Sustainable Home Planning

The people we support are looking for land in rural Costa Rica, prioritizing abundant clean water, healthy soil plants and habitats, surrounded by cooperative and resilient communities.

We approach the process of matching these vital lands with their next ecological stewards using a strategic sustainability process to ensure the ideal property is found, the pricing and purchase terms are reflective of the ecological intentions of the buyers, and the local environment and community are all positively impacted by our collaboration together.

We support our clients by coordinating and easing every step of the property search and evaluation, negotiations and contracting and legal coordination, to the post-purchase design and ecological development of the infrastructure and buildings.

Our collaboration begins with a thorough questionnaire and follow up discovery session to clarify the project goals and ensure we are the right match to support. We do not help developers intending conventional land lots, and prioritize projects with a core value of improving the environments and communities with which they are integrating.

If our early evaluations indicate we're a good match to work together, your property search and purchase and all subsequent development needs will have the full support of Upward Spirals' co-founder Eric Baudry and our broad network of sustainability focused support services and contractors. We become an extension of your team during our time working together, and we define success by delivering unparalleled results.

We typically show our clients their favorite property within 3 visits together, and regularly negotiate favorable purchase terms for the projects we believe in. Our comprehensive due diligence review starts with working with one of the best real estate lawyers in Costa Rica, assessing a range of legal and technical details to ensure the property is as it appears and identify issues to negotiate and resolve with the seller. Since Costa Rica property purchases don't benefit from Title insurance it is especially important to carefully review all public records, and subsequently research any question marks that arise. Buying large rural lands in Costa Rica involves a range of common issues, which typically have reasonable solutions when correctly understood and addressed during purchase, but which cause a range of problems if only discovered post purchase. There are a range of environmental policies effecting how properties can be developed like setbacks from water and protection of trees, which often have significant impacts on how a land owner can use their property. Understanding the setback areas and distances, discerning building areas from protected ones, and ensuring a property will qualify for the building permits and zoning desired are all important to evaluate together during purchase. With the lawyer we'll also ensure the current owners have the full rights to sell the property, and evaluate the impact of any possible encumbrances and easements.

Our due diligence significantly extends upon the typical items mentioned above, as we conduct a thorough sustainability analysis on each property, evaluating the suitability and challenges for accomplishing the client's land goals. During this assessment we educate the client about the factors we're evaluating, and prepare reports on our observations and recommendations. When land is being bought for groups we provide example land use maps for how a given project or community can be laid out. We provide calculated estimates of development costs, from the core infrastructure of roads, power, water systems, as well as food systems development, reforestation, and natural building.