The Question- Bring or Not to Bring Furniture

I've been debating, bring my furniture or not to bring my furniture.  I have antiques and paintings that I really love.  I've spent my adult life slowly finding my personal tastes and purchasing the things I love along the way.

When I visited Costa Rica this summer, George Lundquist, took us to Sarchi as part of his tour where the local craftsmen and furniture makers have sold their products for the past 100 years.  There are about 70 family owned workshops, or "talleres" with showrooms along the main road.  Many were in little shack like buildings, but with the most amazing and beautiful handmade hardwood furniture I've ever seen.  Most of the wood is plantation grown or sustainable tropical hardwoods like cenizaro, guanacaste, melina, and cedar.

These artisans make bedroom sets, dining room, sofas, chairs, dressers, entertainment units, desks, outdoor furniture, swings, baby furniture, and anything else you can imagine.  They can recreate a family heirloom or anything you can describe or sketch out for them.  You can usually get these custom made pieces for the same price as ready-made items.

Six seater dining tables ran anywhere from $300 to $700.  Compare that to $1,500 at regular furniture store here that was most likely made in China.

I saw new beautiful carved queen sized beds from $400 to $600 with matching bedside tables for an additional $150.  You could not touch it in the states for under $1,300.  Entertainment unit with the space for a TV at $400.

Since I have personally seen the furniture I know what amazing quality is available.  Plus remember, these are made with hardwoods.

I have options!  I'm thinking I need to find someone else moving at the same time that I could share a moving container with.  I still want to bring some of my things, but I do not need them all.  To bring a full container costs anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 depending on the size of the container.  I have some thinking to do!

Setting Goals to Get to Paradise

It is amazing what you can accomplish when your heart and soul are involved.  Moving to Costa Rica is what I want most in my life.  I want it because, on the practical side, I cannot afford to ever retire in the US, and I fell in love with the country.  The climate, the views, the people, the vegetation, the color of Costa Rica, and the monkeys feel like they are already part of me.

Do you believe in predestination? There has always been a wanderer in me.  My parents had to lock the house down and build a fence around the yard when I was only two years old because I wanted to explore all my surroundings.  At three the police were involved because I took off on my tricycle to explore my neighborhood.  I can remember being taken into a house by a family's maid when she saw me out in the weather just having a great 'ole time.  That desire to see the world with no fear has never left me.

Costa Rica has everything.  Waterfalls, mountains, volcanos, rain forests, beaches, amazing animals and birds, perfect temperatures year round, rivers, and views that go forever. 

I live in a very crowded and busy city.  I am in high gear everyday, but as social as I can be, I prefer solitude and harmony.  I am looking so forward to living in a quite area without someone right up against me.  I am looking forward to the smell of rain and sweet air rather than exhaust and pollution.  I am looking forward to seeing miles and miles of beauty rather than the houses right across the street blocking the view of my world.  I am looking forward to the quiet.  When I was in CR outside of the city I could not believe the peace the quite brought.  I did not even recognize the noise in my life until I realized the lack of it when I was there.

I've told some friends I will be moving into my 460 sq. foot garage apartment, and they cannot believe I am going to do this and live without all my beautiful things (they will be in storage).  I am so happy and excited to do this because it is exactly this that will get me to CR sooner.  Renting out my house will enable me to save almost every penny I make then at the end of the two years I'll sell my house and add the profit to those savings.  Not only will this move take the financial stress that I live under now off me it achieves my goal.  I will be one very happy little lady living there making my plans to move to paradise.

Pura Vida

Costa Rica Interest Rate

My friends, Paul and Gloria, are the authors of www.retireforlessincostarica.com .  This is from their last post.  It certainly caught my attention.  I only wish I could take advantage of it! 

From 11.75% to 12.5% Interest on a 12-Month Certificate of Deposit!
We wanted to inform all of our interested readers that our bank, Coopenae, has just raised interest rates to 12.5% on a 12 month Certificate of Deposit. As luck would have it, our initial 12-month CD at 11.75% came to maturity in late June, just after the rate was increased, and we were able to roll it over at 12.5%. Boy are we happy!  

Just so you know, this is a colones account. The dollar accounts pay 3% on a 12 month CD. We got our CD last June 25th and we converted our dollars to colones at 502 colones/dollar. Presently, the dollar is 497 colones, so our earnings are even more significant, though we don’t pay much attention to the exchange rate since we live in colones.  

The sad news is that one must be a legal resident to be a CD investor in Costa Rica. All legal residents also now have DIMEX on their residency cards (cedulas). Click here to read our article that explains DIMEX.  

They posted this update today... Earlier in the week, the Costa Rican government decided to delay the implementation of DIMEX until October 1, 2012. After we published our newsletter, Coopenae contacted us with some good news. There is a window of opportunity until October 1st for people in the process of getting their legal Residency to invest in CDs at Coopenae.  

For me, just another reason to retire in Costa Rica!  

Pura Vida

Better Idea

All righty then....After all that thought and figuring I've come up with another way.

My goal is to cut down on my living expenses so I can save money to be able to go to Costa Rica with as much of an emergency fund as I can.  After looking at things from right side up I decided to look from upside down. 

I have a full one bedroom apartment over my garage.  I've come to the conclusion that it will benefit me more to move into the apartment and rent my house out.  This gives the real estate market a little more time to go back up, so when I sell I can get more for my home.  I will still have to put the bulk of my furniture etc in storage, but it gives me a FREE place to live while my renters will be paying my mortgage and most likely the storage, so I will be able to save the amount I normally pay each month!

I have plumbers coming out tomorrow morning to fix the toilet in the apartment and put a new faucet on the kitchen sink.  A tiny few more touches and it's ready for me to move in.  On my house I still need to have the trim outside painted, and may have to paint some of the walls inside to help rent it faster.  I love bright colors, but a renter might not like my yellow walls.

I am in an artsy part of Dallas right across the river from Downtown.   The houses I've seen go up for rent in my neighborhood have rented quickly.

I have my eyes on the prize, and I think this is the best answer to get me there.

Pura Vida...