As an investor, a real estate professional, and someone who had a past career in IT trudging through oodles of sales data to produce usable, actionable reports, I strongly value market data.  I'm sure we can all agree that marketing costs are expensive, so it's extremely important to choose the method that produces the most results.  It is also equally important to know who your clients are, and where they are coming from.

That is what lead me to do some research recently to find out what urban markets in the entire world were most interested in Costa Rica real estate.  I was able to put a top 10 list which you can find at www.squidoo.com/costaricarealestateexpert.

In that list were 3 Canadian markets - Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver (in order of rank).  I have to say that I was not surprised by this, but let me explain why.  I am actually a Canadian citizen who is living legally in California.  All of my colleagues are American or Costa Rican, so their knowlege of Canada is limited, compared to mine.  When I shared this information with my colleagues, they were very surprised.  They thought that Toronto would have been on that list before Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver.

I do have to admit though that I have the added benefit over my colleagues, of having family and friends living in 2 of those 3 markets.  I keep in close touch with them, so I am aware of the current state of their real estate markets and economies.  This knowledge explains to me very well why these markets are very interested in Costa Rica real estate.

For example, Alberta is a very resource-rich province and they have had a very strong real estate market for several years now.  Of course it has slowed down, but not so much that it is cause for concern.  This has resulted in a large number of people with an awful lot of equity in their homes.

Canada's dollar is also doing very well, valued just slightly higher than the US dollar.  That is EXTREMELY significant, seeing as Canadians now have strong buying power in other countries - like Costa Rica.

And don't forget Canada's winters!  In the wintertime, thousands of Canadians either go on vacation to places with more comfortable climates, while others (especially seniors) will leave the country altogether for a few months to escape the harsh winters.

In addition, there is already a strong - and continually growing - community of Canadian expatriates in Costa Rica.  Many Canadians have discovered the wonderful country of Costa Rica and fell in love with it enough to make it a permanent or semi-permanent home.

So, considering all of those points - as well as Canadians being extremely intelligent and adventurous  :) - the results of my market research were not a surprise.

And so, in order to better serve my fellow Canadians, I am beginning to plan Costa Rica real estate seminars up in Canada at the beginning of 2008.  If you would like more information about these seminars, or would like to speak with me about co-hosting a seminar, please contact me at twilson@compasscostarica.net, or 1-310-503-0557.