Homes for sale and homes for rent in Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica | Newsletters

Dear friends,

When I started Residencias Los Jardines, I started writing a weekly news letter -determined to tell all the good, bad, and the ugly. I knew some readers would be interested in the construction process. I expected others might be interested in the lifestyle of two people who had decided to live outside the box. For others, the adventures of Lita, the parrot and the cat took on an entertainment saga all its own.

Residencias Los Jardines is finished. We periodically have resales and rental availability. Some readers may be interested in this information.

Brian Timmons
DEVELOPER / PROPERTY MANAGER
Residencias Los Jardines / https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

 

Featured house this week

UNIT #116:
FOR RENT: $1300 mo.
Available Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1 floor
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf single floor home includes a 300 sf front terrace plus parking for one car and a separate, secure storage locker. It is and end unit and therefore attached on only one side by a 6 inch cement demising (common) wall, which prevents sound transfer.

 

Residencias Los Jardines
Property Management, Rentals, Re-Sales

Market Activity

Sales: none.

Rentals: 3 calls; 2 cancellations; 1 viewing.

 

FOR SALE

Unit #114: $235,000 / See Unit

FOR RENT

Unit #116: $1,300 mo. / Available Immediately / See Unit

Unit #121: $1,600 mo. / Available Immediately -Short term / See Unit

Unit #124: $900 mo. / Available Immediately / See Unit

Unit #126: $675 mo. / Available September 23 / See Unit

 

HOUSE FOR SALE

UNIT #114
FOR SALE $235,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): Single Floor
Type: Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf. (plus covered parking for one car and two lockers 67 sf.) single story, semi detached house, with garden terrace, two bedrooms is a beautiful executive style home. This home consists of two large bedrooms one with six piece en-suite bathroom with additional access to separate full shower. Each bedroom has large closets with extensive built-ins for personal organization. The vaulted living room and bathroom ceilings provide a feeling of grandeur while allowing the warmer air to rise and exit through the ceiling ventilating system. There are four TVs (one in each bedroom, one in the living room and one in breakfast / dinning room.) This is a beautiful well appointed home.

 

HOUSES FOR RENT

UNIT #116
FOR RENT $1,300 mo.
Available Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1 Floor
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf. (plus covered parking for one car and two lockers 67 sf.) single story, semi detached house, with garden terrace, two bedrooms is a beautiful executive style home. This home consists of two large bedrooms one with six piece en-suite bathroom with additional access to separate full shower. Each bedroom has large closets with extensive built-ins for personal organization. The vaulted living room and bathroom ceilings provide a feeling of grandeur while allowing the warmer air to rise and exit through the ceiling ventilating system. There are four TVs (one in each bedroom, one in the living room and one in breakfast / dinning room.) This is a beautiful well appointed home.

 

 

UNIT #121
FOR RENT $1,600 mo.
Available Immediately -Short term

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1423
Total area (Sq M): 131
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2.5
Floor(s): 2 Story
Type: Detached
Furnished: Yes

This two story, detached 1,423 sf home + parking for one car has two bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and a 2nd. floor covered terrace. The open railed wrought iron cement stair case leads to the 2nd. level where the master bedroom with en-suite master bathroom as well as 2nd. bedroom and en-suite bathroom are located. Also accessed from the 2nd. floor hallway is the covered terrace. This is a very nicely furnished home with a good floor plan for those wanting two floors.

 

 

UNIT #124
FOR RENT $900 mo.
Available Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 662
Total area (Sq M): 61
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Floor(s): 2nd Floor
Type: Semi-Detached
Furnished: Yes

This 662 sf, + covered parking for one car, is a one bedroom home on the 2nd floor overlooking the large pool. It is ideal for a single person or couple.

 

 

UNIT #126
FOR RENT $675 mo.
Available September 23

Total Area (Sq Ft): 530
Total area (Sq M): 50
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Floor(s): 1
Type: Detached
Furnished: Yes

A small one bedroom with outside covered terrace with top of the line finishes (granite, stainless steel appliances, fine crafted wood cabinetry, +, +, +), with lots of well thought out storage...

 

 

Our Lives

WEATHER: September so far is earning it's reputation as being one of the two rainest months of the year. Each day we have had heavy rains usually accompanied by thunder storms. Some area in the Central Valley have had much harder rains than we have...

Comment: Not far from Los Jardines there is a quebrada -a ditch. Several years ago it overflowed due to lack of maintenance and flooded a number of homes. The government promised to ensure it didn't happen again. Well, it did. On Thursday night I waited for an owner for a meeting for 90 min. He had been held up in traffic and then re-routed because the local people had staged an impromptu sit-in on the bridge to call attention to their situation. I didn't read anything about it in any of the news sources I follow. Governments here do not respond; they react in "crisis mgt." mode only... no thought of planning or preventative mtnc.

All in a Week's Living in CR:

The US embassy sent a notice advising all to stay away on Tuesday because of a planned protest. They didn't say what the protest was about but one can assume it is over US stated intentions re. Syria. It nice to be such a peaceful nation until you are threatened by Nicaragua and them the first call made is to the US for help.

My disappearing tenant called from Europe. He wants to pay -I'm waiting- and in the meantime, I'm marketing the unit. The owner wants his money and I don't like the games I'm having to play.

 

 

News Items of the Week

Comments:

1. OIJ -- the investigative police -- steal from their own and get a paid holiday... wow!... what a system... the one time I called them, they were so busy stuffing DVDs into their cargo pants they forgot to do anything after their pockets were full.
2. Turtle Eggs: The government couldn't find a couple of police but they could count 60,000 stolen eggs and 30 turtles... and they just found 800 police to manage the crowd at last night's USA-CR soccer match... Somehow CR has done a great job at creating a gigantic hoax on the world re. their environmental priorities... when there is so much evidence to the contrary, people still want to believe the myth... the reality is VERY sad... and one can see and read reality every day... but still the myth persists.
3. Fish Kill: unregulated use of pesticides probably... and it isn't the first time and it won't be the last... or it could, as suspected, have been planned in order to harvest the fish the easy way for later sale... now we have poisoned fish being sold... and there will be no penalty... if they do investigate and find the "guilty party" a big, big IF, they'll probably give him a paid holiday as well.
4. Drugs: and this is just what was confiscated. If one believes that less than 10% of drugs trafficked are actually caught, just think how much got through. Several people I know insist that the economy is supported by money laundering and they site various observations that we are all familiar with to support their conclusion. I have to admit that I've made the same observations over the years and have not come up with a legitimate, logical economic rationale... for example, how can high end stores remain open year after year when one virtually never sees clients in the store.??? and we know the rent is very high...

OIJ agent caught stealing receives three months suspension with pay

September 2nd, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) An agent of the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ), identified by the last name Páez, will receive a three month suspension with pay after being found guilty of stealing cash and valuables from his coworkers as well as items belonging to the OIJ. Páez’s punishment was decided by the Criminal Court of San José.

Páez was apparently caught on video stealing cash and valuables from his coworkers’ desks. Agents of the Theft and Robbery Section began the investigation against Páez two months ago.

Páez has worked as an OIJ agent for 10 years, most recently in the Sex Crimes section.

60,000 green turtle eggs and 30 turtles stolen from Tortuguero in less than 1 week

September 5th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Officials at Tortuguero National Park reported that in less than one week, poachers have stolen about 60,000 green turtle eggs and 30 turtles.

Officials said they do not have sufficient staff to monitor the entire beach, and that September and October represent the months with the highest incidence of poaching.

Environmental Minister, René Castro said he has ordered the preparation of an emergency support plan to support the staff at Tortuguero.

An environmentalist’s Rant: (but it does ring true)

Costa Rican Poachers steal 60,000 Turtle eggs and 30 Green Turtles.

Report from Captain Paul Watson

September 5th, 2013: Officials at Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica have reported that in less than one week, poachers have stolen about 60,000 green turtle eggs and 30 turtles.

Officials said they do not have sufficient staff to monitor the entire beach, and that September and October represent the months with the highest incidence of poaching.

Environmental Minister, René Castro said he has ordered the preparation of an emergency support plan to support the staff at Tortuguero.

Castro is simply talking as usual and doing nothing. Turtle poachers in Costa Rica are a law onto themselves. They steal, they assault, they kidnap, they threaten and they murder and they get away with it. The government of Costa Rica has failed to protect sea turtles and it has failed to protect conservationists.

Turtle eggs are easily and openly available in many places in Costa Rica. The police seldom if ever raid an establishment for selling turtle eggs. In many cases the eggs are on the menu.

Turtle eggs are being stolen on both the Caribbean and the Pacific coasts. Turtle Conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval was murdered at Moins Beach in May and just this week Franklyn Araya a volunteer working with the National Park System was stabbed in the leg.

Rene Castro responded to the latest incident by saying that there will be “zero tolerance” for violent attacks against conservationists. It is clear Mr. Castro fails to understand that “zero” means none. Political rhetoric will not end the poaching or the violence. He uses the same “zero tolerance” line after every incident.

Sea Turtles are being rapidly diminished and the government of Costa Rica does little to protect them other than to promote themselves as a “green” nation.

The good people of Costa Rica are being scandalized by corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and a handful of greedy poachers.

Sources: Costa Rican Star/Costa Rican Times/Tico Times/La Nacion

Thousands of fish and shrimp found dead in Nosara River

On Tuesday evening, September 3, local fishermen in Nosara found thousands of dead fish and shrimp in the Nosara River, and the suspected cause is agrochemicals.

Juan Carlos Cordero, chief of the Tourist Police delegation in Guiones, reported that the size of the dead fish, mostly bass, snook and gualajes, are around 15 inches and most were found in the river mouth.

One of the first to see the dead fish about 8 kilometers upriver from the mouth of the Nosara River was Eduardo Hernandez Jiron, who called his brother, Javier Hernandez Jiron, of the fishing association ASOPPERNO, at about 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Javier, in turn, contacted authorities

Another person who reported the incident was fisherman and veterinarian Carl Wells, who said, “There was a large fish kill last night (Tuesday) on the Rio Nosara, likely due to poisoning of the river to harvest fish. There are thousands of fish, mostly snook that are flowing out into the ocean, plus other species including shrimp and kril.”

The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) was called but they couldn’t arrive to Nosara until Wednesday afternoon, so the fishermen decided to take samples of the dead fish themselves.

But when officials from the Tempisque Area of Conservation (ACT) arrived to inspect the river from Varillal to the mouth in Nosara, Francisco Ramos, coordinator of the hydraulic resources program of ACT, said that at this point they aren’t able to take samples because the tide has diluted the water and the fish are already decomposing. He said the ideal moment to take samples of the fish is when they are dying but not dead yet, at which point they should be washed, wrapped in aluminum foil, put in plastic bags and conserved on ice for transportation to the laboratory.

Ramos said the most important thing to do is identify the source of the contamination. Otherwise no denunciation can be filed. In this case, it is too late to find the source. However he did affirm that “here we believe that it is a product of agrochemicals.”

Because the cause might be chemical rather than organic, Ramos said it is best to not eat fish from the river for 15 to 22 days as a provisional measure to give the river time to clean itself.

This is not the first time dead fish or shrimp have appeared in the Nosara River. In April of 2012 on at least two occasions hundreds of fish and shrimp were found dead.

Authorities seize 714 kilos of cocaine on Costa Rica-Nicaragua border

September 5th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police (PCD) seized 714 kilos of cocaine yesterday hidden in two trucks attempting to pass the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. The vehicles were driven by Costa Ricans.

The Ministry of Security said in a statement that the first seizure was 440 kilos of cocaine that were hidden in a double-wall container. The driver was a 32-year-old Costa Rican who intended to cross the border into Nicaragua when the drugs were discovered as part of a routine inspection.

The second shipment of 274 kilos was similarly hidden in a container on a truck driven by a 42-year-old Costa Rican man with a history of murder, according to the Ministry of Security.

Both drivers now face charges of international drug trafficking, punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Costa Rica.

Authorities in Costa Rica have seized 10.5 tons of cocaine so far this year.

 

Brian, Lita, the Late Hugo IV, irreverent Vicka, the pigeon toed parrot, Chico II and Chica II