Remote House Hunting in Costa Rica

I am in constant contact with my wife who at present is seeking a place for us to rent in the small town in the south of Costa Rica where we intend to move to before Christmas. Now I am aware that gossip is a worldwide thing and Costa Rica is not immune to that sort of thing but some of the tales we have been told about houses down there are so goddam silly. Some of the houses we were told about when we first started looking were supposedly repossessed by the banks and for sale very cheap. This has been a total fabrication by the gossip mongers of that town. They were probably being mean about some folks who don’t mix that much, saying they were broke or moving out just to cause some scandal. So when Jenny was door knocking and asking in the banks we got a totally different answer to what we were expecting. Of course the properties are much cheaper than in San Jose but we have found some that are even cheaper than we thought. There was a block built house in the town centre, away from the nice part that was only $1,000. It was probably a very small thing with only 3 or 4 rooms in total, but for a backpacker wanting to stay in Costa Rica for a year then it would be a perfect place. But for me and my family it would be a horror story.
Jenny was told about a farm that was for sale at $60,000 and being 250 acres but it was much further away and I am not a farmer but I am tempted by the large size of it and it would be great to try and turn into a fruit farm and general play thing but I am not yet at that point. If I were retiring then it is something I may consider. She was obviously talking to the right people as she was starting to get phone calls out of the blue from friends of people Jenny had spoken to and offering her houses and plots to build on, including a huge thing that wasn’t quite finished but Jenny said it was ugly and on a busy street corner away from the nice quiet are we are desperate for, she is meeting a woman doctor this afternoon and looking at 3 small plots that could be turned into one and in the perfect spot next to the airstrip and with no through traffic but it has no trees to speak of but they really do grow quickly there. We’ll see what the offers come in like over the next few days.