When people move to Costa Rica to live or retire, they have to either rent or buy a home. Recently, I was interviewed by a reporter from the Tico Times newspaper about the country’s current real estate market. As most of you probably know the downturn in the global economy affected real estate markets around the world. Costa Rica is no exception. People interested in buying property here became more cautious than they'd ever had to be before because of recent events. A lot of people from the U.S. and Canada lost some of the funds or equity they'd saved in hopes of buying property. The crisis changed their plans and left a lot of people holding off on buying a second home or a vacation home in a foreign country. Nevertheless they are some encouraging signs. The Costa Rican real estate market appears to be reviving after taking a hit during the recent worldwide recession. Now there a lot of good values because some prices have been slashed and a lot of people are anxious to move their properties. Costa Rica continues to be a popular warm-weather destination and tourism is one of the motors which drives the real estate market. This coupled with the country’s stellar international reputation as a nature lover’s paradise and a stable peace-loving country will continue to make Costa Rica a good investment. How often does one hear bad things about Costa Rica on nightly newscasts? Never!!! What you hear is negative news about drug wars in Mexico, Venezuela’s President Chavez and other problems in Latin America. On the other hand Costa Rica is associated with programs on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and retirement. In addition, 70 million Baby Boomers, many of whom have their sights set on retiring abroad, will continue to fuel the country’s real estate market. Add to this the scores of people of all ages who are disgusted with the direction the U.S. is going and who will want to jump ship and move to a country like Costa Rica as a solution. Due to all of the reasons above, Costa Rica will continue to be an excellent place to invest in real estate.