Looking for the best place to buy a rental/vacation home in Costa Rica

[Moderated: pls post in Housing in Costa Rica]

The best place to purchase a vacation home, is your favorite place. Especially if you intend to retire here at a later date. If it may sit empty for weeks at a time, you would be better off purchasing a condo or in a gated community, where security is provided and gardens are taken care of.
There are many vacant rental properties out there, so don't presume you will cover your expenses.
If you purchase a property on the beach, expect to pay $600+ for electricity, when running A/C. Even more if you run a pool.

Hi if you are still looking for a place have a look at sbgr.com a golf resort on the South Pacific. Probably a very good investment as you want to rent out. It is easier to rent a place near beaches and on a golf course.

try looking at nochedelmono[.]com

You should contact Ronald Artavia. He is wonderful to work with and speaks english. He has a long list of rentals and properties for sale. Check out his website.
jacobeachrealty.com

Good luck,
The Hill Family
ALan and Gina

Hello The Hill Family

Thanks for your valuable input! However kindly note that this thread is inactive since 2013!

But we always welcome useful infos

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

Just be advised that the Costa Rica government is now clamping down on expats who purchase and rent out homes "and not declaring the income".  It's now declared as a business "just like a hotel", to rent out a home and earn income from doing so.  Many foreigners have been renting out vacation homes for decades and not declaring the income "and the government is now cracking down", so just keep this in mind.  The mayor of Quepos is actually spearheading a campaign to prosecute such income tax evaders.

moderated by julien
reason : posted in the wrong section, please read our code of conduct

Hey you should check out https://vacationrentalsoftamarindo.com and https://www.stayintamarindo.com. They both have amazing rentals and the owner Bruce knows great ones for sale that will bring you a profitable ROI. Good luck!

Contact go Dutch realty on the Guanacaste province, they are very knowledgeable and helpful as well as experienced. You definitely want to have someone in your corner as there are so many scams out there to get you to build a house for THEIR benefit, not yours.

If you're looking for nice weather, views, a pool, and Piñas Coladas, Atenas is a great place to buy a vacation home. to visit Atenas, you need to fly to SJO airport. If you're a beach person, you'd probably be better off to fly into LIR (Liberia). Check out the beach towns of Tamarindo, Flamingo, Playas del Coco, and Playa Hermosa, they're all within an hour drive from the airport. There are another 30 - 40 locations throughout the country (South Caribbean, South Pacific, Central Pacific) if you don't mind a longer drive from an international airport. Look for GoDutch or the American-European network online.

godutch wrote:

If you're looking for nice weather, views, a pool, and Piñas Coladas, Atenas is a great place to buy a vacation home. to visit Atenas, you need to fly to SJO airport. If you're a beach person, you'd probably be better off to fly into LIR (Liberia). Check out the beach towns of Tamarindo, Flamingo, Playas del Coco, and Playa Hermosa, they're all within an hour drive from the airport. There are another 30 - 40 locations throughout the country (South Caribbean, South Pacific, Central Pacific) if you don't mind a longer drive from an international airport. Look for GoDutch or the American-European network online.

NOTE: Most of the above posts are from 2014 so take them with a grain of salt.
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As for renting out a home, now in 2019, how much competition is there in these areas you mentioned? Are there many empty rentals, hard to rent? or is it easy to rent them, and for how much per month? Or is it per week generally?

And are there rentals allowed in gated communities or ? where it would be safer to leave a home empty?

I'm curious if buying and renting a beach house is truly viable at any of these beach areas, or whether one would end up having it empty most of the time if one were to want to live, say, half the year somewhere else?