The best secondary airport in Central America was inaugurated this January in Liberia, Costa Rica. It now serves tourists going to destinations in Guanacaste, Monteverde, La Fortuna and other locations in the area. The new terminal will also be used by the many retirees and other foreigners living in the Costa Rica’s Pacific Northwest. The terminal was built at a cost of $35 million and covers an area of 23,000 square meters.

It is a vast improvement over the old terminal where passengers had to wait in long lines under the hot Guanacaste sun. Some tourists and retirees even fainted as a result. In addition, tourists had to haul their own luggage because there were no conveyor belts. The old waiting rooms were uncomfortable, muggy and had no restaurant.

The new terminal features a VIP Lounge, comfortable seating, air conditioning, restaurants, improved security, 24 counters for the different airlines and 17 immigration posts. The runway is 2,760 meters long and can accommodate the largest of airplanes. The airport can also handle up to 1500 passengers at one time. Fourteen airlines will use the new terminal.

Another benefit of the new terminal is that it has generated 1000 new jobs indirectly and directly for the area.

From 2006 to 2009 there was an incredible explosion in construction in Costa Rica. Don’t let that fool you: Costa Rica is still one of the most difficult countries in the world to build in. In addition to being expensive in terms of fees and materials, the main hang-up that developers and home-builders face is the enormous variety of permits that must be obtained before building. To develop a property larger than 500 m2, you need the OK from at least half a dozen separate entities, probably more. Developing a subdivision or a condominium adds another layer of oversight from another regulatory body, and when all is said and done you’ll probably need to have hired at least seven state-certified professionals, including an architect, a civil engineer, a topographer, an environmental engineer, an archaeologist, an anthropologist, and a biologist. All that, and you haven’t even started construction yet.

All told, the permitting process for a small development can take anywhere from a six months to several years and cost the developer some percent of the total value of the project. Construction of individual homes on properties covering less than a half a hectare must pass through a similar process, but with substantially less regulation.

This first part article seeks to guide the amateur developer or home builder through the thicket of permitting requirements and regulation. It would be impossible to spell out every detail of every permitting procedure. The regulations are constantly changing, they vary in each of the country’s 81 municipalities, and no matter how sure something seems, exceptions pile upon exceptions. This chapter, then, seeks to be only a detailed overview of construction permitting in Costa Rica, and is meant to compliment the expertise of a highly-recommended team of professionals that you should hire to handle the permitting process for you.

If all this sounds too complicated and expensive, and is tempting you to cut corners on permitting and environmental compliance of your development, you wouldn’t be the first. Government regulators have simply not kept pace with developers during the last decade, causing severe backlogs. That encouraged many developers – especially in Guanacaste and the Central Pacific – to throw up their hands and begin construction without all the necessary permits, muttering the mantra that it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Other developers have turned to corruption, dolling out bribes to government officials to get things moving.

Both of these strategies have often worked. Today, however, cutting corners on permitting costs more than it saves, both in time and money. This is mainly because the government is finally improving enforcement, significantly increasing the chance that un-permitted construction will get shut down long before the developer has a chance to ask forgiveness. Indeed, the year 2008 saw a series of high-profile crackdowns on construction sites all over the country that got the developer community’s attention. Legally, the penalties can include everything from fines to even jail time. Along with the crackdowns, the government is also making a few key changes in the permitting process – particularly in the environmental review – that promise to make permitting move faster, meaning that bribes, in addition to being a crime, are no longer worth the risk.

Also, as with everything else in Costa Rica, if you think doing permitting the right way is onerous, wait and see what happens when you do it the wrong way. Without the meticulous attention to detail that the permitting process requires, you could end up unnecessarily delaying your product an extra year or two – a catastrophic development if your financing is time sensitive. Horror stories abound.

Finally, cutting corners on permitting hurts everyone in the long run. Improper waste water management, the illegal clearing of forest, and the interruption of biological corridors by private roads destroy the very reasons people want to live in Costa Rica in the first place – namely, jungle, wildlife, beautiful landscapes, and friendly local communities. Permitting in Costa Rica is complicated and frustrating, but it is intended to protect the goose laying the golden eggs. Even better, think of it as keeping your neighbor from building a monstrosity that would lower the value of your property.

One of the things that makes Costa Rica Latin America’s top retirement haven is that it is considered a brand name. For years I have been writing about Costa Rica being a brand name and telling me clients about it. To back up my claim Costa Rica was recently selected as the country with the most brand strength of all of 19 Latin American countries by Future Brand’s. They did a global study of country brand strength, which assessed the strength of a country brand in much the same way as any other brand. The FutureBrand 2011-2012 Country Brand Index is their most comprehensive study of country brands to date. The country’s value system, quality of life, business opportunities, heritage, culture and tourism are some of the factors taken into consideration when determining a county’s brand strength.

In 2010 Costa Rica was in third place, but this year the country is number one. After Costa Rica in the next Latin American countries on the list are Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Paraguay and El Salvador. The top ten country brands in the world are: Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, United States, Sweden, Finland, France and Italy.

Over the years I helped thousands of North Americans relocated to Costa Rica and change their lives for the better. I have appeared on the NBC Today Show, CNBC World Business news and Fox Business news and in scores of newspapers and publications. As a matter of fact, during the third week of September 2011 I will be a featured speaker (in Spanish) at The Central American Conference for Realtors to be held in Costa Rica. Many dignitaries from all over the region will speak and attend this event.

I have always remained positive about Costa Rica, tend to look at the bright side of things and extolled the virtues of the country.

On my monthly relocation/retirement tours I talk about the good and bad in Costa Rica when I give my clients their initial orientation. I really don’t “sugar coat”” anything but try to emphasize the good aspects of the country which far outweigh the bad. The country must have something to offer since there are more Americans living here proportionately than any other country outside of the United States. They can’ be wrong!

I really feel good about what I do and find it rewarding to give people some hope in these troubled times. They now have a chance to start over, have a lifestyle they could never have in the U.S. and enjoy everything this beautiful country has to offer.

Inevitably I have some detractors. Some of them are jealous competitors while others and gringos who have nothing better to do with their time than to bitch and complain about the country. Sadly, we have a handful of neophyte know-it-all wise-ass North American Baby Boomers who came here after 2000 and who are real pains in the butt. Most don’t speak the language and will never integrate into the local culture so all they have to do to give meaning to their pitiful lives is to complain about everything and everyone. All you have to do is read their comments on the many Costa Rica blogs and on-line publications. The Internet has become their stage where they can enjoy a few minutes of attention they would never or have never received in the real world.

Actually I am thankful to these people because any publicity is good publicity.

Fortunately, the positive feedback and testimonials about my services and businesses FAR outweigh any criticism I may have received over the years. My success says it all. Higher ups in the Costa Rican government as well as the U.S. media constantly contact me for advice and information about the country.

The world economy is a big concern for anyone who is thinking of retiring or investing in Costa Rica. The good news is that direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased in 2010 in comparison with 2009. During the fist six months of 2010 the economies of the region grew almost sixteen percent over the previous year. Investment won’t reach the levels seen in 2007 and 2008 but the future looks encouraging.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, Costa Rica has been minimally impacted by the crisis in the U.S. We are a small economy and the countries that were hit the hardest were those with big economies with large industries. Fortunately, only tourism and real estate have seemed to have been affected here.

Despite the fact that a lot of foreign investors have been reluctant to invest because of a loss of equity in the U.S., the local real estate market is sound with financing available. Traditionally land prices tend to stabilize during downturns, so now is a good time for savvy investors and retirees to find some value properties. Most prices are no longer overinflated as they were during the boom times because a lot of investors got into trouble and lowered their asking prices. Also, many developers got caught with too much of their own money in land and are now anxious offer some values to get rid of their inventory. I know of a couple who are offering some incredible bargains on raw land.

If retirees and investors do their due diligence, know a real value when they see it and have vision, they should be able to make good investments that will pay of down the road. In Spanish we have a saving, “En río revuelto ganan pescadores,” which means that in bad times or a turbulent river, fisherman or anyone can prosper.”