Vacation Into Vocation
By Rich Shopes, heraldtribune.com

A story in a fishing magazine lured builder Mike Carter to Costa Rica 20 years ago.

The Pacific Ocean's deep azure waters and abundant sailfish and yellowfin tuna have been reeling him back ever since.

He's not the only one.

An ever-increasing throng of Americans and Canadians make the trek yearly to what National Geographic magazine calls one of the most biodiverse destinations in the world.

Costa Rica is suddenly popular with sport fishermen, backpackers and other adventurous types, including Hollywood celebrities - some 500,000 Americans each year - and that's putting a kink in Carter's vacation plans.

The task of finding a rental house or condo is becoming more challenging each time Carter, his wife and their two teenage daughters make plans to visit.

"We were going down so frequently that having our own place just seemed like a good idea," he said.

So after some 25 trips, sometimes twice yearly, Carter decided to build his own place - not just a house, but 19 million-dollar estates nestled in a secluded, gated subdivision overlooking the Pacific.

The Bradenton builder, who does a lot of work in Southwest Florida, insists he's not retiring anytime soon. Nor was his plan concocted on a whim on a plane ride home - just before the day-to-day grind threatened to begin again.

But he concedes the idea took shape quickly.

"It was my 25th trip down there, and I wanted to buy a second home and I couldn't find one; then the agent showed me this vacant piece of land," he said. "It was spectacular."

Sickle of white sand
Carter's 11-acre sanctuary is perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. A sickle of white sand, just below, stretches three miles north to Quepos, a town of 12,000.

Behind the property stands the lush tropical forest of Parque Nacional de Manuel Antonio, a national preserve.

"The day I was there I looked up and saw a toucan," Carter said.

He closed the deal in January.

Carter, whose commercial construction company recorded $35 million in sales last year, the same as the previous year, doesn't consider the prospect of building in the tiny Central American republic overly perilous.

He insists Coast Rica, a democracy with no army, is safer, more stable and more hospitable to North American businessmen than many Latin American destinations.

With its spectacular foliage, legendary fishing and dense jungle canopies, Costa Rica attracts more North American tourists than any other Central American country.

The road to Quepos is dotted with boutique hotels and shops filled with Americans and English-speaking clerks. The World Travel and Tourism Council says almost 5 percent of Costa Rica's working population is engaged in travel and tourism.

"It has the largest middle class per capita of any country in the western hemisphere," Carter said. "Anything you can get in the United States you can get there."

The more the idea percolated, the more plausible and profitable it seemed. Other American builders have built homes there, and the need for vacation villas is considerable.

"I think it's always had this reputation for its environment and plus the fact that it's so close to the U.S., and now with a number of direct flights from many metropolitan centers you can get here in a few hours," said James McCarthy, senior commercial officer at the U.S. embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica's capital. "There are a lot of gated communities going up, especially on the West Coast."

Up to $2 million
Convinced of the soundness of his idea, Carter contacted a Costa Rican attorney late last year and began drafting plans with help from an architect and a civil engineer.

The development, called La Reserva de Manuel Antonio, is on the West Coast near the country's midpoint, about 30 minutes by plane south of San Jose. It's about four hours from Tampa.

Carter's Web site, www. lareservacostarica.com, shows the 19 homesites range from $225,000 to $550,000.

At 4,000 to 6,000 square feet and fully furnished, he expects the homes to fetch $1.2 million to $2 million apiece.

So far business is brisk. He's already sold six homesites, mostly by word-of-mouth and to friends and business acquaintances. His target is wealthy baby boomers and retirees.

While he expects some people will retire there, he thinks most of the houses will double as vacation rentals when not occupied by their owners. A condo association will maintain the grounds. Each residence will have maid service.

Carter said getting approvals for his project wasn't much different than working with Manatee County's building department, "but it was a little faster."

He stays in touch with his architect through e-mail and phone calls, and he visits Quepos twice monthly.

Jon White, a 32-year-old Century 21 agent in Quepos, Carter's approach sounds familiar. The region is so thick with North Americans you hardly pass through town without hearing their voices.

"Everybody in our office is American or Canadian," he said, adding that almost all of his customers are North American.

While hotel accommodations abound -- the town and its environs offer about 500 rooms -- finding a four-bedroom villa equipped with U.S.-style amenities is difficult, which was Carter's chief complaint.

The shortage is causing a wave of new construction and a sharp escalation in property values.

"It's a very common story," said White. "Contractors come down here and buy some land and start a community. We've had 20 percent appreciation the last three years.

"If you want a piece of property with a nice view you can get a half-acre for about $250,000. It's still cheaper than beachfront property in Florida or California," he said.

That's one reason so many North Americans are buying, and that's good news for Carter. Still, he admits, "It's always in the back of your mind" that too many U.S. citizens could spoil the region's exotic allure.

Then again that might not happen.

"I think exotic locations tend to bring an individual who is adventuresome rather than someone who doesn't fit in with that kind of environment," he said. "What we find are North Americans who are similar to us. They enjoy the outdoors and the beauty of the natural surroundings. I have not run across the ugly American yet, so I remain optimistic that for some time to come we'll be able to enjoy it."

He expects to start construction this summer.

Meanwhile, he adds, "I'm also looking at another piece of property."