Back to the Hammock -good and bad

ISSUE #759: May 5-11, 2019

2019-05-12

Brian Timmons, Newsletter Author
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
Developer / Property manager
Residencias Los Jardines

Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

Featured
rentals & sales

Paradisus Condos / Rohrmoser
FOR SALE / RENT
Visit our website

Paradisus Condos - click to visit

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
Semi furnished unit: For sale: $235,000
Fully furnished unit: For sale: $245,000
Floor 12 -west view

Market activity
sales & rentals

Sales: Los Jardines: Units #114, #116 and #124

Rentals:

Paradisus: Nothing Available at the moment

Los Jardines: Units #106C, #112, #113 and #116

Residencias Los Jardines
property management, rentals & re-sales

FOR SALE
Unit #114: $ 199,000 / See Unit
Unit #116: $ 195,000 $ 189,995 / See Unit
Unit #124: $ 125,000 / See Unit

FOR RENT
Unit #106C: $ 950 mo. / Available immediately / See Unit
Unit #112: $ 1,150 mo. / Available immediately / See Unit
Unit #113: $ 1,200 mo. / Available immediately / See Unit
Unit #116: $ 1,250 mo. / Available immediately / See Unit

For sale

UNIT #114
FOR SALE
$ 199,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

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 #116
FOR SALE
$ 195,000 $ 189,995

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
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.

UNIT #124
FOR SALE
$135,000 $ 125,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 662
Total area (Sq M): 61
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Floor(s): 2nd Floor
Type: Semi-Detached
Furnished: Yes

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
FOR RENT
$ 950 mo.
Available immediately

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.

UNIT #112
FOR RENT
$ 1,150 mo.
Available immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: 1 Story
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf single floor home includes a 300 sf front terrace plus parking for one car. It is attached on two sides by a 6 inch cement demising (common) wall, which prevents sound transfer.

UNIT #113
FOR RENT
$ 1,200 mo.
Available immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Semi-attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf single floor home includes a 300 sf front terrace plus parking for one car. It is attached on one side by a 6 inch cement demising (common) wall, which prevents sound transfer. The three other sides allow light, ventilation and garden views.

UNIT #116
FOR RENT
$ 1,250 mo.
Available May 1st

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
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.

Our Lives

Rainy Season... a couple of light rains / some overcast.

What Happened This Week

Vacancies: Another week and we still have a number of vacancies and virtually no inquiries. I guess I am going to have to start lowering asking prices... I don't know if that will make a difference... if there are no clients, lowering the price won't make a difference.

Accounting: I have my new accounts working on my stuff; Doneste will soon follow...

Compliance with new Tax Law: No answer from Hacienda (CR-IRS).

Garden Renewal: Probably beginning this next week, I will start on renewing problem areas in the existing garden. Over the years, growing conditions have changed and plants no longer suit certain areas and some plants should never have been located where they were... shade loving plants planted in sunny areas and the reverse. Plants needing large areas put into confined spaces... and sunny areas now shady areas as larger plants have grown... In many cases, we have lots of plants; they just need to be harvested / transplanted / propagated etc... The goal is to look good by next shareholder meeting in Dec...

Rancho Lighting: nearly completed... for some time, several of us have wanted to softly light the ranchos at night... for safety and esthetics. We have done that with the addition of foto-cells and a light fixture... Each rancho had power to it... We have one left to do...

A Drive to Manuel Antonio: not for the park itself but to view a house. I saw an ad for a guy wanting some $$ and offering the house as security. After speaking with the guy and after receiving a positive response from a friend who was looking for a loan but who didn't have the time to check it out, I volunteered to go. 3 hr drive, beautiful house, nice guy, my friend will do the loan... this is a win-win deal... I am the match maker... nothing more.

60 Hectares south of Limon -$160,000. I saw this ad as well. Again I turned a friend onto this -he is in the area. He is checking it out... It seems like an incredible deal. The owner, an older man in terminal health, needs to sell. We'll see.

I love spending people's money.....!!!!!!!! Lately, I have seen a number of other great deals but they were all very specialized... if the shoe fits, then they were great deals... I spend a lot of time looking and lately I have been finding opportunities. Personally, I am waiting for one deal to come through... the land is very tempting but I am 73 / the mortgage was a viable deal for me but it was good for my friend as well... I am waiting for another deal.

Hammock: I was actually able to enjoy the hammock for a couple days. Had it not been for three luncheons and one trip to Manuel Antonio, I would have spent more time... gives me time to think, read, and look for opportunities to get into trouble. But I am going to be starting on the garden this next week and shaking the RE agents.

Portugal: I hope to nail down flight and hotel arrangements tomorrow...

Condo: We have some thorny issues which need to be addressed ...probably this week. Some people are going to be upset... late payers are going to be penalized... and abusers will be checked. This is not a social club but a business... the transition may be difficult for some -it is interesting, some of the most outspoken are the delinquents.

News Items of the Week

COMMENTS

1. Education -Cost-Effectiveness: I have said this many, many times... the CR public educational system propaganda is total BS. Regardless of government stats, the education is terrible, the teachers are terrible, the results are terrilble and this article says the cost per student for such terrible results is horrific... unfortunately, nothing will change. Any Tico family who can afford to send their children to private schools, do... it is expensive...

2. Inflation: Officially manageable. The exchange rate seems to be managed and stabilized around 590... Last year at this time, we never expected this... goes to show we really don't know what is going on... actually, it is caused by a government interventionist policy which we really did not expect.

Education

Costa Rica is among the countries with the worst results of its investment in education.

It occupies place 54 of 56 nations evaluated by the Comptroller of the Republic. Report questions that high state spending does not impact on better student performance

Between 2011 and 2016, the Government granted an average of 6.8% of GDP to pre-school, primary and secondary education.

Costa Rica failed an examination by the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR), which measured the results that produce the investment of almost ¢ 2 billion (6.6% of GDP) per year to educate citizens.

In this test, to measure the efficiency of investment in education, the country ranked 54 out of 56 nations evaluated, that is, it is among those that spend more and worse results.

78.4% was the average grade obtained. This rating places it as the third country with the lowest rates of technical efficiency of spending, surpassing only Colombia and Thailand.

The first places were won by Japan, Germany, Canada, Finland and Estonia.

Infrastructure, teaching quality, investment in early childhood and development of student skills are some of the "subjects" that failed the country.

"The average efficiency of the other countries in the panel was 92.2%, which places the country far from this average threshold. In addition, it was estimated that for the levels of investment made by the country in education, the expectation is that the performance was 21.6% on average higher than the current one," explained the CGR.

To perform this test, the Comptroller applied the model called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in order to discover if the level of investment made by the country is reflected in the development of student skills.

They used data bases of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (Unesco) that allowed the comparison of Costa Rica with 56 nations.

The investment destined to education in the last four years as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) was established as an input, considering that it gathers variables such as infrastructure, teaching quality, materials, service coverage in preschool, primary and secondary and the averages of the PISA test.

Between 2011 and 2016, the Government granted an average of 6.8% of GDP to pre-school, primary and secondary education, a figure higher than that paid in places such as Argentina (1.6%), Brazil (1.3%), Chile (4.3%) and in Latin America in general (3.8%), for the same period.

"This being the case, it is not surprising that national and international organizations conclude that the high investment made by the country in education has not resulted in a relatively higher level of human capital of the labor force, and that the learning outcomes have not they are in line with the per capita GDP of the country, "explained the Comptroller in its Annual Report 2018.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in its report Review of national education policies in Costa Rica, published in 2017, that our country invests more in education than the 35 member countries of this organization that includes Finland or Germany. However, the report adds, that investment is not reflected in the performance of its students.

Central Bank

In April the variation of the consumer price index reached 2.07% with respect to the same month of the previous year entering the goal of between 2% and 4%

The variation of the consumer price index in April 2019, compared to the same month of 2018, reached 2.07%; with which inflation returns to enter the target range of the Central Bank, which is between 2% and 4%.

As reported on Wednesday morning, May 8, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), only in April the price index rose 0.56% compared to March and in the first quarter it reached 0.55% (in some months was negative).

During April, the goods and services that showed the greatest positive effect (due to their increase and the importance they have in household consumption) are: electricity, gasoline and automobile services.

On the other hand, eggs, papaya and cabbage were among the main ones with the greatest negative effect.

In the case of the interannual variation (of each month with respect to the same month of the previous year) the result of April indicates that for every ¢ 100 that a household spent a year ago to buy the goods and services that make up the basket of the indicator (315 goods and services), now requires ¢ 102.7 to buy the same.

The indicator has an impact on other important variables for households, since it is used to adjust minimum wages, pensions, rental housing contracts and fuel taxes, among others.

Other indicators that are important for the Central Bank when defining its actions are inflation expectations, which is expected by the specialists and the underlying one, which excludes seasonal or conjunctural factors.

Regarding the expectations, the specialists foresee an average increase of 3.3% for the next 12 months, according to the result to April of the Survey of Expectations of Inflation carried out by the Central Bank.

While the underlying interannual inflation (with fixed exclusion due to volatility) reached 2.32% in April.

As long as inflation remains within the range that the Central Bank seeks, it is less likely that the entity will have to take action to correct the course.

The Bank lowered its monetary policy rate on March 28 due to its projected low future inflation and then decided to maintain it on April 24.

The entity explained that there are some factors that could put upward pressure on inflation in the following two years: the recent evolution of international oil prices, the introduction of the new basic tax basket and the entry into force of the value-added tax.

While, on the other hand, there are factors that could push inflation downward. These include the convergence of inflation expectations to 3%, the lower expected trajectory of international interest rates and lower exchange rate pressures.

"Taking the risks as a whole, it is estimated that, in the forecast horizon, the inflation forecast would be located around the central value of the target range," the bank said in a statement on April 26, announcing the decision of the 24 of April.

FOR RENTAL OR SALES INFORMATION
ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, CONTACT:

Brian C. Timmons
Property Manager RLJ and Newsletter Author

Costa Rica:
Cell: (+506) 8-455-59-35
Land line: (+506) 2282-4142 Ext. 101

Canada:
VOIP: (+416) 461-2203

Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

 
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