IL Magazine: The World’s Most Well-Respected Resource for Overseas Opportunities Save 35% Right Here about subscribing to International Living Magazine While loving life in Boise, Idaho with friends and family close by, Scott and Nicky Freymond noticed a sense of restlessness a couple years back during the long, harsh winters. They started to research options for a sunnier second home that would ultimately give them the best of both worlds.
The central Pacific beach town of Jacó in Costa Rica was long known primarily as a destination for sport fisherman, surfers, and backpackers. And Ticos—as Costa Ricans call themselves—flocked there around Christmas and Easter because it's the closest major beach to San José, the capital.
When Italy gets under your skin, it's hard to ignore the call of La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life). The country has enchanted me since I first visited in 1972, and so, in 2003—when life finally allowed—my husband Jim and I bought a home there so could we spend part of every year in the country.
I first visited Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast in 2005 on my honeymoon. Back then, it felt like a real adventure to get to what is officially known as the Southern Zone. The coastal highway was incomplete, with a long, bone-rattling section of rutted dirt and gravel. And the bridges looked like they might fall over in a stiff breeze.
I moved to Costa Rica for retirement in 2008 and have been living on the south central Pacific Coast in the town of Quepos ever since. When I moved here I had 36 years of home ownership and 50 years of car ownership under my seat belt.
When John and Gay Boggs of Virginia decided to retire to Atenas, Costa Rica, in 2013, they chose to build their dream home. They'd already looked at existing homes in their price range but weren't completely satisfied with the quality and features.
International real estate may be the best possible way for investors to amass a fortune over the coming decade. In times of great change and flux, the returns can be stratospheric. Supply, you see, can’t be turned on like a tap. It’s finite in the case of land.
With an impressive skyline that glistens in the midday sun, Panama's capital looks modern and sophisticated. It's not uncommon for me to hear visitors comparing it to other cosmopolitan destinations like London or New York. Of course, with a population of just under 2 million, Panama City is much smaller.
You wake up in the morning and decide you're tired of the view...so, you pick up and head to another natural beauty spot that takes your fancy. That's your reality when you live full-time in an RV (recreational vehicle). You get to choose your surroundings...and change them with the seasons.
I used to believe the retirement fantasy propagated by the financial industry, corporate America, and the government. Then I realized I had been bamboozled. I made a deliberate decision to wrest control of my retirement destiny away from anyone who was trying to sell me down the river.