Large hotel resorts that include a gated community on their grounds are becoming increasingly popular in Costa Rica, especially in Guanacaste and in the area around Jacó. The homes in such resorts range from pricey to very expensive. As an example of the latter, we refer you to the Four Seasons Resort at Peninsula Papagayo,

Readers from North America are most likely already familiar with gated communities. For those of you new to the idea, a gated community is, by definition, a housing development enclosed by a fence or a wall, all of which is watched over by a guard service that functions 24 hours per day. Only residents of

Many people arrive to Costa Rica with the goal of purchasing a stand-alone home: They want to own their home—and the property it stands on—free of any of the entanglements that condominiums and other options bring with them. Perhaps they also subscribe to the not unreasonable notion that stand-alone homes connote greater opulence and prestige