Kizomba305 wrote:
While I am relatively new here, my personal opinion is that Costa Rica overall has been "Gringonized" compared to the 90s. Does that cause all long time posters to go away? Not necessarily, but it makes the destination less desirable overall, and thus these types of activities associated with it. David talked about how Americans have been paying double or more for real estate, compared to the price a Costa Rican would pay, over the past 2 decades. And that eventually spoiled the country.
I still think there's some good info on these forums, but there are other forums and countries as well. Quite honestly I think a lot of places that were good a decade ago, are becoming tourist traps and the like. And I'm not sure there's much that can be done to stop this.
Gringos, and mostly retiree types, have been buying properties on the Pacific coast for many years. The demand for these beachfront and beach area properties has been there and growing probably, but nothing to do with the guys that come for sex related relaxation. Whether they pay double sometimes compared to what a local would pay...who knows. But in the past, maybe 20 years ago or more, the locals did not realize how valuable some of the beach area property was. So they were outbid at times.
But now they all seem to know and believe their properties are worth a fortune. And they count on some ignorant tourist type to buy them. So spoiled the country? I don't know. But all I say is that this country protects its own and don't ever get in any sort of legal dispute, and if challenged for ownership of your property good luck in defending it. Squatter scams etc will get you, or problems with title, etc. etc. The costal areas are a gold mine for fraud, mostly perpetrated on people wanting to get a piece of paradise.