The Costa Rica Real Estate Expert

Costa Rica is well known for its eco-tourism, and for the most part, Costa Rica has done an exceptional job when it comes to being a leader in protecting its precious environment.  It started years ago when Costa Rica truly came onto the global scene as a hotspot for eco-tourism (still a popular niche in the tourism industry), and continues today as Costa Rica is one of four countries in a race to be the first to go carbon neutral (the other three countries are New Zealand, Iceland, and Norway).

That’s why it is not surprising to find a real estate development in Costa Rica that has adopted a firm stance on protecting the environment.  In fact, in my opinion, it should be odd to find a Costa Rican development that does NOT take a strong stance.  Of course, I don’t rule the world yet!

The development that I am speaking of is Las Colinas de Miramar in the Central Pacific of Costa Rica, a Certified Green Worldwide development.  The Certified Green Worldwide designation is a 12-point protocol that mandates comprehensive environmental safeguards:

1. Protection of wildlife habitats while allowing for recreation.
2. Protection of wetlands, natural water courses and aquifer regeneration areas.
3. Soil erosion safeguards; both during road building, construction, and occupation.
4. Utility operations, site specific or municipal, to contain contamination retention features for ground water protection.
5. Development plans consistent with local mandates, inputs and requirements.
6. Maintenance of natural geologic contours.
7. No construction on sites with a slope greater than 40 degrees.
8. Density restrictions; based on a formula of slope and wet land proximity.
9. View shed protections including project height standards.
10. Construction to use low wattage consumption by electric appliances and fixtures, insulated windows and walls using passive solar techniques, and recycling to reduce the carbon footprint.  Potential solar electrical generation may become additional options.
11. Encourage community related sustainable economic development though the use of locally produced building materials and local labor.
12. Good Corporation Citizenship.

As an aspiring Eco-broker, it gladdens me to work with a developer so dedicated to protecting the environment.  That is why I am going to do my part by purchasing carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org.   I am promising that for each Phase 1 lot I sell in Las Colinas de Miaramar, I will buy enough carbon offsets to make a medium sized home (1500-2499 sq ft) carbon neutral for one year.

So what can you do to make better take care of our Earth?

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If any of you have ever even remotely considered or inquired into real estate in the Central Pacific - especially around Jaco - then you most probably have been told by one or several people about the Caldera Highway.

Now, they may not have called it the Caldera Highway, but I’m sure that they talked of a new highway that was being built that would shorten the drive from San Jose by half - going from about a 2 1/2 hour drive down to a 1 hour drive.

Sound familiar?

Then you may have also heard about how it has been years since this highway was started, and the local joke was that “yes, the highway will be finished - someday.”

Well in case you hadn’t heard, thankfully it appears as if the wait is coming to an end.  After what appeared to be years, the residents and investors of Costa Rica were fed up and put pressure on the government to “finish the Caldera, or stop promising it.”

The result has been for the government to put their foot down and set some strict rules with the contractor.  Now, the contractor has a strict deadline which they must meet, or suffer strict fines.

And that deadline?  About 2 years from now.

Well, better late than never…

Will it be like this..

or this.. 

Just jokes!  I’m confident it will be great when completed.

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Growing up in freezing, cold winters in a small rural town just outside the bustling metropolis of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the only way I can explain my fascination with all things tropical

Ever since I can remember, I dreamed of beaches, palm trees, coconuts, waves, and warmth.  My favorite foods are all exotic (Thai, Hawaiian).  My favorite smells (coconut sunscreen and neoprene from wetsuits) bring up visions of crystal clear waters on a cinnamon-colored, sandy beach.  Maybe that’s another reason why I’m fascinated by using exotic bamboo as a building material.

I started looking into it casually on the Internet a few years ago.  I even checked Amazon for some books on using bamboo to build structures, hoping I might find a “How To” book.  The idea of living in a tropical-looking house made of bamboo warms me and brings a silly smile to my face.

As it turns out, bamboo is also an extremely strong, renewable, and plentiful building material that has recently gained the attention that it deserves in mainstream architecture and development.    First of all, its growth rate is extraordinary - unsurpassed by any of the typical timber competitors.

Bamboo is also a superior building material when it comes to standing up to earthquakes.  Brick and concrete buildings collapse before bamboo buildings do.

If you want to read more about the mainstreaming of bamboo in development, check out this article on Yahoo.

So now I’m curious as to what you all think of bamboo houses?  Fill out my short questionnaire below and I’ll report the results in the upcoming weeks.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

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Considering Costa Rica’s small size (about the size of West Virginia), it is quite impressive that this little country is turning out to be a major player in building positive worldwide relations.

In the past few months, the people of Costa Rica spoke and chose to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement which will promote free trade amongst numerous Central American countries, as well as Mexico, the US, and Canada.  In the past, Costa Rica and the US were already strong trade partners, but by joining CAFTA, those relations were made even stronger.

Also recently, Costa Rica and China have been meeting and speaking frequently, working to create a strong relationship between those two countries.  Both the Costa Rican president and the Chinese Prime Minister have complimented each other on their leadership and their country’s economic growth, and have expressed their excitement at their countries working together.

Even more recently, it was announced that Costa Rica established diplomatic ties with the Sultanate of Oman, a country in the southeast of Asia.  Each country pledged to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and both are devoted to the strengthening of peace and international cooperation.

All this from little Costa Rica!

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