Friday, August 24, 2018
Moving from Atenas Costa Rica to Grecia How we Found a House
Moving from Atenas Costa Rica to Grecia How we Found a House
We are very excited to continue our journey in San Isidro de Grecia, Costa Rica next month. Saturday, we were greeted by our rental expert, Chris Schoo, in front of the gingerbread church in Grecia, Iglesia de la Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes.
He drove us to our new rental home in San Isidro de Grecia to meet our landlord and sign a lease agreement. After 1 year, we have decided to move to Grecia from Atenas for 3 reasons.
- COST - Atenas is so much smaller, it is extremely hard to find rental homes in our price range. There were a few on the internet market for over $1,000 per month, and we drove around for 2 days, but only found 1 home under $1,000 that did not fit our needs. We have been living in a gated community, Roca Verde and love it, but we really need a yard for the kids and, honestly, we were spending too much money. We were totally open to country homes since we own a 4WD truck and we really want a yard for the kids to keep chickens and chicks. We drove through the mountains, off roads and alleys from Atenas, to Morazan, to Palmares and up to San Ramon. There were some amazing properties for great prices in San Ramon, but we just werent sure about living so close to a cloud forest since it is remarkably cooler and slightly gloomy during the rainy season. We enjoyed the experience driving around, not to mention the scenery, but ultimately we decided to go with Grecia.
- OPPORTUNITY - the central park in Grecia is beautiful, clean, and cooler than Atenas and the town itself is larger and offers many more options for shopping, doctors and schools than Atenas. We also remembered meeting so many expats from Grecia at the Atenas Charity Chili Cook-off. We are excited to market our Beef Jerky in Grecia too. The best part, live music is abundant in Grecia with bands in the park most every weekend. Since Matt is a drummer and currently in 2 bands, we will have more chances to explore our love of music.
- TEMPERATURE - we like the climate better in Grecia. With a higher altitude, we noticed it was only about 3-4 degrees cooler, but it made all the difference. We are from Texas and frankly, Atenas has turned a bit hot and since we cant afford a pool, and dont want to pay for AC, Grecia is just what we wanted. While there were only a few reasons to leave Atenas, there were so many reasons to live in Grecia.
Our new home has nice views, large rooms, a great spot to smoke jerky and plenty of fenced yard to kick a ball or ride trikes around. We even have a spot picked out for our new chicken house, and best yet, the house has a garden, ready to be planted, just above the coffee plantation, all for $450 per month.
Now we are on a plight to see just how cheaply we can live since our entire budget has been cut in half. I am looking forward to turning a new leaf as they say and write more chapters to this book. The experience finding a home was enjoyable and we did it with 3 small kids!
Chris, our realtor was knowledgeable of the area and, even though he has only lived in Grecia for about 5 years himself, he seemed to know everyone, everywhere we went. He speaks 5 languages and he was pleasant and cheerful and I highly recommend him to anyone looking to rent or buy in Grecia. We loved our time in Atenas and plan to keep Max in futbol every Saturday to visit with our friends we made in Atenas, but at the same time, we cant wait to explore the waterfalls and parks in Grecia and I hear there is a trail leading up the side of the Poas Volcano in San Isidro with a waterfall.
Saying goodbye to Atenas will not be so hard, since it is only about 30 minutes away, but we are looking forward to Discovering Grecia. Pura Vida!
