The casual visitor to San Jose will fail to observe a set of architectural features that might define a uniquely Costa Rican architecture. (Indeed, other than the handful of colonial-style buildings that linger from bygone days—and several modern architectural gems—there are in fact few buildings to arrest the attention of those who are interested in architecture.) That said, foreigners who live here—and real estate brokers—do talk about something they call the Tico home. Although the Tico home continues to be built in rural areas and in the working class neighborhoods of San José, this architectural “style” is loosing favor among wealthier, educated, and—dare we say it—more sophisticated home purchasers.

So what is a Tico home? It’s really less an architectural style than a set of features (and building materials) that can appear across a spectrum of homes—from a simple shack to the stately residence of a coffee baron. In very general terms, the rooms in a Tico home are smallish (as are the windows): life there tends to look inward rather than toward the outside world. The walls are made from cinder block that is coated with plaster; the windows are covered with bars; and the roof is covered with sheets of tin. Small, interior patio areas—with closed or open roof—are common. A covered porch or, in middle class homes, a larger covered patio area creates a place where family and friends can gather during the weekend, come rain or shine.

Most Tico homes have a laundry room (a cuarto de pilas in Costa Rican Spanish), which contains a big, old fashioned stone sink for hand washing, and also includes space for a washing machine and an area to place a clothes line (clothes dryers are not as popular in Costa Rica as washing machines, probably due to the plentiful tropical sunshine). Even in small homes, surprisingly, the laundry room is often fairly large. In poorer homes, the laundry “room” is sometimes located outside—at the back of the house—usually under some kind of awning. Not all homes have heated water, though most do. In many homes, hot water is not supplied from a central water heater but comes from an on-demand electrical heating element that is either located centrally or is attached directly to a faucet or shower head. These heating-element shower heads—sometimes called suicide showers—work effectively, but they frequently issue forth popping and hissing noises that can give cause for concern about being electrocuted (though the authors haven’t heard of any such cases). Air conditioning units and fireplaces are rare (and usually unnecessary).

Many Tico homes include a small room that is designated for use as “maid’s quarters (cuarto de empleada).” Domestic workers, many of whom are Nicaraguan immigrants, earn low salaries in Costa Rica, with the result that many people can afford to hire them. A large percentage of middle- and upper-class families—particularly those with small children—hire domestic workers on a live-in basis. In many Tico homes, however, the maid’s room either ends up serving as a small bedroom for family members or is converted into a storage room. Even so, many architectural plans for new homes specify maid’s quarters, perhaps in part because these may appeal to the upwardly-mobile home buyer’s vanity.

Most Tico homes today are built out of either cinder block or prefab cement panels. This wasn’t always the case. In San José—but particularly in rural areas—you’ll see lots of older homes built out of wood. Nearly all home builders in the tropics now shun the use of wood for anything other than detail elements and ceilings. There are a lot of reasons for this: wood is becoming ever more expensive; it tends to go moldy and rot in the humid tropical climate; termites and other bugs can make short work of most kinds of timber; wood homes are more susceptible to fire; and, finally, homes built out of wood are less likely to survive an earthquake than homes built out of cinder block and rebar.

While the majority of foreign home buyers prefer to buy homes built in a modern colonial style, there are several advantages to buying a Tico home. First, they tend to be less expensive than homes built to please the foreign buyer. Second, when it comes time to sell, you might find that your home appeals to a larger potential pool of buyers. And, if you’re interested in building a home, going with Tico-style construction means you’ll be able to readily find building materials. In addition, Costa Rican architects have greater expertise in designing homes according to local standards than they might have in designing other kinds of homes, and the construction foreman and his crew will already be familiar with the materials, skills, and processes that go into building the Tico home.

On the other hand, you should be aware of some of the complaints that foreign buyers make about Tico homes. First and foremost, they don’t like the small rooms (often with low ceilings)—nor the tiny windows and the resulting absence of light. And then there are the tin roofs: these make a deafening noise when it rains, they tend to leak, they offer an easy entry point for burglars, and most people find them unsightly. Many foreigners also think that Tico homes dedicate too much space to the laundry room, which could be replaced by a small closet-sized room for the washing machine and drying machine. A similar complaint is made about the maid’s quarters; since few foreigners employ live-in maids, they’d rather delete such a room from architectural plans and allocate the freed-up space to other rooms. Among the other complaints are the lack of a central water heater and insufficient closet space. Not all foreigners object to these features, however, and not all Tico homes are the same, so it’s really up to you to decide whether the benefits of owning a given Tico home outweigh the supposed defects.