Peoples’ motives for acquiring and moving real estate are as
varied as the myriad of listings on the market. In 2004, my former husband and
I bought tropical land with an ocean view for our future dream home. This was
done via a seminar in the US in which a group of us purchased lots in a
Canadian presented development. The land….in Ojochal near the Osa Penninsula on
the Pacific side of Costa Rica. For those a little more familiar with the area,
it is a little south of Uvita and north of Golfito.
Sometime later, one of our friends who bought at the same
time we did was having marital issues. Living in the US, it was not a good time
for him to have a lot in Costa Rica. We weren’t really interested in another
lot but bought it from him anyway as a favor. Since it was in the same phase of
the development, we figured maybe we could expand later or simply have it as an
investment property.
In 2007, we were having our own difficulties with real
estate and otherwise. We opted to list both properties with a local Canadian
real estate agency to see what kind of action we might get.
2009 saw us divorced…..our dream home definitely wasn’t to
be. An incredible journey toward the end of that year found me in Ojochal,
right near the lovely lots. Since I ended up in the area, I played around
seeing if there was a way I could make things work there on my own. What a
surprise I found when I dropped in on the real estate office that had the
listings for the 2 properties. Previously, I’d tried to find the lots on their
website. Even though I knew exactly what I was looking for, I never could find
them without the listing ID numbers. At their office, it even took them a while
to find them. They had over 700 listings and almost no buyers. No wonder we
hadn’t heard a peep from them before. The more I checked opportunities around
there, the more I got the feeling that what made the area special for me was
what I had there with my former husband. So now it was almost the opposite with
me having no desire to stay in spite of the amazing nature around. That
incredible beauty included delightful beaches, scarlet macaws, colorful beaked
toucans, dolphins, whales, howler, cappuchin and spider monkeys….that all
barely scratching the surface of wonders.
I realized when I was there, the real estate market was
pretty much dead. Since we had a non-exclusivity agreement with the RE agency,
I’d casually put ads on craigslist, ree.com and other sites here and there.
Except for an occasional inquiry, there was still no action. Now I realize if
there were houses already built on the lots, they would be an easier sell. Many people want to buy something turnkey ready. The original reason we were
buying was to find a gorgeous piece of land and create our custom home to fit
that property. We even had a number of designs dancing in our heads. That was
the draw of buying raw land for us. Since we purchased, many people have built
their own creative homes on their land. So for those who may have like the idea,
but were a little fearful of being the “pioneers”, there are many resources now
available from the ones that have paved the way.
If you are interested or a little curious about this property - for sale or trade, please email me. Thanks for "traveling" with me!
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