There are many surprising ways a seller can lose the sale of a property in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, we do not have lockboxes. So, we need to organize a day of showing ahead of time and adjust our agenda (and our buyer’s agenda) to the availability of the sellers. In Costa Rica real…
Yes, we have mosquitoes in Costa Rica, lots of them! And also plenty of rodents, like cockroaches, ants and even fleas! Brooke Bishop, our Grecia expert real estate agent, went the extra mile as usual. She took care of the pest control or fumigation as we call it in Costa Rica, for an absentee buyer.…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes I get questions by email about the annual Costa Rica corporation tax that was approved in January 2012. In a past article, I explained what this annual Costa Rica corporation tax is all about and why it was created. This is important information for most of my readers since many of…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes I’d like to show you 8 Grocery shopping secrets. That’s because shopping in another country like Costa Rica is a science. In today’s blog, I’d like to give you a hand with your grocery shopping in Costa Rica, you know how to get started and what to look for. Costa…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Does my Costa Rican wife beat me? Mine doesn’t, but I know a couple of guys in Costa Rica who get beat up by their Costa Rican wives. And the women get away with it. Marrying is so easy, especially when you’re in love with a beautiful woman. But divorcing…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Let me tell you about my first living experiences in Costa Rica, right after I purchased my coffee farm in 1993. The day after closing, I went down to set “things” up. I inherited a peon that I let stay on the job till I decided what I was going…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes You can use this 21-step Costa Rica property buying guide to make a relaxed purchase without making any mistakes. You have visited all the countries that were on your due diligence list before moving to or retiring in Costa Rica. Now you are visiting to look to purchase a property…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Did you know that rivers in Costa Rica have a legal setback? There is a very important reason for that. Last Wednesday morning was my time for official openings in Escazu. First was the official opening of Verdeza, Costa Rica’s Premier Continuing Care Facility. After this official inauguration, Daniel Langlois…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Like you don’t know how to do your laundry, right? Well, the best way to do your laundry in Costa Rica is to hire a maid and have her do it. I have written lots of blogs about the difference in culture between back home and Costa Rica and I…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Culture shock or culture bumps? That depends on the experts you hire for your move to Costa Rica. Recently, we have been publishing blogs by ex-pats TicoNuevo and FloridaTico that our readers seem to like. Why do readers like them? Because they tell you the truth! Because they don’t only…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Assisted living is now available in Costa Rica. Florida became famous for its retirement communities and Costa Rica will be the next. The first REAL retirement community in Costa Rica is Verdeza is under construction and located in Escazu. This beautiful community will be fully operational on the 11th of…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes We have lots of bugs in Costa Rica, so for those who have a bug phobia… My first meeting with a monster spider, made me ask myself what I was doing on a coffee farm in Costa Rica. Gradually I adjusted to my new life in the tropics and learned…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Carole and her husband Don live in Atenas and met a toucan for the first time in their life. They are baby boomers and retired in Atenas, Roca Verde to be exact. It’s a pity that Carole’s blog doesn’t exist anymore. But you can order her book “Flying High with…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Do you know what a MacGyver in Costa Rica means? TicoNuevo wrote a blog about hardware stores in Costa Rica this week. I would like to go a bit deeper into the matter. He said: “be prepared to substitute or make do with something other than the perfect solution”. If…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes I found yoga when I turned 51 and I’d like to tell you a bit about it. I am a fan of Ivo’s blog and especially enjoyed the recent submission, some suggestions on what to do with your free time in Costa Rica by guest blogger, TicoNuevo. Humbly, I would…
by Ivo Henfling City planning and public works departments in Costa Rica are not as well organized as you are used to. Actually I don’t think the locals have ever heard of city planning and therefore planning their public works. The not planning of a city is part of the Latin mindset: live the…