When searching online for properties in Costa Rica, you will often come across locations that you may be unfamiliar with. Our goal is to provide you an insider’s perspective and educate you before you come for a visit. With that said, this is our first post about specific neighborhoods in Southern Costa Rica. To start off our series, we begin with the “Escaleras” area in Domincial. “What is this Escalares you speak of?”
Simply put, the Escaleras is one of the finest areas in Dominical to live in and we believe that this area is the next frontier in real estate in Costa Rica. There are already multi-million dollar properties constructed here with plenty of affordable land for sale to add to the mix. 2017 Editor’s Note: This post was originally written in 2014. After revisiting this post, practically all of the premier land parcels in the Escaleras available at the time of writing have been sold. The number of luxury homes built in this area has expanded and there is no doubt that the Escaleras area has become the premier location to own property.
Escaleras translated into English equates to “staircase” or “ladder” and the name is certainly fitting. Homes are minutes from the beach and perched on a mountainside with stunning whitewater ocean views. The advantage of owning property here is that the topography of the land prevents property owners at lower elevations from blocking your million dollar views.
A Comparison To My Home Town Of La Jolla In The United States
When I look at the properties in the Escaleras, I am reminded of where I grew up in San Diego. Mount Soledad in La Jolla, California. The photo above is a view over the La Jolla Shores out to Black’s Beach and Torrey Pines State Reserve. This view is available from many of the properties located on the northern side of Mount Soledad.
I grew up in a beautiful home with land on Mount Soledad, which was later used as a filming location for the movie Traffic. Over the years, the property has changed dramatically since I lived there. Today the home is worth over $10 million dollars and there are now three homes on the property instead of one. Incredibly, the home built where the tennis court was located is worth over two and a half million dollars. Who knew the location of a tennis court would become so valuable? Although property growth rates in Southern California vs. Southern Costa Rica can not be directly compared, this is still a testament to how incredible real estate investment can be when you find opportunity in areas before others do.
I can assure you that my parents weren’t visionary real estate speculators, they simply loved the location and bought it before prices became out of reach. Odds are that if you like a location, others will too. It’s just a matter of who gets to it first.
Ocean View From The Escaleras In Dominical
At any rate, there are a few reasons why I am reminded of Mount Soledad back in the day. The hillside location, the proximity to the beach, the spectacular whitewater ocean views, and the opportunity to acquire affordable property with huge growth potential. Everything about the Escaleras seems very familiar to me, except that you don’t need a wetsuit to swim at the beach in winter and without the aid of adult beverages, I don’t recall Howler Monkeys, Sloths, White Faced Monkeys, and Tropical Birds frolicking around my home in La Jolla.
Costa Rica is truly the land of opportunity. There is still a place on Earth where you can safely purchase beautiful real estate with great upside, and at a fraction of the cost of what a similar property would cost you in other countries. You may be able to find cheaper real estate in other Central American countries, but none feature the infrastructure and stability that Costa Rica provides.
Our agent Jordan took the photo of the Escalares mountainside at the top of this post while returning from a whale watching trip not too long ago. Check out our listings in the Escalares mountainside and compare the views to those from Mount Soledad, or try Googling images for Carmel, California and you may notice a similar landscape there as well. It’s easy to see why we think real estate in the Escaleras is a sure bet!
Properties For Sale In The Escaleras Dominical
