Science Horizons

There are many baby boomers the world over that are trying to figure out their retirement plans. Choosing an affordable tropical retirement destination is actually a reality for many soon to be retirees. Nicaragua should be on your list of possibilities, as the benefits are far to numerous to ignore.

The cost of living in Nicaragua is probably one of the biggest benefits for many of the current ex pat residents. Food costs are extremely low compared to typical first world markets. Seasonal produce, fruits and vegetables, dairy, poultry and beef can all be obtained from local markets, as well as well stocked modern grocery stores. Basic food costs are typically a half to a third of the price in the US.

Every part of Nicaragua has something different to offer a retired couple looking for authentic Central American culture. Everywhere in Nicaragua you will find the same slowed down pace of life. You will have time to enjoy a beautiful ocean sunset, wander through Colonial towns, go for a walk on the beach, enjoy a book in a hammock, or visit with locals and other expatriats.

Planning for the weather becomes much less of an issue when you live in Central America. The weather is warm all year round, and there are just two distinct seasons – the warm dry season, and the warm wet season. The other notable weather pattern are the almost year round offshore winds, which help to keep the heat in the dryer hotter coastal towns at bay. If you prefer a more temperate climate, you may want to consider the central and northern mountains, where the cooler wetter climate at altitude creates the perfect environment for world class coffee farms.

It has only been quite recently that the already value priced Nicaragua became even more attractive, as world economic conditions led to a slow down in almost every real estate market. Nicaragua had recently enjoyed a mini real estate boom, but still managed to remain relatively inexpensive compared to other Central American investment and retirement locations. Now with the economic slowdown, a number of previously unavailable opportunities are presenting themselves. For example, a North American style vacation home with ocean views can be found for under $200,000, whereas the equivalent property may sell for two to three times that amount in Costa Rica.

You owe it to yourself to consider Nicaragua as a viable retirement destination. The land of lakes and volcanoes is sure to capture your heart. You will be able to enjoy a retirement lifestyle that exceeds dreams for less money than you would think. Do some research into Nicaragua real estate and see for yourself.

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Nicaragua vacation homes are more affordable than you would think. Each day brings more exciting financing opportunities to the market place.

The Central American real estate market for vacation homes has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade. The landscape is exceptionally beautiful and the land values are almost too good to be true. Nicaragua boasts great hiking and bird watching. The sport fishing and surfing are unparalleled. It is the land of lakes, rivers, rain forests, volcanoes, artisan markets and coffee farms. Nicaraguan vacation homes have really become popular amongst those seeking a perfect getaway or for those retiring Americans looking for an inexpensive place to live and relax. Historically, the only drawback with Nicaragua real estate was that most deals were completed on a cash only basis.

It is now possible for foreigners to secure bank financing in Nicaragua. This type of financing is offered by from some of the more reputable and prominent Nicaraguan banks such as BDF, Bancentro and BAC. With the proper documentation qualified buyers can access loans of up to 80-95 % of the total purchase price including closing costs. This type of financing is becoming harder and harder to get in North America. Interest rates are becoming more competitive but they are higher than most rates in North America. These rates float in the range of 9-12% per annum amortized over 10 to 15 years. Most mortgages contain an option to extend the life of the mortgage by another 5 years.

Multiple resort developments are offering developer financing. This type of financing can provide the savvy purchaser with a great deal. For example, a brand new beach condominium project within walking distance of the shops and bars and restaurants of San Juan del Sur is offering 15 year financing at 9% interest. This development is upscale and located right on the beach. Other nearby developments are offering 7 year financing on condos, ocean view lots and completed houses at 8% with a 30% down payment. Even if it is not advertised you should ask about developer financing.

Some of the bigger developments have specific arrangements with American style mortgage brokers. You actually apply for financial assistance from an American bank. This type of financing option offers longer term financing deals on very competitive terms and at very generous interest rates. With this type of financing you feel as though you are buying in the US or Canada.

The least common but still available means by which to finance your Nicaragua vacation home is akin to private vendor take back mortgages. These days there are an increasing number of opportunities using this method of financing. Vendors know that the credit market has dried up and this might be the only way they can sell their home.

Financial assistance in buying your Nicaragua vacation home is now available. These financing options have made Nicaragua real estate more attractive than ever. These options coupled with Nicaragua’s low cost of living make investing in Nicaragua Real Estate more interesting than ever before. Financing your Nicaragua vacation is now a real possibility.

Jane Moore Travel beach homes, central america, central america realestate, nicaragua, nicaragua realestate, nicaragua realty, real estate, real;estate, Travel, vacation home financing, vacation homes, vacation property

If you like spring/summer skiing then one of the best places on the planet for easy car access skiing is the Beartooth Pass in Red Lodge, Montana. Call MDOT at 800-226-7623 to make sure it’s open as snow even falls in June up here. This is some of the best car accessible ski terrain anywhere on the planet.

Ten miles south of Red Lodge is where the Beartooth Pass begins its climb to the sky. It offers 4,000 vertical feet of big mountain lines when it first opens (check out the photos). If you can’t ski all of the steepest stuff that the big names resorts offer then this probably isn’t the best place for you. There is a little run off the shoulder of Gardiner headwall that is fairly intermediate but that is about it.

The night before I big adventure friends from Bozeman stayed with us at The Spires at Red Lodge. By the time they left following our day of skiing I think they all wished that they owned some Red Lodge, Montana real estate.

We all stayed at this really cool new development called The Spires at Red Lodge the night before and went for a big walk on their trail system marveling at the views of the high peaks to the west. We were amazed by just how affordable Red Lodge Montana real estate is as they were selling complete cottages for under $200,000. We didn’t think there was a ski town anywhere where anything left that was this affordable.

With the pick-up vehicle left behind down at the base of Reefer Ridge we begin the half hour climb around dozens of switchbacks to the west summit. The views up the Glacier Lake Valley are just phenomenal.

As we near the top of the west summit we see the head wall we are about to ski. Gardiner head wall is very steep, anywhere from 35 degrees up to 45 degrees, so we are glad that it is 55 degrees outside because the snow should be soft as it faces east in to the early morning light. There is evidence of several small wet slides on either side of the face so we know we need to keep alert.

The corn snow has us giggling half way down it is so good. It is a short 500 vertical foot hike out which takes about 20 minutes and we decide to have lunch at the rocks along the top by the highway. This had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there were five 20-somethings in bikini tops sunbathing. From there we headed to Reefer Ridge where there are many lines to get you back to your morning vehicle drop. These are all 3,500 vertical foot big mountain lines and some of them cliff out so choose your lines carefully or you’ll be doing some hiking.

We found a beautiful 40 degree Couloir that allowed us to ski virtually to our car and, thanks to the main Rock Creek still being frozen we skied right over it (not wet boots). Get somebody to skier cut everything you ski at the top just to be safe as we kicked off a wet one that ran for 2,500 feet which got our attention. Check out this line for a car accessible ski it is pretty radical.

The headwall was about the size of most ski areas and dropped straight down to the third to last switchback on the Pass. Cold PBR’s were waiting for us and on the trip back we just sat there in stunned silence because we hadn’t seen a sole all day long accept for our first descent.

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I’m going to tell you about the easiest accessed, best-kept back country skiing secrets anywhere in the United States called the Beartooth Pass, so hang on to your hats and get ready to take notes. It pays to call the Montana Department of Transportation ahead of your trip to make sure the Pass is open because several feet of powder can fall up there well in to June. They can be reached at 1-800-226-7623.

About a 10 minute drive south of town the road bends upward finally cresting at just less than 11,000 feet of altitude at the West summit. It is real big vertical considering that you get to climb most of it in a car and access dozens of different big mountain lines (check out the photos). There are even places like the saddle approach down in to Gardiner head wall that are easily skiable by a skier of intermediate ability but make no mistake, most of this is big mountain expert terrain. If you can’t ski Corbett’s at Jackson, the Couloir at Big Sky, or Great Scott at Snowbird then you probably should not be skiing most of this terrain.

The night before we crashed at a friend’s in this really cool, new real estate development called The Spires at Red Lodge and watched the sun set against the 12,000 foot peaks to the west. We couldn’t believe that in a ski town where they bordered an 18 hole golf course that they were selling complete cottages for under $200,000 – in this day and age who has heard of anything that affordable in a Rocky Mountain ski town.

We all stayed at this really cool new development called The Spires at Red Lodge the night before and went for a big walk on their trail system marveling at the views of the high peaks to the west. We were amazed by just how affordable Red Lodge Montana real estate is as they were selling complete cottages for under $200,000. We didn’t think there was a ski town anywhere where anything left that was this affordable.

With our drop complete we take off up the Pass and are more amazed by the incredible high mountain scenery. Journalist Charles Kuralt called the Beartooth the most beautiful highway in America and we all agree that he got it right.

We pass the climb out (about 500 vertical feet) from Gardiner Headwall near the top of the west summit. Gardiner is about 1,000 vertical feet at anywhere from 35 degrees to 45 degrees of pitch depending upon which side of the head wall you select to ski. If it is spring corn then no problem but always be on the lookout for wet slides, they don’t go to fast but they are hard to get out of and potentially dangerous. Gardiner gets skied enough that the likelihood is less but you always want to stay alert.

It is so good that we are all hooting it up half way down like a bunch of owls. After a brief hike we are back at the road and decide to have lunch on the exposed rocks. This had nothing to do with the scantily clad young women who were soaking it up there, honest. It’s about a mile drive over to the ridge and then we are looking down at all kinds of sweet big mountain drops that would make the Warren Miller boys salivate.

We found a beautiful 40 degree Couloir that allowed us to ski virtually to our car and, thanks to the main Rock Creek still being frozen we skied right over it (not wet boots). Get somebody to skier cut everything you ski at the top just to be safe as we kicked off a wet one that ran for 2,500 feet which got our attention. Check out this line for a car accessible ski it is pretty radical.

We chugged back up to the west summit to retrieve our other vehicle and plunged down the 2,000 vertical feet of the Rock Creek head wall on the way back to town for good measure. We had a few cold ones waiting and we hadn’t seen anyone else all day long, except for at the Gardiner head wall and marveled at our great fortune to be living in the last, best place.

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I have fished Montana for over four decades and even have had conversations with legend Bud Lilly. I have fished with the author who completed George Brook’s final book, Rand Oslund. I’ve fished the Gallatin, Madison, Jefferson, Missouri, Big Horn, Smith River, Yellowstone, spring creeks, creeks in Yellowstone National Park and pretty much everywhere in the State, including several high mountain lakes.

We stay at a beautiful new development in Red Lodge called The Spires at Red Lodge. It has a beautiful trail system, views of 12,00 foot peaks and even a creek with trout in it in their large 12 acre park.

Now, I can’t give you all of my fishing secrets for Montana and Wyoming’s eastern Rocky Mountain or I’d have to kill you – just kidding, but here is a small compilation of some of my favorite streams and high mountain lakes in the Red Lodge, Montana area.

Let’s get on with the fishing. Our little smorgasbord begins right in the middle of town, it’s a walk to fishing trip; no windshield time whatsoever. Rock Creek is a free stone stream and all of the standard stuff works because these fish don’t get worked very hard at all. Go north of town and the fish size increases.

“Where The Hell Is Roscoe?” is a slogan on a t-shirt at The Grizzly Bar just 15 miles west of Red Lodge. Just the drive out there takes you past some of the finest Montana real estate available. Several miles south of The Grizzly you cross over East Rosebud Creek. This stream has been know to produce an occassional 20 inch plus fish, so don’t be surprized if you get one. Buggers in the deep holes or little dries and small nymphs in the slow stuff.

If you are a real hedonist and don’t mind climbing big mountains for breakfast then you can take the trail-less trip up to a lake on the Beartooth Plateau called Arch. There are large cutthroat, some in excess of 5 pounds.

A bit further west and north you arrive at the Stillwater. This is yet another free stone river but with much greater volume. The fishing in this river is outstanding in the second half of July and the remainder of the summer and fall. Bust out your best hopper pattern or an ant, better yet a hopper with an ant dropper. The big western streams see more traffic in a day then this river gets in a week.

For another great high mountain lake head south out of Red Lodge on Highway 212 and turn right up the Glacier Lake Road, near the base of the Beartooth Pass. After about 7 miles of slow going dirt road you will arrive at the base of the Glacier Lake trail head. The trail is a two mile grunt up to 9,000-plus feet out of the parking lot. There are some very large cutthroats, especially along the cliffs on the western shore. You’ll need a sink tip line to fish with flies or a weighted line with a bunch of worms on a treble to go after the big one down deep. Just get it down deep and reel it back slow.

In one hour and one-half you can be at one of Montana’s most legendary tailwaters – The Bighorn River. Thirty fish days with a couple of fish over 20 inches are not unusual here and the only people that think it is crowded are those of us whiners who have fished it forever and live here in Montana.

If you like to combine exercise and fishing then head for Glacier Lake about 30 minutes south of downtown. If you park at the trail head it will take about one hour or so to reach the lake. Don’t even bother until mid-July because the ice is still in.

You really can’t beat the uncrowded experience that goes with Montana fishing. For skiing, biking, hiking, rafting, golfing, bird hunting, golf, and tons of other recreation it is tough to beat Red Lodge. This is why a few years back we decided to make a significant investment in Red Lodge Montana real estate. They just don’t make it like this anymore and the world keeps growing.

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Frank Zappa made slight notoriety in a 1970’s song, “Moving to Montana soon, going to become a dental floss tycoon” and I’ve been here ever since. There are not many Western adventures that I have not tried at this point from Arizona all the way up to British Columbia. I’ve participated in heli-skiing, summiting big peaks, mountain biking Sun Valley and Moab, fly fishing most of the big rivers, windsurfing Hood River, and all sorts of various and sundry mountain sports.

Growth in the Rockies just ran up the spine from south to north making a three decade march from the 1970’s in places like Aspen up in to Montana and British Columbia in the past decade.

I’ve made a lifetime avocation out of asking the singular question, “How can we identify the next last, best place before everyone else discovers it?” Those who actually discover this information are like the Marines – the few, the proud.

Just about every time I have moved somewhere it has gotten “too cool for school” within a matter of two to five years. I bought one year before property values nearly doubled in Ketchum, Idaho. I bought in the early 1990’s in Bozeman, Montana which was a town that three years later got run over by every fly fishing yuppie in the country following the release of Robert Redford’s famous movie about Norman McLean. Funny thing was Brad Pitt was the star and showed up at the movies debut in Bozeman and all the ladies wanted to meet Robert, poor Brad was left all to himself.

Two years ago I began doing what I call the great search, which was an attempt to identify some place that still had the right stuff, still had loads of upside potential, in spite of the fact that we were in the beginnings of a major real estate downturn on a national scale. This would require some place that had major new investment occurring, great proximity to established infrastructure, and a place that had not appreciated on a grand scale over the past several decades. The northern Rockies still contain a few such locations but they are getting scarce, even up here and with the Rocky Mountains still forecast to be one of the fastest growing regions in the country in the next 10 years as the baby boomers retire in mass it is likely going to disappear altogether.

Our criteria are relatively simple. Older folks control the vast majority of wealth so thinking about the needs of the age 55 and up crowd is a good place to start. Good medical care, good transportation options, median home and land prices, a broad array of activities and how crowded are those activities. If life is short then you need to minimize your windshield time so more of it can be spent on the enjoyable activities. The diversity of recreation, eateries, access to culture and a host of factors were evaluated.

After the better part of one year had passed we had identified a few pretty darn good options but Red Lodge was our clear winner and the City of Billings played a big part in its victory.

Here is the skinny on Red Lodge. The town is about 2,600 full-time residents, but the number easily swells to double that amount on any good winter weekend, or all summer long.

Red Lodge is 59 miles from Billings, Montana (pop. 105,000) and Billings has the best medical care in a five State region along with Montana’s only international airport. Every big box store known to man resides in Billings and a great many national acts pass through the town.

Red Lodge real estate is the least expensive of all of the resorts in the entire Rocky Mountain range where there is both a ski resort and an 18 hole golf course.

An 11,000 foot pass just south of town opens in late May and offers what is without a doubt the best car serviced skiing terrain anywhere in the United States.

“If you improve it, they will come”. For 2008/09 Red Lodge Mountain Resort is one of the few ski areas in the country that is actually experiencing a big traffic increase and Red Lodge reall estate has been much more stable than the vast majority of other States and communities nationally.

The best back country car serviced skiing in the nation is here every year when the Beartooth Pass opens just 9 miles south of town and Yellowstone National Park is only about one hour to the south.

Are you an all-terrain vehicle maniac? Then you just died and went to heaven! The Red Lodge area offers some of the best trails you’ll find with miles of roads and vast expanses of public land.

If you would rather trod the trail or do some overnight wilderness caping adventures than you would be hard pressed to find a better destination than the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness. One million acres that borders a 4 million acre national park makes this outdoor playground bigger than the State of New Jersey.

The day hikes and overnight trips in this area are, once again, some of the best anywhere in the country. Try the Beaten Path from Cooke City, Montana down to East Rosebud where you will go by a dozen or more lakes through the heart of 12,000 foot peaks and get to camp at a lake very night. With Yellowstone Park immediately bordering the one million acre wilderness that borders Red Lodge you’ve got an area that is as big as the State of Massachusetts that is all national park and wilderness.

If you are looking for a good real estate investment with all of the right catalysts and all of the “right stuff” then check out Red Lodge, Montana and The Spires at Red Lodge.

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