Villa Punto de VistaVilla Punto de Vista, a 10-bedroom luxury private villa situated on 2 1/2 acres of tropical reserve in Costa Rica, will be featured in the upcoming broadcast of Life's A Beach on Travel Channel. Life's A Beach focuses on real-life stories of people who left their workaday life to pursue their dream of owning a slice of heaven in a beach paradise. Viewers get an inside look at ...

Villa ParaisoWhen captain of industry Mickey Novak decided to sell his business and build his dream vacation home, he approached the project with his signature brand of intense focus. “We knew the kind of life we wanted” Novak explains. “The bigger question was, where did that lifestyle exist.” Having globe-trotted through 86 countries and after eschewing Hawaii, passing on several Caribbean ...

Waning economic growth in many countries and higher home prices further enhanced by a strengthening United States dollar resulted in a slight decline in international sales dollar volume of U.S. property over the past year and a significant retreat in buying from non-resident foreigners. This is according to an annual survey of residential purchases from international buyers released today by t...

BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) JUNE 13, 2016 - For decades, Costa Rica has been among the world’s premier retirement destinations. It’s a country that is nearly carbon neutral, sustainably producing most of its power without increasing greenhouse gasses. It’s a country with no standing army. It’s a country whose people consistently rank among the Costa Rica is Once Again the Happiest Nation According to N...

Pixabay Commons Over the last couple of decades, Tamarindo Beach has undergone an amazing transformation from sleepy beach town to a major real estate market and a haven for expats in Costa Rica. These days, Tamarindo Beach is known as one of the most attractive beach communities that make up Costa Rica’s Gold Coast, and a major reason for this distinction is that residents have easy access to...

Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste Costa Rica BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) JUNE 06, 2016 - There are a few special places on the planet—undeniable favorites with travelers, expats and retirees—that are so extraordinary, they are often described as being “heavenly” or “like paradise.” These places can be radically different from one another, but they all offer something special that seems to make them more ...

Scarlet Macaw BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) MAY 23, 2016 - When people consider retiring abroad, they most often cite as motivation the lower cost of living, escaping the worst of the North American winter, finding a more adventurous life, access to excellent, affordable healthcare. But many expats report that, once abroad, they discover a benefit they hadn’t considered in advance: a healthier lifestyl...

  "All homeowners are investors at heart" is an expression often heard in certain real estate circles, and in Costa Rica this is something that extends to the process of legal immigration. In general, foreigners and their immediate family (spouse, parents and children) can apply for residency if the applicant has investments worth USD $200,000 in Costa Rica. The types of investment shou...

According to RigthMove, the leading property search portal in the United Kingdom, searchers who are interested in real estate overseas have been looking up Costa Rica in the last few months. According to the company's overseas search report for April 2016, Costa Rica is among the Top Ten Trending Searches. Specifically, Costa Rica is at number six, above Argelès-sur-Mer in France and below Swed...

Serenity Gardens Costa Rica BriefingWire.com, 5/09/2016 - For those who dream of living with nature in Costa Rica, the Serenity Gardens Eco-Village provides a unique opportunity. An eco-village is a growing trend in green living; an international community with a focus on sustainable living. In an eco-village like Serenity Gardens, like-minded people come together to live as a community co-op....

Rescue team members wait outside a clinic that was evacuated after tremors were felt resulting from an earthquake in Ecuador, in Cali, Colombia, April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga The death toll of the powerful earthquake that devastated Ecuador and prompted Pacific tsunami alerts all the way north to Costa Rica has surpassed the 300 mark, and it includes a mother and son from Canada. ...

Flickr Commons Getting deported from Costa Rica can be a terrifying experience, but it can be managed with skilled legal representation. Deportation is one of the most potentially worrisome situations for foreigners residing in Costa Rica. The forcible removal of a person from one nation to another is a very upsetting condition that leaves individuals completely powerless over their own liv...

YouTube Commons North American and European expats who relocate to Costa Rica often consider the possibility of moving their personal items and furniture, and why not? After all, a lifetime's worth of stuff is not acquired in vain. The decision of bringing furniture and household goods to Costa Rica is very personal. Some stuff will go, but how much will be sold, gifted, donated, recycled, ...

PuntaBocana.com At Punta Bocana, we are constantly researching new and innovative technologies that fit our commitment to realize the magical combination of luxury and sustainability. In researching renewable energy options, Punta Bocana found that its Pacific Coast location could counterbalance nearly all of its energy costs through the most advanced and innovative solar system in the world t...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn Older adults who exercise regularly could buy an extra decade of good brain functioning, suggests a March 23, 2016 study by Dr. Clinton Wright, a neurologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Cool.  Jog your memory AND your body. The study found that seniors who got moderate to intense exercise retained more of their mental s...

Source: Gisele Bunchen Instagram Star NFL quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots is currently enjoying a sunny vacation in Costa Rica along with his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen. On Palm Sunday, Mr. Brady and Ms. Bundchen spent time with their children in the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, where they own a beach mansion in Playa Herradura, not far from Jaco Beach. This i...

Wikimedia Commons The decomposed body of an expatriate from the United States was removed from a luxury condominium tower located in an upscale subdivision of Escazu, a municipality located in the western suburbs of the capital city of Costa Rica. According to a report filed by Pablo Rojas of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, Red Cross volunteers assigned to Escazu confirmed that they found...

BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) MARCH 07, 2016 - Many factors come into play when considering a retirement abroad. Cost of living, prices of rents and real estate, and healthcare options are main concerns. But as more and more expats consider moving abroad for a healthier lifestyle, InternationalLiving.com added an important Healthy Lifestyle category to its 2016 Global Retirement Index. In these countries...

Beach house in Costa Rica United States cable network Home & Garden Television, better known for HGTV, chose Costa Rica for an episode of its acclaimed Beachfront Bargain Hunt reality show. Episode 3 of Season 10 takes place in Playa Nosara, a coastal community in the province of Guanacaste that is part of the Gold Coast beaches of Costa Rica.   The title of the episode is No Sh...

Source: MGP Costa Rica According to statistics reported by the Civil Registry of Costa Rica, less than 69,000 naturalized citizens were properly registered in 2014. When considering the number of foreigners living in Costa Rica under various legal statuses such as temporary residents, permanent residents and perpetual tourists, those who chose the naturalization path are the minority.  ...

Source: Palms Real Estate Costa Rica San Jose, Costa Rica, February 25, 2016 --(PR.com)-- With the announcement of a new strategic partnership, two of the top luxury real estate firms in Costa Rica have joined forces to offer their clients a broader portfolio of quality properties and services in Costa Rica. Palms International Realty, based near Los Suenos Resort and in Guanacaste, and LX Cos...

The majestic Antigua. Source: Fernando Reyes Palencia - Wikimedia Commons BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 26, 2016 - Thousands of retirees (and younger folks, too) are benefiting from a higher quality of life and a lower cost of living in places overseas where even a little goes a long, long way—whether it be filling a tank of gas, getting the week’s groceries, paying for health insurance, or mak...

Source: Wikimedia Commons One of the most common questions asked by foreign house hunters interested in the Costa Rica real estate market is: Can I bring my dogs/cats? According to the real estate professionals at RE/MAX Ocean Surf and Sun in Tamarindo Beach, the process of bringing cats and dogs to Costa Rica is not overly bureaucratic. To this effect, the United States Embassy has a Web p...

In Costa Rica, eco-friendly and sustainable construction is a 21st century concept that has undergone formalization over the last few years. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, the Green Building Council of Costa Rica (GBC-CR) adopted the EDGE green building certification system for both residential and commercial structures in May 2015. Costa Rica was the first Latin American nation t...

Rio de Janeiro Sao Paulo, Feb 16 (EFE).- Real estate prices fell between 15 percent and 20 percent in Brazil last year and the sector will remain "under pressure" until mid-2017, credit rating agency Moody's said Tuesday. Brazil's real estate industry has been in a cyclical downturn since 2012, with the slump coming after a period of rapid growth, Moody's said. The downturn has intensifi...

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) February 01, 2016 / Many factors come into play when considering a retirement abroad. Cost of living, prices of rents and real estate, and healthcare options are main concerns. But quality of life for retirees moving abroad also depends in large part on being able to fit in quickly, learn the ropes, and mix well with the locals in their adapted communities. Language, culture,...

Wikimedia Commons In recent years, the idea of Costa Rica being a very expensive country has been widely reported in news headlines. Many North American expats who moved to Costa Rica believe that this is possibly the most expensive country in the world; nonetheless, this is not an assertion held by MoveHub, an online information exchange website for professionals and families who relocate int...

Founder and Senior Partner Marcela Gurdian Earlier this year, the pretty Caribbean nation of St. Lucia in the Windward Isles officially started accepting applications for its “citizenship by investment” program. Located to the south of Martinique and more than 2,500 kilometers from Costa Rica, St. Lucia is part of the Commonwealth of Nations, and is now the latest country to offer economic cit...

PuntaBocana.com (PRWEB) January 28, 2016 - Architect Abraham Valenzuela of Costa Rica talks about his latest project: To properly describe the grandeur of the landscape and the extraordinary potential of the Bocana site, we needed to find a name that would describe both its beauty and nobility. We felt that we needed to honor the first indigenous civilizations that inhabited the area and di...

FIle photo BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) JANUARY 20, 2016 - As healthcare costs and complexity in the U.S. continue to spiral upward, more and more retirees are asking, “Can I get high-quality healthcare for less if I move overseas?” The simple answer is yes. The Healthcare category of the 2016 International Living Global Retirement Index ranks the healthcare systems of the 23 most popular retirement l...

File photo DAVOS-KLOSTERS, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Germany is viewed as the best country in the world, according to the inaugural Best Countries report, a joint rankings and analysis project of U.S. News & World Report, WPP's BAV Consulting and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Created to capture how nations are perceived on a global scale,...

Sunrise Tamarindo by Valenzuela Architecture Herredura, Costa Rica (PRWEB) January 12, 2016 - World renowned architect Abraham Valenzuela brings 35 years of architectural experience to Punta Bocana, with a reputation for fashioning exceptional homes and amazing commercial environments in the most exclusive areas of San Jose, Tamarindo, Nosara and Guanacaste, to name a few. Valenzuela’s primary...

Source: Hills of Portalon Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica – January 11, 2016 /MarketersMedia/ — The Ridges of Portalon, a micro-community of the master planned development the Hills of Portalon, announced today the upcoming sale to the public of their recently opened whitewater ocean-view lots. The Ridges of Portalon is located in Costa Rica between Dominical and Quepos/Manuel Antonio and is antici...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn Costa Rica is called by many “The Happiest Place on Earth”, including the Happy Planet Index which rated us #1 in 2015, and the U.N.’s World Happiness Report, which rated us #12. We came in behind Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and The Netherlands – such cold places!! But is this ranking scientific, or just a tourist label from those wanting...

Wikimedia Commons One of the joys of purchasing property in Costa Rica is the potential for landowners to plant and care for trees that will bear fruit. According to the real estate professionals at RE/MAX Ocean Surf in Tamarindo Beach, fruit trees are attractive features within listings of farms and single-family homes built on generous plots of land. Listings in the province of Guanacaste...

A RE/MAX listing in Costa Rica What makes Costa Rica such an attractive real market for North American and European buyers? One of the main reasons behind this attraction is that real estate ownership in our country is mostly egalitarian and dynamic. For the most part, prospective foreign house hunters enjoy the same benefits as citizens of Costa Rica. According to the staff of RE/MAX Ocean...

Beach house in Costa Rica North American house hunters who come to Costa Rica in search of real estate bargains often find out that the financing process is not like what they are used to, at least not in terms of mortgage lending. Although there is a mortgage lending industry in Costa Rica, it is not as sophisticated or accessible as in the United States or Canada. To this end, cash is often ...

A RE/MAX listing in Costa Rica Of all regional housing markets in Costa Rica, Tamarindo Beach is one of the most recent and affluent. Up to the late 20th century, Tamarindo Beach was a sleepy beach town characterized by lackadaisical real estate development. That changed in the early 21st century as tourists and expats discovered the beaches of Guanacaste, which are now known as being part of ...

Source: Landsvest Three investment groups in three countries are working together to come up with capital to develop an ambitious project in Costa Rica, one which will include a tournament-grade golf course designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus. According to a recent news report filed by Terence Cullen of the Commercial Observer, New York-based investment firm Colliers International is tr...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Dec. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- In the United States, millennials are finally starting to buy houses as rent prices soar. That means that potential retirees can also sell their homes at a fair price for the first time since the housing market dropped in 2008. However, retirees are still struggling with the fact that they do not have as much saved as they thought they would by this ...