How to find your perfect master planned community in Central America
February 10th, 2010
OK so you’ve found a beautiful condo with a great view of a surf break. Or a luxury mansion where you can impress your friends with your lavish international lifestyle.
But can you really love your home if you don’t like your community, the surroundings or your neighborhood?
We don’t think so. So we encourage you to become a real estate community profiler. Start by figuring out exactly what you’re looking for, the kind of lifestyle you enjoy, the amenities you need and zero in on the community that delivers. Do this before you start comparing individual houses, lots or condos.
To get you started on your profiling, we’ve put together a list of 8 types of master planned community you’ll find in Central America.
1. Status communities
Status communities are at the top of our Price Rank. They tend to be beachfront, exclusive, and packed with community amenities - such as a golf course, marina, hotel, private club, fitness center, sports facilities, convention center, etc. If you’re in Costa Rica or Panama you may even see a top tier brand name associated with the community. Think Four Seasons, Trump, Ritz-Carlton… Properties in status communities tend to be large custom built houses or upscale condos.
2. Golfing communities
Yes, you’ve guessed it. Golfing communities have golf courses and attract golfing enthusiasts. The graphic shows the completed golf courses in the countries we cover. Costa Rica leads the field with 9. Of course many more are under construction or planned. Most golfers like to play on different golf courses so remember to look for the geographical clusters within (say) an hour’s drive of each-other.
3. Surfing communities
Walking barefoot out of your property, surf board in hand, straight out to the break is something surfers dream about. Luckily in Central America there are many property developments where this is possible. In fact we’ve found over 60 master planned communities located within walking distance to a surf break. Here’s the list and map. We also looked at developments within an hour from a break and the list is longer.
4. Historic communities
It’s really only Nicaragua and Panama that can boast ‘historic communities’. In Nicaragua these are clustered in and around Granada; purportedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the Americas. Nicaragua also has Leon, a city that rivals Granada when it comes to the colonial feel. But you’ll find more master planned communities located around Granada. If you’re in Panama, head straight for the Casco Viejo area of Panama City for colonial buildings with serious curb appeal.
5. Retirement communities
As North American retirees take stock of economic realities, it’s clear that many are looking for a more affordable life overseas. The retiree trend has not escaped the attention of real estate developers and we’re seeing a growing number of communities, or sections within communities, designed specifically to cater for the over 55s. Look out for on-site medical facilities and organized social activities such as bridge, painting, yoga and so on.
6. Escape communities
International real estate (and vacation homes in particular) are commonly marketed as a form of escape. An escape from the stresses of the modern world and the hustle and bustle of 9-5 living. Places where you can switch off your cell phone, unwind and embrace a simpler, less hurried lifestyle. Destination resorts have popped up all of the place, sometimes in very remote areas to cater to this need. The remoteness is repackaged as a benefit that delivers ’space and privacy’.
7. Urban core communities
Moving overseas is not always about fulfilling your escapist dream (See #6). Sometimes you want to be close to amenities and be highly accessible. Panama City stands out in this regard. It’s the most cosmopolitan of all Central American cities and a world class financial center. We’re not just talking about coffee shops, restaurants and nightlife but world class shopping centers, banking, theater and fine arts. The Central Valley area of Costa Rica probably comes in a close second.
8. Eco-communities
One of the characteristics of the post crisis investor is an interest in “contributions to larger concerns such as environmental preservation, the local community and sustainable approaches to building, water, and energy”. Recent years have seen a huge growth in master planned communities embracing the sustainability agenda ( and no, not just in Costa Rica). It’s sometimes hard to get past the green-washing but here’s a list of projects that have made public disclosures. The green trend is here to stay, we just need better ways of distinguishing the projects that churn out empty eco-cliches from the ‘intentional communities’ that are taking real action on the ground.
Now you’re ready to start finding a master planned community that fits your lifestyle. Are there any categories we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments. And once you’ve narrowed things down don’t forget to ask these 10 questions before you buy.
From Reveal Real Estate - charting international real estate trends in Central America.
Tags: Belize, Costa Rica, Granada, Nicaragua, Panama, Panama City Real Estate
Posted in Ranking master planned communities | 5 Comments »
Scouting international real estate in Central America requires a fair bit of bumping along unpaved roads
November 9th, 2009
I seem to spend a lot of my time bumping along unpaved roads in Central America on my way to see how real estate developments are progressing.
Sometimes this can give you the feeling that you’ve arrived at a secret paradise, miles from anywhere, when the bumpy road suddenly opens out to sweeping vistas, lush gardens and well appointed homes. Ahh, you think, no one except other discriminating investors like myself will take the time to reach and assess this opportunity so I’m guaranteed exclusivity, privacy and maybe somewhat of a discount due to the access. But, more often, the bumpy trip can leave you tired and grumpy and heaven help a developer who doesn’t then have a cool drink on hand and something worthwhile to show you as an investment opportunity.
It’s important to be prepared before you set out - to know exactly where the project is located, how long it will take to get there and on what sort of road. So on RevealRealEstate we include a location map for each real estate development and answer these 3 questions:
- Is the road paved from the nearest international airport? (if it’s not paved, we’ve estimated the amount of driving time on unpaved sections)
- What is the total driving time from the international airport?
- How long does it take to drive to the closest town with a decent sized grocery store?
This data is useful on a project-by-project basis when planning a trip, doing a price comparison, or for tossing up real estate options; but there’s also something to learn from aggregating the data and analyzing by country. So here’s the picture for Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Is the road paved from the nearest international airport?
In broad terms the data reflects the level of investment each county has made on its infrastructure and the remoteness of the main property purchasing destinations. Panama leads the field when it comes to paving. You can drive in comfort, on paved roads, to most of the real estate developments featured on RevealRealEstate, including of course all the condo projects in Panama City.
Costa Rica follows close behind with over 70% of the developments having paved access. We haven’t yet seen the new section of road between Quepos and Dominical, but this should improve driving comfort further.
In Nicaragua be prepared for a bumpier ride. Only 20% of the projects on RevealRealEstate have paved access. But if the planned coastal road from the border with Costa Rica heading northwards following the ribbon of development ever gets off the drawing board, this would change the picture quite dramatically.
How long does it take to drive to the airport and the nearest grocery store?
The pattern between the countries is similar when it comes to driving times. Real estate developments in Panama and Costa Rica have a shorter driving time on average to the airport and to a decent sized grovery store than those located in Nicaragua.
If you need to pop out to a grocery store with a decent range of items you’re looking at a 9 minute drive, on average, in Costa Rica. In Nicaragua, your grocery run is 23 minutes on average. Of course this varies considerably for each real estate development. Check each development page for individual driving times.
What about Belize real estate?
We’ve included the Belize data separately as it’s not directly comparable to the other countries. The terrain is quite different, particularly on the coast, and visitors mostly get about by taking short internal flights and then getting in a golf cart for the final stretch. Many of the projects on Ambergris Caye for example do not have paved access but in practice all this means is a short golf cart ride on a sand road.
Infrastructure is steadily improving in Belize. The paving of the 16 mile road along the Placencia Peninsula is underway with the section from Maya Beach to Placencia Village already completed. So the only bumping we’ll do on our next trip to Placencia will be over speed-bumps.
So what does all of this mean for pricing? Does paved access lessen a development’s exclusivity? Does a long driving time from the airport or grocery store mean that prices will be lower for comparable real estate? We’ll be looking at this in our second post on accessibility. Stay tuned.
Tags: Ambergris Caye, Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Panama City Real Estate, Placencia real estate
Posted in Market statistics and data | 1 Comment »
Are real estate prices stickier in Central America?
April 15th, 2009
We’ve just started a new round of data collection for 2009 covering Nicaragua, Belize, Panama and Costa Rica. When we have this collected, we’ll present a trend analysis - showing how prices have changed since 2008.
Kirk Hankla, owner of International City Mortgage, on a recent trip to Nicaragua, put forward the view that we would find property prices in Central America to be stickier on the downside than in the US (or other more mature markets).
The argument for stickier property prices
The argument being that people who buy in Central America are typically making cash purchases and are usually not effected to the point of having to liquidate assets in order to meet demands. This characteristic, of not being highly leveraged, generally speaking, is how they conduct their lives in their home country as well.
Even if they were looking for financing, they would be hard pressed to find the kind of financing products commonly available in the US. This is because Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize and, albeit to a lesser extent, Panama do not have capital markets developed for the selling of mortgage backed debt instruments.
So due to the lack of financing, there is no debt load and the fact that property taxes are low across the region, the buyers are not backed up against a wall to meet a monthly debt service which has required that they liquidate. The result being that prices are stickier on the downside.
Regional variances will exist
We’ll see if the numbers bear this out, and we’ll dig into the regional variances. Some real estate areas, such as Panama City for example, have seen significant levels of financed purchases. And some heavily leveraged large scale projects have suspended operations - the St Regis project in Costa Rica in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse was a case in point.
But regionally we’re not seeing the waves of foreclosures that have swept across the US. There are of course motivated buyers who are lowering their prices, some of whom are having their hand forced by a debt burden in their home country that must be satisfied. But that may not be enough to add up to the heavy across-the-board price falls we’ve seen in the US.
We’d love to hear your views. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
From Reveal Real Estate - charting international real estate trends in Central America.
