Piedades Norte

About Piedades Norte:

Piedades Norte covers about 48 square kilometres north-west of San Ramón city, and to the south it borders the canton’s central district. Three national roads cross it, Ruta 702, Ruta 705 and Ruta 742, but the 705 is the everyday one: it passes the turn-off to Bolívar and carries on out to Bajo La Paz. The San Ramón–Bajo La Paz bus covers that road in around 35 minutes. For the Carlos Luis Valverde Vega hospital, the bigger shops and the University of Costa Rica’s Sede de Occidente, you head down into town.

The district takes in the barrio of Copán and a run of settlements, many of them strung along roads named for families: Calle Araya, Calle Campos, Calle Sancho, Calle Victoria, Calle Corrales and Calle Fundación, plus Bolívar, La Esperanza, Lomas, La Paz and Piedades Noroeste. Bajo La Paz has its own primary school and the district’s EBAIS clinic, and the Trapiche Hermanos Arias stands on the same road. Farming still shapes the land. Beside the coffee and cane grown across the canton, small farmers here began planting chayote for its root after 2000, and families such as the Campos are still working the crop. Bajo La Paz also earns from visitors, who come for horseback rides to the Catarata La Danta, guided walks in the cloud forest and a new boulevard built for taking in the river valley.

From the centre at 1,130 metres the ground climbs into forested ridges and drops into the valley of the Río La Paz, with streams, natural pools and small falls cut into the slopes. The high ground runs into the mountains of Cerro Azahar, at 1,618 metres the highest summit in the canton, which Piedades Norte shares with Piedades Sur. That relief is where the views come from. It is also why larger parcels here are described by how many flat building sites they hold. Down by the river the evenings are cool and the rain is heavy, and the better-built houses show it, with a fireplace, wood ceilings and deep roof overhangs over the terraces.

At the 2011 census Piedades Norte had 8,147 residents. Local families trade modest houses and lots of 300 to 1,000 square metres among themselves, almost always in colones. Buyers from the Central Valley and from abroad look further out, for single-storey homes with cool air and forest views, riverside retreats and fincas, and those are mostly priced in dollars. A smaller group buys by the hectare, to farm, raise poultry, keep forest standing or start a small tourism project.

Houses in Piedades Norte:

Near the church and along the lanes off Ruta 705, the usual house is a two- or three-bedroom family home on a lot of 400 to 650 square metres, often with space left for a garden or a second building. Higher up, the stock shifts to single-storey homes sold on the cool weather and the cloud-forest views, and to chalet-style houses such as one in Bajo Zúñiga with 125 square metres built on a 640-square-metre lot. Some lots carry two houses, which suits an extended family or living in one and renting the other. If you are comparing houses for sale in Piedades Norte, look hard at the terraced plots: some properties of over 1,000 square metres are spread across three levels, and the walls holding up each terrace are part of what you are buying.

Fincas in Piedades Norte:

Fincas here run from a little over one hectare to around seven. Some are working land, like a poultry farm of almost seven hectares that came up for sale. Others sell on their water: in Barrio Araya a property of two and a half hectares has a river, a creek and five natural pools, a private gravel access road and the bare shell of a three-bedroom house started in 2014. Near Bajo La Paz, small estates pair a main house with a guest cabin and a path down to a swimming hole in the Río La Paz. Before you agree a price, have a surveyor mark the river setback and the steepest ground on the plano, because on a finca crossed by two waterways that line moves the number a long way.

Land and Lots in Piedades Norte:

Lots near the centre are small: two of 325 square metres, five hundred metres from the Catholic church, were offered as a pair, and plots of 900 to 1,000 square metres come up in Bolívar and along the side roads. Further out, flat parcels of 2,900 to 3,400 square metres are sold with full title, and holdings of nearly two hectares are offered with room for as many as eight building sites. Small lots are priced in colones, while the big parcels, especially those with a view or water, are pitched in dollars to buyers from outside the canton. When you weigh up lots in Piedades Norte, get the seller to put in writing who supplies the water and whether a new connection is available, since the building permit depends on it.

Rentals in Piedades Norte:

What gets rented here is whole houses on long leases: a two-bedroom house with parking, say, or a small home on several thousand square metres of land out in the country. Rents run well below what a similar house costs in central San Ramón. Some of the riverside estates also come with a separate guest cabin the owner can let. If you rent near the river, ask the landlord how the access road holds up after a week of hard rain.

FAQ:

• Is Piedades Norte the same place as Piedades Sur?

  No. They are neighbouring districts of San Ramón canton, the fourth and the fifth, and Piedades Sur is more than twice the size. Sellers sometimes write only “Piedades, San Ramón”, and the Cerro Azahar high country spans both, so check the district on the plano catastrado before you drive out. Postal code 20204 belongs to Piedades Norte.

• Can I get to Bajo La Paz without a car?

  Yes. The San Ramón–Bajo La Paz bus runs along Ruta 705 and takes around 35 minutes. Bajo La Paz has a primary school and an EBAIS clinic, but the hospital and most shopping mean a trip into San Ramón. In the rainy months, ask the neighbours about the stretch of the 705 near the school, which has flooded before.

• How close to the Río La Paz can I build?

  Costa Rica’s forestry law protects a strip along every river: 15 metres on flat rural land and 50 metres where the ground is steep, with a 100-metre radius around permanent springs. In a valley as broken as this one, the steep-ground rule applies more often than buyers expect. Have a surveyor draw the line on the plano and ask the Municipalidad de San Ramón for a land-use certificate before you sign.

• What should I check before buying land on one of the family-named roads?

  Land along a road like Calle Campos or Calle Sancho may have been split among heirs over the years, and a lot that looks separate can still be a share of a larger property. Confirm in the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) that it is its own registered parcel, with a plano that matches the ground and frontage on a public road. If you reach it by a private gravel lane, as some fincas here are reached, get the right of way registered before you pay.

• Is there fibre internet out toward Bajo La Paz?

  Fibre-optic service already reaches some properties as far out as Bajo La Paz. In hill country it can stop at one gate and skip the next, so ask the provider to confirm the exact address rather than the district. On a large plot, also check where the line actually ends, because a connection at the road may not reach a cabin further down the slope.