Another popular suburb of San Jose is charming Santa Ana, which lies about 15 minutes west of the capital city. It’s growing rapidly, including its large expat population, and boasts a quaint ambiance coupled with modern conveniences and authentic culture.
Local artisans make pottery on old-fashioned kick-wheels and sell flowers and produce from stands throughout the city streets. Yet it’s still within close proximity to the country’s largest shopping center.
It’s also conveniently located near the Inter-American Highway, making it easy to explore other areas of the Central Valley, as well as points all over Costa Rica.
There is a wealth of single family homes available for sale in Santa Ana, as well as plenty of condos and parcels of land.
The median home price in Santa Ana is $650,000, among the highest in our survey. Condos are surprisingly less at closer to $265k. However, these are simply the midpoint prices in a wide range of options available.
Since the median home price is $650k, yet the price per bedroom is under $170k, this would indicate that many of the listings in Santa Ana are for large, sprawling 4+ bedroom villas.
Central America has a colorful past, from drug smugglers to Aztecs and everything in between, but you couldn’t have the character of today with out the past.
Rather than shy away from the truth, we think it should be embraced.
Why?
Because this character is what makes the region great, plus there are great stories to be discovered.
Take Brian O’dea.
Brian was at one time the biggest importer of Marijuana in U.S. history, he ended up getting caught.
Since he did his time, he can talk freely about all details and how he built an multi million dollar import business.
You can listen to the entertaining story on this podcast episode Anatomy of a Monster Drug Deal.
With a median price of $350,000, the price for smaller lots in Santa Ana is about the highest we’ve seen. That being said, if you bought a lot at that price and built a house for $300,000, you’d have the exact specifications you wanted and likely a much nicer home than if you’d bought another for that median price.
