Does anyone know more about Bellazo/Kalia?

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Yes, I'm building a home at Bellazo. I would like to take this opportunity to tell the world about Bellazo and to express how much we appreciated working with them. They were and continue to be so responsive and always answer the multitude of questions we have. From day one, they made us feel like we were their only clients. The entire process was clearly communicated down to the smallest details, which for us, as home owners it made the whole project very stress-free and smooth. Thank you so much, Kalia Team, for being an important part of building our dream home!

Which lot are yours

EXACTLY!!!!!!

Justagirl8870,

Would you please quit calling people liars? Doesn't seem to me like you are looking for neighbors but more interested in spreading negative things and trying to convince happy campers that they've made a bad choice. I'm not a liar nor do I like liars. We have a home under construction and anyone is welcome to come tour our home. So please STOP with your negative accusations. We're moving from the U.S. to get away from all the negativity around us, last thing I want to do is converse with people who seem to enjoy making satisfied home owners feel that they've made a bad choice. We made a GREAT choice and are very happy with the services we receive and have nothing negative to say about Kalia. I'm sorry if you had a bad experience but I find it hard to believe that the guys at Kalia are such unreasonable monsters.

If you ever decide to change your attitude I'll be more than happy to share information on our home and maybe even invite you over for a cup of coffee.

Unfortunately, many of us that have lived in Costa Rica for many years, have seen first hand that the country has hundreds of unfinished developments that will never be completed.

LoveCRforever, maybe you can fill us in when your home is complete...and you have everything you were promised.

Hi Kohlerias,

Will do. I understand people's concerns, we too were concerned until we finally decided to make the move. But I can tell you that the experience so far has been beautiful. The company cares about the homes they build and are doing exceptional work with our home. We couldn't be happier.

And "what is your lot number"?? - simple question - only need a simple answer

Why would anyone in their right mind give their home address to complete strangers online? You call this a “simple” answer? You gotta be kidding

Actually a good point.....so as Kohleiras stated let us know how things end up for you once everything is completed and you get exactly what you were promised.  By the way, the review I posted was cut and pasted from their own website which is a bit disturbing, but whatever - pura vida right.....

Hi cratedivision,

I promise to do so

To give us an idea of your construction time line, where is it, at this point of time?

Our house is about 70% into completion. Living abroad is our lifelong dream. Can't wait.

We did the discovery tour with the Bellazo people. They were great with us! We met one of the owners and we visited a few of the house being built. We put some money down but after reading some of the reviews, we all have the same concerns. When the roads are going to be built and main roads finished for access to our houses 365 days a year? Not only during the dry season.  Are people living there 12 months a year? How do they get their stuff is the roads are flooded? We are concerned.
Please send us some information about Bellazo and the areas around.

Thanks,

Kika1802 wrote:

We did the discovery tour with the Bellazo people. They were great with us! We met one of the owners and we visited a few of the house being built. We put some money down but after reading some of the reviews, we all have the same concerns. When the roads are going to be built and main roads finished for access to our houses 365 days a year? Not only during the dry season.  Are people living there 12 months a year? How do they get their stuff is the roads are flooded? We are concerned.
Please send us some information about Bellazo and the areas around.

Thanks,

Being "great with us" is great, but aren't people who want to sell you something always pretty great?
What is most important is how great they are with you once you've given your money and they have to come through on what they've promised. I know nothing about this place, only what I'm reading here. But it doesn't look like a place I'd want to sink my money into.

Your questions and concerns need to be answered by people who've actually bought and built there, not by sales people, so make sure they are answered to your satisfaction by people who've built there, are living there, and are happy there.

I have nothing good nor bad to say about this thread and / or Bellazo/Kalia.  We first came here in 2010 and looked at many developments, some well established and some not.  There was one in particular that I remember but will not name that had hectares of established lots, every internal road was done in paving stone.  Water and electricity all along the well established roadways.  The problem was that as good as it looked there was not one full time resident living there and only one empty house.  After settling in a well established community I look back at the bookmarks for properties of our 2010 trip and less than 1/3 of them exist today.  Not a good track record.  The development that I refer to above is a ghost town.  PLEASE put boots on the ground, talk to established home owners (in person and on site), check out the infrastructure of the development, talk to the municipality regarding the development, speak with one or two architects building on site (very important).  You will never be sorry for the added effort that you put in before you make the $$$ commitment!
Best of luck, can only wish that you will be as happy as we are.

Thanks for the suggestions.

We appreciate your recommendations.

Did I call someone a liar?  I am truly happy your experience was wonderful. I WANT people to have success in life not grief or I wouldn't waste my valuable time posting.
I don't make things up or falsely accuse.
You might want to reread my posts

Praise The Lord for expat.com! after reading how badly people get screwed at this development and after careful consideration, my family will not be moving ahead with Bellazo.

We shall see. We had a long convo with them, pretty much yelled and screAmed. We are in deep already and can't pull out or we lose. We are taking baby steps with them. a little at a time and controlling everything ourselves. They were told to finish the work listed on their itemized sheets for the amount we've sent.  We have friends who live there and are near the area who check for us to make sure they do it. Our friend sent us video of homes that are completed that we saw a few years ago that weren't. So we are crossing our fingers and walking slowly with an attorney, friends (cost engineers, land surveyers, & architects)  we know in the states looking at the plans to make sure it isn't mickey moused (a joke). Stay tuned on how long it will take. They don't get another penny until they complete the job for the amount we sent.

kohlerias wrote:

Unfortunately, many of us that have lived in Costa Rica for many years, have seen first hand that the country has hundreds of unfinished developments that will never be completed.

LoveCRforever, maybe you can fill us in when your home is complete...and you have everything you were promised.

Advice everyone should heed.   I would never buy anything in CR that I couldn't see with my own eyes.  There are scammers everywhere in CR.

Thank you for sharing your experience with them. We fall in love with houses but we are concerned to hear all of the problems you and others are having. We really like the area and were planning to retire in Costa Rica. We put some money down and now we are hesitant to continue. We purchased a lot in the third face.
Please send us more information any time. Good luck. CR is a beautiful place!!!!

One other thing for ALL to consider is the resale of luxury homes, and the upkeep. The truth of the matter isn't encouraging. These homes are in a “condominium” which means you are under rules and regs like a HOA.  Get the fees UPFRONT.  A couple thousand a year for dues and approx $24000 a year to “maintain” your property UNLESS you let them use it for their tours and vacation rentals is extortion.  Put on your seatbelt if you're just realizing what you've done, this isn't THEIR first rodeo.

All I can say is wow.

did everybody see the thread that has recently now vanished?

Just says "This thread is no longer available" now. weird.

I was talking to the guy who posted it.

He had direct experience of Bellazo and posted very scary info about the developer.

this developer has a US criminial record and a court judgement over a default / non-payment on a US AMEX for $180,000.

we are avoiding Bellazo.

They've breached so many contacts that I don't think anyone has to worry about the HOA. And homeowners will eventually become the HOA

Costa Rica has very strong views on libel, so maybe this site is protecting itself...

WINNING!

Would anyone who has bought st Bellazo be willing to discuss with me the exact problems they have been having?  I am seriously considering it...but of course I am taking in all the negative reviews.  What I am trying to figure out is whether you think the  issues that have occurred were avoidable with a lawyer or by asking more of the right questions ...or whether there were special circumstances that made your experience terrible. Or whether it was a matter of time table and things being slow??

I understand that all sales pitches are basically half truths!  There's never anything negative , from a salesperson, right?  I can take some bumps in the road, and I expect major potholes.   i understand the bellazo community Is still in early stages, so I'm not expecting much as far as all the amenities - yet.  But I would like to know that my house will be built to the specifications they advertise. 

After all, All construction is a nightmare and I don't know anyone who has done a major construction project who didn't feel ripped off (here in the US!).  I have been  taken advantage of and lied to by several high end contractors here in US- and every single project goes way over budget.   - so not a surprise it can happen in Costa Rica.

I'm just trying to figure out whether these bad experiences in Bellazo Are beyond the typical construction nightmare!   Add to that the fact that I won't be on site to oversee everything ...you have to go in expecting a lot of problems.  But is the end result worth it.....?

So if anyone would be willing to share details of what went terribly wrong , I would be grateful.  You have to admit - the location and price is tempting!

There are two major developments, (1) in Bellazo and (2) in Turquoise view, the two are ongoing, and we have eyes and ears down in Costa Rica, our house development is in Turquoise, its suppose to be basically the same as Bellazo, just much smaller, same amenities and so on.

Can't speak about the amenities, obviously, since they don't exist and we don't live there. What can be said so far is the construction and clearing of the land and foundation are about to begin. It took us a long time just to get to this point, while not all can be blamed on the developer, the strike in Costa Rica did play a 3/4 month delay in our permits, but finally, we begin.

Now as far as the rest, I guess we will find out, but we do have architects and construction developers in the family, and anything we received does get sent to them for a review. So far it has been said that it does not appear to be some guy sitting in a shack, these look like real architectural and engineering drawings.

While we cross our fingers and keep pushing forward, we hope to reach the end of the road sometime this year or early next year.

MHC356, Bellazo/Black Beauty/Kalia/etc is NOT a new community. They've been at it since 2008. PLEASE do your research before you make any decisions. Some simple google searches will give you the answers you need. And they're not good. Refer to previous posts here. Please be careful.

Black Beauty is an area that Turquoise view is inside of, you can Google Black Beauty Costa Rica and get it to show up on Google Maps. Kalia is the developer of these. As everyone pretty much posted, just be careful.

Just like anywhere, you can get what you want to be built with the right people in place, or you can get ripped off, so tread carefully when building anywhere in the world is an understatement.

Have you ever fallen in love with the perfect person and no matter what that person did they were perfect, you just wouldn't look at the “stuff” that concerned you, or listen to friends and family because you were so high and it seems so surreal?

Dallasmags is spot on

Bellazo & Kalia are terrible.

Nothing is what it seems.

The posts here by (real) people i.e not the fake profiles that their sales team make, echo my experience verbatim.

Nobody I have met who built with them have said it was a breeze, which is why those ultra-positive posts here stink like a red herring on a hot day at the market.

The truth is that the company is in financial difficulty and has been for several years. This is why, despite serious events, my money has not been returned to me, two years later.

The CEO is bankrupt and wanted in the USA for an unpaid AMEX in 2015, for the amount of $180,000 plus two of their Directors are listed as Criminals in the US.

I honestly wish I knew this earlier.

This information is available to anybody with an internet connection within the US (as public data records are not broadcast internationally).

After some very serious events at Kalia, my girlfriend and I we're unable to live there. As the chain of events is very personal please feel free to contact me privately if you want to hear out story. It's quite distressing.

The good news is that at the minute I am in talks with a new manager, who has finally mentioned returning my money.

This was very welcome news after the bankrupt CEO said my cash had gone and can never be returned. Combined with what happened at the development, I actually had a breakdown after hearing this news. I'm still in recovery.

The bankrupt guy is still involved as he's a major shareholder plus involved in daily operations. You may even encountered him.

The bad news is that today after asking for details of the plan to the new manager four days ago, my query was ignored. I still have hope and I will update you when I have an update.

If you have been on a Discovery Tour and are considering Bellazo / Kalia, have any history or have information on Kalia & it's management team please feel free to get message me privately.

Ray Johnson wrote:

I couldn't disagree more. Kalia is a GREAT company. I'm building a home in Bellazo and my experience has been nothing but spectacular. Everything that was promised was delivered above and beyond.

They made everything seamless and easy through the construction period.

The house is nearing completion (about 90% completed). It is absolutely stunning. My wife cried when she walked in. We can't wait to move in.

Interesting that both of your posts are about this subject, you've never posted anything else. DId someone ask you to post here about this, or ?

roscobrady2 wrote:

Bellazo & Kalia are terrible.

Nothing is what it seems.

The posts here by (real) people i.e not the fake profiles that their sales team make, echo my experience verbatim.

Nobody I have met who built with them have said it was a breeze, which is why those ultra-positive posts here stink like a red herring on a hot day at the market.

The truth is that the company is in financial difficulty and has been for several years. This is why, despite serious events, my money has not been returned to me, two years later.

The CEO is bankrupt and wanted in the USA for an unpaid AMEX in 2015, for the amount of $180,000 plus two of their Directors are listed as Criminals in the US.

I honestly wish I knew this earlier.

This information is available to anybody with an internet connection within the US (as public data records are not broadcast internationally).

After some very serious events at Kalia, my girlfriend and I we're unable to live there. As the chain of events is very personal please feel free to contact me privately if you want to hear out story. It's quite distressing.

The good news is that at the minute I am in talks with a new manager, who has finally mentioned returning my money.

This was very welcome news after the bankrupt CEO said my cash had gone and can never be returned. Combined with what happened at the development, I actually had a breakdown after hearing this news. I'm still in recovery.

The bankrupt guy is still involved as he's a major shareholder plus involved in daily operations. You may even encountered him.

The bad news is that today after asking for details of the plan to the new manager four days ago, my query was ignored. I still have hope and I will update you when I have an update.

If you have been on a Discovery Tour and are considering Bellazo / Kalia, have any history or have information on Kalia & it's management team please feel free to get message me privately.

If you have any indisputable factual info about any of the above on a web page, I think the moderators here would allow it. If these people you mention are indeed criminals I think it would be helpful to post that info here. I'm not a moderator but I think it would be helpful and acceptable. If not, I think you could send that info via PM to those who are considering buying.

I already did post the info, which is legal public record. My account was deleted by expat shortly afterwards, I assume on the grounds of publishing personal information or perhaps it was the Bellazo / Kalia sales team flagging my account as they are desperately trying to silence me.

My team has since done more research, finding more alarming news.

It seems that Bellazo & Kalia's ‘Chief Architect' is in fact not an architect.

He has no licence on record with both the AIA (Association of Licensed Architects) or the California Board of Architects, which is where he claims to have been building amazing ‘Celebrity homes'  in successful communities in Bel Air and Palm Springs.

More lies, more illusion = more people having their trust abused by this abhorrent, vampiric company.

Thank you Rosco!  I've heard some details from JustaGirl as well, and it's truly unacceptable.  I won't be looking at this development any more:   ThANK YOU!!

PS I've tried to look up info on the company but couldn't find anything except what the company had out out there.  However, since you obviously have the names, I totally trust whT you are saying . Depressing these people get away with it...