The sunsets were the reason they bought the house. Every evening, the Pacific stretched across the horizon. No rooftops. No power lines. Just ocean.
They had looked at dozens of properties before finding this one. Within an hour of walking through the front door, they knew.
“This is it.”
Three weeks later they were under contract. Six months after closing, construction started next door.
They didn’t make a reckless decision. They hired an attorney. They completed inspections. They reviewed title documents. They did everything most buyers would consider responsible due diligence.
What they didn’t do was investigate what could happen around the property.
And that ultimately became the most expensive part of the purchase.
The lot below them — the one their view sailed over — was titled, privately owned, and zoned for exactly what eventually got built on it: a three-story home with a roofline that landed squarely in the middle of their horizon.
Costa Rica has no automatic protection for a view. Unless a view corridor is secured by topography, an easement, or community covenants, the only thing standing between you and a construction crane is whether the neighboring owner feels like building.
A twenty-minute conversation with the right people — the municipality, a local builder, the owner of that lot — would have surfaced the risk before closing. The information wasn’t hidden. Nobody asked for it.
By the time the framing reached the second floor, they had already met with architects about raising a rooftop terrace. The quote was deep into six figures. The sunsets it would recover were partial.
The home was perfect. The view wasn’t protected.
The Story Timeline
The Cost
Lessons For Future Buyers
Insider Perspective
Many buyers focus exclusively on the property itself. Experienced local buyers spend equal time evaluating surrounding parcels, development trends, and community growth. That’s where local knowledge protects your lifestyle and investment.
Where They Are Now
They still live in the house. They still love the bones of it. But when they describe the purchase now, they always start the same way: buy the surroundings, not just the home.
Considering Tamarindo? You can read the unfiltered local take on this area, or talk it through with us before you fall in love with anything.
