...and what a #@%^@DF!!! week it was!!

ISSUE #513: June 8-14, 2014

2014-06-15

Brian Timmons, Newsletter Author
Brian Timmons

Dear friends,

When I started Residencias Los Jardines, I started writing a weekly news letter -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 resales and rental availability. Some readers may be interested in this information.

Brian Timmons
DEVELOPER / PROPERTY MANAGER
Residencias Los Jardines / https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

 

Featured house this week

Paradisus Condos / Rorhmoser
FOR SALE

Paradisus Condos - click to visit

Paradisus will consist of 4 towers in Rorhmoser, a suburb to the west of central San Jose. Not far from the US Embassy and shopping malls, Rorhmoser is a residential area that was developed in the 60's and 70's and is currently seeing significant re-development with high end condos. It is the area where the new stadium and a number of luxury high rise condos have recently been built with more on the drawing boards. Phase one of this development is nearing completion; it consists of two towers and the amenities -pool, exercise room, etc. Tower one is expected to be completed in January and Tower 2 should follow in February / March. The location of this development is superb... it's off the main traffic paths and sits on a ravine overlooking a river. To the east is San Jose / Heredia; to the west is Pavas / Escazu. With floor to ceiling windows and a wrap around balcony, these units offer fantastic light and views.

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...

Read more about Paradisus Condos

 

Loma Real Escazu / Guachipelin, Central Valley
FOR SALE / price reduced!

Loma Real Escazu - click to visit

$325,000 now $310,000 / 3 bdrms + maids rm / 3.5 bthrms / owner financing

Beautiful house in residential area: 24 hours security. 274 m2 construction. 2 story, 3 bedrooms + maids quarters, 3 1/2 bathrooms, ample eat-in kitchen, six years old, immaculate condition, lot 264 m2 professionally landscaped, two car enclosed garage, 1500 L reserve water tank, electric demand water heaters, Independent office. Located close to all amenities. Taxes $500 yearly and security $80 monthly.

Appliances and built-ins included. Furniture upon negotiation.

Owner will take back a mortgage for up to 5 yrs. @ 12% interest only.

View more pictures of Loma Real Escazu

 

Residencias Los Jardines
Property Management, Rentals, Re-Sales

Market Activity

Sales: no inquiries.

Rentals: four inquiries / two viewings... one rental

 

FOR SALE

Unit #114: $235,000 / See Unit

Unit #116: $214,000 / See Unit

FOR RENT

Unit #106C: $1,200 mo. / Available July 1 / See Unit

Unit #114: $1,400 mo. / Available Immediately / See Unit

Unit #116: $1,300 mo. / Available Immediately / See Unit

Site Plan

 

HOUSES FOR SALE / RENT

UNIT #114
FOR SALE $235,000
FOR RENT $1,400 mo.
Available Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): Single Floor
Type: Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf. (plus covered parking for one car and two lockers 67 sf.) single story, semi detached house, with garden terrace, two bedrooms is a beautiful executive style home. This home consists of two large bedrooms one with six piece en-suite bathroom with additional access to separate full shower. Each bedroom has large closets with extensive built-ins for personal organization. The vaulted living room and bathroom ceilings provide a feeling of grandeur while allowing the warmer air to rise and exit through the ceiling ventilating system. There are four TVs (one in each bedroom, one in the living room and one in breakfast / dinning room.) This is a beautiful well appointed home.

 

UNIT #116
FOR SALE $214,000
FOR RENT $1,300 mo.
Available Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): Single Floor
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf single floor home includes a 300 sf front terrace plus parking for one car and a separate, secure storage locker. It is and end unit and therefore attached on only one side by a 6 inch cement demising (common) wall, which prevents sound transfer.

 

HOUSES FOR RENT

UNIT #106C
FOR RENT $1,200 mo.
Available July 1

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1250
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: 4-plex
Furnished: Yes

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.

 

Our Lives

WEATHER: The normal pattern of sunny mornings, clouding in the mid day followed by a short rain and then clearing has developed. A beautiful time of year...

All In A Week's Living in CR

Colon: The rate inched up a bit to 564. The government has spent massive amounts of money over the past week or so to support the current rate. It is unlikely that this will or can continue. When that happens, the rate is likely to start upward again.

Comments

...AND WHAT A %#$#@^&&!!! WEEK IT WAS: The perfect storm of problems: The gods of destruction and chaos aliigned themselves against me this past week:

Computer: after returning to computer problems I got it up and running again... only to have it crash 6 days later. OK. The tech got it up and running again but the computer was telling me something... it was old, tired and wanted to die. The dreaded computer upgrade was the only solution. Getting one from the States didn't work out so the computer support person I use, found a 6 mo. old used one for the right price and my old computer... o.k... do it!. All the programs and the keyboard were in Spanish... that had to be corrected. Now I have a new computer with capabilities and software upgrades way beyond my level of competence or understanding... In a month, I might feel m ore comfortable...

Car: I had had problems with the car and decided to deal with them. I reported to the mechanic that the car cabin warbled badly around 50 mph... We went for a drive... yes it did and he also noticed a noise which I had attributed to "tire road noise". He check further and determined it was the right front wheel bearings. o.k. change them... He did... great, no noise but the wobble was still there... I took him for another drive, scared the begizzes out of him... after he regained color to his face and changed his pants, he agreed to look hard and find the problem. (This had been going on for about a year but had become noticeably worse.) He found it... the stabilizer system needed new bushings... Again, the car is in the garage for several days.

Magic Jack (Internet) phone: It had been working and not working... unreliable and finally decided it didn't want to work at all. OK... get a new one... but no car... wait... got one... now to install and get use of the same numbers and prepaid account that I had set up... Actually, it was amazingly simple... I had the tech do it!!

No Water: Thursday I awoke to no water...

Closing on Infinity Terraces Condo: a number of false starts had preceded this week's efforts. All had been aborted but I had had to wait out and shift around scheduled events for all the scheduled closings which were subsequently canceled. The process repeated itself several times this past week. The problem: lawyers!!! the seller's lawyer believes he's too important to answer his phone or return messages and he's incompetent as well. The buyer's lawyer and finance company is incredibly picky and have not focused on really important items until the last minute. The closing is again scheduled for 9am Monday. We'll see.

Closing on Paradisus Condos: This, too, had been scheduled many times and had been delayed since September. It finally happened on Thursday... wow!!! it finally got done -and the paperwork was correct. Now the agent will be happy!!! We still Now if have to sell them and complete the 6 yr. diversion in life and changed goals... we lost a lot of money, had many problems, and had to adapt to a changed landscape, but that's the way life is sometimes! However, along the way, we met or exceeded our obligations

Scheduled showings: four were concentrated in the same hour and all conflicted with the closing of Paradisus... go figure!!!

...and all the little things which went into dealing with each screw up made this a busy and very trying week. ...and I'm too embarrassed to admit to the biggest mistake of all which was entirely my own doing and born strictly out of insanity. I'm keeping this one to myself -I don't need a beating from anyone else!!!!

 

News Items of the Week

1. Cost of Basic Food Basket: a measure of inflation... it continues to rise and of course hits the poor the hardest since a higher percentage of their wages now have to go to pay for the same product.

2. San Ramon Garbage: this proposal (one of 19 before it) was rejected... but just think. 1,000 tons of garbage a day ( going up to 1,500 tons a day) which represents 1/3 of the total garbage created in the whole country per day being concentrated in one location... the cost -social, financial,infrastructure... in a country which has difficulty keeping is poorly maintained roads open in the rainy season... this is madness regardless of the technical feasibility of generating electricity from waste...

3. Electricity Rates: The new president was traveling N. Am. looking for investment and making all types of promises. He ran on the promise that electricity rates would come down... he's reported to being drafting a proposal to lower the rates... and here we see an intended increase of up to 16%... WOW!!! doesn't anyone get it???!!!

 

1. COST OF THE BASIC FOOD BASKET

June 10th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) The average monthly cost of a “basic food basket,” also known as a CBA for its Spanish acronym, which the government uses as a statistical marker for basic grocery items, increased by 1.37% in May from the month previous, reaching an average monthly cost of ¢44,264 according to the National Institute of Statistics and Cenus (INEC).

The greatest increases were in vegetables and legumes, which saw an increase in price of 5.84% and 4.41%, respectively. Meanwhile, the cost of beef decreased slightly by 0.26%.

The average cost of a CBA was higher in urban areas at ¢47,364, versus rural areas where the average cost came in at ¢39,250.

The CBA is a set of foods that are selected according to a normal person’s caloric and nutrition needs.

2. San Ramon residents concerned over garbage incineration plan

June 10th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) San Ramon residents are at odds with their municipality over a planned multi-million dollar contract that would have the city receive more than 1,000 tons of garbage per day for incineration as part of a waste-to-energy project.

The contract between the city and WRA Environmental Engineering, Inc. is scheduled to be voted on today, and would include a commitment by the city to receive garbage from around the country for an initial period of 25 years.

Under the contract, the municipality must provide the company with 1,000 tons of garbage daily for the first year, or pay for the difference in lost production.

After the third year, the municipality would be obligated to provide 1,500 tons of garbage per day. That amount represents at least one-third of all the garbage produced in the country, and would result in some 100 garbage trucks passing through the city each day.

Residents are concerned the trucks would deteriorate the city’s roads and cause foul odors, while others are concerned over possible health effects.

San Ramon mayor Mercedes Moya said the contract is only a draft and would likely be rejected by the Municipal Council.

“[The contract] was just a proposal that needs to be thrown out like 19 others that have been submitted. I think it will be rejected,” Moya said.

Residents however are not convinced. Rumors have circulated in the community that the contract may in fact have already been signed, in a move reminiscent of the contract with Brazilian firm, OAS to expand the highway between San Ramon and San José which was terminated last year after public outcry.

“We’re going to go from the ‘city of poets’ to the city of garbage,” one resident commented in a Facebook post.

Moya denied such rumors and said the matter would be decided by the Municipal Council during today’s session.

3. Electricity rates to increase by 15%

June 13th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) The cost of electricity will increase up to 15% across the country on July 1st, following an announcement by the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (ARESEP).

The rate hikes are the result of increasing generation costs due to water shortages, according to the regulator.

The amount of the rate hikes varies by utility. The following are the proposed increases, set to take effect on July 1st:

ICE – 15.57%

CNFL – 14.55%

JASEC – 12.02%

ESPH – 12.01%

COOPEGUANACASTE – 8.45%

Coopesantos – 7.19%

RUIZ Coopealfaro – 10.23%

Brian, Lita, the Late Hugo IV, irreverent Vicka, the pigeon toed parrot, Chico II and Chica II

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