Roger and Brenda Smith had a good life in Southern California. They were retired and had a nice house with friends and family around. It was all very nice, “but we wanted to have more of an adventure while we still can,”said. Roger Smith “Our health is good and so we thought ‘why not?’”
The couple made a short list of international places they might like to retire, including Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Uruguay. “We did one of those retirement tours in Costa Rica, and we were so convinced after that tour that we didn’t go to those other places,” said Smith .
Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Mexico are all top five best places in the world to retire, according to the 2015 International Living Retirement Index.
“Everywhere your eye falls it is so beautiful,” Smiths explained as to why they set their sights on Costa Rica. “The weather is great. The people are the friendliest of anywhere in the world. It has a good stable economy for us to buy a house.”
The Smiths first looked around the country and then found their new retirement home in Nuevo Arenal , Costa Rica in November 2014. “We found this home here in around Lake Arenal through Olman Sandoval ( of team Realty I) and bought it,” commented Smith . “Nuevo Arenal is a neat little town with a lot of nice shops, We also chose Lake Arenal because if in the future we decide we want to use our home as a vacation rental, or even if we decide to sell, we know we can get much better prices in Nuevo Arenal than in many other areas nearby.”
For Ed and Rebecca Price , of Virginia, when they chose Arenal Lake Costa Rica as their retirement destination, they opted to build their dream custom home.
“We learned quickly that real estate in Costa Rica is not like the United States with its regulations, but we found a few realtors in Costa Rica who were the most professional, in our opinion, and who worked with a code of ethics,” commented Ed Price . Team Realty
Lake Arenal “found us exactly what we were specifically looking for. They listened to what we wanted and didn’t waste our time, which is rare. Within 24 hours of seeing properties, we knew we wanted to build our home. We were very impressed with Team Realty ’ builder and the high quality of construction.”
The couple, who had both visited Costa Rica before, cited the country’s family-based culture as to what appealed to them most, and great location for why they chose Nuevo Arenal . “We love the people here. It is a very respectful country and the people are so kind. It reminds us of how the United States was when we were growing up, very family based,” explained Price . “In Nuevo Arenal , we love that we are so close to great health care and close to the Liberia airport. It is a small town atmosphere but is very close to everything that we need.”
“I chose Nuevo Arenal after traveling around the country, and I just loved the feeling here. It felt like home,” said Costa Rica realtor Olman Sandoval originally Canada, Team Realty member ,“We always say that we’re not selling houses or properties; we sell dreams. I’m living my dream and I want to share this piece of paradise with others