Teak Maintenance in Naturewalk 1

Inspecting lots in Naturewalk 3

Joshua, Alberto and Marciel discussing lot planting and irrigation in Naturewalk 3. 

These lots will be planted over the coming month, watch out for progress pictures

Inspecting teak in Naturewalk 1

Organic vanilla, Costa Rica

Naturewalk Vanilla farming consultat Edgar Rubi on his organic vanilla farm in Pavonas, Costa Rica

NatureWalk 3, lots 16 and 17

These lots (16 and 17) in NatureWalk 3 are getting a "hair cut" and "makeover". Scrub brush and grass will be cleared and the lots will be replanted with teak and nampi. Watch out for progress pictures.

Nampi Growing in NatureWalk 3

Alberto, Farm Manager, NatureWalk inspects Nampi (Tempisque / Taro) growing on NatureWalk 3

NatureWalk 3 consists beautiful development lots, to be planted with an intercrop of hybrid fast growing teak and nampi. The Teak provides a lump sum return at harvest and the nampi a yearly return. The lots are laid out with a building platform and are ready for immediate building.

Many of these lots have incredible river views.

Beautiful River View Lots in NatureWalk 3

For more information visit our website www.costaricainvest.ie or drop us an e mail to info@costaricainvest.ie

Investing in Teak

A recent story about Tropical American Tree Farms in the Tico Times and reports of unhappy investors, has prompted me to write about the risks associated with investing in teak or agricultural commodities in structures where you do not own the land.

A plantation manager inspects a stand of teak trees
in the northern region of Costa Rica. 

Many teak and other agricultural commodity investments are structured under deals where the investor owns the crop and leases the land for a period until the crop is harvested.

This appears to have been the Tropical American Tree Farms model and according to the report in the Tico Times, many investors are unhappy as they have not received their promised returns.

There are a number of risks associated with this type of investment structure:

- Teak maintenance is essential and you may be restricted to using the promoters teak maintenance company. As a "captive audience" investors may be forced to pay excessive teak maintenance charges.

- You may be required to renew the lease during the growing period and again may have to pay "over the odds".

- In the event the landowner / promoter encountering problems you may end up in the invidious situation of owning a crop growing on an "unwilling participants" land.

- Fundamentally, land is more valuable than crops and is the most potentially valuable part of the investment. That is why, in these structures, the promoters retain land ownership.

So the best advice, if you are considering an agricultural investment, ensure you own the land. This gives you full control.

To read the full story on the Tico Times click here

Upcoming webinar schedule

Our webinars over the coming weeks are:

Date: Thursday September 15th
Time: 1:00pm Eastern
Title: Now you can grow Your own Green Oilfield
Subject: Renewable Energy Farm Biofuel Investment Opportunity in Cost Rica
Registration Link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/738546922

Date: Thursday September 22nd
Time: 1:00pm Eastern
Title: Is Costa Rica a Good Investment Opportunity
Subject: Costa Rica and an introduction to NatureWalk, Turrubares and Hacienda Pacifica, Quepos
Registration Link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/652633490

Nature Walk Masterplan

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Short (9 min) presentation on Di Pacifico Dos

Please click on the player below if you would like to see a short presentation on Di Pacifico Dos.



ps. my pohoto did me no favours - I am not really that fat!

International news about forestry investment

Savills one of the UK's leading estate agencies has just released it's Forest Market report. Whilst the report focuses on UK forestry the message is clear:

Woodland and Forestry bucks the downward trend

The main points of the report are as follows:

1. Forestry prices have outperformed Equities by more than 50% over the past two years.
2. Since 1976, Rural Estates have also outperformed Equities year-on-year with Rural Estates up by nearly 30 per cent against Equities, currently down by more than 30 per cent at the latest count. See the graph here
3. Over a three year period, Forestry has outperformed both Farming's Top 25% and Rural Estates. See the graph here
4. Against a current backdrop of sharply declining investment assets across a broad spectrum, an investment in commercial woods has provided a positive return over the past six years.

You can download the full report here.

The news for forestry investment is good.

Teak has outperformed softwood foresty and timber, combine an investment in teak with development land and you may have the "perfect investment".

Combine that forestry investment with development land in Costa Rica and you have the perfect investment.

What is the recipe for our investment?

As many people are now discovering an investment in stocks, bonds, securities (and pensions) is not as secure as they may have thought.

The ingredients of our investment recipe are:

1. Take an investment in timber (the basic ingredients).

2. Combine that investment with a spoonfull of development land (the yeast to make the investment rise)

3. Add in Costa Rica (the icing on your investment cake)

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And what have you got

The recipe for the "perfect investment"

15 Good Reasons To Invest In Costa Rica Now

Costa Rica Real Estate Investments
15 Good Reasons to Invest in Paradise Now!

1. Foreigners are encouraged to invest and own real estate in Costa Rica.
2. Private property in Costa Rica is inviolable and guaranteed by the constitution even for foreigner nonresidents in the country.
3. Costa Rica is a booming tourist destination (more than 400 weekly flights; a Mecca of sport fishing and surfing; championship golf courses; fine-dining; eco-tourism and world class surfing).
4. Costa Rica is a true eco-paradise (26 National Parks, 13 live volcanoes, endless mileage of coastline, primary forests, and much more).
5. Costa Rica has a very good medical infrastructure (public and private hospitals and clinics) excellent doctors and surgeons (all trained in the US and /or Europe) and medical insurance is available for foreigners (individuals, families, retirees) at very low cost when compared to the U.S.
6. Located just a few hours away from your doorstep with daily flights serving all major U.S. and Canadian cities.
7. Real Estate in Costa Rica is very affordable compared to the U.S. and international second home markets.
8. Costa Rica is located out of the hurricane belt, therefore no hurricanes, storms or other natural hazards in the country.
9. Costa Rica is a tax-friendly destination when it comes to real estate investments (extremely low property taxes and no tax on capital gains or inheritance).
10. Very affordable and manageable lifestyle. Services and labor cost (maids, gardeners, nurses, assistants,...) is very low when compared to the U.S. or European standards.
11. High-quality construction standards (anti-seismic buildings, high-end finishes, exotic local and foreign materials).
12. Safe and controlled legal environment (National land register, title insurance and escrow services available throughout the country).
13. Local financing available for foreigners investing in Costa Rica.
14. According to recent studies and surveys, Costa Rica has been ranked as the most stable and reputable country in all of Central America.
15. Costa Ricans are very friendly and educated people, always ready to help or to share their culture with local visitors and residents.

You can see Eric Carvajal's top 7 resons to invest in Costa Rica on Christopher M. Knight's website here

You can See Coldwell Bankers views on investing in Real Estate in Costa Rica here

New round of funding for Di Pacifico Dos Ltd. launched

A new round of funding for Di Pacifico Dos Ltd. has been launched.

Di Pacifico Dos Ltd. is a vehicle set up specifically for self administered pension fund holders to invest in Finca Di Pacifico in Costa Rica. The minimum investment is €25,000 and thereafter multiples thereof. The term of the investment is 8 years and the projected return on Investment (ROI) is 23% per annum (CAR).

The investment is in development land in Costa Rica which comes with the added value and security of teak growing on the land.

Click here to read the recent press release.

Peter Quealy IFG Mortggages Alliance Partnership.

We had a very succesful launch of our alliance partnership with Peter Quealy of IFG mortgages in Dungarvan yesterday evening (6th of November), with a presentation to Peter's clients in the Park Hotel, Dungarvan.

The weather was terrible but people still braved the elements and thank you to all who attended.

It was great to meet Peter's clients and to talk to them about our investment opportunity.

We had lots of questions on the night and plenty of positive feedback. People clearly liked the "difference" of our investment and the double investment opportunity.

We are looking forward to our partnership with Peter and his team.

Click here to read our press release.

How are teak logs measured?

If you look at the various websites providing pricing information on teak logs you will discover various references to prices per cubic meter and prices per hoppus ton.

The hoppus ton is the older British system of measurement whilst the cubic meter is the newer metric system.

You can see a full explanation of the hoppus ton measurement system here and the conversion rate is as follows:

1 Hoppus Ton = 1.2727 CBT (Cubic Ton) = 1.802 Cu-Meter (CBM)

Some other common abreviations you may come across are:

FOB - Free On Board. A shipping term which indicates that the supplier pays the shipping costs (and usually also the insurance costs) from the point of harvesting to a specified destination normally the port from which the logs are shipped, at which point the buyer takes responsibility.

CIF - Term of sale signifying that the price invoiced or quoted by a seller includes insurance and all other charges up to the named port of destination.

CIP - Carriage and insurance paid to (CIP) terms include insurance and all charges up to a named place in the country of destination (usually the buyer's warehouse).


There is no current internationally accepted teak grading system with different teak log grading systems operating in different jurisdictions. Teak 21 was set up to advise on and try to put in a place a globally acceptable teak log grading system.

So armed with that information why not check out global teak prices and if you are wondering why teak prices have been increasing the answer is twofold:

1. Reduced supply, currently less than 5% of the world's teak comes from plantation sources with the balance cominng from Natural Jungle. Of course world opinion has rightly moved against the logging of our natural rain forests leading to reduced supply

2. Increased demand: demand for teak worldwide is increasing driven largely by huge demand from India and China.

In any market where supply reduces and demand increases this results in increased prices.

If you would like to see how you can invest in a booming property market with the security of teak on your land, have a look at our website wwww.costaricainvest.co.uk

Why might teak be a good investment?

To see why teak might be a good investment have a look here at the Allasso Group website. Whilst they focus on teak plantations in Belize, their report gives a good background. Then have a look at their projections.

Now combine a teak investment with a development land investment in the "hottest real estate market on the face of the planet" (CNBC Europe) and ask yourself what you get?

To see more have a look at our website www.costaricainvest.ie or just e mail us or give us a call on +353 1 272 4184.