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Playa Tambor, Costa Rica
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Guanacaste Beach Resorts and Communities
No one would have bought into this remote community concept a decade ago but the first phase, released at the end of 2003, sold out in a year and the latest phase, released last May, sold out in a month. Private and exclusive, this is the perfect retreat for wealthy jetsetters who occupy their properties for just a few weeks each year. But it's also clear that these properties are hot investments. A detached house with large pool and two-storey atrium is on sale for $1.8m, double the price paid for it two years ago. Townhouses are selling for $840,000-$940,000 and untouched lots have trebled in value in four years. Half-acre ocean-front lots are reselling for $1 m, the amount Pattillo paid for the whole ranch 33 years ago.
"We want Pinilla to be a community, not a bank,· says sales executive Oscar Perez. But while this philosophy is admirable, the reality is that many absentee owners are waiting for properties to appreciate.
"With returns of 25-30 per cent per year it's tempting to flip properties,· says Terry Thompson, a Canadian who owns a home at Reserva Conchal, a gated community. He and his wife made a profit buying and selling their first condo within a year in late 2001, immediately re-investing $300,000 in another that is now valued at $850,000. They are building an additional house within the community and have bought two properties in a nearby town. "Condos with three bedrooms and an office that sold at pre-construction phase for $650,000-$700,000 resold for $1.1 m-1.2m in 18 months," gushes a sales agent. "Plus, while not occupied, they let for $3,500 a week."
Reserva Conchal has a bustling community feel, seven on-site restaurants, a golf course and a core population of appreciative tourists. The first phase properties - terracotta-painted villas with lush foliage and tiled roofs - were aimed at senior citizens but buyers now tend to be in their mid-30s to mid-40s and the influx of families has strengthened the community. Thompson, who has three children, says the family values the quality of life in Costa Rica, where they live for half the year. "There are nine kids their age at the resort,· he says. "They're outside from school to bedtime. The 11-year-old is out right now, golfing."
However, smaller developers and environmentalists have concerns about these residential projects. Richard Turire, long-time resident and owner of Manuel Antonio Estates, says: "Every Joe getting off the plane is a developer or a broker for a developer. The big US developers are coming in and alternative smaller, local developers are getting squeezed out."
Environmental concerns are frequently voiced. At Las Baulas National Marine Park, an important leatherback turtle nesting site at the heart of the most developed part of the Guanacaste coast, the number of nesting turtles has plummeted from about 1,500 to 57 in 20 years. Further south a new marina has sparked land sales in Golfrto and, for the first time, serious interest in the wilderness flanking Corcovado National Park.
Anke Herz of Sotheby's International Realty says: "I hope developers respect the parks and wildlife, which are valuable in the long term to Costa Rica - the reason people come. But it's all happening so fast.·
The laissez-faire attitude towards development that served Costa Ricans well in creating a tourism industry is now putting many at a distinct disadvantage. "Costa Ricans sell land that has been in their family for generations and have no way back in and that's through .Iack of education,· says Herz. "I've known land to change hands for a car - if they had known the real value of the land they'd have never sold at the price they did."
Herz's family reflects the push and pUll ofthe property market. Young, smart and bilingual, she has a good job on the back of the property boom. Her American father, a long-term resident, is alarmed by the pace of development. "He thinks the country is being destroyed. But my mother, who's Costa Rican, is excited by the new stores, services and infrastructure. She says: 'People want us to remain the indians - but why should we?'·
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