Buying property in Costa Rica you know it can be
a very rewarding experience however you know it can be very challenging when searching for real
estate in Costa Rica there's a lot of challenges to finding the right place and you know while
it's nice to be able to go to google and type in Costa Rica real estate you can find some real
estate sites and you can look at some photos and you can take a look at the listing and
get a little bit of information about the place but the truth is you only see what the
photographer or the realtor wants you to see, you only know what they want you to know and so you
don't really know how far away from town is it, how close is it to the nearest hospital and
so what you have to do is bookmark a few of them make appointments then you got to get
on a plane spend thousands of dollars to fly all the way to Costa Rica only to realize it's
not what you thought but wouldn't it be nice if from the comfort of your home you can kind of
get on a virtual airplane and you could research where is that property located at, how far away is
that property from the nearest town, how far away is it from the neighbors and are there hills,
mountains, valleys, rivers wouldn't it be cool to do a little bit of research from the comfort
of your home find out all of the facts and then book that flight to Costa Rica. Well today
I'm going to show you how you can do all of that from the comfort of your home so buckle
up put on your seat belt we're getting on my virtual plane to Costa Rica. Today I want to show
you how to find a lot of facts about a piece of property before spending a ton of money to
come all the way to Costa Rica only to find out it's not at all like the realtor told you or
what it seemed like in the photos you saw on the real estate website. In today's video we'll
learn how to research an area when you find a potential piece of property that you think you
might be interested in buying, I'll even show you how to use google maps to locate and see
what does the terrain in that area look like. Will you possibly need a four wheel drive or
is this piece of paradise only accessible by horseback or helicopter do you have neighbors with
15 barking dogs or will you get to enjoy the peace and quiet of a paradise you've been dreaming about.
Let me show you a couple of basic computer tricks before we start so you'll be able to do the
same thing after we're done with today's video. So if you go to google then you can
in the address bar just simply type in maps.google.com once you're there let's pretend
that you're wanting to see something in Costa Rica so we're going to go somewhere that's very
popular Dominical beach and you can see that some of the suggestions will come up and that's
possibly because I've been there a lot but we'll look at Dominical beach and I'll click on
that and so now I'm going to close this screen but here I can see all kind of stuff and I
can scroll and I can make it a lot smaller. As I'm scrolling I can see this very popular
road that I've shown you before that goes from San Isidro in the Perez Zeledon area and goes
all the way down to the minute cow you know it's about 45 minutes an hour to travel down
this road so this is really a great place to be however would it be kind of cool to see what does
this terrain look like right here well this is the street or road map view and if we come down here
and click on the satellite image we now change the satellite. Well I mean that's kind of cool but
I can't really see what the terrain looks like and that would be kind of cool to do as well so
let me show you on your computer. Mine is already in 3d mode and you may not know how to do that
well I'm going to click on this globe and you see when I click on the globe I can move it but
that's all I can do I can zoom out and zoom in but I want to be able to see the mountain range
and see what does the terrain look like so if I come to the globe and if I click on it it will
enable 3d mode. So I click on it, I now can do 3d mode and I can really if I hold down the control
button on your keypad or the alt button for a mac user like me well then you can turn it around
and you can see the direction, you can tilt it and pan up and wow take a look at that you can
really just see you know the actual terrain and you could see this humongous bluff and so you can
see that hey this is San Isidro and you can travel down the mountain and all the way to Dominical. You can actually look around and you can see you know what it looks like and it's like
now this is just cool because you can even see underwater and it's like whoa check this out
and you can really zoom in and you can see things. So this is just a really neat feature to be able
to use okay. So I'm gonna show you how you can do that and a couple of other nifty tricks. Right now
let's look at a piece of property that I found interesting and so let's pretend for a moment that
you're interested in this piece of property and you've been talking to the realtor but guess what
he's giving you some photos but you're really just you know not real sure about it because he's not
giving you all the information hey it is 11 acres with streams and when I'm looking for a piece
of property I always I would not buy a piece of property unless I have water on my property and
this one 11 acres which streams is only 165 000 and while that may sound like a great deal well
if it's out in the middle of nowhere and it's only accessible by horseback or helicopter it's not
worth that much money, Now if this is only a few minutes from Dominical and it's not that difficult
to get to next to a blacktop road U would say yes it is worth 165 000. So today let me show you
how you can find a piece of property on a real estate website and then we can determine or we can
locate that on google maps so we can find out well you know this looks interesting but where is it
located let me get more information let's do that right now. So another nifty trick is because this
is kind of small and I want to make it bigger so I can hit control plus and if I hit control plus as
you can see I can make it bigger and if you look in the upper right hand corner of the screen you
can see it says 150 I can hit the minus button 125 110 100 so I'm gonna make this larger so you
can see this better as well. So here we are at this property and you can see it has just this
small place and when I look at the description let me give you some background information
it says it's a one bedroom, one bath but it's 11 acres so it's pretty big and this
area is only 398 square feet on this property but that's not important because I'm going to
build what I want but this might be a perfect place to live in while I'm building. So we can
see that this says it's located in the Lagunas area of Dominical Costa Rica and it says that
hey this is a a great place to start it's got a great view according to here that you can see
across the valley and the jungle covered mountains but what's important it says it's open farmable
land and it's got a variety of mature fruit trees bamboo and ample pasture for horses if you want
horses, I love that there is a little two-story starter home and yeah it's basic but it gives you
a place to live while you're building your own. There's already a carport in place so if you want
to if you have a nice car you want underneath a carport which is important in Costa Rica. There is
a start of two rooms and an adobe fireplace okay that's interesting what's most important about
this whole thing is it says that water flows in abundance year round that's very important and it
says it comes from two strings that's on the land the river blow is amazing with smooth rock it's
perfect place to take a dip and the river cuts the property right down the middle. So this sounds
like it's a great place and it tells you that it's located past the town of Lagunas in Punta Mira and
about 25 minutes from Dominical. Well you know this sounds really interesting but you know I could
talk to the realtor and is the realtor going to tell me that it's out in the middle of nowhere
probably not he's trying to get a commission. So let me show you how we can get a lot of facts
by doing a little bit of research on google so here's what we're gonna do let's quickly take a
look at some of these photos so we can find out whether we are interested or not. So if I take a
look here it is just a small place but look we can see okay it's in a jungled area but they've
cleared out a big portion of their area and we can see it's a little house here but there's
really another house here that you're not seeing this looks like it's actually two places, I don't
know if this is just a carport but anyway let's let's look a little more and if we go there
we go there's the little bitty one bedroom one bath house. There's what looks like maybe
the starter of another or maybe it's the carport and we can see that it looks like it's up on a
hill and it comes down. So let's take another look and there's this a little adobe fireplace which
looks like maybe a starter of something over here a project that they never finished
and now they're trying to sell it. So if we take a look now look right here in
case you don't know that looks like a river or a stream flows through here so this goes
downhill and so that's a good sign right there keep looking now it looks like this an
abandoned project you know maybe they decided to go back to the States and so
this looks like that's that adobe fireplace that abandoned project of maybe another home
and that road goes right through here to the house and so if we're looking that shows you the awesome
view they have from their home okay and that looks like there might possibly be some water right
there. So I'm taking note of things to help us find this property on google maps. Another view there we
go okay there's the place and it doesn't look like much but hey if I was interested in this I would
definitely live there while I'm building my place okay and it shows you the water on the
property which that's important I like this okay and they're saying it's year round so
this does look like it's a beautiful little spot. Okay so this has a probably a drone view which is
great. I can see this little one bedroom house this is other place looks like the driveway comes from
here and it goes up that hill maybe see okay great. This is important to see all of this and
we're going to use these photos to find this actual place so now that I got this I can
see that this is the one bedroom and this is carport area. All right great this looks good
this looks like this is the creek I'm telling you about right here or what they're telling
us about. All right this is looking pretty good it gives me some more information there is this
little carport area so we can see it's not much. All right fantastic this is giving me some
information and I can see that this is a big clearing area here big clearing area here
they're inside a wooded area but they've cleared this small spot okay that looks
good so now that I have that information I need to actually find this on google map and
most real estate sites actually have a little map on their website. If we look right here we can see
this map and we can actually zoom in and out to give us an idea where it's located so if we zoom
out we can see let me zoom in just a little more there's Quepos okay there's San Isidro up
here well that looks like the road that goes between San Isidro and Dominical and there's a pin
drop showing that location and sometimes they're accurate and sometimes they're not. If I zoom
in a little more and move this map I can see, look that's the whale's tail so that gives me an
idea of where we're located this purple line here looks like it might be a road but it's probably
not this is probably a divider of Puntarenas and San Kose of the district areas okay and this
orange is probably the road that goes along the coast. So we're gonna use this information to
get a better view or a better idea where we're at so okay great this shows us where we're at like
I said look there if we zoom in we can see that there is 243 which is the road that goes up to
San Isidro. All right so now that we have an idea let's go to google maps to see if we can
kind of get a closer look at this area this says it's located in Lagunas okay so which is
it's located past the town of Lagunas okay great. So I'm going to go ahead and copy Laguna's and
I'm going to go back to my map, I'm going to open this up and let me take this out Dominical beach
put in Lagunas look right here it says Lagunas and let's take a closer look and look this
says that this is where Lagunas is at so let's go back to the map view as we're
trying to locate so I'm gonna zoom out and I'm gonna try to get this map to look
very similar to the map that we've seen so there's San Isidro, there's the road, here's
the whale's tail, Quepos is over here and if I go back to our site we can see that
if I zoom out yep there's the whale's tail over here, Quepos over here so we're in
the right area. Let's zoom in a little bit. Okay so it looks like there's this right here the
division of the providences so let's go find that on the map. So here we are and look here's the
division of the providences and if we take a look and the providence makes this big dip right
here okay and if we go back to the actual map we see that there's the providence and it makes
that big jump right here a curve and that house is located in this area if we go back to our map
then according to our map that house is probably located in this area. All right great we're getting
more information let's zoom in a little more so our house is probably in here. Let's go back to
our website here and let's zoom in if we zoom in and okay great it says Tierra's Mourinhos okay I'm
probably butchering that up but that's okay I just need to know about where it's located. Okay here
we go there's this little town it's right close to the border of the providence of San Jose great and
this on this side is the providence of puncture rain is and this is great, this is what I'm looking
for okay. All right great let's go back to our google map, if we go to our google map here we are
it's somewhere close and look there's a providence of San Jose, Puntarenas. Let's zoom in let's
find that little town that we were looking for. I'm looking for some roads here
so it's not coming up just yet. Okay here's some roads here okay I went
too far, take a look there's tiers okay and if we go back here that's what we're
seeing all right we're getting close there it is we're getting close. All right there it is here and
you see it's not far from Lagunas like they said so there's Lagunas it seems to be here. All right
so let's zoom in a little more okay if we zoom in I know it's a little bit hard look there we
go okay we're zooming in and here's this road that comes here and that road is close to the
border great, great okay if I zoom out there we go and this road is called peak road okay
and it comes down and comes this away. Okay this is, look the the school of Punta
De Mira, I believe that the website told us Punta Mira we're getting closer so if we
take a look here we are here's Tierra's okay. Tierra's Mourinho's that road goes down it
catches here comes down and if we zoom in look it comes down and it makes a sharp this this big
s curve that shouldn't be too hard to find okay. So follow that road here, come down big s curve
let's find that. All right follow the road down look at this big s curve right here. All right
great we're getting hot. All right if we come here it says according here it's located in this area
let's zoom in some more. Okay according here now the important thing is that a lot of real estate
sites don't put the pin map real close because they don't want you to do what I'm teaching you
right now okay. So let's see if we can locate this now based on the images that we look looked at
let's go back there's that big s curve okay now that we've got that big s curve we can go into
satellite mode and see if we can locate our area. Now that we're in satellite mode here's that big
s curve and take a look. All right now if we just zoom in okay take a look you see that water
remember we talked about this big open area and remember we talked about, look at this trees
they're in a forested area but they've cleared a small area well if we go back to our site
and if we go back to those photos we looked at let's go and take a look at
some photos look look at that. A treed forested area next to a clear ring right
here there's a house, this let's go to our map look right here doesn't that look the same. Wow
looks like we are finding what we're looking for. Great, look at here there's a little a little house
something in the back, let's go back to our photos little house something in the back looks
like we have found our spot wow all right so if we take a look at some more photos that's
the stream we can kind of confirm by looking and take a look there's a house, there's a little bitty
house kind of hiding behind those trees, I believe okay and we can see that's the clearing
okay and take a look that's another shot. There's that adobe fireplace okay this is
good all right let's go back to our map all right we're looking really good okay so
now we can zoom out and it appears that this as much as google maps will let us zoom in
in more populated areas you can zoom in even more. However it's not going to let us because
it's just not a very populated area but this is important for you to know. Now
that we have found this area it's like okay how far away are we from anybody obviously we can
see that we don't have any neighbors and we don't have to worry about 15 barking dogs and a teenager
having a party every Friday night and turning up the music to where we're both listening to that
music doing me a favor. Anyway we can see that we don't have to worry about neighbors however if
you're not someone that wants to be that far out you're like where am I going to buy my groceries
well you can zoom out and you can say okay well this area over here is there anything over here
but what's it more important before I go looking I want to see what does the terrain look like. So
now I told you we're in 3d mode I can hit control and I can now look at the train wow okay yes
I'm loving this because right up the hill look I can see that it gives me an idea how
high up I am, that's the valley way down below cable does the Quesadas so there's something in
here a little community, there's a river there if I back up wow I'm liking this kind of like we're in
a drone looking at the terrain and I can turn that terrain around by holding that control button and
just dragging. I can turn around and I can see some of the terrain okay great. So the house is here
and I can see where we're at okay I'm liking this okay. Now I can see and obviously this kind of
gives us an idea by positioning it like this and coming over then we could say probably that
water flows through and they said that there was a creek that cuts the property in half so you
know it looks like if I zoom in a little closer it looks like water probably follows along here,
there's probably water you see this right here if we zoom in that looks like water might flow
that way but that's kind of flowing in the wrong direction that might be a road that, that might
be your driveway so it looks like this is kind of the main road here that makes the big s curve
and it looks like you might take this road and it looks like this probably goes to the road
that then comes to your house that could be it so the creeks are somewhere in here and I'm
thinking it probably follows along this ridge okay. Now, now that we've seen this the idea is okay is
this accessible only by helicopter and horseback well obviously not because we can see that, this
road takes us here and you know what it doesn't look like I would even need a four-wheel drive
it looks like I have no problem if I zoom out but what I am worried about is how far away from
town is this you know how far am I gonna have to drive to get a loaf of bread. So let's find that
out real quick, I'm gonna come right over here and if I click that okay I want to find directions
so I can click on directions right here so what I'm going to do is I'm going to click on the house
so if I click right here you see it puts a pin drop and I'm going to say I want directions
from that point, if I click it's now saying okay what is your starting point well I'm gonna, I'm
saying that this is my starting point, I click and you see it put my starting point in right there
and if you see it already tells me go up here so I don't know if there's a road right there but
I'm thinking the road is this away to up here but maybe there is a tiny road right here but
anyway it's showing me now where do I want to go. So you know this is my starting point and where
do I want to go, I want to go to Dominical so I'm going to clear this out or let me clear
this out and I'm going to put into Dominical, Dominical beach I'll click right here and now
it zooms out and there you go wow there it tells me and it tells me it's about 13 and a half
kilometers is the fastest route it's 30 minutes away so I am 30 minutes away from Dominical okay.
Well that's interesting but I know there's not a lot of places to go shopping in Dominical and
I know that there's better shopping over here if I zoom out I know there's better shopping
in San Isidro well how far away is it from San Isidro well let's find out. So I'm going to
take this out and I'm going to put in San Isidro. San Isidro, DL General I know I'm not
pronouncing that right I think it's out anyway let me click on it and there we go it's
now telling me I'm one hour and four minutes away from San Isidro and 35 kilometers. Well guess what
one hour to go into San Isidro to Walmart and get everything I need. Well if I'm willing to do that
and I want to be out in a secluded area where I don't have 15 barking dogs and I don't have any
neighbors but yet I can still buy everything I need and guess what if I just want a loaf of
bread then I don't have to go all the way there I can come over here there is, there's a
town here but it looks like if I come over here Cascada Trace okay to Baru and let's
see where is going to be the closest place. If we zoom out okay look it looks
like my closest place is going to be in Plantanillo and I do know that there's places
that I can shop in Plantanillo. So let me put that in and see how far away I am to Plantanillo. So
let's take this out and we're going to put in Plantanillo now it's platinil not plant, Platinillo
and let's see here there's Plantanillo San Jose, Plantanillo all right let's pick that and
take a look it's giving me several routes to go and this dark blue one is the shortest route so
obviously you can choose and you know one route may be better paved than the other so you might
choose one over the other so I'm gonna go ahead and choose the shortest route right here and
get details and if I take a look it says that's the fastest route which is only 29 minutes away
and only 12 kilometers so I can take the fastest route to get over here in Plantinillo and buy some
groceries, some vegetables at the local farmers market and everything I need. So now that is just
really cool I really like how I can find out information so you tell me was this cool were
you able to really find some stuff and this is really neat because now that you're here you can
click on the map view you can see where you're at. Look there's Dominical I'm way up here where
it's nice and cool and I really wish there was a way for me to see the altitude but
maybe I'll research and find out but anyway what's neat is I could see there's San Isidro,
here's Dominical I really like this area and for me going back to this I would say you
know what it's 11 acres and I can really build whatever I want it's way out here in the middle
of anything. So now that kind of goes back to is 11 acres with streams worth 165 000
well with the experience that I have I can tell you that in my opinion I probably
wouldn't pay more than a hundred thousand for this however it's up to you this place already
has running water obviously because they have a house but what kind of electricity you
know it didn't say, is there electricity here or not it may not have electricity however
you now have learned how you can research everything that you need to find out is this
something you would be interested in and for me if I didn't already have a place yep I think this
would be something I'm interested in because I'm only going to have a piece of property that has
ample water on it and water that I have access to 24/7, 365 days out of the year and that is just
really cool that I can see that and I did this earlier showing you how you can find that. So take
a look there it is only 30 minutes to Dominical by following that particular road that is really cool
I love that I can actually put this in 3d mode and we can see that we're down here on just the
other side of that mountain but I can follow this ridge and follow this bridge all the way over
to right through Lagunas over into Baru and then I can follow the main road that comes
to Dominical. I love to be able to see that, I can look at all of this terrain and get an idea
of where I'm living at so if you really enjoyed what you've learned today make sure that you
hit that like button, give me a good thumbs up, leave some comments tell us hey what area
would you like to look at did you enjoy this virtual tour of this property without ever having
to leave the comfort of your home. If you're interested in the property I showed you today I
think it's one of those rare good deals and you can find a link to this property in the forum. I'll
put a link to that topic in the description below while most of the areas in the form are free.
You can support us in a great way by becoming a premium member for only ten dollars a month you'll
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our next living in Costa Rica video.
