Friday, October 31, 2008

Partner Website

One of our Irish Partners, Michael Fox, has created a great little website of his own spreading the good news about our investment opportunity in Di Pacifico Dos.

You can see Michael's Tropical Investments website here

Not all is Doom and Gloom!

Inside Costa Rica reports that a major Multinational Looking To Hire 200 in Costa Rica:

Not all is doom and gloom for Costa Rica in the face of the international financial crisis, as one UK company is beginning its operations in the country, located in the Zona Franca Ultralag in Lagunilla de Heredia, and is looking to contract 200 professionals.

Experian, an international service company, with a presence in 35 countries, provides information, analytics, decision-making solutions and processing services, helping organizations to find, develop and manage customer relationships to make their businesses more profitable.

Experian already has a presence in Latin America. Costa Rica will be the fourt office in the region.

The company has already hired 80 employees since last month and is looking to fill the rest of the position by the end of the year and with a possible hiring of another 100 people next year.

The international company will join the large number of companies that already operate in the services area, companies like Sykes and HP. The services sector has grown considerably in the country.

The director of the CoaliciĆ³n Costarricense para el Desarrollo, Gabriela Llobet, applauded de arrival of Experian and asserted that "it is a commitment we made as a country, and we need to improve road and airport infrastructure in order to continue attracting foreign investment."

Those interested in working with Experian can send their resume to: jobs.costarica@experian.com

Thursday, October 30, 2008

What are REDD's

REDD's are a UN backed process and the acronym stands for Reduced Emmissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Under this program rich nations would meet some of their emissions reduction targets by buying carbon credits from developing nations, whose forests soak up vast amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2).

How does Costa Rica benefit?

The World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility aims to gather $300 million in contributions from rich nations to help more than a dozen developing countries, including Costa Rica prepare for REDD schemes. The program aims to help nations figure out credible estimates of their national forest carbon stocks as well as offer technical aid to design individual REDD projects.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Escape the Economic Crises: Move to Costa Rica

Claire Saylor, writes about her experiences of moving to Costa Rica in her blog entry "Escape the Economic Crisis: Move to Costa Rica". Claires is the editor of the Costa Rica Pages Blog and works in the travel industry in Costa Rica.

You can read Claire's full article here

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Mexico Invests in Costa Rica.

Mexico and Costa Rica have operated under a North American Free Trade agreement for thirteen years, and their bilateral trade has almost doubled each and every year in those years. Mexico's trade with Costa Rica is now eleven times more than it was in 1995.

Mexico has now announced that it is investing more than US$400 million in Costa Rica building further on this well stablished trade agreemen.

The emphasis is on finance, food communications and construction industries.

More monetary support for Costa Rica’s construction efforts will inevitably lead to enhanced telecommunications, roads, and an overall improvement to Costa Rica’s transportation systems.

This added boost to the ecomony has to be good for Costa Rica's real estate market
since an increased construction budget means Costa Rica real estate will become even more desirable.

How many European Tourists Visit Costa Rica?

According to CANATUR data, in 2007 some 271,631 European tourists visited Costa Rica



The majority of these tourists came from




  • Spain

  • Germany

  • the United Kingdom

  • the Netherlands

  • France

This repersents growth of about 15 percent compared to the previous year.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Climate change may threaten Biodiversity in the tropics

Robert Colwell of the University of Conneticut analysed almost 2,000 varied species in Costa Rica and has fouond that a significant number will move from their normal environment to a completetely new area if temperatures increase significantly.

We are all responsible for releasing carbon into the atmosphere, a significant driver of climate change.

If you would like to check your carbon count just click here.

Did you know that 1ha of forestry removes about 3.5 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere per year. An investment in forestry is not only good for your pocket it is good for the environment too.

The full article titled "Climate change may threaten biodiversity in tropics", By Julie Steenhuysen Reuters, is below:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Climate change may soon make the tropics too hot for many native species, which will be forced to head for higher ground to escape the heat, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

The study suggests climate change is not only threatening polar bears and other cold-loving species. It is putting heat-loving species at risk as well.

"We know the climate is getting warmer," said Robert Colwell of the University of Connecticut, whose research appears in the journal Science.

"If things continue as projected, there will be a 3 degree Celsius (5.4 degree Fahrenheit) warming in the Costa Rican tropics within the next century," he said.

Colwell and colleagues predict that as the climate in the tropics warms, thermal bands will move up the mountains by about 600 meters (yards) in elevation. "The current climate at 100 meters will be at 700 meters," he said in a telephone interview.

Colwell and colleagues analyzed data on nearly 2,000 species of plants, insects, and fungi in Costa Rica. His team thinks about half of these species would have to move to completely new territory, well beyond the upper ranges on the mountainside.

"If species are stressed by the heat, they will do better in their accustomed climate zone. We expect ranges to move up the mountain as has been documented already in Europe and the United States," he said.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

14 year old teak plots sold out

All of our plots with 14 year old teak are now sold out, but the great news is that we still have plots with both 12 and 10 year old teak. (We also have one plot remaining with the rare and expensive tropical hardwood pochote).

The even better news is that in these uncertain times, you can be certain that if you invest in teak on your development land that your wealth like your teak continues to grow.

If you would like to see more about our development Di Pacifico Dos just log on to our website www.costaricainvest.ie or why not drop us an e mail and we'ld be delighted to give you more information on Di Pacifico Dos.

"Teak on development land, the perfect investment"

Monday, October 13, 2008

The over 50's show!


We had a great time at the over 50's show over the weekend.

Everyone is exhausted and John Douglas is hoarse!

It was great to meet so many people.

We sold a number of plots and have lots of people who want to talk with us over the coming days.

In fact we were so busy that we ran out of prepacked brochures. Our apologies to everyone who didn't get a brochure yet - we will get them out in the post to you later today.
The current economic situation has clearly generated a lot of nervousness. And who can blame people for being nervous- stocks are falling, bond yields are declining, even bank deposit accounts look shaky!

But we are delighted that so many people we met at the show recognised Di Pacifico Dos as a fantastic investment opportunity - with the security of teak growing on your development land.

We are delighted that so many people availed of the investment opportunity at the show and we look forward to talking with everyone who expressed an intrest over the coming days.

Here are some pictures of Judy and John at the show, exhausted but looking forward to a great week talking to every one we met.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

What is my carbon count number?

Where can I find my carbon count number?

Change.ie an Irish Government run website has an excellent carbon count calculator which quickly and easily shows your carbon count number.

Your carbon count number is an estimate of the number of tonnes of carbon you and your lifestyle emit into the atmosphere per year.

You can then compare yourself to the EU average over a number of areas, home, travel, air travel and it also makes suggestions as to how you might change your lifesatyle and reduce your carbon count number.

Are you aware that 1ha will take in about 3.5 tonnes of carbon per annum.

An investment in Di Pacifico Dos will:

1. Help reduce your carbon footprint
2. Help reduce jungle logging of tropical hardwoods
3. Give you a great return

If you would like more information about Di Pacifico Dos - "teak on your development land, the perfect investment" - just drop us an e mail, apply for a brochure or give us a call on +353 1 272 4184

Monday, October 6, 2008

What are the risks?

Of course with any investment there are risks.

What are the risks to an investment in Di Pacifico Dos?

Well there are two aspects to the investment the teak and the land.

1. The teak: Anything which affects either the teak yield or the price of teak will have an impact on the return on your investment.

Listed below are some of the factors which could affect your teak yield:

a. Hurricane - no hurricane has been recorded on the pacific coast of Costa Rica

b. Forest Fire - teak trees of more than 8 years of age are resistant to forest fire, careful management of the teak plantation, fire breaks, removing debris all help to minimise the risk of fire damage.

c. Disease - again careful management, disease prevention and early removal of any diseased trees reduce the risk of disease.

d. Adverse weather conditions - teak does not grow well in either very wet or cold conditions and a significant change in climate could afffect the teak yield.

Teak is a traded commodity world wide and some of the factors which would affect the price of teak are listed below:

a. Oversupply of teak - currently less than 5% of the world's teak comes from plantation sources. The rest comes from jungle sources. As world opinion and international laws move to restrict the logging of this natural resource the supply demands will fall to teak plantations.

b. Reduced demand - currently demand for teak is increasing year on year largely driven by huge demand from India and China. The likelihood is that demand will continue to increase.


2. The land: a reduction in land prices in Costa Rica will also affect the return on your investment

Some of the factors which might affect land prices are as follows:

1. Reduced demand: A reduction in demand from North American and Canadian holiday makers will reduce land prices and whilst the world economy is at a low at the moment, remember that this is a 6-10 year investment. Ask yourself this question - "do I really believe North American economy will be as bad or worse than it is now in 6-8 years"?

2. Political Instability: Political instability would certainly affect tourism to Costa Rica, however Costa Rica is the oldest democracy in central and Southern America, with more teachers than policemen, no army and huge foregein inward investment by mulitnationals.


If you are intrested in an investment in Di Pacifico Dos but are worried about the risks to your investment ask us to prepare an investment return showing a 0% land price increase, a 0% increase in teak prices and a poor teak yield.

The return still beats the bank! Just drop us an e mail or give us a call on +353 1 272 4184.