Buying, Building and Selling a Dream in
Costa Rica
By Neta Talmor
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| It’s been almost 4 years
since we came to Costa Rica and a year since we opened our luxury boutique
hotel. I always wanted to own and manage my own business and over the years
I have had many entrepreneurial ideas, but the idea of building and managing
a small hotel, was always one of my favorites. I didn’t know where I would
do it, but I knew it had to be in a place other than my home country; somewhere
different, where everything is wonderfully new and exotic, and where I
could make my dream become reality.
In our quest for the ideal place
to open a hotel, we went online, to books and to friends, and started doing
research. We were considering Greece, the United States, Spain, France,
Italy and Cyprus, to name a few, but in each there was a problem that wouldn’t
allow us to realize our dream. In some countries a foreigner can’t buy
land, in others, legal immigration was basically impossible or very difficult,
and if that wasn't enough, then it was simply too expensive for our budget.
And then my sister-in-law and brother-in-law
mentioned Costa Rica. They first came to Costa Rica 7 years ago for their
honeymoon, and wanted to buy land and move there ever since. Once we heard
about Costa Rica, all the other countries we were considering became irrelevant.
Everything about Costa Rica sounded exactly like what we were looking for
– a very open country for foreign investment, a stable and peaceful democracy,
a relatively easy language to learn (Spanish), a country whose tourism
became its number one export, a country that arguably has the best weather
in the world, and, did I mention that it is one of the most beautiful countries
in the world, with rain forests, volcanoes, beaches and prolific wildlife
all within an area smaller than the size of West Virginia? |
| Few nations are more dynamic
than is Costa Rica. There are volcanos that tourists go to watch
erupt; each night creating a spectacle that is worthy of an academy
award. Pristine beaches, a cultured capital city, almost every
climatic zone one could ask for, from tropical beaches to mountain ranches
with refreshingly cool mountain breezes. Costa Rica has it all! |
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So we decided to come to Costa Rica
and see if everything we have heard about this country was true. It took
us only a few days to realize it was even better than what we could have
imagined – we didn’t take into account how nice and friendly the Ticos
(that’s how the Costa Ricans call themselves) would be, and how overwhelmingly
beautiful and green the country was. We met with several real estate brokers
and were shown properties all over the country, but it was actually the
first property we were shown that caught our attention and hearts. After
traveling for over 3 more weeks seeing dozens of other properties, we returned
to the first property and bought it shortly after.
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All the legal matters were done
by a recommended local lawyer (who spoke no English, but by then I already
spoke a little Spanish and we had another person who helped translate),
who is still our lawyer and whom we consider a dear friend (and how many
people can say that about their lawyer…). By law, any foreigner can buy
and own properties in Costa Rica, as well as establish companies (what
is called a Sociedad Anonima), and all properties are clearly and accurately
registered in the National Registry (Regisrto Nacional), to avoid any problems
over property ownerships and sizes. The immigration process took about
a year, and we are now legal residents of Costa Rica, based on investment
in tourism.
Since there was no house on the 7.5
acre property, we rented a small house in the near by town of Puriscal.
We found a local architect and started working on the design of the hotel
and our house. It was very important for us to work only with local people
and buy as much local materials as possible, as we believe it makes all
the difference in terms of the positive impact foreigners and foreign investment
can make on a country, not to mention all the friends we have made and
respect we earned from the local community.
The construction of the first stage,
which included our house (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a living room), the
reception, the kitchen and the hotel’s dining room, took about 8 months
to finish, and a little over a year since we first came to Costa Rica.
These were very important months for us, as we tried to be very involved
in the construction, and every day was full of surprises and new things
to learn. Mastering Spanish turned out to be one of our greatest challenges,
but generally speaking it is an easy language to learn, and we were able
to communicate freely with the locals after a few months.By the end of
the first stage of the construction, I knew my Spanish was pretty good,
because I knew Spanish words related to the construction which I don’t
even know how to say in English! |
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When our house was finished, we
moved in and started planning the second stage of the construction, which
included 5 different small houses (Casitas), each with 2 Junior Suite rooms
(the hotel has a total of 10 Junior Suites), and the pool. It was a very
difficult challenge to place all the Casitas on the property, because we
wanted to position them within our mango plantation, but without cutting
any mango trees. At the end, we had to cut two trees, but we did everything
possible to protect all the other trees, including leaving one of the mangos
inside the terrace of one of the Casitas and through its roof.
We lived in the house while the construction
of the Casitas and pool was going on and I loved every minute of it! I
am not an especially creative person, but I found the construction and
everything related to it to be a very creative activity. By the time we
built the second stage of the construction, I already had some experience
in building in Costa Rica, so I was “smarter” and the construction went
more smoothly than the first stage. Even so, the Casitas and pool took
about 9 months to build, and it took us 3 more months after that to finish
all the details in the rooms and the landscaping and to be able to officially
open the hotel for guests. We wanted to create a boutique hotel that combines
the personal services found in exclusive Bed and Breakfasts with the luxury
and amenities found in luxury hotels. Each Junior Suite has a private bath
with a Jacuzzi for two, as well as Satellite TV, DVD player and a refrigerator,
to name a few things. Our food is excellent and is a combination of home
cooking and gourmet world cuisine. All and all it took us about 2.5 years
from the time we first came to Costa Rica until we opened the hotel.
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Although the hotel has been open
for only less than a year, we have already established professional relationships
with some of the best travel agencies in Costa Rica and abroad, we already
appear in the new editions of 2 guide books to Costa Rica (Moon handbook
and The New Key to Costa Rica), we have had several articles written about
us in local and international newspapers, and our unparalleled reputation
is growing by the minute on online travel message boards (for example Fodor’s
online) and by word of mouth.
In the last 4 years, we became, what
our local friends like to call, “medio Ticos” (=half Costa Ricans). Although
we have not adopted the very common custom of eating rice and beans 3 times
a day (like most Ticos do!), we have embraced many other aspects of the
Tico life style, and mainly that of living the Pura Vida (=pure life, a
popular expression that means the desire to live an easy, hassle-free life).
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We wake up naturally every day at
5:15 in the morning, to walk the dogs and welcome the workers (the work
day in the “campo,” the country side, starts at 6:00AM). The hour between
6:00AM and 7:00AM is my favorite time of the day, when the sun is still
low and the shades of green of the mountains seen from the balcony are
spectacular. Two kinds of toucans can usually be seen early in the morning
from the balcony as well. By the time the guests come up for breakfast,
we usually already get a great deal of our daily activity done and we are
free to serve the guests and try to make their vacation as wonderful as
possible. During the mornings I usually take care of reservations and emails,
and my spouse, who is an artist, works on his art. By late afternoon, the
guests who went on day trips (we are located at a convenient distance to
some of Costa Rica’s most famous attractions) or new guests that check
in, arrive back at the hotel, and we prepare for our family style dinner,
which we usually try and join the guests for. Most guests are tired pretty
early from all their activities, and so are we, and it is not uncommon
for us to go to sleep as early as 9:00PM. |
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All our employees are from the near
by village of San Pablo de Turrubares, and most of them are women, who
never worked for a salary before. We became very close to our employees,
and we are very involved in their lives and the life of the community in
San Pablo. We try to help as much as we can in many ways – empowering our
workers, giving small loans, teaching English, free art classes for children
in the local school, donating money and other things to schools and local
fund raisers etc. These are all small things for us, and they really do
make a difference in the lives of the community. When we first came we
thought we would perhaps make an impact on the community, but we didn’t
imagine the wonderful impact our employees and community would have on
us.
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We are now interested
in selling the hotel, as we are a young couple and we are ready to move
on to our next adventure – starting a family. We would like to do that
closer to our extended family and we believe it will be very difficult
to run the hotel with small children running around. We love the hotel
dearly, and also the life we have created for ourselves here, and it will
be harder than we care to imagine to leave our dream and our friends, but
we are sure there are other couples who would love to make the hotel their
home, run it themselves and experience the wonderful and fulfilling life
that Costa Rica has to offer. As every single one of our guests will testify,
this is a truly unique place, and we know of no other such property in
Costa Rica, for sale or otherwise.
For more information regarding the
hotel check out the hotel’s website at www.costaricafinca.com
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http://www.costaricafinca.com/sale
for details about buying the hotel.
If you have any questions or would
like any more information, do not hesitate to contact us by email at: inquiry@costaricafinca.com
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