by guest blogger Ticonuevo

November-April is high season—or the dry season or tourist season. In my opinion, it is more-accurately called high season because of the higher prices of getting to or arriving at tourist destinations or that “high” relates to high occupancy at hotels, resorts, and B&Bs. May-October, has historically been considered the “green season” or rainy season here in Costa Rica. However, weather worldwide is changing and we had rain on the day we arrived at the end of February—unheard of we were told.

We’ve had rain in March and a significant amount in April. Add to that the fact that Costa Rica suffered a drought in 2012. (It was severe enough that several communities are currently out of water and having it trucked in.)

By Ivo Henfling

Working in shorts and on flip flops in Costa Rica

I just received some very cold looking photos of snowcovered roads full and roof tops and cars covered in snow from a friend and I am sitting here at my desk, looking over my computer monitor at the beautiful Escazu mountains on one side and the Heredia mountains on the other, with the sun shining in the palm tree in my neighbor’s yard. And I am sitting in shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops, enjoying the Costa Rica weather and the 78ºF temperatures that we have almost year round.

Don’t you just hate me now? I bet you do! Be smarter than that, move to Costa Rica just as I did many years ago and buy a property in Costa Rica from me. That way I can keep working in shorts and flip-flops. I still think it was the best decision I took in my life. God, I always hated the cold and I bet many of you do too. If you are still dreaming about moving to the tropics and get your taste of Costa Rica weather, keep reading. If you already did, read on and enjoy the fact of having taken the right decision by moving to Costa Rica.

By Ivo Henfling

Many of us who have moved to Costa Rica come from cold places. Most of us did so because of the nice weather in Costa Rica, amongst the best in the world. If I look at my list of clients, I have people from New York, Portland, Kelowna and even less cold places like Berlin, Amsterdam and Los Angeles where it still gets to temperatures of around 30ºF or zero Celsius. I even have one client who still works in Kazakhstan and comes home to Atenas once in a while to get warm, he must be freezing his butt off right now. Most of us moved to Costa Rica to never be cold again.

By Ivo Henfling

When we drove to Nativa Resort a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that on the new highway to Caldera, the Autopistas del Sol concessionary was doing landslide prevention different ways because in some places the rainfall is causing a lot of damage. They sprayed concrete on the hillside and drilled pipes into the mountains to take the water out and through the concrete, when they re-did part of the highway at the turnoff between Sabana and Escazu, This was the first time I saw it done in Costa Rica. A little past the beautiful town of Atenas, they are now making incredible use of the large rocks they took out before they put the pavement in.

As most of you know, Costa Rica's rainy season runs more or less from July from November but September and October generate the heaviest rains. Although in July this year 2011, we already had some incredible downpours. It looks like we're going to get more and more rain every year. While coming out of a real estate closing on the east side of San Jose with AE affiliate Barry Ashworth, I saw a car disappear in the water OVER a bridge. I don't know what happened to the driver or the car. That was VERY impressive.
 

By Ivo Henfling

The famous Costa Rica rainy season, also called the wet season but baptized some years ago by tourism gurus "the green season" has just started. For most days, we have nice weather in the mornings and might have some rain in the afternoon. Some days might be a bit gloomy or fogged up and it doesn't rain all day long.

Yesterday, we had so much rain come out of the sky, I thought of Noah and his Ark, I was waiting for that Great Flood. As many of you know I am not very religious, but I almost started praying. Then I thought of the gutters and drains at my house and the damage rain can do to your property, which is when I though to write this blog. if you own Costa Rica real estate, you should read on....

By Ivo Henfling

When the ower called me asking to list his property in San Pedro Poas, I wasn't really interested because of the distance I'd have to drive from Escazu. But when he described the property, I wanted to see it. And it was well worth the drive. Its only like 30 minutes from the International airport Juan Santamaria and 20 minutes from downtown Alajuela.

The drive is an easy one, either through Alajuela and by Barrio San Jose or taking the road to La Garita (by Zooave and Martino Hotel) all the way up to Barrio San Jose. Once you hit the seafood restaurant "La Princesa Marina" you turn left and at the famous "Las Orquideas" Bed & Breakfast turn right and then up till you get to San Pedor Poas.

By Ivo Henfling, your Escazu real estate specialist

When you plan to buy property in Costa Rica, make sure you look at your surroundings. This morning I had a listing appointment in San Antonio de Escazu and saw the perfect example of what I wrote about in a recent article in our AE newsletter.

This home in the pictures below, was built maybe 3 years ago and they built it on what we call "gaviones", which are large cages of chickenwire filled with rocks, so they could get the beautiful views of the Central Valley.

This home was built at least 10 meters (30 feet) away from the river, as that is what the zoning indicates. In just a few years, the rain has washed away those 30 feet and the river is undermining the "gaviones" already.