These articles are editorial drafts prepared with the site. They are written to be replaced with The Address's own published pieces.
Costa Rica has two climates in one year. The houses that work here are the ones built for the harder of them.
Most people see a Costa Rican property for the first time between January and March. It is the obvious time to come: the light is clean, the roads are dry, and the country is at its most photogenic. It is also the least informative time to assess a house.
From May to November the same site behaves differently. Afternoon rain arrives with force, unpaved access roads soften, humidity sits in rooms that do not move air, and the quiet creek at the bottom of the lot becomes something with a current. None of this is a problem — it is simply the other half of the year, and a house designed for it is a markedly better house.
What to look for is mostly structural and mostly boring. Deep eaves, because a one-metre overhang is the difference between a wall that stays dry and a wall that does not. Elevated floor levels and considered drainage, because water will find the lowest line through a property every single afternoon. Cross-ventilation on at least two sides of every room, because moving air is what keeps a house from smelling closed. Covered outdoor space, because living outdoors in the green season means living under something.
Material choices matter in the same practical way. Untreated softwood does not last. Flat roofs require genuinely good detailing rather than adequate detailing. Ferrous fixings near the coast have a short life. None of these are reasons not to build well here — they are simply the conditions, and local architects who have worked through a few seasons design around them instinctively.
The practical advice we give buyers is simple: if you can, see the property twice, in both seasons. If you cannot, walk the site slowly and ask where the water goes. The answer tells you most of what you need to know.
