Columbus Heights is an owner-built, off-grid community in the hills above the Pacific. A handful of families live here year-round. Before you read another listing or watch another YouTube tour, spend a day with the people who actually live the life you're imagining.
People have visited us for years — neighbors, friends-of-friends, strangers from the internet. We've loved showing them around. But the most useful first step we've found is simpler than a tour: a short, real conversation, before anything else.
Every connection with us begins with a 15-minute orientation call. It's where we figure out together what makes sense — an extended video conversation, a half-day visit, a full day with a meal from the garden, or sometimes nothing more. The orientation fee credits toward whatever you choose next.
Pay and reserve below — you'll receive a scheduling link to pick a time that works for you. The Google Meet invite arrives automatically once you've booked.
Reserve →Columbus Heights was planned as a 200+ lot development a decade and a half ago. The developer is no longer here. What remains is the land, the infrastructure that was built, and the people who chose to actually live on it. Five or six families full-time. Ten or twelve houses standing. A lot of vacant lots — some owned by speculators, some quietly waiting for the right neighbor to find them.
A gated entrance and eight kilometers of paved roads (genuinely rare in rural Costa Rica — one of the things we love most about this place), maintained by a volunteer HOA. Community water with reliable pressure. Starlink internet that runs our remote work life day to day. A handful of permanent neighbors who know each other and look out for one another. And then there are the other residents — deer, wild boars, macaws, toucans, dozens of other birds, the hills, the river, the canopy. Ocean breezes and an exceptional microclimate.
No developer to call. No grid electricity — the national utility has an unresolved dispute with the original project, so every house here runs on solar (which works beautifully). The HOA is volunteer; not every absent owner pays dues. No clubhouse, no manicured amenities, no rules about the color of your roof. If that sounds like a problem to you, this is probably not your place. If it sounds like freedom, keep reading.
We've been here five years. We built our home with our own choices. We grow some of what we eat. We bake our own bread. We pay $0 a month for electricity. None of this is exotic — it's just what becomes possible when nobody is telling you what to do.
Whether you're caring for a parcel from far away, getting ready to build, or thinking about finding the right next neighbor to take it on — here's how we help. Different paths, same intent: keep this place healthy and in good hands.
Every potential buyer who comes through us has been through our orientation questionnaire and a real day on the ground — people who want to actually live here, not flip the lot. When the right person and the right parcel meet, we facilitate the introduction. Modest finder's fee on closing, far less than a traditional agent.
Monthly brush cutting, perimeter check, photo report, and a heads-up if anything needs attention. Coordinated by a long-time neighbor who knows the terrain and the seasons. Simple monthly subscription per lot — peace of mind from anywhere in the world.
Turn your lot into a productive food forest in your absence — local species, sensibly planned, planted from our own seedlings and tended through the first year. The lot you eventually arrive at has shade, fruit, and ten years less waiting.
Ready to build or move in? Lawyer and immigration referrals, builder and solar installer introductions, water system planning, sourcing materials locally, the first hundred small questions of life in Costa Rica. So your first months are about the place, not the paperwork.
If you own a lot at Columbus Heights, you're thinking about selling, you're exploring an idea we haven't thought of, or you just want to start a quiet conversation — write to us through the form. We read every response. We reply when something resonates.