Alfaro

About Alfaro:

Alfaro covers just under 18 square kilometres on the western edge of San Ramón. Its centre is San Pedro, and around it sit Catarata, Valverde, Badilla Alpízar and part of Bajo Matamoros. The barrios of Sabana and Tremedal are split between Alfaro and the San Ramón district, so in places the district line runs through a neighbourhood rather than around it. Route 742 is the main road: it links San Pedro with central San Ramón and carries on west through Piedades toward Zapotal. Route 705 also crosses the district on its way to Piedades Norte, and the Interamericana is a few minutes away in San Ramón.

The district was created by decree in February 1914, from land that until then belonged to Santiago, and it became the ninth district of the canton. For most of the century it stayed small: 639 people in 1927, a little over 2,000 in 1984. The 2011 census counted 7,137, and much of that growth went into San Pedro and the streets that branch off Route 742. San Pedro has the church, the community hall where the district holds its events, and schools, and its religious fiestas have long drawn people from all over the canton. For banks, the hospital and bigger shops, people go into San Ramón.

Much of Alfaro is hillside. Bajo Matamoros sits at around 920 metres while the district’s mean altitude is over 1,100, and the streets climb and drop between the two. That relief is why so many properties here lean on retaining walls, and why one gave way at the entrance to a subdivision on Route 742. In Catarata, the 65-metre Las Musas waterfall is the centrepiece of an adventure park with a five-kilometre trail past four falls, ten minutes from downtown San Ramón. Each December the hill of El Tremedal, which gives one of the district’s barrios its name, is lit up to open San Ramón’s Christmas festival.

The university shapes a large part of the market. Many Sede de Occidente students come from outside San Ramón and need a room or a small flat for the academic year, and San Pedro, within walking distance of campus, is where a lot of them find one. The rest of the district is made up of families with long ties to the place and people who want to live close to San Ramón without living in the centre. For a buyer, where a property sits relative to the campus decides a great deal: who will rent it, how busy the street is, and what kind of house makes sense there.

Houses in Alfaro:

Most of the housing is family houses on their own lots, along San Pedro’s streets and the roads out toward Catarata and Valverde. Subdivisions off Route 742 add newer homes on smaller, regular plots. At the other end of the range, a few properties come with several thousand square metres of land, including larger chalet-style houses with gardens. When you look at houses for sale in Alfaro, visit the street at different times of day: near the campus there is more traffic and more tenants next door, which suits some buyers and not others.

Rentals in Alfaro:

Renting here follows the university. Furnished rooms, studios and small apartments a few hundred metres from the Sede de Occidente make up much of what is let, usually to one person. Whole family houses for rent are harder to come by, so families moving to the area should start looking early. If you are buying to let, a unit close to campus and a family house further out are two different businesses, with different tenants and different turnover.

Land and Lots in Alfaro:

Building land comes in very different sizes, from urban lots of a few hundred square metres to plots of more than four thousand on side streets such as Calle Olivos. Some owners are dividing family land into small residential lots and selling them on their closeness to the university and to central San Ramón. On this terrain, look hard at the slope, how the lot drains and whether it will need a retaining wall before you compare prices. Ask the Municipalidad de San Ramón for the land-use certificate, and get written confirmation of water availability from whoever supplies that street.

FAQ:

• Is Alfaro the same place as San Pedro de San Ramón?

  San Pedro is Alfaro’s centre and the name most people use for the whole district. Alfaro also includes Catarata, Valverde, Badilla Alpízar and part of Bajo Matamoros, plus the parts of Sabana and Tremedal that fall outside the San Ramón district. Because the line splits some barrios, check which district appears on the plano catastrado before you sign.

• What should I check before buying on a slope in Alfaro?

  Start with the ground: the gradient, where the rainwater goes, and the state of any retaining wall, on the lot itself and on the neighbour’s land above or below it. Make sure access is by a public road and not only an easement. Then ask the Municipalidad de San Ramón for the land-use certificate, and check title, liens and the plano in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario).

• Is buying to rent to students realistic in Alfaro?

  Students at the Sede de Occidente need somewhere to live every year, and furnished rooms and studios near campus are what they look for. Walk the route to the university yourself before you buy, because a few hundred metres changes how easily a room lets. Work out the numbers with the months between academic terms in mind.

• How do I get from Alfaro to San José?

  Route 742 brings you into central San Ramón in a few minutes. From there the Interamericana runs east toward the Central Valley and San José. Buses connect San Pedro with the centre of San Ramón for the onward trip.

• What is there to do close to home?

  The Las Musas adventure park, with its 65-metre waterfall, trails and canopy, is in Catarata. San Pedro’s fiestas are one of the canton’s traditional celebrations, and in December El Tremedal and La Sabana are lit up for San Ramón’s festival.