AE Members available:

• Go Dutch Realty, Ivo Henfling

• Coronado Realty, Barry Ashworth

Santa Ana, a warmer and dryer climate in the Central Valley

Just west from Escazu and a five minute drive on the old road or on the new toll road to Caldera will take you to Santa Ana. Since Santa Ana is only 10 minutes away from the famous MultiPlaza Mall and the Santa Ana shopping area has increased in size and quality incredibly, this area is increasingly popular with local and foreign residents who want to purchase Costa Rican properties, apartments, condos, townhouses, single family homes, or businesses.

Santa Ana still has the image of a quiet rural village locally famous for the fact that they grow the best onions in the world even though construction has now seriously moved in on the originally agricultural community. The down town Santa Ana area has lately developed into a center for ceramics and pottery and what was originally meant to be the industrial area has turned into many Florida-like strip malls with grocery stores, bars, discos, stores and all kinds of restaurants have been built just outside the old town of Santa Ana, due to the construction of office centers like Forum I and Forum II that cater to the international businesses like IBM, KPMG, HP and other multinationals.

Because of the quick access from Santa Ana to the Escazu area, international schools, commercial development and the Cima Hospital are only minutes away. We think that the variety of life styles in Santa Ana offer you the amenities you are looking for in your home. With continuing growth a given for the area, you will enjoy excellent appreciation on your property in the short term. The fantastic growth of the west side of San Jose and the new toll highway from San Jose to the Central Pacific (Orotina – Caldera) makes Santa Ana and Ciudad Colon an ideal option to live or to invest in rental property or land for development. Santa Ana has their zoning now well organized. Some areas are middle density and other low density but more than 3 stories.

The Santa Ana area offers several great communities: Eco-Residencial Villa Real, Parque Valle del Sol golf community and others like Hacienda Lindora, Condominio Robles and Hacienda el Sol are some of them. Most of the construction there is less than 5 years old and many are in the Spanish Colonial or Mediterranean style. Parque Valle del Sol is a golf resort community in Santa Ana. An 18-hole golf course, offers fantastic views of the Santa Ana mountains, and stylish infrastructure combined with the security of the gated community to offer the lifestyle that many people come to Costa Rica to enjoy.

Bosques de Lindora and Hacienda Lindora are both located just across the road from modern strip malls and an Automercado grocery store that is the leading supermarket chain catering to the U.S. market. Bosques and Hacienda Lindora both cater to a mix of cultures and offer first class security for their residents, high end common areas with swimming pool and tennis courts and first class amenities like underground power, well laid out roads and beautifully landscaped common areas. >>Go up

Ciudad Colon, still a little out of the way, but soon to be the future Santa Ana

Ciudad Colon is well known for the fact that it houses the University of Peace, which, sponsored by the United Nations, offers graduate courses in peace studies. The new highway to Caldera, which will be ready by the end of 2010, makes Ciudad Colon incredibly accessible for the future. Just like Atenas, Ciudad Colon is a small community, where you can get your daily needs and is only a short drive from shopping in Escazu and Santa Ana. The hills on the south side of Santa Ana (from Brasil de Mora to Ciudad Colon) are slowly being developed into communities where your home can combine quietness, privacy and stunning panoramic views. These benefits, plus the more affordable land prices and the warmer, dryer climate in Santa Ana and Ciudad Colon offer a life style with everything most people have dreamed of when they think about moving to the tropics.

Ciudad Colon, just like Santa Ana has its own zoning plan, which is low density with a max of three stories, which will stop the area from becoming over populated.

We recommend Santa Ana and Ciudad Colon myself to all our AE clients. If you like a warmer and dryer climate and you like to have your shopping, hospitals and banking close to you without being in the busy suburbs, Santa Ana and Ciudad Colon are the locations you should be looking at when you’re ready to buy a nice house or townhouse in a gated community.