Well, we've taken an amusing couple of days side track from travel scene to pose real estate speculators. Nicargua has an attractive scent in the air, as a budding travel destination and a potential very solid long term investment. Granada is heralded as the next international hotspot, and property in Granada and San Juan del Sur has been climbing steadliy at plus 20% rates for the last 4 years. So sensing this, and smitten by the the natural beauty, we casually inquired in San Juan about land prices. Nothing jumped out in particular. Prices were cheap but owning land in a foriegn and very poor country poses several logistical obstacles and moral considerations.
Granada, a town with broad colonial streets, a international feeling, gentle character, and homes with 20 foot cielings is a click past bohemian. The courtyards are incredible here - almost all have gardens in them, and every night familys open up the 10 foot woden doors and gather on the sidewalk, letting the lake breeze in. Walking into a ReMax office, we were quickly wisked about town, where we wanted to see the inside of some of these colonial homes. Unlike most of our budget traveling brethren Karen and I are oddly in a position to own one of these homes, though we hadn?t considered it in that light, and the deals require all cash. While being shown a beautiful home, the astounding realization sunk in that we could be of the propertied set...A shock of a similar magnitude but on the opposite end of the spectrum that one gets while looking at a tiny San Francisco condo for $550,000. Liesurely life in Nicaragua, or vacation home, wait a couple of years and sell it, perhaps for 50 to 100% more??
All trends are short lived... if indeed we were serious about investing here, a month rather than 2 days would be a more appropriate research timeframe. Combine that with the fact that we have all these glorious appointments in other parts of the world, and that we dont even own a house in the US, it suddenly seems like long shot.
But for a brief few hours in fantasy land we were buying into the market at the perfect time, working in the US and traveling back to Nicaragua several months of the year or more, where one only needs a 10th of the income, where a series of development deals in house restitution, local non profits, and beachside paridise homes brings new found flexibility to us and our host of imaginary Nicaraguan friends, who only need a little capital to propel themselves into the host of the HAVES. Alas, it is more likely to be a pipe dream, looked back on 5 years hence in the "should have" category. But for those of you looking for some hot property, you have been warned.
Posted by choppen5 at January 19, 2003 05:15 PM