I really enjoy reading discussions between expats if moving to Panama is a bad idea or not. I enjoyed Ivo’s blog about Bill who could not consider Costa Rica for retirement but prefers moving to Panama instead. I am not sure his neighbor in Vancouver has been to Panama recently, but I go quite often.…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Future expats don’t know where to live in Costa Rica before they move here. So often they just send emails to realtors. “I want to live in Costa Rica, send me listings.” You might think otherwise, but it’s not so simple. Sometimes they don’t even realize that Costa Rica is…
There are several great benefits for listing a property for sale on the #1 MLS in Costa Rica. When looking to sell, property owners often don’t know where to advertise their property for sale. Of course, you can try listing on For Sale by Owner, or Craigslist. Nonetheless, buyers will find very few options in…
Have you ever thought about buying a jungle home in Costa Rica? I bet you have. Where you can hear the howler monkeys calling and the surf breaking when everything is quiet? You will find the best and most incredible jungle homes in the Caribe Sur of Costa Rica. It’s that secret haven where the beach meets…
In this blog, I’d like to attend to a question we receive almost daily: what is the construction cost in Costa Rica? I wish the answer was simple but there are many details involved that will change the building cost of a home. Now, in 2019, construction cost in Costa Rica runs anywhere between $70…
If you are Costa Rican and left Costa Rica several decades ago, you will find adjusting difficult when you return. You probably think that returning home for your retirement is pretty easy. Well, let me assure you it’s not and adjusting is difficult, much more than you’ll expect. Costa Rica, like all other countries, has…
I’d like you to take advantage of the additional ROI you can receive when you buy an investment property before August. “How is that?” you might ask. Well, it has everything to do with the new capital gains tax that the Costa Rican government will start charging as of August 1st, 2019. You can read…
Estimated Reading Time: 10 Minutes Is it possible to retire on social security in Costa Rica and live comfortably? Retirees on U.S. Social Security, or Canadians on the Canada Pension Plan, seem to be attracted to moving to our beautiful country (I, too, hate cold winters!) I often receive emails from future retirees asking if…
Loan to value ratio or LTV is a ratio that reflects the relationship between how much you borrow and the appraised value of your property. For example, Joan wants to purchase a home for $100,000. She plans to make a down payment of 10 percent ($10,000) and finance the rest. This means her loan is…
You might not know it yet, but soon we’ll have capital gains tax in Costa Rica. How will this interfere with your home and your real estate investments in Costa Rica? Will this new tax law hurt future business in Costa Rica? One of our beach property affiliates told me this week that a seller…
Watch the new legal requirements on Anonymous corporations in Costa Rica. In the past, property in Costa Rica was almost customarily purchased into anonymous corporations by foreign buyers. One of the most important reasons was to protect the property for the personal liability of the owner. Another good reason was that several owners could possess a…
The internet allows us to work from home, so a comfortable home office is now more important than ever. Some 20 years ago, few people had a home office. Few professionals worked from home, like surveyors, real estate agents, insurance agents, and maybe civil engineers. Others, who sometimes took work home, had no more than…
A very common frequently asked question we receive from clients is if the utility costs are included in rentals. It’s a great question because the utility costs can run up quite a bit. So the utility costs can cut into your budget tremendously. The correct answer to this question is that sometimes it is and…
Quite often buyers from out of the country ask why real estate developments in Costa Rica are not listed on the MLS. If you are interested in buying a condo or a house in any of the real estate developments, they are really hard to find. You have to be on the ground (in Costa…
It’s pretty easy to make the wrong investments in a country that you know well. It’s much easier to make the wrong investments in a country that you don’t know. One that has a different culture and where people speak a different language than you do. I’ve been there, done that. Believe me. A few…
Planning of living off the grid? Check out some incredible off the grid property our agents have listed. To be able to find quality off the grid property in Costa Rica, you really need to stay out of the Central Valley, the most populated area of the country. Fortunately, the Central Valley is only 1/5th…
