We recently moved into a condo that we had owned as a rental for 7 years. While the tenant was great (e.g., paid on time, low maintenance), the place still needs a lot of work. We also have very different tastes. I think the tenant had migraines or otherwise didn’t like light (vampire?) because the floor and walls were kept very dark. One of the first things we did upon moving was to draw a list of home renovations, updates and other projects. We came up with 78 items! Here is a snapshot of some of them: Some of the [...]
When the pandemic upended our travel plans, I threw myself back into work so seamlessly that I figured that’s what I would do until normalcy resumed. However, as we are well into year two of the pandemic, and things seem to be getting worse, not better, I find myself rethinking my initial assumption. If travel isn’t on the horizon for years, not just months, will I simply double down on my consulting work or do something else? Perhaps my introspection is part of the Great Resignation phenomenon, in which people are quitting their jobs at a much higher rate. Admittedly [...]
Both Scott and I turned 50 this year. Neither of us are into celebrating birthdays, and we are still in the midst of a pandemic, so we didn’t throw a big party or anything else extraordinary. I also wasn’t anticipating a mid-life crisis or other inflection point. In fact, I felt that turning age 48 was a bigger turning point for us. In the fall of that year, we became empty-nesters, spent a month in Costa Rica (our longest trip to date) and were set up to embark on a stretch of travel. We did squeeze in trips to Arizona [...]
I live in Costa Rica also and I read a few of your articles. I was wondering, Instead of investing in Costa Rica real estate, Why not become private hard money lenders yourselves? That is what I do and it is pretty much a no-lose deal if you do it right. Any reason why you prefer Real estate?- Dan We actually are private lenders, but only on deals in the US. In Costa Rica, our investments are strictly in real property, both of which are used as vacation rentals. I’m not sure how Dan structures his loans, but in our [...]
We have a lot to update you on! We closed on two sales in July: we sold one of our two Tamarindo condos; and we sold one of our three Florida condos. We also moved from a 2-bed condo in Florida to a 3-bed, to get more space. We considered and ultimately decided not to sell another rental. Finally, we have an unexpected offer in the works for yet a different property, so there may be a Part 2 to this post sooner than later. I wrote about the hot Costa Rica real estate market this past February, and as [...]
We miss travel but were anxious about traveling out of the country while our kids aren’t fully launched and somehow getting stuck outside the US for an extended period. At the same time, we were anxious about how our properties were doing in Tamarindo and Langosta and just curious about how Costa Rica was doing after Covid. I had received two free airline certificates from JetBlue as part of a speaking engagement I did (in 2019!), and they were expiring, so that tipped the balance. On Saturday afternoon, July 10, we landed in Liberia Airport after an 18-month absence. Seven [...]
Photo is of a sculpture in downtown Denver - a giant bear peering into the convention center. After just over two weeks in New Mexico, visiting Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos, and viewing the total lunar eclipse, we drove to Denver, CO. It was a beautiful, clear Saturday, and it was so green on the way to Colorado, it reminded me of our trip to Ireland. Colorado was higher on Scott’s travel wish list than mine (I think of Colorado as mountains and beer, and I’m neither a hiker nor a drinker), but it really exceeded my expectations. We stayed [...]
Previous posts in this series: Planning, Heading West, Albuquerque, Viewing Eclipse After a fantastic week in Albuquerque, we headed north. We wanted to spend time in Santa Fe and Taos. Given that Taos is 2 hours north of Santa Fe and we didn't want to just cover it in just a day trip, we split the week, 4 nights in Santa Fe and 3 nights in Taos. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Our time in Santa Fe was during Memorial Day weekend, so hotels were packed, and while we arrived around lunchtime, we weren’t able to check in early, so [...]
Previous posts in this series: Planning, Driving West, One Week in Albuquerque As written about previously, we planned a trip to Albuquerque to watch the total lunar eclipse. Reasons being: it was not visible in the eastern US, we tried and failed to visit Albuquerque last year, and I felt the general drier weather of the region would give us a better chance for clear skies and success in seeing the eclipse. I've become a fan of the sun and the moon in recent years. We took a road trip to the Midwest in 2017 to see the total solar [...]
Previous Posts In This Series: Planning, Driving West As mentioned in the previous posts, we scheduled a road trip to New Mexico around the lunar eclipse. It would be practice for us in being digital nomads again, since we have been grounded from travel and homebound for over a year. Our youngest tagged along and got to be a digital nomad along with us, since she secured a virtual summer internship with a company based in Los Angeles and would be closer in time zone to her employer. We planned for just over two weeks in New Mexico – arriving [...]
