Vanilla in Costa Rica

The images above show vanilla growing in Pavonas Costa Rica.

Specialist Teak Webinar

Money Grows on TEAK trees?

Join us for a Webinar on August 5

Space is limited.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/619188035

James Cahill, Costa Rica Invest, discusses timber and specifically teak, the investment opportunities, the upsides and the pitfalls to avoid.

By the end of the webinar you will know more about Timber's economic trends and pricing and specifically lots more about Costa Rican Teak.

Nature Walk, a combination investment opportunity in Teak, Development Land with Ecological Advantages will also be introduced.

The opportunity is also suitable for those with a medium term plan of having a home in Costa Rica.

Title: Money Grows on TEAK trees?
Date: Thursday, August 5, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT (that's 6:00pm UK time or 5:00pm GMT)

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.



System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Recording of the Webinar

The Recording of our latest webinar, Money Doesn't Grow on Trees - True or False is now available in the downloads and media section of our website

Webinar Thursday 24th June 1:00pm Eastern

Our next webinar is scheduled for 1:00pm Eastern on Thursday the 24th of June.

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees - True or False


Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/913091011

James Cahill, Costa Rica Invest, discuss whether it is true that money does (or doesn't) grow on trees.

By the end of the webinar you will know more about Costa Rica, Teak, Land, Ecological and Sustainable Investment and the opportunity in Nature Walk an ecological subdivsion investment opportunity in Costa Rica.

The opportunity is also suitable for those with a medium term plan of having a home in Costa Rica.

Better still, as a small thank you for attending we would love to send you a gravity defying teak wine bottle holder. This is hand carved from teak from Nature Walk. So don't forget to give your full address details and we'll ship direct to your door after the webinar. We have a limited number so the first 25 registrant attendees only!!

Title: Money Doesn't grow on trees - true or false?
Date: Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

What's great about our investment?

What's great about our investment?

Trees don't know about credit crunches and banking crises!

They continue to grow regardless.

Better still you they are a real investment: you can see your trees, touch your trees, hold on to your trees.

They don't dissapear into the night like stock prices, securities and bonds!

Demand for Teak continues to rise, supply continues to fall - leading to continuing price rises

Combine your teak trees with development land in Costa Rica and you have what we modestly believe to be the "perfect investment"

Remember you own the land, you own the trees, you are in control

Have a look at our website http://www.costaricainvest.ie/, send us an e mail or give us a call +353 1 272 4184 and speak with one of our consultants and see how we can make your investment dreams come true.

Costa Rica Carbon Neutral by 2021

Costa Rica aims to be fully carbon neutral by 2021 when it celebrates 200 years of independance.

The strategy will build on Costa Rica’s decision to tax fossil fuels in 1996 with the money raised allocated to the National Forestry Financing Fund. This 3.5% tax on gasoline in the country is used for payments to compensate landowners for growing trees and protecting forests and its government is making further plans for reducing emissions from transport, farming and industry.

These are part of a ‘payment for environmental services’ programme that pays landowners who manage forests for their carbon sequestration and storage alongside management for water production, biodiversity and scenic beauty.

In 2007 Costa Rica planted more than five million trees or 1.25 per person making it the highest per capita planting in the world. Various industries are supporting the initiative including a C-neutral plan by Costa Rica’s banana sector.

Other elements of the strategy include increasing the percentage of renewable energy generation to well over 90 per cent and action on energy efficiency including energy saving appliances. In 2004, 46.7% of Costa Rica's primary energy came from renewable sources while 94% of its electricity was generated from hydroelectric power, wind farms and geothermal energy in 2006.

What does mean for investors in land in Costa Rica?

Costa Rica's plans to become carbon neutral will require the encouragement of exiisting initiatives and a range of further initiatives.

Those initiatives include incentivising the further planting of trees and further preservation of land. These incentives will, by definition, reduce the amount of developable land. This in turn will push up land prices.

From a macroeconomic standpoint there has never been a better time to invest in development land in Costa Rica.

Combine a development land investment with the security of teak growing on your land and you have the "perfect investment".

To see more about this opportunity to invest in land and teak in Costa Rica call us on +353 1 272 4184, e mail us or have a look at our website http://www.costaricainvest.ie/

Why is now a great time to invest?

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 2%, their lowest since 1951.

The inflation-adverse European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points, the largest cut in the monetary authority's 10-year history. That means the key lending cost in the 15 countries for which the ECB is the central bank now stands at 2.5 per cent.

The Swedish Riksbank also cut its key interest rate — by even more that the others — a record 1.75 percentage points to two per cent. This reduction is the bank's biggest cut since June 1994.

The Federal Reserve cut their rates to 1% at the end of Ocotber 2008.

Intrest rates are running at historical lows. If you have savings you are earning less in interest on your savings now than ever before.

The cost of borrowings has dropped.

Now is a great time to invest.

Teak prices are rising at 8.5%per year over the past 10 years. Land in Puntrenas rose by 31% in 2007. Will this combination outperform the rates you are getting on your deposits?

Contact us and we would be delighted to show you how an investment in teak and land in Costa Rica, the hottest real estate market on the face of the planet" (CNBC Europe) - see the clip here.

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful"Warren Buffett

We can be contacted by phone on +353 1 272 4184, by e mail on info@costaricainvest.ie or apply for a FREE brochure here

Newsletter October 2008

Newsletter November 2008 Finca di Pacifico-2

The “Association of purchasers of plots of Pacifico Dos”, an association for purchasers participating in the Pacifico Dos project, was established in August of last year. The objectives of the association include representation of the interests of the members in connection with the acquisition by members of the relevant plots of land. We welcome this initiative and we are confident that it will benefit communications between ourselves and the plot owners. The management board of the association will also provide regular reports on the progress of the Pacifico Dos project.

Intermediate Harvest

The intermediate harvest was completed in full last month. The timbers involved included teak and melina. During the intermediate harvest the poorest and most bent trees are removed so that even better growth can be expected among the sound trees which remain. Since only the most bent and poorest quality trees are harvested at this stage it is to be expected that the yield per m3 is relatively low. The total return is $ 86,684.48, with costs of cutting, loading etc already deducted, which is more than we had initially calculated. The best, that is to say the straightest trees have been left in place, at around 300 - 400 per hectare.

Before the intermediate harvest could be completed it was necessary to carry out certain maintenance tasks. A number of temporary roads are laid to provide access to the area for the selection and cutting teams and their equipment. This task involved around 45 forestry workers. With the cost of hiring a bulldozer, wages, chainsaws and fuel and the expense of selecting the trees for cutting, this operation cost around $84,120. We will provide the VKK with a detailed breakdown of costs for this operation. Rio Grande Verde y Azul s.a. will bear an element of these costs themselves, namely $ 34,000.As reported above, the return on the intermediate harvest is $86,684.48. An element of this return will go to Rio Grande (in relation to the as yet unsold plots), and the remaining $ 26,911.46 will be transferred to the association in Costa Rica. The association will decide how these funds are to be allocated.

73.6% of the project has been sold, so that 73.6% of the return is destined for the association.26.4% of the project is as yet unsold, so that 26.4% of the return goes to Rio Grande.
The next intermediate harvest will take place in around 3 years, and will deliver appreciably higher profit per m3. In order to avoid any conflict of interest the next intermediate harvest must be organised by the association. It is amazing how quickly the remaining trees respond by expanding their crowns to fill the newly created space. This leads in turn to a rapid increase in the girth of the trunks.

Licences

A meeting was held recently with the team engaged in the implementation of the phased plan relating to the licences. Huite Zijlstra attended on behalf of arte Verde s.a., also present were Ing. J F Nicolas, Topographer Jose Orozco, Geologist Felipe Leon, Dr Alan Astorga and Jos van Veen. All the remaining steps came under discussion during the meeting. A company will be set up to manage the provision of water to the project. This is a statutory requirement in Costa Rica, and a private water supply company will therefore be set up for this purpose. The association will be shareholders in the company. Geologist Felipe Leon has investigated the quantity of water available on the Finca and in the immediate environment, and his findings indicate that there is ample water available for a large-scale project. The expectation is that steps 1 to 11 will be completed during the month of November (see the organigram included in the previous newsletter). If we can continue at this pace we will have completed all the necessary stages by March 2009, and we can make a start with the individual registration of plots on the land registry.

Maintenance

Maintenance In technical forestry terms, the Finca is currently in very good condition. We have experienced some difficulties in receiving the payments for forestry maintenance to Costa Rica, and it is probably a good idea for the association to jointly collect the as yet unpaid maintenance monies for 2008 (which will also save on bank charges), and then to swiftly transfer these to the maintenance company in Costa Rica. This is important because lack of maintenance can result in excessive weed growth between the healthy trees. This means that the vital moisture and nutrients are shared with the elephant grass, with negative consequences for the healthy trees. Maintenance is also important to allow the topographer to carry out his measurements, which are needed for the recording of the plots on the land registry. We would therefore urgently call your attention to the need to get the maintenance funds together as speedily as possible.
Prices Despite the international financial crisis, land prices in Costa Rica continue to increase. Costa Rica continues to be the most popular investment destination in Central America. We have observed this over a period of years, but we also hear similar reports from a variety of Chinese and American financial news sources. The prices of plantation timber have also risen explosively in the last year. Timber is a scarce resource, just like oil. It is also one of very few raw materials which has shown a steady increase throughout the last century, at around 6% per annum. In view of the fact that world population continues to increase, together with the pressure on raw materials from the new economies, you can anticipate that prices will rise with demand rather than falling. We can think in this connection with continuing expansion of economies like China, Russia and Brazil.

Questions from plot-holders: In this section we respond to questions from plot-holders.

• Q- What will be the arrangements for distribution of profits if the trees are harvested again in a couple of years?
• A- Because building will already be taking place on some plots by 2009, the profit from harvesting from a plot will go to the plot owner.
  
• Q- What about water and power connections and so on?
• A- Around $ 1,300 will have to be paid for each connection, regardless of the size of the plot. This is a one-off payment. The water and electricity consumed will also have to be paid for.
  
• Q- When will harvesting be required again?
• A- The next harvest will need to be done in around 3 years.
  
  To receive a full copy of this newsletter by e mail, with included images and tables, please just send an e mail and we will be delighted to forward you a copy by return