A recent article on Forbes.com discussed the best ways to invest in your retirement. With thousands of baby boomers retiring everyday, many of these retirees are finding that their money goes further and their lifestyle is sweeter in Costa Rica.
Living the Dream: Your Future Retirement Home as Today’s Investment
A phenomenon is sweeping the American retirement landscape—from atop seaside bluffs, through bustling cities and across remote mountainsides. The phenomenon is an upswing in early retirement home purchases by 40- and 50-somethings, bought in advance as an investment and rented for the months, years and decades leading up to retirement.
According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2014 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, vacation home sales increased 29.7% in 2013. The average buyer is 43 years old, has a median household income of $85,600, and purchased a vacation home for $168,700.
And for many of these buyers, a vacation home-cum-retirement paradise makes good financial sense.
Retiring Seaside in Costa Rica at Hacienda Pinilla
For many investors, the retirement dream lives abroad. Their goal is to retire to a tropical paradise, centuries-old village or urban oasis—a home tucked into a turquoise coastline, surrounded by cobblestone streets or teetering high above the bright lights of an always-on kind of city. Due to these basic parameters—beautiful homes in exciting locations—these investments are often made in highly sought-after vacation destinations where property management services make interim rentals simple.
One such community lies 3,000 miles due south of The Sea Ranch: Hacienda Pinilla, a Costa Rican luxury resort community on 4,500 acres of Pacific oceanfront. The property, which also hosts the JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa, appeals to vacationers and exotically inclined pensioners alike with three sandy beaches, private beach club, championship golf course, spa, three restaurants, tennis courts, and stables.
Ultimately, many factors influence the viability of investing in a retirement home. But for buyers with a specific retirement location in mind, purchasing power and a financial plan, today’s investment can pay down a future retirement in paradise, however that’s defined. For more information on retiring and living in Costa Rica, see Christopher Howard’s book and tours.