More Kudos On Lake Arenal From International Living

Costa Rica’s Lakeside Hideaway—From $33,500 International Living Postcards—your daily escape Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010 There’s more to Costa Rica than beautiful beachfront. As Dan Prescher reports here, there’s a freshwater world of wonders where you can still find some great bargain real estate. Costa Rica’s Lakeside Bargains—A Real Opportunity By Dan Prescher Mention Costa Rica, and most people picture surf crashing on miles of beautiful, sandy beaches or jewel-bright birds darting through mist-shrouded rainforest canopies. They don’t picture a deep, clear, 20-mile-long lake ringed by lush green hillsides and towering mountains, including the perfect cone of a 5,000-foot active Volcano *********************************************************** Lake Arenal is one of Costa Rica’s best-kept retirement and real-estate investment secrets. You can find tidy homes, magnificent lake-view lots, and mature, well-managed gated communities surrounding this beautiful lake. Yet on any given day a kayaker can share the glass-smooth, 50-square-mile surface of this idyllic body of water with only four or five others…plus a few onshore fishermen hand-lining for the plentiful and tasty guapote and other game fish. If this lake were in the U.S. or Canada, you’d have to fight for a place in line at docks, lakefront restaurants and bars any day of the week. But depending on your point of view, Lake Arenal is either blessed or cursed by being three hours from the airport at San Jose, two hours from the airport in Liberia, and two-and-a-half hours from the beaches of Guanacaste. This means you have to want to get to Lake Arenal, and you have to drive to get there. But once you do, you may never want to leave. Aside from being a stunningly beautiful region, real estate around the lake goes for a fraction of the cost it commands elsewhere in Costa Rica. And at 1,500 feet above sea level, with an average temperature of 78˚ F, Lake Arenal is, if anything, even more comfortable all year round than many other popular Costa Rican destinations. Traveling to Lake Arenal from the east, you’ll pass through the tourist-oriented community of La Fortuna, where you’ll find countless spas and hotels with thermal springs and pools, all heated by the volcano’s deep, fiery core. Once past the volcano and over the dam (the lake was formed as part of a hydroelectric project), the road takes you along the lake shore of steep wooded hillsides on one side and sweeping lake vistas on the other. Ten years ago this road was a challenge for a faint-hearted driver due to potholes and washouts. But it’s now well-paved and maintained, and along the road you’ll find a number of charming boutique hotels. You’ll also find a surprising variety of restaurants, including some that could give gourmet operations in New York and Paris a run for their money. There are definitely real estate bargains at Lake Arenal. Small, Tico-style houses near the several lakeside villages can be found starting at around $45,000. New construction averages $50 to $80 per square foot. Gated developments are perched on the steep hillsides all around the lake, and you can find excellent lake-view lots of nearly an acre in size from $33,500. What draws attention around Lake Arenal, especially for anyone familiar with lake developments in the U.S. like those around Lake Tahoe or Lake of the Ozarks, is the lack of condo projects. This presents an opportunity; managed, lock-and-leave lakeside condo properties are a niche just begging to be filled. International Living The Greatest Name In World Real Estate Values Moran Real Estate Over 50 Years of Tropical Real Estate Excellence It's true that we S"Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned." It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives t until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives