Rating: 
Summary: Don't Leave Home Without it!
Review: "Never before have I been so thoroughly prepared for moving to a new location as I was after reading "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living In Costa Rica". In fact, after arriving here, I was utterly and continuously amazed at how much valuable knowledge I had previously obtained through reading this book. Furthermore, I find it indispensable as a constant reference source for day-to-day operations. Subsequently I had purchased two similar, popular guide books and after several attempts at trying to read them, I find that they are incapable of holding my attention."Steve
San Jose, Costa Rica
September 13,2002
Rating:
Summary: Don't Leave Home Without it!
Review: "Never before have I been so thoroughly prepared for moving to a new location as I was after reading "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living In Costa Rica". In fact, after arriving here, I was utterly and continuously amazed at how much valuable knowledge I had previously obtained through reading this book. Furthermore, I find it indispensable as a constant reference source for day-to-day operations. Subsequently I had purchased two similar, popular guide books and after several attempts at trying to read them, I find that they are incapable of holding my attention." Steve
San Jose, Costa Rica
September 13,2002
Rating:
Summary: Don't Leave Home Without it!
Review: A few years ago I moved from to Costa Rica from Venezuela. If I hadn't read "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica" I would have been lost. The information in the book made my move a lot easier. It helped learn how things really work here and provided some excellent business advice. This useful book is really a "Golden Door" since it's worth its weight in GOLD.
Rating:
Summary: This Book is a Godsend
Review: A few years ago I moved from to Costa Rica from Venezuela. If I hadn't read "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica" I would have been lost. The information in the book made my move a lot easier. It helped learn how things really work here and provided some excellent business advice. This useful book is really a "Golden Door" since it's worth its weight in GOLD.
Rating:
Summary: This Book is a Godsend
Review: A few years ago I moved from to Costa Rica from Venezuela. If I hadn't read "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica" I would have been lost. The information in the book made my move a lot easier. It helped learn how things really work here and provided some excellent business advice. This useful book is really a "Golden Door" since it's worth its weight in GOLD.
Rating:
Summary: The best of several guides geared to would-be residents.
Review: A splendid comprehensive guide to making the break. Leaves no stone unturned. Also highly informative for travelers passing through. -Christopher Baker, Benjamin Franklin Award winner of Moon Publication's best-selling travel guidebook the "Costa Rica Handbook."
Rating: 
Summary: Informative but more and more out of date and unrealistic
Review: Although there is good general information in Mr. Howard's book, when I moved to Costa Rica from California three months ago I was taken aback at how much of the information is no longer true. The major flaw really is that sufficient change has occurred in Costa Rica between the writing and publishing of this book so as to make it absolutely inaccurate in certain areas (cell phones take up to a year to get while home phones take 3 - 6 months) and misleading in others ("Live for less than you ever dreamed possible and enjoy all the amenities of home" is considerably more difficult to accomplish now than the book suggests. Perhaps this change occurred after this edition was published as I notice real estate prices are listed as of 1998.)This is too bad as the reality of being here contradicts the general tone of the book - a rather serious flaw in a book entitled "the New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica"). I think this book is just too dated to present an accurate portrayl of Cost Rican opportunities in 2002: whatever great deals once existed are raidly being relaced by North American prices with the lower Tico-standard level of service. (The offshoot of this overall ratchetting up of prices is also not adequately addressed: the thriving community of those deliberately targeting North Americans, and in particular, anyone who is not fluent enough in Spanish to pass for a Tico. This ranges from blatant everyday discrimination such as the common practice of openly and automatically charging higher prices to foreigners in terms of house rentals etc to more criminal acts of intent to deceive that seem remarkably impervious to prosecution.) My advice? Get your general knowledge from a guide like Fodor's, skip the inevitably dated and "fluffy" guidebooks to retirement, come to Costa Rica and attend a "warts and all" newcomers seminar sponsored by the Costa Rican Resident's Association (the best bit of information in Mr. Howard's book), and wait for the next and more accurate edition of The Golden Door to emerge.
Rating:
Summary: The ONLY book on Costa Rica you need!
Review: Fabulous! Chock full of valuable information and fun to read. My wife and I used this book as our main reference during our move to Costa Rica. Great book!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book!
Review: Full of useful information for first-time visitors who are thinking of living or investing in Costa Rica. A real value at any price.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best guide on the subject
Review: Having read all of the guidebooks about living in beautiful Costa Rica, I can state that this guidebook is by far the best of the bunch. It leaves no stone unturned. I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of living abroad. If you life is dull, read this great book.
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