In March, Caroline and I took a trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica.  Just before our trip, we had a little winter storm in New York, so we were very glad to be able to escape for a few days and enjoy the beautiful sunny and dry season in Tamarindo.  In fact, it had snowed several times in New York City in the last few weeks, making the winters end even more unbearable than usual. Today Caroline and I are jetting off to the Philippines, and check the photo above for the snowy weather this morning (even though it is April) as [...]

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We may receive compensation if you click one of those links and purchase a product. We purchased our second investment in Costa Rica, Casa Salita, using our retirement money. Up until a few years ago when I seriously started researching real estate investing, I only thought of paper assets like stocks and mutual funds when considering where to invest my 401k and IRA contributions. I had no idea you could invest retirement dollars in anything else. In fact, for most people who work a traditional 9-5 job, you like cannot [...]

We made our second investment in Costa Rica for a variety of reasons. Casa Salita is a 4-bed, 4-bath house with a separate casita, private pool, wraparound deck (with two hammocks!) and an outdoor kitchen. It sleeps 10, so the capacity of it certainly increases its rental prospects. However, it also has unique properties that add income potential and versatility to what we can do with the property: The property is on two lots, so we could sell the lot that is less developed, or we could build on that lot – either a small separate house or additional casitas. [...]

We closed on our first property, Condo Boom, in October 2017 and then on our second property, Casa Salita, just under two months later. Why two investments so close together? Having expanded our real estate portfolio from two rentals in our first eight years of investing to two or three per year since then, we’ve seen the benefit of volume. When you have two properties and one goes vacant, you feel that 50% drop in income. When you have 10 properties and one goes vacant, your income drop is only 10% -- not insignificant but much easier to sustain. Now, [...]

In my view, low tide is the best time to spend at the beach in Tamarindo.  The waves break pretty far out, which leaves lots of room to enjoy relatively calm water closer to shore, and provides plenty of sand for walking around and collecting seashells.  It also exposes many large rocks, as seen above, which are completely hidden at high tide. The beach at Tamarindo is always spectacular.  Even though it can be very crowded by Costa Rican standards, it is far less crowded than the beaches I'm used to visiting in the USA.  In the lower seasons, the [...]

*** UPDATE *** A helpful reader points out that it is actually illegal to take seashells from the beaches in Costa Rica, and to take them out of the country. We still believe it is a fun activity to look for shells on the beach and take photos, but agree they should be left at the beach when you are done. They provide habitat for little creatures like hermit crabs, and also, believe it or not, those shells will eventually be broken down in nature.   ====== I’m writing this on my third trip to Costa Rica in just over [...]

Over the years, we've researched and purchased properties on our own, and we've also used turnkey real estate companies to locate, renovate and manage for us. Turnkey properties come with their own benefits, namely cash flow and easy to buy, but they are not completely turn-key.

If you look closely at the image above our window in New York City, you'll see a bit of snow on the ground, and snowflakes in the foreground of the building across from us.  You can't see it, but we can also hear the wind howl.  It is March 2, and March is definitely coming in like a lion!  A nor'easter forecasted to be fierce and destructive is currently affecting all of the northeastern United States.  While the rain and snow is supposed to end today (Friday) it is still forecasted to be very windy Saturday and Sunday. The silver [...]

There is a long-running debate about whether to buy real estate to receive cash flow or to profit from price appreciation, with passionate supporters on both sides. When we started our real estate investment journey in 2005, I was firmly on Team Cash Flow. When you buy for cash flow, you start collecting money immediately. With appreciation, you only benefit when you sell or otherwise pull out the equity (e.g., a cash-out refinance);