01 September, 2004

It's Election time...register to vote!

La Nueva Casita
After living here for now 2 years and having been in the real estate business, we've come to the realization that there is a significant shortage of quality rental homes. So we've decided to build another home on the hill across from ours. It will be a smaller 2 bedroom home with 2 individual 'outdoor' bathrooms, a large terrace overlooking the jungle and ocean and a tropical swimming pool.

People ask us why we don't build more houses or bungalows on the second hill. The reason is simple: what makes it so special here is the peace and tranquility - and that is what we will be offering to our guests. Our aim is to offer a true retreat - without neighbors!

Construction started in June and is expected to be completed by the end of September. Our expected 'ready for use' date should be by mid December at the latest - ready for the Christmas / Spring tourist season.

The house will be made of cement walls, with wooden ceilings throughout. Each bedroom will have ceiling fans, 4 poster beds, mosquito nets and amazing oceanviews overlooking the rainforest canopy. The kitchen / dining area will be open an design with only the adjoining bedroom walls on each side. Each bathroom has real hot water (no suicide showers!), nice Spanish tiles and opens to a private garden with spectacular canopy views behind. The house will come equipped with telephone and Internet access. There will not be television.

The pool is still in imaginary mode right now. But we are meeting with the pool builder next week to discuss possible ideas. The current idea is to have a 'natural' looking pool with large boulders, waterfall and lots of lush plants surrounding it. Of course, one side will be open to take advantage of the seaviews. No, we are not doing an infinity pool...as everyone asks us - but we are doing a different concept - a different variation of an infinity pool.

More friendly visits
Since we are now more and more settled down, we've been lucky to have an increase in visits from friends. The little guest house near our house is habitable - yet the bathroom is still shared with us (we'll get to it we promise!) The following folks have stayed with us in the past 6 months: Gregory & Anna, Christophe, Nia, Francois & Erin, Jake & Diane & Richard and THE Andrew Rhee. Actually, most of these friends have been here at least twice now - some more!

Welcome to Greg and Anna
So here we are in the far edge of the world - in a 3rd world country - in a very different life...and yet...quite encouragingly...we are not the only ones who like it here! Gregory and Anna, friends from Miami who have moved back to France for the past 3 years, have decided to join us in the quest for a simpler, perhaps more meaningful lifestyle. Just last week, they arrived and are now settling down. They purchased a lovely Caribbean style home in need of some TLC that they will renovate while they look for their 'dream piece'.

Our mutual friends, Francois & Erin and Andrew have also purchased some property near us and will also be a part of Life in Punta Uva. They all currently live in Miami and have been taking frequent trips to Costa Rica - each time bringing along with them a stack of DVDs (including the Sopranos) and other goodies for us to enjoy on rainy days (we chose not to have television). Thanks so much!

Maya's daycare buddy from Miami, Jake, and his parents have also decided to purchase a vacation home in Manzanillo. They will be down over the Christmas holidays to start working on their new home.

So much can be said for discovering a unique area, telling your friends about it and having them move down with you. We are so grateful to all of our friends who have shared our dream and have chosen to join us in it! Very Pura Vida!!!

The state of real estate
It has now been a year and a half ago that we decided to venture into the real estate business. We realized that there were not any professional real estate agencies in our area - while the rest of the country is flooded with them. So our first nine months in business was a bit uneventful, but the last 9 months have been anything but slow, as we have been significantly much busier than we expected. We have closed on over 15 properties and are presently under contract for several others. Our company is growing very fast and we are now in the process of hiring additional help and looking for an office space in town.

It is work, but it has been lots of fun. When we show potential clients a piece of land, whether it is a beach lot or large rainforest piece, there is a constant reminder that this is the office: the beautiful outdoors, hiking and meeting fun and interesting people. Sometimes we find ourselves working all day, seven days a week, but again, we are having a blast - and much prefer this to sitting in an office in front of the computer all day and then having to deal with some rush hour traffic.

With the current worldwide political, social and economicproblems, and the peaceful, back to basics lifestyle in Costa Rica, people's interest and desires for a new life in Costa Rica has been on the increase.

You may visit our site at www.caribesur-realestate.com.

...and finally - the Elections
OK folks, if you know us, you'd know that we are very tempted to use this page to communicate our feelings and thoughts on the current administration's policies, both domestic and international. We will try to limit that - for now!

All we'd like to say - is that this upcoming election is certainly the most important one in our lifetimes - and it is critical for everyone to really make an educated decision as to whom they will vote for. A recent national survey showed that 91% of Americans are worse off today than they were 4 years ago, yet more than 50% would vote for the current president. Our message to those who are worse off today, but would vote for Bush (or if you know someone), is to look past the fear of terrorism and the false message of security that the Bush administration is using and make every effort to really understand how another 4 years of Bush policies would affect the long term future of the US, the world and the future of your children.

Whatever your views are - please make sure that you and everyone you now - goes out and VOTEs on election day...because it has never been truer that every vote counts (at least we continue to hope so!).

 

 

 Punta Uva beaches