Welcome
Welcome to the Century 21 Gold Coast Realty, Nicaragua. We are committed to serving you in answering all your questions
in the pursuit of finding that perfect property to fulfill your dreams and investment plans.
It’s a Holiday and an adventure everyday.
Nicaragua is an exceptional place to fulfill your dreams. It has a perfect climate that never requires more than shorts,
flip flops and a short sleeve shirt; day and night. It is the 2nd safest country in Latin America behind Uruguay and is
one of the safest places to drive with excellent highways around most of the country that are constantly improving.
They are currently putting in 1,500 Km of new highways with about a 1/3rd recently completed. Nicaragua is also the 2nd
poorest country in the hemisphere making it very inexpensive to live. With poverty and struggle comes an appreciation to
escape to the arts and Nicaragua has some of the best poets, potters, sculptures and painters in the world….it is full of
culture. There are also many charitable organizations to get involved with to make this country a better place for all of
us and help fight poverty.
We have personally donated to the A. Jean Buger (link) foundation where we have given scholarships to 7 university students
and over 30 high school students. We also donate to the Margarita Foundation in the Marina area (link on our site).
Margarita is the most giving person I have ever met. A nurse from Milwaukee she built her own medical clinic, several
schools and vocational training center and she even drove a bus from Milwaukee so that all the children in the area could
get to school including those she built. I am truly inspired that one person can give, accomplish and help so much. I
hope you get a chance to meet her some day.
Although education is the main focus of our donations we also feel strong about athletics. We concentrate on Surfing,
Baseball and Mtn Biking. We have sent Rex Calderon of San Juan del Sur to the world surfing championship in Ecuador where
he placed 29th as well as other international championship…he is currently the Central American junior champion. We have 4
baseball teams including the championship team in Chinandega whose catcher is our very own Boris (?). We have a men’s Mtn Bike
team in Managua as well as Junior team. We also have sponsored Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball and Chess.
Often called the land of lakes and volcanoes there are unlimited places to explore including the 2nd oldest colonial city,
beautiful Granada, in the Americas founded in 1524. The tandem Volcanoes forming Ometepe Island within the 7th largest fresh
water lake in the world, Lake Cocibolca, are magnificent. The ocean is a warm 80 degrees. Some of the most amazing beaches
include Punta Sur, Guacalito, Playa Blanca, Dolce Vita, Chacocente and Punta Aposentillo.
The waves…
..enough said.
My 9 years here
As the broker/owner of three Century 21 Gold Coast Realty offices along the pacific coast of Nicaragua I am certain my team
is the best prepared to help you find the property you desire. I have been in Nicaragua since 2001. I spent my first 3 years
living in Granada exploring and surfing the pacific coast. During this time I was in the export business shipping artisan
products to Costa Rica and the US. As a non-realtor at the time I was able to look at Real Estate with an unbiased eye and
get a great feel for what other Real Estate offices were doing right and wrong. I spent over 50 days as a guest in Rancho
Santana as well as other developments (including Hacienda Iguana, JJ’s surf camp when it was $7 a night, Gran Pacifica, Marina
Puesta del Sol, Hotel Chancletas, Los Cardones/Finca del Mar, Montelimar, etc) and was able to get a grasp on what is required
to create an admirable development. I was also able to experience the boom in Costa Rica.
I never wanted to be in Real Estate as I always wanted to keep the surf crowds down. In 2003 I had several friends from Costa
Rica spending time with all of the realtors in Nicaragua. They would always follow up with questions for me and were very impressed
with my accurate answers. Finally they asked me to represent them. They convinced me that I could get into Real Estate and do it
better than anyone else. After helping them find their surf properties I discovered they were right and that the money was much
better than the export business. I was also sure that I could help my client's develop in an environmentally friendly manner
that would also help keep the crowds down in the surf line up.
In 2004 I became the General Manager of the fist Century 21 office in Nicaragua located in the sleepy port town of San Juan del Sur.
It was just me, the guard Jose and receptionist Nelgin……I was in the right place at the right time……and just over two years later I
became the owner of all three of the Century 21 offices along the pacific coast with over 50 employees.
I spend my days dealing with real estate, surfing epic waves, mountain biking remote jungle trails, doing yoga amongst monkeys, playing
clay court tennis and playing soccer and horseback riding with my wife and daughter.
The team and territories
I have formed a team of highly professional individuals. All of our agents have attended University in the US and worked in the
corporate world for companies such as Deloitte & Touche, SAP Software, Seibel Systems, Cushman & Wakefield, McDonalds, Emory University
and Sotheby's. We have 10 agents mostly from Canada with the rest from the US, England and Nicaragua.
Our San Juan del Sur office covers the area from the Costa Rica border up to Brito and East to Ometepe and the Corn Islands. The General
Managers are John Goldenberg of Canada and Gaspar Guadamuz, the future mayor of San Juan del Sur where he was born and raised. Land prices
here are the most expensive on the coast as this is the where it all started and San Juan del Sur is the only city on the whole coast of
Nicaragua with more than one fine hotel and more than one fine restaurant. The town now has over 30 hotels and more than 40 restaurants.
Though it is more expensive it also boasts a quicker market and more options for night life and family life. We hope to soon start a
Montessori based school in the area.
The Popoyo office extends from Brito to Gran Pacifica, Punta San Diego. It is often referred to as the Pacific Riviera due to its gorgeous
beaches and high end gated communities such as Rancho Santana, Hacienda Iguana and Guacalito. This is also surfers paradise with ideal
offshore winds all day long every day and breaks such as Popoyo, Colorado's and Manzanillo. Prices here are lower than in the San Juan del
Sur area and the community is growing with new restaurants and hotels starting up each year.
The Marina office is located near the Marina Puesta del Sol and covers the territory from Gran Pacifica to Honduras. If its restaurants and
nightlife you want then this is the wrong place. In the Marina area there are only two places to stay and eat, the Marina and Hotel Chancletas,
that's it. Land prices get less expensive the further North you go and someday soon there will be more civilization. The surf is excellent
but the offshore winds are not as prevalent as in the south. There are many surf breaks to be discovered and the crowds are minimal…..for now.
We can put you in contact with a team member in each area so that all of your questions are answered accurately by someone that knows the
area extremely well. We are the only agency with coastal offices (two) outside of San Juan del Sur and 10 full time sales agents.
We have the best staff in Nicaragua with more agents than anyone. We have a full time rental agent, accountant, banking assistant (2),
‘gopher’ and chouffer. We have an admin office in Managua that can meet and greet clients and take care of any banking or legal requirements
in the ‘big city.’
We can take care of your property search and then take care of all your needs once you are the owner. We look forward to working with you.
The market
The market has taken off, as we all know. Though beachfront prices have gone up they are still lower than most parts of the world. This is a
very affordable place to buy and build your dream house and there is still plenty of room for developers to make a profit.
I have said before and am becoming more confident that Nicaragua real estate is inversely related to the world economy. As the world economy
tightens many people are sitting on cash and looking for a reasonable investment. Often they are not finding a reasonable investment in the US,
Europe or even Costa Rica so they turn to Nicaragua. There are very reasonable properties in Nicaragua (including beachfront) and often time’s
desperate sellers reeling from the World Economy making those prices more than reasonable. The selling prices are often so reasonable that we
are selling over the phone, sight unseen.
Nicaragua is the ‘Black Swan’ of real estate. Many people shy away due to politics when they don’t realize how much exports, foreign investment,
education and health care have improved under the Ortega administration because they read the press and the press doesn’t want to write about
that. Others shy away based on what they have heard about title issues and don’t realize that in Februrary, 2008 the country implemented the
‘Letter of no Objections’ policy on all properties within 2 km of the beach to alleviate any title issues. Our agents can educate you on these
matters so you can invest worry free.
Just click on the link for each office to get a better idea of each area. We will be happy to answer any property or travel questions you may
have. We hope to see you down here soon.
When driving around on the dirt roads please be respectful of the locals. There is a lot of dust so please slow down while passing pedestrians
and bikers on dirt roads and also put down your high beams. Remember we are invited guests. In Nicaragua they say “Los Brazos Abierto”
(With Open Arms)….let’s look after our hosts the same way.
Come down for an adventure holiday….you may never leave.
Be Well.
And to see how we ‘live the dream’ and simplify our lives check out our blog at
http://nicaraguare.blogspot.com
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