CIVILIZATION IS NOT FAR AWAY.  Twenty minutes from Marcia’s Paradise is one of the finest hotel / restaurants in Central America. Casa Turire is a Swiss Chateau with a wonderful swimming pool and estate, complete with horse farm and a five star French restaurant. The prices are very reasonable and you’ll dine in an ambiance comparable to Europe. Look for more information about this lovely hotel on our website    http://www.turrialbalife.com 

HEALTH CARE

An English-speaking doctor lives only ten minutes from our property. She and her husband are on call for our residents and when needed they will make house calls. They are building a new all-specialist clinic in Turrialba with operating rooms and laboratory.

There is a hospital in Turrialba (25 minutes). Costa Rica has one of the finest health care systems in the world. My doctor is in San Jose and is in charge of the Medi-vac helicopter service. These helicopters can land right on our property if need be and the charges are very reasonable. I recently had a full annual medical with all blood work, stress test, and more than two hours of the doctor’s time for only $200. Can you imagine? Turrialba also has one of the best dental facilities in the country and at far lower costs than in the U.S. or Canada. Please see TurrialbaLife.com for details.

MALLS, RESTAURANTS, SUPER HOSPITALS, NOISE, AND POLLUTION

You can find all of these things in San Jose, less than two hours away. We visit the big city every week or ten days and do major shopping, go to a play in English and visit the malls. But our property is not close to these things. And that’s the way we like it. Find out more information about Costa Rica at http://www.costaricaqanda.com

YOUR PART OF MARCIA’S PARADISE

Each building lot will be about two acres surrounded by trees and coffee. The exact size will depend on the topography of the land and will be determined by the site you choose. After you complete the purchase of your property (house and land) it will be registered as yours in the Central Registry office in San Jose.  Above all, you can be sure that wherever you choose to build your house or buy an existing house you will each have the fabulous unobstructed view of the mountains with the unbelievable peace and quiet of nature. Throughout Costa Rica you will find the views destroyed by electric and phone lines. In Marcia’s Paradise the lines are all along lot lines where they will not obstruct the view.
Waterfall and Tilapia pond at front entrance	This is still a working coffee farm
COST OF HOMES

No two homes will have the same design. We are looking for a pleasant variety of designs and sizes. Therefore, no two homes will have the same cost. The house that you see in our websites is 260 square meters (2600 square feet)  plus a swimming pool 10 meters by four and a heated Jacuzzi. We have also added two Jacuzzis in the house. This house is offered at the remarkable low price of $295,000.

YOUR OWN DESIGN

We would prefer you to design your own home – the one you will feel most comfortable in and be proud of. For this reason we are making available the services of one of the best architects we have met and a selection of good builders for you to choose from. We invite you to submit your basic designs for an estimate. You can have it exactly the way you want it with kitchen surfaces of Formica or marble and gold plated bath taps if you like. All American and European products are available in Costa Rica and we will be happy to help you build your dream house.

Lovely homes on Marcia's Paradise	Every home has the same incredible view

PERMITS, TAXES, ARCHITECTS FEES, ETC.

As in all countries the government is designed to make life difficult. In Costa Rica it is at least six times more difficult than in the U.S,. Canada, or Europe. Without a thorough knowledge of Spanish it is just about impossible to cut through the red tape. Each part of a chain used to produce a stamped document can take days or weeks, and if you don’t have someone to help you who is thoroughly conversant with the order in which it must be done, it can take far longer. But we can do it for you. All you have to supply is patience.

If you use our architect he will supply basic drawings and sketches based on your submitted requirements. Once you approve these he will prepare the finished plans (about 12 or 13 separate blueprints for different parts of the building ahe will also secure the permits for you. The architect’s fees are standard throughout the country. Only the quality of work might differ. He gets 5.25% of the building cost of the house for the blueprints including submitting basic drawings and working to your specifications. In addition he gets another 5.25% for making weekly inspections of the building work.

Permits including the municipality and national permits plus workers comp insurance for those working on your property will probably total just under $5000

So the total of architect fees, and all permits and inspections on a $100,000 house would amount to no more than $16,000. The total for a $200,000 house would be under $30,000 Yearly taxes are only $100 to $200. NOTE Local municipalities are now talking about charging a higher annual tax. However it will be nothing compared to the taxes "back home." Even if taxes are doubled it will still be a real bargain.

HOME OWNER’S ASSOCIATION AND FEES

As neighbors and friends we will need to form an association to maintain the property. We want as few rules as possible and hope that few will be needed. One of the responsibilities of the association will be to decide on monthly dues to pay for upkeep of the property.

The property is fenced and guarded. It has an electronic gate. We do not fear our neighbors in the local villages and crime is relatively unheard of in this part of the country. But, for everyone’s peace of mind, we felt we should provide this basic security. Obviously we must all share in the cost of upkeep of the security such as gate maintenance, fences etc. There is also a small cost involved in maintaining the fresh water system to the homes, mainly in pump maintenance. The roads need to be maintained each year with a fresh supply of graded gravel. My guess is that the cost of all this will be about $50 per month per home.

TELEVISION / INTERNET / PHONES

We have a satellite dish for Internet which can be accessed for a nominal fee and a monthly charge. However two companies are currently laying fiber optic cable which will provide high sped internet plus television and phones at a similar cost to those in North America. Our cell phones work well for calls to all parts of the world.