When you purchase or rent Costa Rica real estate, you might inherit Costa Rica utilities such as a water and power meter from someone who isn’t even alive anymore. Costa Ricans, when they purchase a property, they will leave the utility services like power and water in the former owner’s name (or several owners ago). The power…
Given the appeal of living in Costa Rica, it can be easy to fall in love with the first property you see that meets your criteria. That being said, it is important to ensure that buying a luxury property in Costa Rica is the right decision for you. With miles of sun drenched beaches, lush…
In November of 2006, our Costa Rica real estate office sold a large rural property in the middle of nowhere. This property is geographically located in the district of Mora, which belongs to the municipality of Ciudad Colon. I’m talking about the new Río Grande Hydroelectric plant at future Lake Chucás. Location wise, the property…
What was the reason Barry Ashworth of Coronado Realty, Kjersten van Horn of Tucan Realty and I started the American European Real Estate Group Costa Rica in 1996? We wanted to have an organization with agents who know where the Costa Rica real estate bones were buried. That was the only way we could help our…
Smart people always search for bargain real estate in Costa Rica when looking to make an extraordinary real estate investment. No matter how good the economy of a country is or if real estate is in a seller’s market or not, there is always an owner who is in the need of selling a property…
The advantage of searching for a Costa Rica luxury home online is that you can endlessly click on photo slideshows and see what each home has to offer. If you can’t afford a luxury home, dreaming is fun, so read on! Not always do listing agents in Costa Rica realize how important it is for a home…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Choose between paying a hotel bill for $200 a night in a nice hotel in Costa Rica or renting a nice vacation rental condo for around $1,500 a week; where would you prefer to be? Are you a couple with no kids, and you like to be pampered by the…
Do you hate to pay taxes too? Better to pay the least taxes possible, especially on your investments? How about not paying any taxes in the US at all? How can you invest tax free in a Costa Rica vacation home? Looking for a luxury vacation home or a beach condo instead of renting on…
Today is a big day; it’s the closing day on the property you are buying in Costa Rica. Some details were forgotten by the different parties involved, so I thought to give you a few Costa Rica real estate recommendations. The last two weeks have been hectic since organizing moving to a new house is always…
Should you worry about squatters in Costa Rica or not? If you own a property in Costa Rica and you have abandoned it, yes you should worry about squatting. Try leaving your car on a street in downtown Los Angeles, Amsterdam, or New York for a month and try to recover tires, radio, and whatever…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Do the home improvements you would like to make to your home make sense? You bought your house in Costa Rica 10 years ago, time for a change. Living in the same house, day after day, can get boring, especially if you are retired and spend full time in it.…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Property hunting is fun, but the property hunting process in Costa Rica is quite different from what you’re used to. Planning to purchase a house, a vacation home, a retirement home, or an investment property in Costa Rica? Before you start looking, get to know the market, know what you…
“Hi, my name is Ann I saw this one-acre rental property in Santa Ana online and would like to see it”. Me: “yes Ann thanks for your call. We would love to show you this property at your convenience. Do you have pets?” “Oh yes, I have pets. That’s why I want to rent a one-acre…
Estimated Reading Time: 9 Minutes Did you know that the standards in Costa Rican construction are probably different from the ones you are used to? The successful construction of housing in Costa Rica depends on the efforts of hundreds of tradesmen and thousands of building materials all assembled at the right time in the right…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes Will you be in trouble paying for expensive public and private healthcare as soon as you retire? Ivo Henfling of the American-European Real Estate Group gets loads of daily emails. Clients always ask for more information on healthcare in Costa Rica, so he asked me to help with this. Good…
Ever heard of Playa Hermosa Villas in Uvita? Of course not, but it is my job to tell you why the Playa Hermosa Luxury Villas are so interesting that I decided to write a blog about it.