Del Pacifico

Did you know that 15% of all tourism to Costa Rica is related to medical tourism? This is a major driver for real estate values. Medical tourism is nothing new- for years people have been traveling overseas for procedures that they couldn’t afford in their own country or for the opportunity to use a doctor who is the premier in his or her field. For years, patients have traveled to the Mayo Clinic for cancer treatment or to Latin America for cosmetic surgery.

Last week, the New Yorker featured an article about the medical tourism boom in Costa Rica. Click here to read their take on the trend.

Explore why resort real estate (and condos at Del Pacifico) will profit from this high growth trend. To learn more about medical tourism in Costa Rica, click here to request a copy of our medical tourism report.

Questions? Contact us for more information.

I was on the plane recently, coming back from Del Pacifico & Alma del Pacifico Hotel for the inauguration of the Beach Bar at Alma…

During my trip I met four different people who were subscribers to a publication called International Living which is published by Agora Publishing. Agora also publishes hard asset oriented newsletters, including the Oxford Club Communique & the Sovereign Society Newsletter. It struck me that this was a disproportionate number of the total people who read these investment newsletters. Over the past several months we have also met several people visiting Costa Rica to look at real estate investments at projects in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica, like Hacienda Matapalo & the Pacific Lots projects on the Osa Peninsula. Over the past year perhaps a dozen people have visited Del Pacifico after their visits to Osa to view real estate. The general consensus is that Del Pacifico is much further along than these other projects in Southern Costa Rica. Coincidentally, all these visitors actually drive through Del Pacifico on their way to the south.

For anybody wishing to visit with us on your trip to Costa Rica, please contact our US office and we will arrange a special discounted rate to stay at our beachfront hotel or in one of our extraordinary condos. 410-727-6444

Riding a horse on the beach, I believe, is everyone’s fantasy. It is one of the most popular and romantic places to take a ride. As we all know, a horse is a free spirit. When you ride a horse on the beach you can do it one of 3 ways. By nature a horse has 3 speeds, they are “walking, trotting and cantering.”

Walking

Most of our horses are trained to go on the beach.  They like it too- although not all of them like to walk on the water. Walking with a horse on the beach will give you time to enjoy the scenery & to get to know your horse. You will learn to feel the horse relax. Once you do this, you can go on to the second step, Trotting.

Trotting

Before you do this make sure to walk the horse around to get to know him better, feel the reins and make sure to call the horse by his name and every now and then pat your horse on the neck NOT on the back. Sit tight, relax as much as you can and loosen the reigns a bit, without losing contact with the horse. We are not cantering therefore we have to hold back the reins a bit. At the beginning it will be a little pumping but a few steps and you will be fine. It is a little faster than a walk. Mostly of the tour horses are good trotting.

Cantering

We all go wild and enthusiastic riding a horse on the beach. When you gallop or canter on the beach make sure you have done the 2 previous steps.  Try Cantering a few times to get the feeling of it, then let your fantasy go and gallop.

Tips for Horseback Riding in Costa Rica

1. Always make sure to listen to your guide.



2. Dress appropriately: jeans are the most friendly, don’t forget a cowboy hat, sunscreen and a bottle of water.



3. Take the reins with both hands, lower your elbows and relax your shoulders. Loosen the reins without losing contact with the horse.



4. Feel the fresh breeze and the salty dew from the ocean as you gallop along with your horse through the soft brown sand, and you could even take your horse for a gallop along the crashing waves for a really exciting adventure.

5. Always stay with your group. Enjoy every moment as if it were the last, don’t rush, simply enjoy the ocean’s beauty, the subtlety of the horse’s gallop and the pleasures that Del Pacifico may give you.



6. Don’t forget to pat your horse every now and then, take pictures, and enjoy the view.



7. Contact us to schedule your horseback tour!

Every year we attend conferences, like the Agora Wealth Symposium each July in Vancouver, to see what some of the top speakers in the world have to say about the economy and wealth protection. One of the main “take away ideas” of the past few years is that almost everyone’s wealth preservation strategy should include international real estate as an important component.



Diversifying your net worth overseas with international real estate is actually far simpler than most people appreciate. More importantly, you can invest in both style and luxury while creating a legacy of memories for future generations of your family.



Here are two powerful ways that to make overseas real estate work for you and your family as a wealth protection strategy:



Action Idea #1: Consider creating your own “private offshore land bank” by investing in a residential home site in a luxury resort like Del Pacifico. This can be done at Del Pacifico with as little as $225,000 and is an ideal way to internationalize your IRA account. More importantly, owning a residential lot is a low risk, low hassle and low profile way to invest a portion of your assets offshore. Low risk? Stewart Title and other US companies will issue title insurance policies on residential lots at Del Pacifiico. Low Hassle? You neither have to worry about decorating nor building on a lot. Low profile? Contact us to discuss!



Action Idea #2: Do you want to create a second home for your family which is also an income producing investment? Then owning a luxury resort real estate, like a house or condominium at Del Pacifico, might be the best way to go. Currently Del Pacifico has condos and houses available starting at $275,000 fully furnished and going up to $1,750,000 for a spectacular ocean view house with pool and jacuzzi. Why not make this your second home or family retreat for creating multiple generations of memories? Local bank financing is available. Order your free copy of the Safe Haven Report, a special report on the logic of owning resort real estate.



Special Consultation Offer: If you’re serious about international real estate or are concerned about the direction of domestic economic policy, I’d like to extend to you a complimentary private consultation to discuss owning international real estate and how it could fit your personal objectives. I can help you sort through objectives and options very quickly to see if international real estate is an idea to consider. Call +1-410-727-6444 or send me an email to arrange a convenient time.



Final Due Diligence? Of course, if you’re ready to schedule a “site visit” as the final step of your “due diligence”, our vacation experts can help to arrange a personal trip to view Del Pacifico. We can arrange for your stay in either our beachfront hotel, Alma del Pacifico or in one of our luxurious vacation rental condos or houses.



Look forward to hearing from you,

Barry Strudwick

Del Pacifico Founder

Here is the latest update on our beach bar! Any suggestions on names? Comment below with your best idea!

Stephanie tells me that when writing a blog post, you really have to offer not just information but also something that is of value to our readers … so here goes …please read on !



We’re getting ready for the high season rentals which have really picked up in the last two weeks. NOW is the time to book your winter vacation. While I was thinking about this it brought to mind the slow motion political train wreck we’re witnessing in the US right now. Why? Because a number of really smart people want to do double duty on their vacation this year. First and foremost is some well deserved R&R in the sun and surf of Costa Rica. But the second reason is to start looking at Costa Rica as a possible safe haven “just in case” investment outside of the United States. So if this has grabbed your attention & interest, read on for a very special offer!



It’s been a wild month in the U.S. with stock market investors riding the roller coaster as concerns about European sovereign investors have sent ripple effects through the global markets. Who knows where this will go and how our government and banks will respond. Is this 2008 Redux? maybe…maybe not… but what I do know is that more and more people are contacting us at Del Pacifico about using international real estate as an alternative hard asset investment to say gold or the Devil’s metal, Silver. But by owning a condo overseas in a luxury resort, you get a special dividend that is priceless. Unlike gold, you and your family can actually create memories while you enjoy your investment in an ocean view condo. Is now the time to finally look seriously at diversifying your net worth internationally? If now is not the time, I don’t know when would be the right time. We’ve got protesters “occupying Wall Street” with an “eat the rich” message that says anyone earning over $250,000 a year is a quasi-criminal and needs to pay more in taxes. This isn’t a new message, but the “attack the middle class” aspect is alarming.



Over the past 20 years, many of my old friends like Bill Bonner of Agora Publishing, Porter Stansberry of Stansberry Research and Michael Checkan of Asset Strategies International have been warning of the collision course that the U.S. government was on with the realities of too much debt. Do you think the days of reckoning are finally at hand? If you do, then what can you actually do about it? Here is a simple pro-active common sense strategy that I’d like you to consider: Why don’t you come down and visit us in Costa Rica and check out why it’s called ” the Switzerland of Central America”? Even better we’ll give you a very special rate to stay at either stay a condo at Del Pacifico or at our beach front hotel Alma Del Pacifico! We’ll also help coordinate the details of your trip. Spa treatments? Marlin Fishing? Surfing lessons? Rain Forest Tours? Golf? Whatever you want to do, we can make the arrangements. You can get to the Pacific coast from the San Jose International Airport (SJO) in just 90 minutes. Take 3 or 4 days and do your own “due diligence.” Check the quality of our construction, tour the local area. See first-hand the exceptional opportunities at Del Pacifico! Want to see the competition? No problem. You can also rent a car (about $40 a day)and perhaps tour other real estate developments in the region such as the Los Sueños Resort and Marina near Jaco beach (30 minutes north and with over 600 houses and condos sold in the last 10 years) or for the much more adventuresome “Indiana Jones” types (risk seeking) perhaps head south to Hacienda Matapalo near Dominical (45 minutes south) or even Pacific Lots in Ojochal (90 minutes south).



Everyone always asks me “Why Costa Rica rather than Ecuador, Argentina or Nicaragua?” Aside from being much safer and closer to the States, one of the reasons is that it has established a very strong Middle Class encouraging over 250 international companies to open up operations in free trade zones. Together these international free trade zone companies accounted for nearly $2.9 billion in sales last year or 8% of the GDP while employing nearly 60,000 Costa Ricans. That’s about 5% of the Costa Rican citizens. Intel is the largest of these employers which has made Costa Rica an Internet Technology hub for Central America (and given it the nickname “the Silicon Valley of Latin America”). In fact we’re seeing more and more Silicon Valley types coming to vacation at Del Pacifico or Alma Del Pacifico and also look at investments while with us.



So here is your action plan:

1) Look at your vacation plans

2) see if staying at our 4 star beach front hotel and spa or in a condo at a super price fits your plans

3) call our US office (410) 727-6444 and say you want to discuss the “Special Deal with Barry.” I’ll need to hear from you by November 10th to get this offer.

Thanks,

Barry Strudwick, Town Founder

Great News! Construction is already underway for the new beachfront bar & lounge at our Alma del Pacifico Hotel. With an opening planned for early November, this will be the perfect place to watch your Costa Rican sunset over the Pacific ocean. The bar has not yet been christened and we would love some input! Please comment below with your ideas for a name. Other improvements already underway at the hotel include new flat screen TVs which have been installed in all the guest villas, wifi internet coverage throughout the hotel and a new conference room. Other plans anticipated over the next several months include opening the Pyramid Cafe with a special gourmet-to-go dinner menu for delivery to your condos. More details will be available shortly.






Alma del Pacifico is our luxury beachfront boutique hotel which has 20 private guest villas, beachfront restaurant & spa and was recently rated one of the top 10 hotels in Central & South America. Alma is located on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, midway between the nightlife of Jaco Beach & the Manuel Antonio National Park, located in Quepos. Alma is also the top rated hotel in Esterillos by TripAdvisor, with a 4.5 star rating.

Del Pacifico condo owners & guests are welcome at both the restaurant, bar & spa at Alma and can arrange for signing privileges.

Contact us about special green season rates available at both the Del Pacifico condos and also the Alma hotel.

Today is a very special day in Costa Rica- it is National Day which celebrates Costa Rica’s independence from Spain in 1821 and their 190th Birthday!

A little background info….In 1821, Mexico declared independence from Spain for all of Central America. Before long, the rest of Central America declared independence from Mexico. Unaware of what was occurring in the rest of Central America, Costa Rica discovered their independence a month after it had been granted to them!

Beginning on the 14th of September, a runner carries a “freedom torch” from one end of Costa Rica to the other (from Nicaragua to Panama), recreating the moment in 1821 when someone ran from border to border to notify Costa Rica’s people that their independence had been granted. At exactly 6pm on the 14th, the runner arrives in Costa Rica’s former capital city Cartago where the President receives the torch. TV & radio stations in Costa Rica play the national anthem and then a parade of torches begins followed by school children performing traditional dances and then fireworks.

On the 15th, there are parades around Costa Rica where school children dress in either their uniforms or traditional costume along with music, parties and fun!

Feliz dia Costa Rica!

The typical Costa Rican celebrations are something that every lover of Costa Rica should experience at least once! Some of the most exciting celebrations are in the weeks surrounding Christmas & New Years. This is also one of the best times to visit Costa Rica and to escape the cold of North America & Europe. Book now for a “tipico” holiday celebration in Costa Rica!

I spent last weekend on the Eastern shore of Maryland, waiting for Hurricane Irene to do her thing. Even now, several days later, there are still close to a quarter million homes in the Baltimore area without power. what better time than now to revisit one of our most frequently asked questions, “Does Costa Rica have hurricanes?”

The simple answer is, ‘No, Costa Rica is not generally effected by hurricanes.” Most hurricanes form to the east or west of Costa Rica and continue north. Because we are located at about 9.5 degrees north of the equator on the Pacific coast, we have much lighter winds than neighboring countries within the Caribbean “storm corridor.” There have been times when the extremely rare hurricane has hit the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, but the 11,000 foot mountain ranges that run through the center of the country and separate the Caribbean from the Pacific side, where Del Pacifico is located, acts as a shield against the heavy winds associated with hurricanes.

Hope that puts your minds at ease!

Contact us to further discuss the upside of buying real estate in Costa Rica.

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Lolly and I just spent the last week in Vancouver attending the Agora Wealth Symposium which attracted over 800 internationally oriented investors. The topic this year was “America:Fight or Flight” as many people are concerned about an increasingly tax-hungry Washington, D.C. implementing a more “progressive” tax system to fuel big government. William, Fernando & Leslie also joined us and our presentation on Costa Rica: Creating Your Safe Haven in Paradise was well received. We also had over 100 people visit our booth to discuss how owning real estate in Costa Rica could fit into their personal financial planning. Please feel free to e-mail us if you would like to receive a PowerPoint of our presentation.

Vancouver is an incredible city where the climate was in the 70 degree range – similar to the breezy weather in San Jose, Costa Rica. What was amazing was the incredible real estate bubble they are now experiencing in Vancouver. Waterfront luxury condominiums are now selling for $2000 per square foot! That equates to about $4.2 million for a three-bedroom condominium. Now compare that to our condos at Del Pacifico which are selling for about $250 per square foot. The real estate boom in Vancouver has been fueled by a large influx of people from Hong Kong and more recently mainland China and it’s estimated that over 20% of all the condos there are purely for investment and are vacant.

At the conference we ran into a number of old friends including Bill Bonner of Agora, Rick Rule of Global Resources and also some of our long time owners at Del Pacifico including Dennis Hopton who traveled from Hong Kong, and Linda Stack from California. We were fortunate to be with this group of people during the budget debate as it became clear that a growing number of people are looking at adding rental resort properties to their investment portfolio for a “just in case” investment; in fact a number of people will be coming to visit Del Pacifico in the next several weeks and we have offered them a special end of summer “friends and family” rate at our beachfront Alma del Pacifico hotel of $157 for a garden villa. If you would like to inquire about this rate please contact our Baltimore office directly for availability.

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It’s been 10 years since Lolly and I first visited Costa Rica- what an incredible journey! On our first trip we stayed at Villa Caletas, Los Sueños & La Mariposa in Manuel Antonio. Little did we know that the sleepy village of Esterillos would become Del Pacifico & the focal point of our lives.

Back then the drive from Manuel Antonio to Del Pacifico was an easy two hours and you wouldn’t venture to do it at night. Now it’s a 25 minute jaunt and we’ll hit the restaurants in Manuel Antonio for dinner. But more importantly, over the past 10 years, as Tom Friedman has said, “the world has become flat.” The sleepy village of Esterillos is now wired to the rest of the world and we have high-speed Internet, cable TV and cell phone coverage which puts Del Pacifico just a dial tone away from Atlanta, New York, or Los Angeles.

It’s also incredible that over the past 10 years Del Pacifico as grown from a dream drafted on the back of a single piece of paper into a real community. This year the addition of the Alma del Pacifico hotel and setting up a long-term partnership with RockResorts were both important steps in our long-term strategic plan. Going forward, tourism has returned at an all-time high to Costa Rica and we are witnessing more and more “average Americans” looking to diversify some of their net worth into paradise and outside of the United States.  Come visit us at our beach front hotel and spa- you can call us to take advantage of special summer rates. Additionally, we have condos and houses available for daily or weekly rentals. Of course there is also the opportunity to own as well is rent. I’m always available to talk to people interested in learning more about the logic of investing in international real estate and sharing our vision for Del Pacifico. Please feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail.

I’d like to personally welcome you to our blog…News from Paradise