Speculation in the South

The Chicago Tribune reports on speculation in South America: Nicaragua coast screams 'ground floor' to investors.

What second-home buyers yearn for in Central America is Costa Rica before the building boom. They want ocean views and unspoiled land, without the steep prices, crime and American fast-food chains. They want Panama before Donald Trump.

Adventurous Americans, Canadians and Europeans willing to dodge livestock and potholes for the two-hour car ride south from Managua to this sleepy fishing village on the west coast of Nicaragua are finding just that. Three-bedroom homes with unfettered views of shimmering bays and turquoise water start at $155,000, condos from $129,000. Undeveloped land with ocean views -- sites of a quarter-acre -- start at $35,000. Construction costs generally range from $55 to $75 per square foot. To investors, it simply screams "ground floor."

Nothing could deter Jan and Duane Sanow from purchasing land in Nicaragua. The Minnesota owners of a manufactured-home dealership, 50 and 49, respectively, had searched the coasts of Mexico and in Panama for an investment/vacation property for 10 years.

"We were always at the tail end of the development boom," Jan Sanow said. "This time, we're at the front end."

When their complex is completed -- at a construction cost of about $800,000 -- there will be a swimming pool, on-site laundry, air conditioning and gated parking. Just don't look for a grocery store. There's always the traveling vegetable vendor, however, and an al fresco restaurant down the beach. The two-bedroom condos, in 1,300 square feet, will sell for $275,000.

The Sanows say they're thrilled to have found a beachfront investment they can afford, a 45-minute drive north from Costa Rica's border. And they like to emphasize the positives. "There's a strong sense of community here," Jan said. "It's a great place for expats."

Fasten your seat belts, though. The 20-minute drive from San Juan del Sur south to Coco Beach winds along a spine-fusing dirt road. Plans call for that road, over the next few years, to become a paved coastal thoroughfare connecting Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

For now, the bumpy camino is festooned with a canopy of tropical trees that serve as a playground for howler monkeys and screeching parrots. Four-wheel-drive vehicles scramble around ox- and mule-drawn carts. New developments dot the way.

Nicaragua?!? You've got to be fucking joking!

This is one of the poorest countries in the West rivalled only by Honduras or Haiti.

And two-bedroom condos for $275K rivalling prices in Chicago? You've got to be fucking kidding me.

There's an old saying among investors (as opposed to speculators): "I'm not interested in the return ON my money; I'm more interested in the return OF my money."

In Nicaragua or Haiti, I'd be even more interested in making sure I came home with limbs, ears and fingers still intact. And heaven forbid if the government decides that the "extranjeros" are neo-colonialists, and need to be sent home.