Foreigners Who Live in Nicaragua Enjoy Its Low Cost of Living
Expats who live in Nicaragua are able to enjoy living in an amazing country that offers a low cost of living in combination with a high quality of life. Nicaragua is home to a vibrant culture with friendly people, spectacular beaches, and an amazing early-in real estate investment opportunity.
The great American author Mark Twain wrote after an 1897 visit to Nicaragua:
“What a home one might make among their shady forest, their sunny slopes, their breezy dells, after he had grown weary of the toil, anxiety, and unrest of the bustling driving world.”
This is exactly the same appeal that living in Nicaragua has for the thousands who have already chosen Nicaragua as a place to live. It is a welcoming and peaceful place–to say nothing of uncrowded and undervalued.
Today, Nicaragua offers the lowest cost of living in Central America (lower than Panama) with prices up to 10 times lower than the United States. It also offers an incredible opportunity to purchase stunning beachfront, lake, or colonial real estate at incredible prices–not to mention that property taxes are low as well. Cleaning or gardening help will cost you $7.40 a day. You can have an elegant meal with a glass of wine for about $16.00, or a regular meal with coffee for about half of that. You can enjoy Happy Hours with $1.00 appetizers, beer, and rum.
In short, you can create a beautiful life for yourself and stretch your retirement dollars.Nicaragua’s lower cost of living does not mean you have to sacrifice the quality of life you have been accustomed to in the United States or Canada. In fact, you will probably be able to live in Nicaragua with even more luxuries than you had before, simply because the prices are so economical. Never thought you could live in an ocean view home? Well, think again. Many who never dreamed of living in that kind of luxury are enjoying their drinks on the deck of their new homes, watching the sun set over the sea in Nicaragua.
There’s So Much to Do
Don’t worry about having nothing to do if you retire in Nicaragua. In fact, you’ll wonder where the hours go with all the activities that will fill your day. Here are just a few: water aerobics classes at a 4-star resort, yoga, dining with your friends at all the Nicaraguan and International restaurants, taking Spanish classes or music and dance lessons, doing volunteer work teaching English, helping disabled kids or working to give job skills to women who live in the countryside. Go sailing at sunset, deep-sea fishing during the day, or watch a Ballet Folklorico cultural show for free every Thursday. If you like music, choose from jazz, blues, rock & roll, and reggae at the various bars you’ll find, especially in San Juan del Sur. Go hiking, flying through the canopy on a zip line, watch ball games at the local stadium or professional ball games at the sports bars
You will never run out of things to do in Nicaragua.
Nicaragua’s Improving Infrastructure Makes Living Here Easier Than Ever Before
A marked improvement in Nicaragua’s economy over the last several years has allowed the government to continue focusing on the improvement of infrastructure throughout the nation.
This focus has also been a direct function of the debt relief provided by the World Bank/IMF. Before this program of structural readjustment, Nicaragua had the highest level of per capita debt in the world. Its payments to debt service were 2.5 times the spending on healthcare and education. With the alleviation of this debt, money once used for the service of debt is now delegated to the improvement of Nicaragua’s infrastructure. There has been a visible commitment to improving roads, telecommunications, and energy, which makes the decision to live in Nicaragua all that much more appealing.
With the improvements, the government also offers all sorts of incentives for foreigners to open businesses. Laws are in place to give you 10-year tax-free investments. When you buy property, it is yours. In other countries, beachfront and beachview properties may be purchases on a 99-year lease program. Not so in Nicaragua. What you buy here is yours – to keep, sell, or will to your kids.
10 Reasons to Live in Nicaragua
Nicaragua is one of the most beautiful countries in the Americas. It boasts a dramatic Pacific coastline; long, gentle Caribbean beaches; and volcanoes and freshwater lakes that dot the hilly inland. Colonial cities like Granada and León offer visitors a taste of days gone by. And Managua is rapidly becoming a real First-World city with top-notch theaters and a range of international restaurants.
Nicaragua is a nation at peace and one of the safest countries in Central America. Its government is democratically elected, and new president Daniel Ortega has said that he is committed to a free-market economy, and is eager to attract foreign investors.
Add to that the very reasonable real estate value here and you could have your perfect retirement or second home destination. Whether you want to live somewhere quiet, near the coast where you can sit back and listen to the waves gently lapping the sea shore or you’d prefer the hustle and bustle of a colonial city with everything you could possibly need (at half the price of the U.S.)…then you should definitely take a closer look at Nicaragua.
