Guayabo

About Guayabo:

Guayabo is the second district of Mora and was created with the canton in 1883, when Mora still went by the name Pacaca. It sits at 996 metres, a few kilometres south of Ciudad Colón, with Quitirrisí along its eastern side, Tabarcia to the southeast and Jaris next door. In the 1915 territorial division, Jaris and Corrogres were both listed as hamlets of Guayabo; Jaris has since become a district of its own. To reach San José you drive down to Ciudad Colón and join Route 27, which runs east past Santa Ana and Escazú into the capital.

For about a century the district grew slowly: some 300 people in 1883, around a thousand in 1927, and still only 1,612 in 1984. Then it took off, reaching 3,215 in 2000 and 4,449 in 2011, with more than 5,000 projected for 2020. Even in 2011, close to nine in ten residents lived in areas counted as rural. Guayabo is less a town than a string of hamlets — the centre, Corrogres, Matinilla, Bajo Claras, Bajo Morado, Calle Morado, Fila de Mora and Monte Negro — strung along its roads.

Mora was never coffee country the way the western Central Valley was. Farms around Guayabo and Morado grew maize, beans and sugar cane, and by the middle of the twentieth century pasture had spread across much of the canton. What is left of that farmland shows up as fruit trees, paddocks and terraced banks between the houses. The ground is broken and steep: Bajo Claras sits about a hundred metres below Corrogres, and the streams drain down toward the Río Jaris.

People buy here for one of two reasons. Some want a family house a few minutes from the shops and schools of Ciudad Colón; others want a lot big enough to build on, with a view. A smaller group buys apartment buildings for the income. Whichever you are, drive the road up from Ciudad Colón at the hour you would actually be using it.

Houses in Guayabo:

Most of what is offered are single-family houses, each on its own plot. Plot sizes vary a lot: a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house of about 200 m² can fill almost all of its land, while a 100 m² house may come with close to 700 m² of garden. Some older houses are sold openly as renovation projects. A few owners will finance the sale themselves, which is worth asking about if a bank loan is not an option. When you compare houses for sale in Guayabo, look at the steepness of the driveway and the state of the access road as closely as at the house.

Land and Lots in Guayabo:

Building land runs from small plots on the hamlet roads to parcels of nearly a hectare in areas such as Bosques de Mora, off Route 209. Nearly all the lots for sale in Guayabo de Mora are sloping or terraced, often with fruit trees and long views, and the slope decides how much of the plot you can really build on. Many have electricity and piped water at the boundary, but confirm the water connection before you sign, not after. A few parcels are sold through a cesión de derechos instead of a registered title. In that case you are buying someone’s rights, not freehold land, and a bank will rarely lend against it.

Apartment Buildings in Guayabo:

Apartments here are usually sold as a whole building rather than unit by unit. A block of five small apartments on a plot of around 1,000 m² is the kind of investment that comes up. Ask for the current leases, how many units are let, and whether each one has its own water and electricity meter. Check too that the Municipalidad de Mora permitted the building as several dwellings rather than a single house.

FAQ:

• How far is Guayabo from Ciudad Colón and San José?

  Guayabo centre is a few kilometres south of Ciudad Colón along Route 209. From Ciudad Colón, Route 27 carries you on to San José. Allow a few minutes for the first leg; the second depends almost entirely on highway traffic.

• Can I buy a lot on the Quitirrisí side of Guayabo?

  The Huetar indigenous territory of Quitirrisí lies just east of the district, and for part of its length its boundary follows the road between Morado and Guayabo. Inside the territory, non-indigenous buyers may not purchase, rent or lease land, and any such deal is void. If a lot is near that road, lay its cadastral plan over the territory boundary before going any further.

• What should I check about the title of a lot in Guayabo?

  First find out whether the seller holds a property registered at the Registro Nacional with its own folio real, or is offering a cesión de derechos. Then compare the cadastral plan with the fences, because on hillside plots they do not always follow the same line. Before handing over a deposit, ask the Municipalidad de Mora for a land-use certificate.

• How do I get water for a new house?

  Ask whether the lot is served by the Guayabo ASADA, the community association that runs the local water system, or by another provider. Get the water availability letter in writing, since the municipality asks for it with the building permit.

• Is it worth building on a steep lot?

  It can be, but the slope has a cost of its own: cuts, retaining walls and drainage that a flat plot never needs. Have an engineer walk the land before you buy and price that work separately from the lot. In the rainy season, watch where the water runs.