Hilltop condos

This photo shows a hilltop condo development, with a view out to the ocean. During the real estate boom from about 2000 - 2007, there were quite a few ocean view condo developments.

In my opinion, some of the developments, such as this one, reflect the fact that developers thought anything with an ocean view would sell. For the boom years, that was correct. Some projects lacked creativity and quality amenities.

This photo shows a condo project that consists of unimaginative, square buildings, without architectural features, and with few amenities other than a view of the ocean. Many Americans within the past 10 years bought ocean view land relatively cheap, as the land had little previous economic use, and built projects such as this. During the development frenzy of about 2000 - 2007, projects like this would sell. Since that time, however, the market has been soft because the downturn in the U.S. economy affected the willingness or ability of Americans to buy a vacation or retirement condo in Costa Rica.

Tomorrow I will show what happens to a condo development that was under construction when the market turned soft.

This week we are showing photos of Iceland on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.