109 Investing in Tamarindo Costa Rica

[Richard Bexon]

Good morning, Pia, how are you doing?

[Pia Dalvit]

Hi, good morning, Richard. Good, and you?

[Richard Bexon]

Very, very good. I really appreciate you taking the time, which I know is on a very busy schedule over there in Tamarindo Park, to jump on the podcast with us today.

[Pia Dalvit]

No problem, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me in your podcast, and yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

[Richard Bexon]

Awesome, awesome. Well, let's get straight into it. I mean, you know, I mean, I think everybody knows, Pia, that, you know, the pandemic really accelerated, you know, real estate in Costa Rica.

But, I mean, are you, you know, a lot of people keep asking me whether, you know, is there, have you seen a slowdown the past couple of months? Is that because the time of year? Or do you don't, you're not sure?

Like, we don't know yet. We won't know till high season. I mean, what's your, like, what trends are you seeing?

Or like, what's your viewpoint on the market currently?

[Pia Dalvit]

So, to be honest, in the market right now, there's like a small slowdown. But I believe the reason here for is like, just like the green season, and any like, other influences. To be honest, we are really, really positive about like the market in Costa Rica, and especially like in Guanacaste.

A lot of people, especially after the pandemic, choose like to invest into Guanacaste, or in general in Costa Rica. But also like not only investing, also considering to live here like full time. And one of the reasons is that Guanacaste is a really, really desired area.

And we have great surf breaks, which makes it like really attractive for people that are really active in the outside. There are also like over 300 sunny days over the year. So it really, really lasts rainy days.

And also like you're already like built infrastructure. And one of the most important points is that we all have like a really, really great emergency care here.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I agree. You know, a lot of people always ask about clinics and also hospitals and in that area, you know, there are plentiful.

And I think the big thing about, you know, Guanacaste is that, you know, you're everywhere from, you know, you're really close to the airport, you know, whereas if you're, you know, in the central Southern Pacific, the nearest beach is probably Jaco, you know, and then further down, you know, Vita, Oaxaca is like three and a half hours away, but from Liberia to Tamarindo is like an hour, you know, it's very cool.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. And then also like, also imagine that you also have like a national airport. So should you fly into San Jose, you still can play and take the plane as sunset from San Jose to Tamarindo, which is like about like a 30, 40 minutes flight.

And it's, it's easy going, right?

[Richard Bexon]

I've taken that flight way too many times now. I don't drive to Guanacaste because of the roads. I just fly up there now.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah, yeah, it's easier.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean, look, what beach towns in Costa Rica do you personally like and that you would invest in and why Pia?

[Pia Dalvit]

So me personally, and not only because I'm living here in Tamarindo, I definitely think that Tamarindo is one of the most desired towns and like a really, really great opportunity to have a great investment here. One of the reasons that we just discussed is that you're only like an hour far away from the international airport, Liberia, you have the national airport here that brings to San Jose, to Liberia, but also to a few other different places all over Costa Rica. So the community also here in Tamarindo is multicultural.

So that makes like the living experience really, really fun and attractive to people from all over the world. We have international accepted schools. So if you're moving here with your family full time, your kids don't have to miss out on the education, which is like a really important point when you make the decision to move in a foreign country.

And also we are living really, really close to one of the five blue zones, which is the Coyo Peninsula. So people are living here as the healthiest, the longest and the happiest. So that also like having this considered and you purchase.

Yeah, I think it's Tamarindo.

[Richard Bexon]

I mean, what about other, are there any other beach towns that like, I mean, if you were to personally make an investment and it's not Tamarindo, you know, for over the next five, for five years, if you were to make a five-year investment, which beach towns would you personally be looking at investing in, Pia?

[Pia Dalvit]

So there are three beach towns that I would recommend to make an investment. Again, Tamarindo is one of them. The other one would be Nosara and the other one would be Santa Teresa.

Why just three beach towns? Because the community over there is multicultural, which I think is a really, really important aspect. You have a built infrastructure, you have like the first world like amenities and shops and restaurants and doctors and all the things that you need in your daily life.

And yeah, let's say, I mean, like the living experience in the jungle is really nice, but you also wanted to have like all the necessaries that you need while living there full time.

[Richard Bexon]

Definitely, definitely. Let's talk about a 10-year investment then, like a little bit further out and, you know, potentially developing beach town. I mean, if you were to look, you know, 10, maybe 20 years, I mean, you know, and you're making an investment for some bigger returns going forwards.

I mean, where else would you be looking?

[Pia Dalvit]

So, I mean, still, I believe in my personal opinion that Guanacaste is still like one of the most desirable locations in Costa Rica, just because the infrastructure is already built out. Again, my preference would be like the Tamarindo area. So, if you speak about Tamarindo directly, it's building out really, really fast, especially like in the last past two years, which makes like investment again, like gives them like a really higher value.

If you're also looking into the Tamarindo area, you have a small other beach towns called like Havaianas and you could go to Playa Grande. And so, I think like this area makes it like really, really desirable, just because you already have like the built infrastructure, which are doctors, restaurants, pharmacies, international accepted schools, the roads, the two airports close by, and also like pretty soon like a marina. So, making the investment in this area will raise the value of the property that you're going to purchase pretty soon.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. I mean, some people were like, look, I'm going to invest in an area that's strong, and Tamarindo is like an A plus destination in Costa Rica. It's one of the strongest rental areas and investment areas in Costa Rica.

And others are like, I want to take a bit of risk here. I'm going to head further south or further north and invest in kind of more of a developing beach town. I was over in Bahia Piratas the other day, which is a dirt road all the way to it for quite a while.

And someone's like, dude, this road's going to get paved. And I'm like, don't believe anything in Costa Rica until you see it.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. I mean, like, these are the other things, like it can get paved. The question is like when, right?

[Richard Bexon]

Well, I mean, that's everything here, right? When?

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. But this makes also like, you know, like this is the really, really nice things and the living experience that you get in Costa Rica. Not everything has to be rushed and done by the way it works, how it is.

And this is also one point that I think expat has to consider when they're moving out of the first world countries, yes, that things are not rushing. So this also makes like your living experience nicer because you are also not in a personal rush to do things or to get to the end. I think this is one of the experiences that are happy and also like a lot of my clients that invested here had to have to get used to.

But it's also like a really, really nice, nice part of Costa Rica.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, I think the people that don't last in Costa Rica are people that expect everything to be. It's like I want the Costa Rica setting, but I want everything like my home, you know, that everything works well and everything.

That's not it. Like if you're if you're a very uptight, anxious person and you don't think that you can adjust to just the slow pace of life here, like this is not the right destination for you.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yes, yes, correct.

[Richard Bexon]

Where do you believe the gap in the market is at the moment, Pia?

[Pia Dalvit]

To be honest, the gap right now at the market is that if you find a property or a business that you want to invest into, you have to make your decision really, really quickly, just because there is not a lot of inventory available. And so if you find something that you like and you don't really have time to think twice about it, you have to make the decision right away, which in one point is nice because you're going closer to your dream. But on the other side, sometimes we have like decisions to make or like the family to discuss.

And then in this point, you don't have the possibility to do so because great opportunities are fast taken.

[Richard Bexon]

Definitely, definitely. What businesses do you think are missing in the area? You know, I was having a conversation with someone the other day.

They were like, we need a toy shop. And it was just the most random thing. I was like, oh, wow, a toy shop for toys, for kids and stuff that like.

[Pia Dalvit]

Oh, actually there is one.

[Richard Bexon]

Wow.

[Pia Dalvit]

You know. Yeah. Yeah.

No, there's actually like a pretty huge one brand new right in the center of town across from Banco Nacional. I just have been there yesterday and I was like, oh, my God, that's a dream for small kids.

[Richard Bexon]

Well, someone filled that gap.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. Yeah. So actually, to be honest, like here in this area, I believe like we have all kind of things that you need in your daily life.

If you look for something like really particular, you just take like your international flight to San Jose and then you can find all kind of certain things. But as I mentioned, especially like in this area, I think you have everything that you need. And I think also in my personal opinion is that we are so overloaded.

Usually, I'm original from Germany. So I don't know if you hear it on the accent, but then you have like everything is like so materialistic and you have so you're overloaded with stuff that you actually don't need. And it's really based on the lifestyle and what you need for your daily life.

And so I believe we have everything what we need.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. I always giggle when I you know, I mean, a lot of people move down here and they buy these flash new cars and I'm like, you guys are idiots. Like that's like not what we do here.

Like, yeah.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yes. You can throw the money on the window.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, right.

[Pia Dalvit]

Exactly. If you buy a new car, that's that's not what you need. And that's also the great thing that you that you start to you reuse things and not always have to have brand new things and be more conscious about your consumption.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Well, let's chat a little bit more about Tamarindo Park here.

Maybe you can give us an idea, Pia, you know, what is it, what's the concept and what what makes it unique?

[Pia Dalvit]

Yes. So Tamarindo Park is a brand new development project here in the center of Tamarindo. So we are in a walking distance of about 10 minutes to the center of town into the Tamarindo Beach to Langosta.

Walking distance is about like 15 to 20 minutes and in a car drive, like literally like two minutes. So what makes our project really, really unique is that we are part of our project is bordering the world famous Baulas National Park. So in this part, we are committing to only developing 25 percent of the complete 35 hectares.

So 75 percent is going to maintenance nature. And so part of our project is the Tamarindo Park Foundation that makes sure that all the steps that we're taking align with the eco footprint of Costa Rica. So we don't want to have a bad impact into nature and destroy it.

Our mission and our vision is to to live in once with them. So all the project of Tamarindo Park is going to be designed by one architect who is Richard Miller. Richard Miller is a pretty well known architect, especially in the area, in the coast area.

He has over 40 years of experience with the tropical climates, which is really important because in our homes, we're using natural materials like a lot of wood. And so with his experience, we have a really, really great team on board. Also, we're going to implement permaculture, regenerated agriculture and reforestation.

And this is not going to be implemented in the property of the homes. It's also implemented into the whole green areas that we're going to have in the project.

[Richard Bexon]

OK, yeah, I mean, it's you know, it's interesting when designing in tropical climates because, you know, we have a you know, there's a very dry season and then there's a very wet. I mean, yeah, there's a wet season. I mean, as you mentioned, you know, I mean, when a gets over 300 days of sun per year, but like you really need to build that like, you know, longer eaves, you know, don't expose wood, you know, those kind of things.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. What we're also implementing in our design is so all the homes have like a modern tropical design. What we're implementing is also natural cross ventilation, a lot of natural highlights.

So you get like really like literally like an indoor outdoor living experience when you're in the home and open floor plan and the permaculture, which is a really, really important aspect. We are only working all the landscape that we're including in our homes are only native trees and 50 percent of these native trees are fruit trees. Costa Rica has a really, really great up.

So if you spread the seed and give them water, you're going to have a plant over there. This is especially also after the pandemic, what a lot of people are looking for to have their own small little oasis where they can have like their own fruits and vegetables. And why should you go to the supermarket and buy it if you can have it in your own backyard?

You just come out, you grab it and you cook it.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, I know. I mean, I agree. And it probably tastes about 20 times better as well.

[Pia Dalvit]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And you don't spend money.

[Richard Bexon]

Exactly. A lot of people. How many people do you say that are investing in Tamarindo Park to have a home like as a vacation home and not rent it?

And how many people would you say are looking for kind of like something they can use, but they're going to use it as a vacation rental?

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. So just to explain, like in the beginning, beginning of a market was more and this was like before the pandemic, the market in Tamarindo was more that people are investing to have it as a second home and have it as a rental. We pretty fast noticed that a lot of people are actually planning to move here full time.

So our clientele is 50-50. The layouts of our homes in the beginning have been as a rental home design, but we also like to redesign the homes and personalize them after the needs that every client has. For example, we had our first client that is a family from California moving over here with two small kids and they decided to purchase a home on a lot where they have like two different structures and it didn't work out for them.

So we took the second structure away, build a second floor and created a family home instead of a rental home. So I'm really thinking that we have like a 50-50.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. I mean, it really is amazing because again, I'm involved in a lot of design of homes and depending on what the home is, building a home that you're going to live in and one that you're going to be a vacation rental are two completely different things. I walk into homes sometimes and I'm like, I would not like to live in this, but I would rent this for a week because it's fun and it's exciting.

But when you start to live in something, that fun and excitement kind of wears off and it's all about usability.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. So what we implement in most of our properties is that we build a small different structure just because if you consider to move here, you have always family or friends that wanted to come and visit you or if you're working from home and you have the family with kids, you want to have a separate structure where you can work and be quiet and just focus on your work. So on most of the properties that we're building, we have like a separate structure as we call like a small apartment that it can be used for family and friends as a guest house, as a second rental opportunity in case you want to consider it or as an office or gym.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think the thing about Tamarindo that, you know, I mean, everybody should just be aware of is it's just a very strong, you know, rental market. You know, I mean, I did an analysis a while back for, you know, a luxury beachfront home there, you know, and it was just incredible looking at the, you know, 70, 80%, you know, occupancy rates in there.

I mean, the barrier to entry, of course, Tamarindo is probably one of the most expensive areas to invest into, but for that, you also get the return as well. So now what businesses do you think are missing in the area, Pia? I mean, what businesses would you like to see in the area?

[Pia Dalvit]

Spoken as a woman, I think a shoe shop.

[Richard Bexon]

That's a good one.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like for men, like a clothing store for men, because you have definitely a lot of clothing shops here for women, because I mean, they prefer to shop than a man, but for you, I think there should be also something built out here.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, it's amazing asking people just about what those businesses are missing, because I think it's interesting, because again, if people are looking to, a lot of people look to move to Costa Rica and they're like, okay, I'd like to start a business as well, you know, and sometimes, yes, there is an advantage to buying something that's already existing, but sometimes like starting a new business as well, you know, when there's huge demand for it can be very interesting.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. Yeah. So definitely, if somebody's interesting in a shoe shop, I'm going to be there.

[Richard Bexon]

Awesome. Well, my last question for you, Pia, that I love to ask anyone, if you had $500,000 to invest into business or real estate in Costa Rica, what would you do with it?

[Pia Dalvit]

I would definitely invest into a property, into real estate, just because you can use it as an investment. But then also, if you shouldn't be living in the country or living in a different part of the country, you can use it on the low season for your personal use and still making money. Where?

[Richard Bexon]

Where? Where are you investing? What are you buying?

[Pia Dalvit]

Where?

[Richard Bexon]

You got $500,000.

[Pia Dalvit]

Well, the $500,000, it would be definitely like in a beach town, definitely not Tamarindo, but somewhere in the Guanacaste area. I'm in love with the Guanacaste area in a beach town. And yeah.

[Richard Bexon]

Would you buy a condo? Would you build a home? Would you buy an existing home?

Do you have a preference?

[Pia Dalvit]

I would probably buy an existing home.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Pia Dalvit]

Yeah. Just because for me personally, I prefer a home than a condo. And yeah.

[Richard Bexon]

Well, I mean, Costa Rica really offers clients what I like to call a lifestyle investment, which is like, you can invest it. If it's all about ones and zeros, there are better places in the world sometimes to invest if it's just about making money. But here, as you mentioned here, it's near a blue zone.

It's a slower pace of life. There's surf. A lot of it's outside.

And even when designing homes, it's like, look, you don't need big homes here because you spend a lot of your time outside. Like outside areas are important.

[Pia Dalvit]

Absolutely. Absolutely. And there's also something about Costa Rica that a lot of my friends and families, they always ask me, why are you exactly in Costa Rica?

And you don't really can explain it because it's like a feeling and it's this lifestyle. So I would really recommend just to come over here and you're going to notice how friendly the people are, how happy they are, how healthy and like, just come over and experience by themselves. I always recommend it to everybody.

[Richard Bexon]

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Well, Pia, we really appreciate your time.

Thank you very much for coming on the podcast. Anyone that wants to get in contact with Pia, I will take a look at Tamarindo Park. All of the contact details will be in the description.

And Pia, have a great weekend.

[Pia Dalvit]

Thank you so much. You too.

[Richard Bexon]

Thank you. Have a good one. Bye.

[Pia Dalvit]

You too. Bye bye.