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As you know, I am a writer and an artist – not a developer. However this idea for a new business in the Puerto Viejo area strikes me as so perfect at this time that I am telling the world, in the hopes of finding an investor.

BACKGROUND
       The town of Hone Creek is three and a half miles from Puerto Viejo. It is not on the beach, like Puerto Viejo. It is located on the main road and must be passed through in order to get to Puerto Viejo and the other beach towns. You must also pass through Hone Creek to get to the road that goes to the Panama border.
       This friendly little town is a bedroom community to the nearby tourist towns. Because rent is lower and land is cheaper, many of the local workers from the beach towns of Puerto Viejo, Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo live in Hone Creek. The school and a government run health clinic have been there for years, and one grocery store. It was just a sleepy little town with not much going on – until now.

       
THE NEW HONE CREEK
      In 2008 a huge new hardware store was built. In the past six months much more has begun to change. A fancy new service station is almost complete. Before you had to drive fifteen miles to get gas. The one grocery store has moved around the corner and added a clothing store next door. The owner of this property must have done well because next to his stores he has built a nice new soccer stadium, to be used by the public. (Soccer (futbol) is HUGE in this country. Everybody loves it.) And on his old property there is now a new grocery chain called Pali. They are a discount grocer that can be found in just about every town in Costa Rica.
       The government is moving in, too. A new Ministry of Health has just been built in Hone Creek. There is already an office of the Ministry of Social Security in Hone Creek and there is talk that the Municipality offices are going to be moved to Hone Creek as well. They are now in Bri Bri, another six miles away. These offices are very important as they are where every business person must go to attend to the legalities of running their business.

THE IDEA
      There is no internet cafe in Hone Creek. There are no storage units for rent anywhere around. My idea is to put in an internet cafe with storage units in the back and have it run from the same office.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ADVANTAGES
       In the two years I have lived in Costa Rica I have been to many cities and towns. Every single one of them is always filled to the brim with young locals on the internet. This part of the business will serve the locals. Most of the people in Hone Creek are hard working families. Everybody from young teenagers to their parents loves to use the internet. Even though these people are on the lower end of the income spectrum, internet is fairly cheap and they will spend their money on it.
       The storage units will cater to the needs of the tourists and expats. There are more and more of them moving here. Often they bring furniture and computer equipment but have no safe and secure place to store it while they are building their house or traveling back and forth from the States. A good friend of mine was in this situation. Three times he found places to store his things and each of the three places was broken into and his stuff stolen. A structure built for security with clean air conditioned units to keep things dust and mold free would fill up fast.
       Putting these two business together would be economical, because the staff needed to run it would be minimal and there would be more than one source of income.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHY NOW?
      This is not a novel idea but what makes it so spot-on is the timing. Costa Rica has been effected by the “economic downturn” as well as any other place. Real estate values have gone down throughout the country – except in Hone Creek. Right now the land is cheap but in this up and coming little town, it won’t be cheap for long. And everybody knows it is great to get in on the ground floor. The first internet cafe and storage units will fare far better than the late comers.

LAND PRICES AND INVESTMENT COST
       In Costa Rica the size of a piece of land is determined by the hectare or by the square meter.
Two and a half acres equal one hectare.
One acre equals four thousand square meters.
       Today, in the business district of Puerto Viejo, 1000 square meters (about one quarter of an acre) sells for about $250,000 dollars. In Hone Creek 1000 square meters would sell for under $30,000 dollars.
       I am told by my realtor friend that a well located lot would cost between $20,000 – $40,000 dollars and a completed building of 1500 square feet would cost between $35,000 – $55,000 dollars. So the total investment needed would be between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars, depending on how far you want to go with it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU
      I have no money to invest. But I do have connections – good friends who are willing to share their knowledge with me. My best friend is American but she married into one of the most well known families in the area thirty years ago. She now owns extensive real estate and businesses, including the world famous Stanford’s. My realtor friend is an American who has been here for fifteen years and is married to a local woman. He has been involved in a number of businesses and knows the Costa Rican real estate law. I know several trustworthy lawyers and they are not easy to find. Costa Rican real estate and business laws are quite complicated. The cost of mistakes can be immeasurable. Good counsel is essential.
       I am willing to do the footwork – to find the right property, interview builders, get prices and find out what needs to be done to accomplish the tasks at hand. We can negotiate the compensation for my work. Contact me if you are seriously interested and we’ll take it from there. CONTACT ME!