Uvita, Costa Rica, Day 1

Keith, my real estate agent met me after breakfast at my hotel. He brought with him listings of a large number of properties. Costa Rica is crazy expensive relative to the rest of Central America. For me, this proves to be an attraction. The bay islands in Honduras are wonderful and very cheap. Dives are $25 to $30 a tank. Here they are $150 for a two tank dive. One of the reasons is that in the bay islands the reefs are ten minutes off shore, here it is a two hour boat ride, that's a lot of gas.

Why would I want to run an eco lodge and then rent out cabins for $25 a day when they can be rented out here for three or four times as much? Besides, there is so much more wildlife in Costa Rica.

We looked at many lots, some on the beach and much more expensive ones up the mountain. A ten minute drive can get one fantastic panoramas of the ocean and mountain views in a much cooler setting. We dined in Dominical where I had mahi-mahi tacos. They were wonderful, but they should be at eight bucks for two. In Nicaragua they would have been about $3. Right after we sat down a very hot tica waitress came over and handed Keith some money. I held my hand out but rather than give me money she just gave me wonderful little giggle. I raised my eyebrows inquisitively but did not vocalize a question. Keith explained that every time somebody comes down to visit he has them bring a bunch of panties from Victoria's Secret and that every barmaid and waitress in town has bought from him.

Keith has pretty much persuaded me that I should just build a really nice house on a great location. He assures me that I could rent it out on a weekly basis for $1,500 to $2,000 with at least 50% occupancy. Any real estate company in town will market the houses and charge 15% of the rental. That would yield a ten percent return or so on an essentially passive business. Tuesday I shall go over some of his booking numbers with him. Property values are temporarily depressed so there should be appreciation. The neighborhood is very upscale with many homes between 1.2 and 2.6 million dollars. We shall see, I think some of these property owners need to realize that they overpaid four years ago.