Every day, we receive emails from buyers asking for the property location. Coming from a foreign buyer, this is a pretty normal question. But in Costa Rica, real estate agents refuse to divulge the property location. They won’t until they have a chance to show you the property and register you as their client with…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes You won’t be able to prevent culture shock by learning how to use chaineado, but it is quite a good start. I have not been able to find proof that chainear comes from the English verb “to shine”. There are some references that in chainear is also used in Chicano,…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Homes in Costa Rica do not sell in 72 hours, and you can count on not even getting showings during the first couple of days. I’ve written about the reasons a property doesn’t sell quite often. If nobody even shows your property, it will never sell. You’d like buyers to…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes Quite a large real estate vocabulary does not exist in Costa Rica. Ask a real estate agent in Costa Rica about A HUD loan, a Fannie Mae, a dual agency, or a spring cleaning and they won’t know what you’re talking about. As you probably know, real estate is not…
Selling your home and you don’t want to put up with buyer’s annoying behavior during the showing appointment? Then leave before the agent arrives with the client. Most sellers in Costa Rica have the bad habit to stay at their home during a showing appointment. I allow sellers to say hi at the door when…
Sellers sometimes think I own a crystal ball. When listing a home for sale, sellers always ask me to predict a sales price. When I give them a number, they don’t like it. Why do you think I get that reaction? If I’d own a crystal ball, I would be filthy rich and we would…
Do you want to know if you can afford to buy a home with a pool in Atenas? You really don’t need a lot more money to buy a home with a pool in Atenas than one without a pool, did you know? Before I started this article, I was researching online about why people…
Some way or other, Ticos are all family. Just like Smith is a very common last name in the U.K. and in the U.S., Rodriguez, and Vargas are the most common last names in Costa Rica. When you marry a Rodriguez, your first born might be number 102,498 of the Rodriguez clan. There is a…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes I call myself a 24-7 real estate agent. But am I really? It’s 9:30 pm and my phone rings. The phone number is from Miami, Fl., so I answer. The caller asks if it’s too late to call. Pretty nice of him. Almost nobody who calls after business hours asks…
It does not happen very often, but once in a while, our agents receive multiple offers on a property. The Costa Rica real estate market behaves very differently than other markets. As you probably know, real estate agents here also behave differently. Everything is different in Costa Rica than it is elsewhere and so are…
When in a bad market, and a property doesn’t sell, some sellers want to increase the listing price. Is it smart to increase the listing price, even in a good market? What do other sellers think about this idea? A seller, Kellyfoota, answered a question on the Houzz forum: Is raising the price on your…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes When you get older, the knees cooperate much less, as do some other joints. That’s probably when it’s time you need to buy a Cariari single story home. Why in Cariari might you ask? Well, there are quite some good reasons and even more benefits to buying a Cariari single…
Flipping fixer uppers might seem like an interesting business in Costa Rica. Buying a cheap home that needs TLC, revamping it, and reselling at a much higher price seems simple to do. In some countries, there are people who make a living by flipping houses. Generally, the most difficult part of this business is finding…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes Some want to work in Costa Rica, and it seems to be very attractive just to jump on a flight to San José and get a job in paradise. Is it that easy? There are over 275 high-tech multinationals in Costa Rica. Can you get a job with them? Or…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes If you’re a nice person, you’ll find yourself obliged to lend money to a friend or employee soon after you arrive in Costa Rica. You know, they are poor, and you are rich. That’s how some will see it. Probably, where you come from, you’re too proud to ask anyone…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Before buying a condo in Costa Rica, you first want to know if there are any vacation rental restrictions in the condominium. There are already some condo owners in Costa Rica who have had their problems with the condo administration about their short-term rental clients in their condo. Some do…