Spotlight on...Costa Rica

Costa Rica is not a “new” destination for International Living. Back in the early 1980s, we regularly encouraged readers to put Costa Rica at the top of their list of overseas retirement havens. Readers who took our advice reaped big rewards. Costa Rica caught on…and became the No. 1 destination among foreign retirees and investors looking for land buys with big upsides. The upsides were realized. Through the 1990s, the market boomed. Prices for beachfront property along the Pacific coast increased 6-, 8-, 10-fold, and more… But as property prices rose in Costa Rica, we (and our readers) began looking elsewhere.