Introduction
[Richard Bexon]
Good morning, Beth. How are you doing?
[Beth Beaird]
I’m good. How are you doing, Richard? Pura Vida?
[Richard Bexon]
Very good. I appreciate you joining us on the podcast, which is, I know, a very busy day as an agent for Coldwell Bankers and also as a full-time mother as well.
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah, there’s always things going on, but I’m happy to take some time to be here with you this morning.
[Richard Bexon]
I always say I think the best agents are mothers for some reason. They seem to be able to juggle multiple different things and organize themselves.
[Beth Beaird]
Exactly. I think, especially as a real estate agent, it’s not just showing homes. It’s not just putting pretty pictures on the internet.
There’s a million things to do and they’re always, they come at you, they’re never scheduled. So being able to multitask is super important and I would agree with you. Yes, thank you.
I appreciate that.
[Richard Bexon]
Hey, no worries. I think it’s the toughest job in the world, to be honest with you. Yeah.
Jaco Real Estate Market Overview
How would you describe the current real estate and investment market in Hakko, Beth?
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah, so I would say Hakko is, we have a little special niche here. We benefit from having, I would say, probably close to the lowest price points, entry price points in real estate, in beachfront, nice towns, tourism towns. So I would say we’re still moving.
We are still moving our inventory. I mean, we’re talking about entry level, $200,000, three minutes to the beach properties. So yeah, I think it’s diverse, but we also have that great entry point that allows the market to keep moving even in slower economies around the world.
Jaco vs Tamarindo and Cocoa Beach Markets
[Richard Bexon]
Well, but also, I mean, you’ve got a Tico market there as well, which I think is very different than most markets in Costa Rica. I mean, look, $200,000 in Tamarindo, Cocoa, whatever, gets you really like a one bedroom, 10 minutes from the beach. Whereas I think I saw something yesterday, I can’t remember if it was Shelby or David had mentioned in your office that like for $300,000, there was a condo on the beachfront, which I was like, wow.
[Beth Beaird]
Yep. We do have a listing right now on the beachfront that is 300,000 and it’s sizable. It’s probably 1,500 square feet, has great views.
You can see the rocks from, it’s on the north end, you can see the rocks, you can see a beautiful sunset, but you still have beachfront. So it’s amazing. Yeah, exactly.
Jaco Development and Market Impact
[Richard Bexon]
Well, and I mean, again, I think because of that local market, I think it also helps as well. And I mean, I’m sure that we’ll get into that once we start talking about like kind of ROIs. The one thing that’s always concerned me with HACO, but maybe it’s just a concern, it’s just that like, David had mentioned who you work with, that there’s an arrival of a lot of new apartments that are going to somewhat potentially flood the market.
What do you think the impacts will be of that?
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah, so I think, well, I think that maybe that’s a little misleading. I think majority of these condos have sold. Like for example, we have a beachfront project that we just sold out in 30 days.
So yes, I agree with you. At some point, there is an influx of condos being built. However, they are moving.
And so again, I think it’s that entry price point level. Somebody wants something here, able to rent it out, you know, months out of the year, and they’re still able to use it for $300,000, you know, that’s gold. Where are you going to find something $300,000 on the beach, anywhere in the world?
Costa Rica Guanacaste Province Comparison
[Richard Bexon]
Well, I mean, we’re here in Costa Rica, maybe in like Guanacaste, like on one of those hidden Junquiao beaches or something. But even then, I think it’s now they’re creeping up to like $400,000, $450,000. So yeah.
I mean, I always think the HACO market will do well, as I mentioned there, because you have a local market, which helps during the low season months, you know, kind of this time.
[Beth Beaird]
Exactly.
[Richard Bexon]
And then also, I mean, just the tourism period of year, you know, December through to April. I think it just comes down to whether people like HACO or not, if that makes sense, because I think it’s for some people, and it’s also not for other people.
Jaco’s Evolving Reputation and San Jose Proximity
[Beth Beaird]
I agree. And I think that HACO, mostly in the past, I think it’s changing its rep a little bit or a lot. You know, I first came here 10 years ago on my honeymoon with my husband, he was here before me.
Um, but it was a lot different back then. But even then, it was never something I felt was a bad place. You know, it’s gotten this rep for drugs and things like that.
However, it’s completely changed. I have a family, I have a three year old, a five year old, we only hang out with other families. And I absolutely love it.
You get amazing beaches, you get the convenience of a town, but you also can go 10 minutes down the road and find little beaches that nobody, you don’t see anybody on. So you get that. And you’re an hour and a half from San Jose.
I mean, you really can’t beat that.
[Richard Bexon]
Yeah, I agree. I agree. So you have some pretty good high, you know, return on investment properties at the moment.
High ROI Properties in Jaco
What makes them unique, like, tell us about them and what you think makes them unique and why they get high ROI.
[Beth Beaird]
So I think the market is kind of what we talked about before. Um, these, these smaller units, yeah, there’s an influx of them. So there’s a lot of competition, right?
If you’re wanting a, a cash flow vehicle, investment vehicle, these bigger villas is really where it’s at. I’m talking four, five, six, seven, eight plus bedrooms, um, because you’re really hitting a niche market that nobody else has here. Um, and the ROIs on them are, you know, I have like a cash on cash ROI for 24.7% right now. Um, I think they’re unique because these big groups of people, I mean, we get a lot of weddings, bachelorette parties, bachelor parties, family reunions, things like that. And they don’t want to rent a hotel. They don’t want to rent five different little Airbnbs.
They’re renting one altogether. And they’re also getting this amazing experience. The property managers that manage them, um, my properties and one of my really good friends, Jesse, they, they do an amazing job at, um, you know, a concierge service and adding all these extra little things to help the customers return, come back, have a good, um, uh, you know, like a good experience with them.
Yeah. And it just helps, helps the numbers creep up higher. Um, so go ahead.
[Richard Bexon]
No, I’m just saying it’s interesting because again, I think the ROI is definitely in larger properties or like unique small properties, you know, because we spend a lot of time analyzing stuff and it’s always the more bedrooms that you have, the better the ROI, because I mean, the infrastructure required for like common areas is the same really for a four bedroom to a six bedroom. It really doesn’t change that much, but the returns on a six bedroom are much better than a four bedroom if, you know, if that makes sense.
[Beth Beaird]
Oh, a hundred percent. That makes sense. Yeah.
I see it every day here. And the numbers that I’m seeing on these bigger villas versus the little ones. Right.
Um, yeah. So go ahead.
Costa Rica Tourism Impact on Jaco Market
[Richard Bexon]
No, I was just going to say, you know, my concern at the moment, it’s just, you know, we’re seeing some reduced tourism numbers here to the country. You know, I think we predicted at the start of the year, we’d see anywhere from five to 8%. I think that’s probably going to hold true.
Um, you know, we’ll see what August has to say. July was pretty strong. We’ll see what August, September, October, of course, is always going to be very quiet.
And then it’s going to be interesting to see what the final numbers are for November and December for this year. But like, do you think those ROI numbers are going to hold?
[Beth Beaird]
I do in these bigger properties. Again, I think, um, you know, we really haven’t seen so much signs of that fully yet. Um, but however, like we were talking about, Hukko is really resilient.
Um, we have these bigger groups, especially from Florida and these States that are really close by, they’re going to jump over here for the weekend and jump back over. Um, you know, it’s a cheap flight for them, $200. And our, our, our prices here are not, they haven’t gone up in a long time.
Um, so our prices here per night, even for these bigger villas are still really affordable. I mean, you can’t even get like a motel in the States for less than a hundred dollars a night. Right.
And we’re talking about villas with, you can put, you know, 12, 18 people in them and they’re paying about a hundred dollars a night too. So, um, I, I don’t know if it will really make a difference to us because we have such a unique, um, kind of situation for that. And again, Hukko is the closest beach town to San Jose.
We’re still getting a ton of local tourism as well. So we really haven’t seen that decrease like other places around the country have.
[Richard Bexon]
Okay. What do you think the Hukko market is lacking Beth?
Jaco Luxury Market Gap Analysis
[Beth Beaird]
I think luxury properties.
[Richard Bexon]
I’m building four of them.
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah. Okay. Well, great.
Because I have clients that will ask me, you know, in this, uh, million dollar to $2 million range, but it’s hard to fit that, fit that bill. Um, you know, residential properties really.
[Richard Bexon]
Um, It’s weird because Hukko, you have that, like those nice condos in the seven, eight, 900 like range, which are kind of your top end stuff. But then homes usually jump, jump up then to the three, 4 million, you know, but there’s not like really that much new. There’s nothing really in that, as you mentioned there, that one to $2 million mark.
[Beth Beaird]
Exactly. Yeah. We need it.
So I’m glad you were building some, but yeah. And Hukko, we don’t have, you’re exactly right. We don’t have from the, you know, like eight to 1.4, 1.5 million dollar range. We just don’t have that. And it, um, if we had it, they’d be sold. We have buyers for them.
We just don’t have that inventory to show. We do have some, um, luxury lots available right now. Um, they’re kind of on a private, private beach, um, North of Hukko.
Cadi Blanco Development North of Jaco
They’re called Kadi Blanko.
[Richard Bexon]
And yeah, perfect.
[Beth Beaird]
Exactly. So there’s eight lots there. Um, I believe four or five of them have sold and you can build gorgeous homes there.
Um, like what, what size of a home are you building?
[Richard Bexon]
Like actually a 10,000 square foot home. It’s a very large three story home because it’s, you know, of where it is, but yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, the lots are like, you know, 1.1, $1.2 million.
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah. And they, they sit on, on the sand.
[Richard Bexon]
Tidal to tidal. Yeah. It’s, it’s look, you know, when someone had mentioned it to me, I was like, what, is that real?
And then I drove over there and met the developer Tom and walked it. And I was like, wow, you’ve got something very special here.
[Beth Beaird]
It’s special.
[Richard Bexon]
It is tidal beachfront. It’s in Hukko, but it’s not, if that makes sense, it’s kind of disconnected from Hukko.
[Beth Beaird]
Exactly. You take your little dirt road, but once you get there, it’s amazing. But you’re what?
Five, 10 minutes from town at the most.
[Richard Bexon]
Yeah. Or if you really want to cross the estuary, you can do.
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah. You can get yourself a boat as well.
[Richard Bexon]
Exactly. Take a little water taxi or just a floatable boat and go across.
[Beth Beaird]
But yeah, exactly.
Real Estate Agent Consultation Approach
[Richard Bexon]
Um, what question do you think every prospective buyer should ask their agent? Beth, I always like to ask this from agents.
[Beth Beaird]
Yeah. I think, I think it’s not just one question. I think maybe it’s spending a little more time with your agent, getting to know them, getting their background, seeing what knowledge they have, what knowledge they can pass on to you and asking them the hard questions.
I think it’s really easy. And what most agents do is they just jump into showing you something. Um, for me, especially coming from my background of having years of experience in the U S I like to sit down with people because most of the buyers here are going to be never invested in Costa Rica, never invested internationally.
There’s a lot of questions don’t necessarily know the area. So it’s more of a consulting first, getting to know exactly what the client wants, getting, telling them how the process works here, because it’s extremely different. You know, we don’t have an MLS, so that makes it quite different as well.
And sometimes more difficult to navigate, especially on your own. Um, so I think it’s just having the consultation, sitting down and feeling comfortable with your agent, but you’re also making sure your agent is giving you the truth too. There’s a lot of, and this is all over the world, right?
There’s sometimes where unfortunately agents get a bad rep because the truth is not being told whether the client wants to hear it or not. I think it’s important that the client does hear it and how they accept that information is, you know, is yeah.
Investment Strategy for Costa Rica Real Estate
[Richard Bexon]
Well, Beth, this has been great. Thank you very much for kind of sharing your knowledge for you. But our last question that we’d love to ask everyone, if you had $500,000 to invest and you had to invest it into a business or real estate in Costa Rica, what would you invest it in?
And why?
[Beth Beaird]
I mean, for me, it’d be hands down a high ROI villa.
[Richard Bexon]
I think it’s, um, you can get that for 500,000.
[Beth Beaird]
Well, I would get a loan.
[Richard Bexon]
Yep.
[Beth Beaird]
Yep. You put down 35%. You, um, have a loan for the 65% and you’re, like I said, your cash on return is 20.
I have a property right now, 24.7% cash on return. Um, and, and like, where are you going to get that in the States?
[Richard Bexon]
I mean, that’s a great return. That’s absolutely spectacular. Well, Beth, it’s been an absolute pleasure.
I’ll put all your contact details in the description down below for anyone that wants to reach out to you, but thanks very much for taking the time to join us on the podcast.
[Beth Beaird]
Thank you so much, Richard. I love chatting with you and, um, I, I can’t wait to see you again. Thank you.
[Richard Bexon]
See you soon.
[Beth Beaird]
Okay. Bye-bye.
