by Shell Johanson

I would like to tell you all about this incredibly beautiful older home I just listed right on the Cariari golf course. This 6,600 square feet Spanish colonial was one of the first homes built in Cariari and has been continiously updated.

This almost 1/2 an acre property overlooks the length of the 8th fairway and its green and also the tee-off at the ninth hole of the Cariari Golf and Country Club. Very few Cariari homes for sale offer this kind of luxury setting.

The home is one of the finest golf properties availables in Costa Rica and offers five bedrooms and 4 bedrooms on the 2nd floor, all spaciously set up for the luxury lifestyle you are looking for, plus a second floor patio with a gorgeous veranda overlooking the golf course.

By Rudy Matthews

This past Thanksgiving I went to Jaco Beach with my son, sister and niece. My sister and niece were visiting from Florida and their two favorite places here in Costa Rica are the hot springs and spending time at the beach. Playas de Jaco is located on the Central Pacific Coast, between Puntarenas and Manuel Antonio.  Jaco is the closest beach to the Central Valley area. The new highway from San José  to Caldera makes Jaco a favorite for tourist and locals.

Jaco beach and the nearby Hermosa Beach are known for surfing and Costa Rica just won its 6th consecutive title at the 2011 REEF Central American Surfing Games. My surfing days are behind me but I still enjoy body surfing and the waves are great in Jaco.

By Ivo Henfling

If you want a knowledgeable Costa Rica real estate agent to represent you as a buyer’s agent, you need to do some serious research. Of course you want the best realtor in town to represent you. But how can you find that Costa Rica realtor? The only way of doing this is spending some serious time and effort online because your next real estate purchase is going to be one of the most important ones in your life.

Looking at Costa Rica real estate websites, you will find that most of them only offer properties for sale and some very basic information about real estate in Costa Rica in general. But do you really want a listing agent to represent you as a buyer or are you looking for an agent who knows more about Costa Rica real estate than anybody else in the business?

By Shell Johanson

Being a Costa Rica realtor in Cariari is never an easy job. There are twists and turns in every deal. Patience and nerves are always on edge. It means putting up with a lot of things from the buyers as well as the sellers, without the other party finding out about it. It’s part of the job.  

But there’s one thing that I wish I could do something about, I’m going to call it the ‘Busy Bee’. We all know this person because we all have one near. It is usually a family member, a friend or a neighbor who thinks he/she is a fountain of knowledge and loves to share his/her opinions. Never short for words, that’s for sure. The ‘Busy Bee’ is very good at screwing up real estate deals.

By Ivo Henfling

Few Costa Rica golf communities in Costa Rica can boast the option of such a complete amenity in their community. Ciudad Cariari and Los Arcos, two small communities located just off the highway between the International airport Juan Santa Maria and San Jose, and very close to Belen, offer great homes for sale for those who like the quiet of the suburbs and the services of the city.

Ciudad Cariari and Los Arcos, both master planned subdivisions and very secure communities, where created by visionary developers in the 1970’s offer beautiful boulevards with trees and green areas everywhere. Both communities border the Cariari golf course and club so when you live in Cariari or in Los Arcos, you can walk to the club.

Real estate in the immediate areas of the new highway San Jose - Caldera is of course affected. For 30 years, everyone in Costa Rica has been talking about the famous new highway San Jose - Caldera. Many governments during those 30 years started doing something on the highway and ran out of money. An old 3rd world problem: money. During the Miguel Angel Rodriguez administration (1998 - 2002) some bridges were built but during the next administration whatever could be demolished and stolen just disappeared.

Originally, this highway was designed as a two-lane road and by the time the Arias administration decided to go ahead and try to finish the famous highway, the amount of traffic had risen tremendously.

By Shell Johanson

In a recent blog, I told you all about a listing I have in Los Arcos and about Los Arcos de Heredia in Costa Rica, explaining about this beautiful area and about how close the golf course of the Cariari Country Club is.

COURSE   PAR 72 - YARDAGE   6590 -  SLOPE 132 - RATING 71.9  

Today I would like you tell you a bit more about the Cariari Country Club and specifically about golf in Cariari and the golf course. Some other day, I will tell you more about all the other amenities that the Cariari Country Club has to offer it's members, like tennis, swimming and some others.

By Shell Johanson

SOLD - SOLD - SOLD. I can use many words to describe this home: Comfortable, cozy, pretty, functional and convenient, an that is the reason I wanted to tell you about this property in Los Arcos that I just listed.

In another blog, I told you all about the location and how nice it is to live in Los Arcos, as it offers all these little parks everywhere. This house is located on one of these cute little parks.

SOLD - SOLD - SOLD

The advantage of living in a house like this is that you live surrounded by beautiful trees and gives you the idea of living outside of the city, while at the same time you can enjoy the incredible amount of amenities that the area of Los Arcos and Ciudad Cariari have to offer:

By Ivo Henfling

Los Arcos in Heredia is for those with a taste for golf, great location and less than $200K to buy a property

I just listed a new property in Los Arcos, I’ll tell you more about it in another blog. Getting the listing, it suddenly occurred to me that many of the readers of this blog do not know where Los Arcos is located. Well, let me tell you all about it as I am very sure many of you would like to know.

Los Arcos is located right next to Cariari and belongs to the city of Heredia, is only a 10 minute drive from the International airport Juan Santamaria and 20 minutes from San Jose, if traffic permits. See below a map that shows where Los Arcos is located.