Costa Rica

We've got a lot going on right now that I will eventually get in the blog, but the thing I am most excited about is...Costa Rica!

My success coach told me about this program, so I had to check it out myself. Ed Mercer is the largest (I think) land developer in Costa Rica. He is currently developing 3,000 lots around his private home.

The basics are this:
- Lots start at $60K USD (1/4 acre and up)
- 2 bedroom / 2 bath custom-built luxury home, fully furnished costs $190K USD
- The development will rent your home out for you when you aren't there for only 10% of the gross rent
- If you put 20% down ($50K) and get a 30-year mortgage for the rest, you can cash flow about $10K per year, after ALL expenses (including mortgage)
- Appreciation in this area has been averaging 30-35% per year for the past 5 years
- In March, Costa Rica announced a new international airport with the longest runway in Costa Rica will ge going in about 20 minutes from this development
- You have a place to stay if you ever want to vacation in Costa Rica (who wouldn't?)

We (Rebecca and I) are excited about going down to Costa Rica later this fall and checking everything out. We will go either in later September or November (October is the worst part of the rainy season).

We had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a 3-year price freeze on lot/house combinations in this development - no limit on the number! With current appreciation rates (and I don't expect them to slow anytime soon because the airport opens in 2010), this could be worth a LOT of money.

Ed Mercer said that anyone who comes down with us when we look at property will have the opportunity to get that same price freeze as well if they purchase property. The employees that we with him could not believe he agreed to that (they couldn't believe he did any price freeze in the first place).

If you are interested in learning more, check out http://www.best-costa-rica-real-estate.com. If you are interested in going down with us (we already have several people that are coming) in order to potentially get a 3-year price freeze, let us know ASAP. We will let you know dates as soon as we do (probably by first week of August).

There's lots of other cool things like very healthy environment, very healthy food, no taxes on capital gains & income (some additional work required here), and just a beautiful spot to vacation (from what I hear), but I expect to know much more about those things after venturing down there.