How important are roofing membranes to a Costa Rican home? Costa Rica home builder Thomas Rosenberger, in two former blogs, has explained all about Costa Rica roofing and roof repairs as well as how to stop your roof from leaking. In this blog, Tom covers the use of impermeable membrane product on the roof surface…
Ever tried to get an authenticated marriage certificate from your home country? Well, I had to, and here is the story. Last week, I told you about the renovation of my Caja carnet in Costa Rica and the need for delivering an authenticated marriage certificate from my home country, Canada. I have found a way of obtaining…
See how Paula gets a new Caja carnet. Paula is a Canadian who moved to Costa Rica with her husband quite a few years ago. The Easy Times has had numerous requests from readers to help find a solution to the problem of getting or renewing the Caja carnet. The Caja carnet is necessary to…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Time for leaking roof maintenance tips. Roofs of Costa Rican homes suffer a lot because there is lots of rainfall. Rains start in September and don’t stop until December. Last week, the # 1 home inspector in Costa Rica, Thomas Rosenberger, explained how necessary it is to use quality materials…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Once you purchase a home in Costa Rica roofing and roof repairs become an important part of your life. You should know that once the rainy season begins, your leaky roofs and flashing installations need repairs. During the rainy season, there is a lot more rain than receive back home.…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Public Health insurance is mandatory for foreign residents (CAJA), but private health insurance is also available. If you move to Costa Rica and get your legal residency, you will also have to apply for the C.C.S.S. The C.C.S.S. is the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social or the Costarican Department of…
Wondering what to do when you have a car accident in Costa Rica? If you are a tourist, citizen, or legal resident in Costa Rica, and you have a car accident, no matter how small or ugly the accident is: DO NOT MOVE YOUR CAR. If you are blocking traffic in the middle of a…
Better late than ever. The city of Curridabat is now organized better than ever before and has a pretty good zoning plan for Curridabat real estate in place. This zoning plan has existed since 1993 but it took the city quite some years to enforce. Located on the east side of San Jose, east of San…
Have you ever heard of the Hills of Portalon Estates? Are you a nature lover and ocean views drive you nuts and you would love to have awesome weather every day? Also, you are maybe looking for a vacation property or retirement home in an exotic country not too far away from home? So you are…
Many people who are looking to buy Costa Rica luxury property think the food is bad when living in a beach area. Wrong! Wining and dining in Dominical is incredible! Dominical is full of beachfront bars and restaurants offering healthy and unhealthy food and at very reasonable prices. Wining and dining is important, especially when you…
A Costa Rica home structure needs to be strong enough to withstand the earthquakes. Nonetheless, it is possible to eliminate steel and to use a green solution. Laminated Wood or Bamboo beams for rafters and joists. These are a far superior solution for structural needs when building a Costa Rica home, that although be it…
When living abroad as a US expat, you’re supposed to know what FBAR is. Do you? Filing a US expat tax return is a daunting task for many American expatriates. Although US citizens and green card holders are aware of foreign earned income exclusion, foreign housing exclusion, and foreign tax credit, many American expats do not…
Should you trust the electrical installations of the home you’re planning to purchase? When buying a home in Costa Rica, you can expect a different electrical system in the home than you are used to. We install electric outlets to enable our appliances, lamps, computer equipment, etc to work for our convenience. In most new…
You will find some strange differences in Costa Rica real estate when shopping for a property. Houses in Costa Rica that are for sale and advertised by real estate agents have most of the time a few strange differences from other countries because of language differences created by a multicultural country. There are many people…
Construction safety is not taken very seriously in Costa Rica. The word ‘pitfall’ is particularly appropriate in the construction industry, where falling into an open pit is one of the genuine risks faced by some contractors. While many people might associate the word itself with the risk of a collapsing mine shaft, it actually dates…
Ever thought picking up digital photography as a hobby once you retire in Costa Rica? What are you going to do with so much time on your hands? First, of course, you will sleep late and get rid of all those hours you missed out on while planning to make the big step of retiring…