Concepción

About Concepción:

Concepción is the third district of San Isidro, a small canton split from Heredia’s central canton in 1905, whose seat lies 8 kilometres north-east of Heredia city. The district starts north of San Isidro centre and climbs toward the Cordillera Volcánica Central until it reaches the edge of Braulio Carrillo National Park. Its settlements are Alhajas, Calle Caricias and parts of Calle Chávez and Santa Cecilia. Locals call Santa Cecilia La Cazuela, the cooking pot, because it sits in a small valley ringed by hills. Ruta 32, the highway that has linked the Central Valley with the Caribbean since 1987, crosses the district, so the run down to San José never touches Heredia’s streets. For central Heredia and everyday errands you go through San Isidro centre, where the buses to Heredia and San José start.

For most of its history this was farm country. The district had 622 inhabitants in 1927 and still only 850 in 1984. The highway opened three years later, and by 2000 the count had passed 2,000. Across the canton, coffee holds the lower ground and dairy cattle and vegetables the higher slopes, and Concepción and neighbouring San José are the districts where San Isidro grows its ornamental plants. Up on Cerro Caricias, the family behind Bosque Caricias keeps 15 hectares of forest open to hikers, with five kilometres of trails and camping at weekends. On boyero parade day, the ox carts set out from the pastures at Caricias and roll down into Santa Cecilia.

In colonial times this corner of Heredia was called a saca de agua, a place to draw water from, and the name still fits. The canton’s aquifers supply its own residents and several parts of San José, and San Isidro’s plan regulador is written around the canton’s role as an aquifer recharge zone. In the north of Concepción and San José districts, the plan adds a 200-metre strip along the national park boundary as a buffer between the forest and human activity. For a buyer, that means land-use rules carry more weight here than further downhill, and two neighbouring lots can face quite different limits.

People buy in Concepción for space and for the hills. Many are households from the metropolitan area who want a large house with a garden and a view, and still want a quick highway run to San José. Others buy a finca de recreo to use at weekends. The population keeps growing, but slowly, and the district still counts its residents in the low thousands. There are fewer rentals than in the lower districts, and most of them are whole houses.

Houses in Concepción:

Houses here usually stand on their own land rather than inside a condominium. One recent offer was a modern mountain house of 465 square metres on a lot of almost 1,500, with five bedrooms, five bathrooms and two large terraces facing the hills. At the top of the range, properties around Santa Cecilia put a large house in grounds of their own, surrounded by green. When you compare houses for sale in Concepción de San Isidro, drive the access road yourself, in the rain if you can. In a hillside district, the last stretch of lane decides how easy the house is to live with. Ask who supplies the water and how wastewater is handled, and get both answers in writing.

Rentals in Concepción:

Long-term rentals are mostly whole houses, some let furnished. Tenants are families and professionals who work in the metropolitan area and would rather come home to the mountain. A few properties are built to earn rent: on one plot of more than 4,000 square metres, a three-storey building is divided into three independent apartments. If your tenant will not have a car, check how far the nearest bus stop is. If you plan short stays for visitors, read the plan regulador and the municipal rules before you buy.

Land and Lots in Concepción:

Land is the thing Concepción still has plenty of. Many lots run to thousands of square metres rather than hundreds: one recent offer of more than 8,000 square metres looks out over the Central Valley, and another of about 3,200 runs down to the Río Tibás. Beyond those come fincas of several hectares, including a 35-hectare recreation estate at Santa Cecilia. What you may build depends on whether the parcel falls in the recharge zone, near the park buffer or beside a river, where the Forestry Law protects a strip of the bank. When you shortlist lots for sale in Concepción de San Isidro, put first the ones with a current land-use certificate and a cadastral plan that matches the ground.

FAQ:

• Is this Concepción de San Isidro or Concepción de San Rafael?

  This page covers Concepción in San Isidro canton, postal code 40603. The next canton to the west, San Rafael de Heredia, has its own district called Concepción, and ads often shorten both to “Concepción, Heredia”. Check the canton on the cadastral plan before you arrange a visit.

• What should I check on land use and title before buying in Concepción?

  Start with where the parcel sits on San Isidro’s plan regulador. The north of the district borders Braulio Carrillo National Park and carries a 200-metre buffer strip, and the canton is managed as aquifer recharge ground, so what is allowed changes from one lot to the next. The municipality has also been working on changes to the plan, so ask the Municipalidad de San Isidro for a current certificado de uso de suelo rather than relying on an old one. Then check the property and its cadastral plan at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and walk the boundaries against the plan. If a river or stream borders the land, find out how much of it falls inside the protected bank strip.

• How do I get to San José and Heredia?

  Ruta 32 crosses the district, and it is the quick way south to San José. For central Heredia, the road runs through San Isidro centre and on to the west. Regular buses to Heredia and San José leave from San Isidro, and the highway line stops along Ruta 32. Drive the route at the hour you would really commute before you decide.

• Where are the school and the everyday services?

  The district has its own primary school, Escuela Concepción, and Santa Cecilia has its own church. Banks, the canton’s secondary schools and most shops are in San Isidro centre, a short drive downhill. Heredia city, with its hospital and larger offices, is about 8 kilometres beyond the canton seat.