After our December trip, we began negotiations on multiple properties.

We narrowed our potential properties to 3 by New Year's.

We have 2 out of 3 under contract and stalled on negotiation on the 3rd.

We are a week into our due diligence on the two properties.

One property is a 6-month due diligence that I have yet to post about. The other property is the 37-hectare (93-acre) property I first emailed about.

For simplicity, I will refer to the 3 properties as follows:

• S.E.: 93 acres

• Guacimos: Mountain Property that's stalled in negotiations

• Monge: This is the property I have yet to break down but is under contract.

S.E.

Our goal with S.E. is to drive foreign customers to the property. We believe we can draw foreign buyers by creating a specific lifestyle.

We had two primary concerns with the property when we put it under contract:

1. The entrance is fairly narrow from the public road (80 ft).

2. The property sits along a large river/ravine. We believe the privacy this generates is a plus but on the other side of the ravine is a quarry.

The site of the quarry is fairly limited from most of the property but as we’ve spent time on the property this week, we’ve discovered the sound is problematic for likely 1/3-1/4 of the property.

The ravine creates an echo effect that we didn’t anticipate. While this isn’t a deal killer, it is certainly not what we hoped to discover in our first week of due diligence.

Guacimos stall

I’ve already covered the current troubles with this property in previous emails, but this property is particularly hairy.

We originally offered two options to the seller:

1. $1.6 million with a 90-day due diligence

2. $1.9 million with a 180-day due diligence

Their counter hilariously was $1.9 million with a 90-day due diligence.

As we spent more time learning about the property, it became apparent we wouldn’t be able to confirm the information we needed in a 90-day due diligence.

We returned with option #2 as the only option. After many messages, the property owner was willing to move forward if we put $25,000 down immediately.

This was unacceptable since we would likely spend over $30,000 during our due diligence. Those costs would yield reports and plans offered to the seller free of charge if we exited the contract.

That negotiation is currently stalled out.

Monge

Monge is at the heart of where the Grecia freezone parks are taking off. At $18 per square meter, it's by far the priciest property we are pursuing.

It is located across the street from one of the freezone parks projected to facilitate thousands of jobs. Our goal is to build housing for the people who plan to work there.

We currently have that property under contract for $3,850,000.

Although we have not gotten off to the start we were hoping for with these properties, we understand that this is part of the process.