Estimated Reading Time: 13 Minutes Often homebuyers in Costa Rica forget to check on nearby amenities before they fall in love with a house. Are nearby amenities important to you? Or is lots of sunshine enough for you when you move to Costa Rica? Are you unsure whether you’d like to live in the Central Valley…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Did you know that Law 8204 can freeze your property sale proceeds if you cannot show the origin of the funds? The sale proceeds are the funds received by a recipient from the sale. You might think, “What do I care where the buyer got the money.” But, unfortunately, you…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Before retirement in Costa Rica, you must determine if our country is your best choice. Only by doing your homework, you’ll learn which country fits your requirements to retire to. Before you travel, you can visit this site for the Costa Rica safety report. Once you have decided Costa Rica…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Having your doubts about what to do when hiring a maid or a caretaker in Costa Rica? Imagine never having to clean your house yourself again! Or doing the laundry and ironing shirts and pants when you have a day off. Stop worrying about cleaning the windows, doing the yard,…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Yes, squatter rights exist in Costa Rica. Absent landowners sometimes complain about it. Once you have squatters on your property, getting rid of them is difficult. Is it a risk to purchase a property anywhere in Costa Rica and lose this property to squatters? Here is what you can do…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Do we have zoning? Imagine buying a property and finding out later that you’re not allowed to construct, or install the business that you had in mind? In my opinion, that is a great reason to investigate first. Before you purchase real estate in our beautiful country, you first want…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Last week, I showed clients of another agent a property I recently listed and found the perfect home seller. This was probably the first time in my real estate career that I met a seller who really cared about her property, making an effort to want a buyer to fall…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Did you know that you’ll all be better off when you pay your household employees every week instead of by the month? Most of the time, I find new topics for my blogs while being with clients shopping for a home in Santa Ana. This time, my clients and I…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes Are you planning to hire a buyers agent? Then you need to read this blog, as it will explain how important it is you hire an experienced one. It is not so important whether this agent is a licensed agent or not. In Costa Rica licensing is not mandatory. Unfortunately…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes There is a large population of English-spoken expats in Costa Rica looking for English-language churches and religious services. I was born and raised a Catholic and I believe in God, though I stopped going to church many years ago. But I learned to respect the beliefs of everyone else. So…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Many think that moving to a new country is the hardest part, but how difficult is it to settle in? Moving abroad takes guts, organization, and a lot of hard work. When moving to Costa Rica, you’ll have to plan a zillion things like, what to take and what to…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes With these 4 secrets to convincing your spouse to move to Costa Rica, I expect to make thousands of future expats happy. When I published Brooke’s article 4 Secrets for a happy living in Costa Rica on my Linkedin, William Robison suggested I write an article so he can convince…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes It’s a fact that retirement in Costa Rica is way different than it is in Florida. The reason for this blog is to show those who plan their retirement in the tropics that Florida and Costa Rica are two different worlds. Your lifestyle should indicate where to retire. I was…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Christmas traditions in Costa Rica are probably not what you are used to. You can prevent culture shock by learning what Ticos do during the Christmas holidays and where they go. Christmas Eve in Spanish is Nochebuena. Adjusting to another culture is one of the most challenging things to do…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes Pre-construction changes are probably the most difficult ones to make when buying a home. You’re dreaming about moving into that brand-new home or condo soon and then it turns out it isn’t as great as you had imagined. For a real estate developer or a builder, a client who changes…
Estimated Reading Time: 12 Minutes I always see blogs from realtors about all the great and positive things. Most sugarcoat their reporting, but I see never one that shows the cons of living in Costa Rica. I am well known for giving it straight up, although some don’t like it. I think Costa Rica is…