More about Crete...
ISSUE #729: Sept. 13 - Oct. 6, 2018
2018-10-07
 Brian Timmons Dear friends, When I started Residencias Los Jardines, I started writing a weekly newsletter -determined to tell all the good, bad, and the ugly. I knew some readers would be interested in the construction process. I expected others might be interested in the lifestyle of two people who had decided to live outside the box. For others, the adventures of Lita, the parrot and the cat took on an entertainment saga all its own. Residencias Los Jardines is finished. We periodically have re-sales and rental availability. Some readers may be interested in this information. Brian Timmons |
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Featured
rentals & sales Paradisus Condos / Rohrmoser 
Each of the units consists of two bedrooms / two bathrooms, and a large living/dining/kitchen area. The floor plan of each of these units has eliminated the optional "den / office" divider. The result is a larger area offering more flexible furniture arrangements while still maintaining the option of including an office area. At 105m2 plus two parking spots each and storage locker, they offer a great opportunity for someone seeking views, security, central location, and first class, all round living... PRICE REDUCTION Distrito Cuatro / Guachipelín / Escazú DOWNLOAD PDF    .jpg)    .jpg) .jpg) Real de Santa María / Borreal de Heredia 
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Market activity
sales & rentals Sales: Los Jardines: Units #114 and #124 Rentals: Paradisus: Nothing available Los Jardines: Unit #106C |
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Residencias Los Jardines
property management, rentals & re-sales FOR SALE FOR RENT  For sale
UNIT #114 Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290 This 2 bedroom/2bathroom,1,290 sf single floor end unit home includes a 150 sf front terrace plus parking for one car. This house is fully air conditioned and has recently been professionally decorated by international decorator Alcides Graffe and has undergone a complete renovation—new modern furniture, finishings, window coverings, and art work by Carlos Gambino. It is arguably the nicest furnished unit at Residencias Los Jardines and only steps from the pool UNIT #124 Total Area (Sq Ft): 662 This 662 sf, + covered parking for one car, is a one bedroom home on the 2nd floor overlooking the large pool. It is ideal for a single person or couple. For rent
UNIT #106C Total Area (Sq Ft): 1250 This is a fully furnished 2-bedroom unit situated in a 2-story building, which has two units on the ground floor and two units on the 2nd. floor. Each unit is the same size (1,250sf) divided into 800 sf of interior space and 450 sf of covered front and back terraces. Units 106A and B are on the ground floor; Units 106 C and D are on the 2nd. Floor. The solid masonry demising wall (common wall) as well as the 5” concrete slab prevent sound transference. |
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Our Lives
Weather: Normal rainy season weather... wonderful... What Happened This Week:Heredia House: Looking good / looking lonely -no calls. Residencias Los Jardines: Deferred maintenance work continues. DistrictCuatro: Several calls / several showings/ we'll see... CreteLast time I wrote: "This is the last log from Crete" It turns out not to be the case... see below: Hospitality of the people is really great. Restaurant portions are huge... order one and split... Service is good. The Cyrillic alphabet is impossible to guess at but lots of signage / menus include English and many, many people speak English. It is all manageable for unilingual persons. You will never be harmed by “hot” water —good luck getting hot water to shower. The country seems well organized, well signed, clean and while some stalled construction projects dot areas, new construction is happening. Costs were a lot less than I expected and most things are substantially cheaper than CR. Showers are ridiculously tiny?????? Why does a large bathroom have a 30” square, slippery base with a shower cloth allowing water to flow all over the floor... and no shelves to put anything on... I have seen some clever / attractive architect –but kitchens and bathroom design is still in its infancy... wow! Upon leaving the hotel where we spent 4 nights, I complimented the owner on a well run hotel with excellent staff. He had shown himself to be a nice guy and this seems to be a family run hotel... I liked the guy when I first met him... he was saying goodbye to a group of Scandinavians... in a jovial voice he said: "Go home / Work hard / Earn lots of money / come back!" we laughed... I said I have one complaint... the bathrooms... at which point, he interrupted and finished my thoughts... he said, I know, don't tell me about the bathrooms, they are a disaster... it is on my 'to do' list but will probably be 3 years or so. He said the architect they hired was really good on exterior design but was terrible on interiors. so he knows and I fully expect he will fix them... Safety design / handicap access is pretty good but not having grab rails on a staircase is inexcusable and just plane dumb... I don’t know the liability laws but common sense should over rule stupidity. Men here have lots of facial hair —either beards or a few days of stubble... virtually all the TV male ad people have the same... Gillette is loosing out. Not so many tattoos... as I see in CR / US. A good meal at the hotel including two more than we could eat meals, wine, juice, and then they throw in a delicious large scoop of ice cream and some homemade hooch —average price for two dinners... $35. We could easily have reduced this by being smarter and healthier... ordering one meal and splitting it. The hotel is due to shut down mid Oct. and open mid April. The direct flights from Northern Europe / Scandinavia end / begin. On the way to the airport, I asked out taxi driver about olives —unfortunately the drive was only 30 min. long but this is what I remember: Virtually all the olives in Crete are grown for oil... they are small, with little flesh —the larger eating variety is grown elsewhere. His family owned 150 trees... there are three main parties to the family... each requires about 50 trees to produce the amount of oil they need for the year. It is a year round cycle. Spraying around flowering to kill an insect which attacks and kills the olive. Fertilizing annually. Knocking the under cover down, irrigating when required during the dry season... harvesting in November / December. The crop is sold to a cooperative for pressing / processing... they get their allotment based on the raw product they supply. Usually foreign, migrant labor is used because it is hard work. Most of the migrants come from eastern Europe... Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, some bring their families and wives work the hotels as maids. Some have immigrated and reside there permanently. Flight back on Condor was even better than before... We bought “Premier Economy” which got us more leg room with a greater seat recline which was perfect for sleeping. Yes, better food, drinks included, and the entertainment system. We had a long layover in Frankfurt but we found a quite corner which invited us to make ourselves at home... we did... and waited it out in leather chairs and large cappuccinos. |
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News Items of the Week
Comments: The strike continues but it doesn't seem to me that it really has much popular support... They continue to have "flash" demonstrations all designed to create chaos and disrupt the normal flow of things. Many school children have now missed three plus weeks of classes... surgeries are delay... tempers have flared in certain cases... some wanton / malicious vandalism... lots of lots productivity... the Church which had agreed to mediate and did reach an agreement of something between the two parties -government and unions- which the unions decided not to sign... the Church has since backed away and is no longer involved. The government continues to plug away at reviewing and modifying the existing set of proposal... the colon has now slipped to 580 : 1 from 562 : 1 a 3 % drop. Investment and business decisions are being put on hold / economic activity has come to a virtural standstill... waiting for this issue to be settled... |
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FOR RENTAL OR SALES INFORMATION Brian C. Timmons Costa Rica: Canada: Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com |
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