Just a few days ago Donald J. Trump took the oath to become Number 47...
And his first few days back in the drivers' seat of U.S. power have been, well, what comes to mind is the "Tasmanian Devil" in those old Merry Melodies cartoons.
As many of my readers are probably aware, I predicted a strong real estate market in Costa Rica this year, mainly due to Trump's pending election.
Well, now that his election is no longer "pending", how's the market doing?
In short, the jury is still out.
There has been little noticeable change in the market, yet.
Am I ready to concede that maybe I was wrong?
Not a chance.
The market is still favoring buyers. A lot of that is due to the tremendous inventory build-up that occurred in 2024, coupled with waning demand.
In short, there is a large imbalance between supply and demand that has caused time on market for really good properties to drastically increase from where it was in the strong seller's market of 2020 - 2023. As a result prices have started to come down as well.
But prices had gotten to be ridiculously high during the COVID-inspired buying frenzy that began to wind down in 2024. Yes prices have come down, but they are still pretty darn high.
What does all this mean for buyers?
I think there is a window of opportunity that could close soon.
Now, that could be a gentle closing spread out over several months, or it could be a violent slamming! That's a prediction I don't even pretend to want to make.
However, judging from the many conversations that I am having with wannabe buyers, there is serious concern about Trump that is causing them to seriously consider a move south!
And most of those conversations were before the events of the last five days since inauguration!
Trump's gonna do what Trump's gonna do. No one should be surprised about that. Hell, that's what got him elected!
And this time I don't think there'll be much resistance. The guardrails have been removed and he has full control of all levers of power.
So, folks who don't go along with his vision of America have two choices. Stay and accept it (perhaps putting up a bit of a fit, or fight), or get the hell out of there!
I think it's a pretty safe bet that there will be a lot of folks, millions even, who will choose to make an exit.
Is Costa Rica poised to receive some of them?
You betcha.
