Have you ever had the need to block the neighbor from your life? Well, I certainly did. And I’m pretty sure you do too. When you buy or rent a home, the neighbor comes with it. And … maybe you’re ready now to block the neighbor from your life. If you own or renting doesn’t…
Is there a chance that vacation rental accommodations will have to start paying taxes soon? Many vacation rental owners are probably wondering what’s happening with that topic. Paying or not paying taxes makes a huge difference to your ROI if you have a vacation rental investment. It’s a fact that if you have income from…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Even though we all wake up early, almost everyone comes late for an appointment in Costa Rica. Is it hard to adjust to that? Yes, it is, unless you make the rules. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, and salespeople, few have respect for someone else’s time. They are always late for an…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Not very often buyers ask if they lose earnest money in escrow if they will not close on time. Most of the time, they have an agreement to back it up. You don’t want to lose part of your nest egg because you made the wrong decision. It’s horrible to…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Potential buyers often ask how to finance vacation rental investment in Costa Rica. Owning a vacation home in paradise is a beautiful dream but not always financially possible. Does having a vacation rental make sense financially or not? You can expect an annual net return of 4 – 6% on…
This year, for the Holiday Season, I’ve decided to re-publish the 4 Most Popular Living in Costa Rica blogs 2017 as well as those that I wrote for the Tico Times. The Most Popular Living in Costa Rica blogs means those that were visited most and readers took at least 2.5 minutes to read them.…
When you move to Costa Rica, utilities are very important, if you purchase or even rent. Some just forget about it, others leave it for the last possible moment. How can you figure this all out? Imagine having to live without the internet for 3 days? Not ready to buy a house but planning to…
I’m pretty sure you don’t know what a chorreador de cafe in Costa Rica is. In simple English, it’s a Tico coffee maker. The correct verb for using a chorreador is chorrear café = to pour coffee. Ticos swear by a real cup of coffee. Why wouldn’t they, we have the best coffee in the…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Did you know that we are the ultimate solution for terrace homes in Atenas? By we, I mean GoDutch Realty, your preferred real estate company in Atenas. Ever thought that a terrace home in Atenas would be your choice? Last March, I did a blog on terrace views but this…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Some property sellers do not understand that we do not take property listings outside our area code. I decided on this blog because a property seller wanted one of our agents to take a listing outside her area code. Agent Brooke Bishop works in the Grecia area, but lives in…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes The nice weather allows us the use of the rancho in Costa Rica for all our fiestas. At any time of the day or night. And not to mention, the siestas. Is that what a rancho in Costa Rica is good for? Find out now. In Mexico and most parts…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes The closing date is coming up and there is so much to do before moving into your new home. Getting nervous already? Don’t! Use this checklist to make it easier on yourself. We do this all the time and you don’t. There are so many things you need to do…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes In Costa Rica, the word Aguevado is kind of the opposite of the well-known Pura Vida. This word is almost as much used as Pura Vida, tuanis, or Mae. So I thought it necessary you include agüevado in your dictionary when you live in Costa Rica. Moving to Costa Rica…
Double dipping is not only common in Costa Rica real estate, it is perfectly legal. Why is that? How can a seller or a buyer make sure there is no double dipping going on? Costa Rica real estate is quite different from how it functions in other countries. You can agree or not with the…
Wondering how to get mail to Costa Rica once you’ve moved here? To get mail is really one of those tasks you should take care of BEFORE you move to another country. You have to take into account that we don’t have street addresses in Costa Rica. Getting a mailing address is another story. So…
I learned to speak Pachuco before I learned Spanish. I didn’t have a clue until I started dating a local woman. She thought I was pretty vulgar and I had no idea what she was talking about. When I moved to Costa Rica in 1980, my brother and I started a window cleaning company. Our…