Real Estate in Santa Teresa Costa Rica
With its cool surfer lifestyle, Santa Teresa invariably seduces many visitors who had initially come to Costa Rica for a beach vacation. The area’s appeal is clear: a vast expanse of golden sand beach, and one of Costa Rica’s most coveted surf breaks drawing surfers and beach lovers from all over the world. The topography of the Santa Teresa and Mal Pais is unique with jungle-covered mountains cozied up against the shoreline, affording property owners amazing ocean vistas.
As vacations morph into lifestyle choices, an increasing number of people decide to buy property in Santa Teresa, Mal Pais, and Manzanillo, either to build a house for themselves, operate a vacation rental, run a hotel or other business, or just enjoy Costa Rica’s pura vida lifestyle from the comfort of their own home in the tropics. Santa Teresa is still only in the very early stages of development and prices for real estate will continue to rise.
Where to buy real estate around Santa Teresa
With most of the tourist activity concentrated near the beaches of Playa Santa Teresa and Playa Carmen, you will find a vast selection of hotels, restaurants, shops, and services there. The land abutting the shore is flat and buildable. As real estate properties have become more expensive, recent builds are often on smaller lots.
Inland from the town of Santa Teresa, the land rises steeply into forested hills where great ocean view properties abound. You will find a lovely house or land options in the hillside neighborhoods of the Mal Pais Hills or Hermosa Hills.
Santa Teresa Beachfront Properties
If you crave more tranquility for your beach experience, you can check out real estate in Mal Pais and Manzanillo. Pure beachfront properties, however, sometimes have legal ramifications to consider. For example, a foreigner cannot be a majority shareholder in a company that owns beachfront land in Santa Teresa and Mal Pais. Be sure to contact us to help you through the complexities of buying beachfront property.
On a tighter budget, you might consider buying a property inland. Just a 15-min drive from the coast, prices for real estate prices drop considerably. In Santiago, San Isidro, Delicias or Cabuya, land and house prices are significantly lower and you can still enjoy the tranquility of Costa Rican countryside living while still being close to the ocean and the buzz that is Santa Teresa.
The Santa Teresa Property Buying Process
Let us guide you through the property buying process with your personal tastes dictating which properties are consonant with your wishes. There is still plenty of land for sale in Santa Teresa and Mal Pais but the inventory of houses is quite limited. Since the Covid pandemic, many workers have discovered an ability to work remotely and have chosen to live in the Santa Teresa and Mal Pais area for its obvious charms, but also because the area seems to stimulate creativity.
There is indeed something magical about this peninsula of land jutting out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Teeming with fascinating flora, fauna, colors, and scents, it seems that the local environment somewhat counter-intuitively lends itself to deep creative and analytical work as well. Perhaps it is in part the calming effect of the jungle and the sound of the ocean waves.
The local culture is also atypical of other Costa Rican beach towns with a much more urbane, international contingent opting to call Santa Teresa and Mal Pais home. The kinetic energy of the area is palpable and each property owner seems to bring 2 to 3 more homeowners to the area.
When searching for a property which best fits your needs, check out the different areas in and around Santa Teresa. Each neighborhood has its distinctive flavor and appeal: Santa Teresa Neighborhoods