have a rather ignorant view looking on as an outsider...
The currency seems to be in a permanent state of depreciation with regularly high inflation. There is a very big social security safety net, and since the credit crunch that seems to have exacerbated some of the structural deficits. Of course CR is not alone here, you could say the same about many of the so called 'developed' economies. And taxes seem reasonable, I suppose it depends on what the tax authorities consider to be 'foreign earned income' when you are sitting at a desk in CR trading using an IB account based outside of CR. I am non-US national so would not be impacted by the US claim to worldwide earnings.
Presumably you guys hold most of your savings in non local currency. Do you hold the bulk of your wealth in US dollars and do the local banks allow you to hold other currencies? Would the local banks hold physical gold on your behalf in their vaults? I notice that HSBC bought up a local bank fairly recently. The idea of being forced to hold local CR currency which is losing 10% of its value against the US dollar each year is not so appealing, and I think there is some requirement to hold local currency if you want to become a resident.
For me I think the appeal of Costa Rica would be as a second or third(!) home, somewhere to visit for two or three months when the weather elsewhere gets too cold. But maybe I have a rather ignorant view looking on as an outsider...
You forgot the part about where Ticos view residential and personal property theft against gringos as their god-given right. D
what's to do in costa rica besides eat mangos in your wifebeater? sounds incredibly B-O-R-I-N-G.
i think some of you are fooling yourselves that your living "the dream" but actually are freaking bored out-your-mind
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...1t:429,r:33,s:28&tx=17&ty=67&biw=1249&bih=954
i think some of you are fooling yourselves that your living "the dream" but actually are freaking bored out-your-mind
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...1t:429,r:33,s:28&tx=17&ty=67&biw=1249&bih=954
As Jbahn said CR is not for type A personalities. After living in Manhattan off and on for the past 16 years I would love a boring place. Living in the mountains on a coffee farm, trading from there sounds just great...
all of this is in FLA + great bars & lavish lifestyle.
if your such a successful rich trader why are you looking for cheap existence??
how many yellow lambo's do you see driving streets of San Jose?
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...DiCQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0
why don't you see any?? not ONE.
you want to live life one step out a jungle like some primitive?
don't need $ for that.
all costa rica is BS, imo