Gabriel Chernakov

I love Costa Rica. I am a “Tico” (Costa Rican Citizen), and I have been in every corner of this magnificent country. And I can say with confidence that when the concept of Paradise was created, it was based on the image of this marvelous Pura Vida country.

I am also a citizen of the world. I have traveled and lived in many different countries. And I always come back to Costa Rica.

I consider myself a relocation expert. I have relocated more than 20 times with my family in as many different ways as you can think of. I know what it is like to move to a new country, find a place to live, meet friends, learn the new culture, and or language, find a school for the kids, learn where all the services are, make sure the wife, the kids, the dog are happy, and are adapting.

This is part of my experience understanding real estate, and real estate investment, and why I love to help those who are looking the make the most important decisions in their life: “INVESTMENT IN A LIFESTYLE”

My real estate experience goes back over 30 years. As one of the first realtors joining and training when the Costa Rica Board of Realtors was created. I have Virginia license training, and experience in Luxury, Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Real Estate.

But what makes a difference is a passion for helping others succeed. And the smile on your face the moment you get the keys to your new home, is priceless.

I have also a long story of success and adventures, that you can read if you click here.

As a teaser, I can add that I am an Olympic Skier in the Costa Rica Olympic Ski Team, and the co-founder of the Camino de Costa Rica, the 280 km trail that crosses from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean.

I am a generalist. I usually can say “Been there, done that” This translates into experiences that allow me to help and guide you in different aspects related to doing a real estate lifestyle investment.

This is my story but it is here for you. So please if you read along try not to see me, instead think about how these experiences relate to you, and how my journey can help guide your Pura Vida adventure.

A loving family

So fortunate to have a loving wife, who is also my best friend, caring advisor, partner in adventures, honest, humble, funny, and I can go on and on because the list of positive traits is endless.

Four kids, four grandkids. They make us proud, every day. Immigrants in nature, are citizens of the world. One son lives in New York, another in Virginia, and the youngest of the boys lives in Malaga, Spain, and our daughter with her husband and our Princess granddaughter in Pura Vida Hermosa beach in Guanacaste.

Yes, we need to plan our travel around them, so we can have family time together in addition to FaceTime and WhatsApp!

Creative Leadership

I think of myself as a guy that is always learning and looking for improvement, and growth, in everything I do. So in many instances, I became a leader not by imposing but by creating new visions. I was the president of my class in middle and high school 6 years in a row. I have been General Manager and CEO of several companies, including multinational ones like Epson and Bell South (ATT), and of course, led my startups from the beginning up to their exit.

Formal training

An Electrical and Industrial engineer, with an MBA with an emphasis on managing high-tech companies, from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

One of the first Ticos to train in Real Estate with the National Board of Real Estate, and also a trained Virginia Realtor.

Understanding the regulations, similarities, and differences in Real Estate in the USA and Costa Rica gives a well-rounded view of what are the issues, concerns, and questions our clients have.

Unique Adventures

I have to be careful here because this can become a book instead of a paragraph!

I like challenges, and overcoming fear. I was afraid of heights so I became a platform diver, as part of my swimming years.

I learned how to paraglide and I have flown in many different countries around the world, but two of those flights were adventures: One was flying in the Angels Falls in Venezuela, a 3000 ft height, and the other was a two-minute flight to land in the area that the Incas used as a games-park in Machu Pichu, Peru.

I learned to ski at the age of 18, in Mount Hermon, the border of Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. Self-taught, I fell in love with the sport.

What do you do if you want to ski the first tracks on a mountain? Well, I became a Ski Patrol so I could enter the mountain at 6 a.m. and be the first one on the trails.

Always around real estate

Even though some of my work was not directly in real estate, it was always present one way or another. In Epson, I was involved with the opening of hundreds of stores. In Venezuela, I purchased an old warehouse and converted it to be the HQ of the company, but it also was a new office design that won several world-renowned architectural prices.

Moving around as an executive had the opportunity to search for and live in some of the most beautiful properties in several countries.

Building the network of towers allowed me to learn and solve any imaginable issue relating to buying, leasing, and segregating properties in Costa Rica.

Spending over a year with Engel & Volkers, one of the leading luxury brokers in the world, and doing their detailed training brought a wealth of experience.

Understanding Costa Rica and the “ticos”

Why do we call this country Paradise? If your idea of Paradis is heaven or Shangri-La or living peacefully in the clouds this is not the right description of Costa Rican paradise.

This is paradise because it’s a piece of land that has been blessed. Blessed by its people blessed by the leaders that through the last 100 years have made this country not perfect but the best you can find in the world.

Here are some key examples:

In the 1950s after a small revolution, the president decided to abolish the army, the only country in Latin America that doesn’t have an army. Around the same time, another leader decided to create what we call here Social Security. Social Security in Costa Rica not only creates a pension plan for retirement but also guarantees a health system for its citizens. And last, but not least education was declared mandatory and free for all children.

You take these three fabulous decisions and you have a country that is peaceful where education is available and the military budget instead of going to the army goes to the education system.

The Ticos, grew up in a country where education, health, and peace are a part of their daily lives. It makes a community that leaves with peace of mind and that is how paradise is created.

Another example of visionary leadership came in the 1980s when the then-president and Noble Peace Prize winner, decided to bring computers to every school starting in elementary and going to middle and high school. Costa Rica started training, its kids with technology 10 years before any other country in Latin America. This today is the basis of why this country is one of the preferred outsourcing services countries in the world.

This benefits a huge number of its citizens and of course, brings multinational exceptional companies to work out of Costa Rica.

And of course, the weather that allows us to enjoy every day without ever thinking about it.

My view of why this is Pura Vida country

We are Pura Vida mainly because of the Ticos. Simple, humble happy people make this an easy place to adapt, to live, to enjoy. And it is not a coincidence, it is the result of many generations of living in peace, not having any major historical struggles, no wars, no political crises, no weather or natural disasters. There are no natural resources that create greed and power fights like oil, or diamond mines.

And again peace of mind creates a mindset to protect what we have, so laws to create national parks and protect the environment came up and more than 25% of the territory is protected, creating a country that is worldwide known for being sustainable and that the environment and its bio-diversity is protected and cared for.

Also being a small country, one where you can walk from one ocean to another, beautiful anywhere you go, with hundreds of micro-climates, it is easy to find your piece of paradise.

An abundance mindset

I believe that there is always a solution, so the word problem is not in my dictionary. And with that, I make an effort every day to see the positive aspects of life in anything I do. We live in a time where everyday advances make our lives more enjoyable. The big issues that humanity are facing, have solutions being worked at. I am fascinated to read, learn, and be part of a future where our sons and grandsons will be part of the abundance revolution.

Longevity studies and personal goals

I am going to be 70 years old this year. I still think the same way an 18-year-old does.

I follow longevity-related news and advances daily. I am blessed with being active and healthy, not having a doctor, not taking any medicines, and hoping to find ways to live many more years with quality of life.

I think that aging will dramatically change shortly, with the convergence of technologies that will understand the behavior of the marvelous machine that the human body is, at the cellular level.

With it, many of the illnesses that are related to aging will have cures, and we will be able to enjoy life until the day we go.

I made a “bet” at my 50th birthday with my sons. That I will beat them skiing on my 80th birthday. And they said sure. And they are formidable skiers, so I have to keep in shape for that challenge.

And with my wife, we made each other a promise: We will play a tennis match on our birthday until each one of us is 100 years old. Since she is younger than me, I need to be in shape to play a tennis match until I reach 110.

So here are the simple things I do. Eat healthy, forget stress, exercise daily, sleep well, have an active lifestyle, and an active community engagement. Yes, I take supplements as well. Hopefully, this will allow me to make it to the family goals we have set.

Life around sports

I need to thank my healthy well-being in great part for being involved with sports all my life.

My first swimming race was at the age of 5. I was swimming for 12 years being part of the national team and holding the 50 mt breaststroke record for two years as a junior.

Then I started hiking and skiing. In between I learned how to paraglide and had to hike the mountains to find the perfect take-off site.

As an executive working in many countries and doing business in the C suite, guess what? Yes, those were the years of golf. Which in turn became the years of tennis.

Since skiing was always on my mind, and I would do anything to get one day in the snow anywhere in the world, the opportunity came along to be part of the Costa Rica Ski team and represent Costa Rica in the Olympics, and I went to race in Giant Slalom in Albertville France.

Then came the years of hiking where I led the effort to set up the Camino de Costa Rica and went to hike some of South America's highest peaks, and of course do hundreds of trails in Costa Rica. I also became part of the board of directors of World Trails Network, the organization that brings together the trails of the world.

On and off bikes were always an option. Mountain bike trips where Costa Rica offers a very extensive trail system, for all levels of endurance.

And don’t ask me how last year together with Mely my wife we decided that we wanted to start running. So we got a trainer and a group of runners and started practicing and learning how to run at the early age of 69. One thing led to another, and I decided to celebrate my 70th birthday year doing a Marathon. So here I am waking up at 4:00 a.m. every day and training to see if I can teach this young body to keep up for 26.2 miles.

And of course, we keep playing tennis and starting with pickle-ball.

Countries where I lived and visited

To wrap up this story come with me on a country tour, in no particular order.

• Argentina, where the love for wine, BBQ, and soccer comes, from.
• Chile has the best variety of seafood and great ski resorts for the summer.
• Peru, has the friendliest people on the planet, with the best food in America, and spectacular sites for paragliding. A treasure in culture and history all over the country.
• Venezuela is a beautiful country, with lessons on how greed and politics can destroy the well-being of a country.
• In Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua if safety was not an issue there they would also be considered part of paradise.
• Mexico. Where you learn to eat everything spicy. A beautiful country, with a great cultural heritage, and where opportunities are around every corner.
• Brasil brings up the memories of Samba, rhythm, and carnival.
• In the USA I have lived in South and North Florida, New York, Colorado, California Nevada, and Texas. And I have visited other 30 states. My favorite place: is Lake Tahoe.
• Israel, 7 years there, a lifetime learning experience. Had the opportunity to travel all over the country, in the summertime my job was as a translator for tour guides.
• Italy, where I learned how technology companies manufactured everything. And fell in love with wine, cheese, and Gelato. ( I am a trained Gelato maker)
• To complete the tour we have Spain, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Great Britain, and Austria, together with China, Japan, and Taiwan. For each one, we have stories to tell.

Contact details:
Email Gabriel@puravidainvestors.com
Phones +506-8998-2222, +1 571-666-3494