Guanacaste Real Estate Market Conditions
[Richard Bexon] Good morning, Morgan. How are you doing?
[Morgan Osborne] Good morning. I am over here at the marina enjoying a nice hot morning. How are you?
[Richard Bexon] Good, good. I’m actually here in Los Suenos, Mary. That’s when I was down in Van Willemtonia.
Kids are on vacation for a week. So yeah. Yeah.
So, but we’ll really appreciate you taking the time. I know that you’re juggling chainsaws over there between the marina and also Christie’s as well. So you’re, I know you’re very, very busy, but appreciate you coming on the podcast, chatting with us kind of about what’s going on in your area and just getting some information out there.
[Morgan Osbourne] Absolutely.
[Richard Bexon] Awesome. Well, Morgan, the first question I always like to ask is just kind of getting an update of kind of what’s happening in the market, as I’m sure that you’re aware, you know, we’ve got in, I would say rising inflation rates, but God knows where that’s going in the world, you know, slowing economies, but like, what are you seeing happening in Costa Rica and specifically, you know, kind of in Guanacaste real estate?
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah. So it’s interesting what I’m seeing, especially being in the marina, I feel like it’s a whole different clientele I’m getting in front of. I’m seeing a lot of the high, like stakeholders are getting personal loans to finance their house in Costa Rica.
So in that case, I mean, Guanacaste real estate has been probably one of the best it’s been in over a decade, especially after COVID. I think everyone got the itch regardless of, you know, your political stance, people wanting to shift money out of the States, but it’s been, you know, Guanacaste is definitely appealing to high income, high income buyers looking for investment properties.
[Discussion about market strength in Guanacaste]
Market Seasonality and Inventory Challenges
[Richard Bexon] And are you seeing any slow down? I mean, some other people have mentioned, you know, that they’ve definitely seen a bit of a quieter, you know, last couple of months. Have you seen that?
[Morgan Osbourne] I think it’s steady. I mean, typically as right now it is low season, but I’m sure that we will see, you know, pick back up November, December. I think the main thing here is, you know, demand and supply there’s, there’s limited inventory.
There’s only so many beachfront houses you can have. And that’s what people are looking for, especially in like the Flamingo area, you know, Tamarindo and those beachfront house they’re going for at least, I mean, you can’t find anything in Flamingo for a beachfront less than a million.
[Richard Bexon] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It’s, it’s, it’s interesting you say that because I was, I’m looking for a property in Manuel Antonio at the moment and mentioned to a realtor, Hey, I’m looking for this. And her response was LOL. You know?
And I was like, like, does that mean that they don’t exist? Well, exactly. Exactly.
So, but I mean, look, I, I think we, we have seen a bit of a slowdown compared to probably 20, you know, 2021, 2022, but like, again, as I said, everyone was drunk, but I think that you’d make a great point there, which is the, which is the demand and supply here of like the demand, you know, typically outstrips the supply and Costa Rica just is on everyone’s radar at the moment.
[Morgan Osbourne] It really is. And another thing is I think that due to COVID and it being slow, a lot of people took that time and there’s a lot of, I mean, there’s abundance of new high-end developments coming in.
Future Market Outlook for Guanacaste
[Richard Bexon] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, what do you think the next 12 to 18 months look like for Guanacaste real estate?
[Morgan Osbourne] I’m thinking it will remain steady for what we call at least low season right now. It may drop a little, we are seeing, you know, like you said, a little bit of, you know, it’s being a little stagnant right now, but that is normal. I’m really hoping that, you know, high season, November, December kickoff.
And I think that, you know, the Marina, especially in the Flamingo area has really changed the game for real estate and just putting Flamingo back on the map again. So I’m hoping it will, it’ll get better. At least stay steady.
[Richard Bexon] Yeah. I, I, yeah, it’s going to be very interesting again, as you mentioned in the next, you know, the next 12 to 18 months I, you know, I’m on my side, the demand is still pretty strong. So I think there’s some incoming high season is still going to be there.
And it’s just, there’s just not much on the market, as you said, I mean, we’ve got some new stuff coming on the market.
[Morgan Osbourne] But I think it’s ready though for another year or two, you know, it’s almost like pre construction or pre-sale. So it’s going to take a second.
[Richard Bexon] Well, I mean, the advantage of that is, you know, potentially we might see a swing more to the buyer. So the buyer has a little bit more power, you know, but that being said, you know, Morgan, you and I were working on some stuff over in like the Tamarindo, Langosta area, and definitely that’s a seller’s market still.
[Morgan Osbourne] Oh my gosh. Yeah, absolutely. It’s yeah.
It’s quick as well. I mean, I think another thing to think of too, as it’s more difficult for North Americans or people that aren’t used to the way sales work here is, you know, people here don’t have mortgages on their houses. Therefore, you know, they don’t really care about the financing as much.
They’re going to take the first cash offer for the most part as they can. So that’s kind of a different process to explain to clients that aren’t used to buying internationally, or especially in the States. So that’s been a definitely a…
Tamarindo vs. Flamingo Investment Comparison
[Richard Bexon] Well, I mean, definitely where you are in Flamingo and also kind of Tamarindo, I mean, these are two main like hubs for people having vacation rentals, people owning homes or making investment. I mean, how would you compare the two? And which would you say it would be a better investment?
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah, I think it’s really difficult, the two, right? It’s like apples and oranges come to me completely different locations. There’s no comparison.
To me, Tamarindo would be more appealing for the younger generation. There’s such a high amount of, you know, tourists, there’s a high amount of rentals there. The plethora of restaurants and nightclubs activities generates a lot of the tourist interests.
I’m sure if you went to the airport and asked most people, you know, I mean, Tamarindo’s on the map. Most of them are going to Tamarindo to have fun. I think Flamingo appeals to maybe a higher end crowd.
It’s definitely become a higher price point. But then again, you also have, you know, Potrero and Surfside, which have great rentals. I think if I was going for having a good property management program, it’d probably be Tamarindo as of right now, who knows what the future holds in Flamingo.
But I’m seeing as of right now, a lot of people in Flamingo, at least like Flamingo and Apertura are more so buying for like luxury residences, people wanting to live there personally, not as much focusing on the rental or ROI. I think it’s more so like them wanting to bring their family down or having another beach house, you know, seasonal house. So I would think if it came to investment vacation rental, I would probably choose Tamarindo for right now.
Vacation Rental Occupancy and Rates
[Richard Bexon] Okay. Okay. Well, I mean, I think that, you know, the data actually, Flamingo is really good as well.
Like, I mean, there’s, you know, actually, I think Flamingo has an actual better average daily rate on condos than Tamarindo does, just because they’re, as you mentioned, there’s a plethora of like condos there in Tamarindo, especially the one, two bedrooms, whereas in Flamingo, there’s not as like there are, they exist, but there’s not as many.
[Morgan Osbourne] Rarely. Yeah. There’s not much, not much inventory unless there’s some resales.
[Richard Bexon] Yeah, exactly. So like the average daily rate appears to be higher in Flamingo than Tamarindo, but the occupancy, you know, in Tamarindo kind of outstrips Flamingo a little bit, but not much. There’s not that much difference there.
[Morgan Osbourne] I think you nailed it there too, though. I think occupancy. Yeah.
Cause there’s more people would be Tamarindo. And then again, though, if you have a, if you have a house or you’re doing proper management in Flamingo, I think obviously the price point is going to switch. You can charge a lot higher in a Flamingo, I would say per night in general.
[Richard Bexon] As you said that the clientele is definitely different. You know, I mean, you know, Tamarindo is kind of that first time, you know, person that arrives, everyone goes to Tamarindo.
[Morgan Osbourne] That’s exactly what I tell, you know, buyers, you know, that’s like your risk-free first one, but then, you know, once you want to really see some, some main and you’re, you’re able to kind of move around and feel more comfortable, then I’ll definitely go and, you know, invest in Flamingo or invest in, you know, other beaches around, you know, Costa Rica, go down South, you know, you can definitely, definitely a move around.
Marina Flamingo’s Impact on the Community
[Richard Bexon] Well, you’d mentioned about kind of like, you know, the Marina is now re-put Flamingo on the map because I mean, in the nineties, Flamingo was the place, you know, it was happening, you know, and then it just kind of quietened down. I think that moved to probably Los Sueños actually. You know, a lot of that fishing moved then down to Los Sueños, like it used to be Ocatal, then it was Flamingo.
Now I think it’s Los Sueños. And then from Los Sueños, it’s kind of dispersed to Quepos and maybe a little bit, and now it’s kind of going back up to Flamingo. I mean, what has been the impact of the Marina on Flamingo?
And what do you think that that’s going to do for the area long-term?
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah. So, I mean, so we’ve been open at least for a year and I’m the director of marketing in Flamingo, so I’m here every day. So what I have noticed is, you know, this is already bringing in a huge new clientele, you know, in the slip aspect, we have super yachts coming in and larger boats, which are bringing in their owners and they’re starting to charter out here and only doing chartering the Pacific.
So we’re seeing a lot of people coming in and also wanting to have their boat here, but also live near their boat. When it comes to overall, I think the Marina is bringing Flamingo obviously back on the map, but as a community, it’s also able to offer a lot more jobs to locals and we’re able to integrate surrounding communities. And I think, you know, like a couple of weeks ago or say a week ago, I can’t remember, I’m losing my mind here nowadays.
I had a Desfile de Faroles and I thought, you know, maybe 60 people will come and there was like 350 and it was amazing. People from, you know, all the different schools, from CRIA, which used to be the old country day school, I used to go to, you know, Journey, Santa Cruz municipality, we had dancers, I mean, Grande, they all came together and it was so cool to see, you know, everyone really, you know, heard the word, it was a buzz and it was really fun.
[Richard Bexon] Wow. Yeah, it’s interesting because I think as you said there, Flamingo has a different crowd, but I think there’s probably more families living in that area as well than there probably is in the midtown area.
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah, if you think about it too in the map, yeah, we have all the school, so many schools, you know, we’re surrounded by so many schools and I think the one, you know, great part about the marina, the highlights, you know, most boaters come here now is we’re one of the only marinas actually has a, it’s around a community, it’s around Flamingo. If you go to Pizzavilla and, you know, Papagayo, they’re great marinas, but there’s, you know, you can walk to Flamingo here and there, you’re kind of stuck or you have to go somewhere to find all the amenities. Here now we have, you know, four restaurants on site, a medical center, we have law offices, we have, you know, shopping, you can walk to, you know, Flamingo Beach, eat at Coco Loco or, you know, ride your bike to Potrero and Surfside.
So I think the last couple years, you know, lots been happening here.
Prime Real Estate Communities in Guanacaste
[Richard Bexon] Yeah, I mean, what are the main communities that people look at when they look at Flamingo? I mean, as you said there, that, you know, there’s a lot of high-end boat owners kind of coming in and that always happens. I mean, you know, I mean, I think that the example again is Los Sueños because, you know, even though it’s a bit of a Garden of Eden because it’s just Los Sueños, you know, you have the boat owners come in and then they also buy a house or they buy a condo, you know, I mean, where are those people buying typically would you say, Morgan?
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah, so they’re looking at Flamingo, they’re looking at Las Catalinas, obviously, you know, it’s about 20 minutes away but that’s a great development. We have a lot of people, so one of our actual restaurants, the Matias, which is connected to, I am zoning out, Zapotal.
[Richard Bexon] Yep.
[Morgan Osbourne] Zapotal Discovery Group, so that’s big, they’ll come, they’ll come through. We have a lot of people, you know, maybe Reserva Conchal, which has housing around like the Westin area. I am seeing a lot of people wanting to be in, you know, gated like security, which again, limited inventory.
I know Chrissy’s working on something upcoming, which is, you know, still kind of, you know, a secret but Canto Mars coming out on the books, so that’s going to be high-end, you know, bills and residences that start at 5 million, so we’re starting to get a lot of traction there but I’d say when people come in, they really like, you know, Las Catalinas, they like like Zapotal area, they like higher-end but gated communities, they want to feel safe.
[Richard Bexon] Yeah, yeah, and again, we don’t, there’s not a huge amount of them if that makes sense either, you know, and I think that goes back to the demand supply, which you talked about at the beginning of the podcast, so yeah.
[Morgan Osbourne] Exactly.
Vacation Rental Marketing Strategies
[Richard Bexon] I mean, you have a lot of experience in marketing, Morgan, and as you said there, because you’re head of sales and marketing over there at the Marina, I mean, and let’s just kind of change gears to vacation rentals because I also know, you know, being in real estate, also you’re in, you know, kind of, we always touch on the vacation rental side of the business as well. I mean, how do you think people could do a better job of just marketing their vacation rental because a lot of people look at buying them and vacationing it but like, how do they market it?
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah, so I think, you know, people tend to forget that word of mouth is great but focusing on reviews like TripAdvisor, you can sit there and talk about your house or your rental all day long but they’re going to trust someone else that went there, you know, so I think, you know, TripAdvisor, Google My Businesses, making sure you’re on all the booking platforms, Facebook rental group chats are really big here. So, you know, I was marketing, I was at a job in the States doing marketing for a big law firm and there it’s all digital but here it’s digital as well but you forget like the network of people that you really need to get in front of and there are so many real estate agents and so many property management programs that’ll help you out.
So, I think, you know, joining those Facebook chats, joining the WhatsApp, you know, property management groups, keeping yourself in the community, getting in front of the right people, bringing digital marketing back is always key. So, Facebook and Instagram sponsored ads, you know, to be able to geo target or be able to get in front of your target audience instead of just, you know, a billboard or word of mouth. So, I think, just kind of upping the spend on marketing and being able to put some in digital would help a lot.
Value Proposition in Current Listings
[Richard Bexon] Awesome. I always like to ask people in real estate, you know, again, is there a listing that you have that delivers value? Because I think people are always looking for value.
Like, if anyone has money, they want to purchase it, like, it’s going to be an emotional decision but there has to be some logic behind it, you know, of course. But like, is there anything that comes to mind that you guys have a listing for that you think still delivers value?
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah. So, actually, one of my favorite and it’s my listing is it’s a lot five in Flamingo. It’s one of the last lots available with direct ocean and beach access.
So, this would be perfect for a client that’s looking, you know, obviously an investment. It would be a client looking for a high-end residential development whether it’s like six to eight large tropical residential homes. And you could sell each one for about a million, I’m sure.
The listing itself is 14,722 square meters and it’s going for 6.5 million. Yeah. My family owns it.
They’re developers here and they’ve been here for about 35 years. But it’s one that, you know, I haven’t promoted that much because we’re not in need to excel right away. But I think that has just so much value because we just talked about Flamingo, you know, not having as much inventory.
And this is basically a, I couldn’t say private beach, but basically a private beach that you could use secluded to all your clients.
[Richard Bexon] Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, I always say to people of like, it’s like taking a pizza and slicing it up. Sometimes that, you know, the money that you get after you’ve sold the slices is more than just selling the pizza itself.
So, yeah. And just the clientele coming into Flamingo, as you mentioned there, I mean, once you start getting super yachts come in, you know, a couple of million bucks, there’s nothing to these guys.
[Morgan Osbourne] Well, yeah, exactly. And like I said, you can’t find a beach front home Flamingo for under a million dollars nowadays anyways.
Missing Business Opportunities in Guanacaste
[Richard Bexon] Yeah, exactly. Well, there you go, guys. If you’ve got any developers listening to this, reach out to Morgan there.
Yeah. So, I mean, a lot of people looking to move now and also relocate to Costa Rica and they’re always asking like, okay, what am I going to do for work? And I’m always like, look, you know, there’s money in the street.
You just need to pick it up. But like there are services that are missing. I mean, what businesses and services do you think are still missing in Guanacaste?
[Morgan Osbourne] Many, but I think I work in Flamingo all day. So I think when it came to at least Flamingo or that, yeah, Guanacaste area, I mean, dry cleaning. I can go dry cleaning my clothes and I have like, you know, nice linen clothing or it’s a simple things, you know, I don’t think that we have access to like when it comes to medical and pharmacies and hospitals, we have that everywhere.
So I think that’s fine. But again, it’s like the smaller things like, you know, in Flamingo, there’s no Alta Mercado. The closest grocery store is going to be Masai, which is smaller and has all your organic, like higher, higher end things.
But at the same time, sometimes you just want something that’s, you know, easy and big. Like I, my groceries, I have to go to Alta Mercado, which is at least good 30, 35 minutes with traffic to Tamarindo. So, I mean, larger grocery stores, dry cleaning, I mean, salons, there’s not many salons like, or spa, at least around the marina, there’s no salon or spa.
A lot of people, you know, captains or owners come in and they go fishing for the day and their wives are like, hey, I want to get my nails done and go to a salon or blow, get a blowout. Not a lot of, there’s not many options around here.
[Richard Bexon] I’m sure that again, you know, it’s, it’s all these ancillary services that come around like living here and you don’t realize it until you’re living here of what it is that you don’t have, like the convenience of it.
[Morgan Osbourne] Exactly. Exactly.
Investment Recommendations for Costa Rica
[Richard Bexon] Well, awesome. Well, Mocha, my last question for you, because I don’t keep you any longer, which I love to ask everyone is if you inherited $500,000 and had to invest it into a business or real estate in Costa Rica, what would you do with it? Why?
[Morgan Osbourne] I think I would invest in income producing real estate. I personally love people. I love, you know, learning about the market and I love property management.
I actually do all the leasing for the villas at the marina. So I would definitely invest in that. And then, you know, that’d be my passion.
And I think I would invest in something on a sideline, like a supermarket or something large. Cause I just, I mean, to me, there’s unlimited demand for all products and items. People need to function.
It’s a day-to-day need. And some of those things, you know, we don’t have around here. So I think that’d do very well.
[Richard Bexon] Nice. Yeah. I mean, a supermarket ain’t sexy, but it’s probably a great business.
[Morgan Osbourne] Exactly. Exactly. The house will be sexy.
Supermarket will be sexy. Beauty and brains. Beauty and brains.
There you go.
[Richard Bexon] There you go. Well, Morgan, really appreciate you taking the time to come on the podcast here. I will put all of your contact details, description in below in the description down below.
Anyone that wants to reach out to Morgan can do. And again, thanks for taking the time to chat with us.
[Morgan Osbourne] Yeah, I appreciate you. And thanks for inviting me. Hope to see you soon.
[Richard Bexon] Awesome. Have a good one, Morgan.
[Morgan Osbourne] Ciao.
