Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes Are you planning to live off the grid? This can be a rewarding way to live, but it isn’t always an easy transition if you have always lived in a traditional neighborhood. Costa Rica is the environmentalist’s dream home, yet putting your roots down in the Central American nation isn’t…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Waking up early morning is horrible for many of us unless you’re a farmer. Normally, people who live in a colder climate go to bed late and wake up late. Some have a really hard time adjusting to that when they move to Costa Rica! Nonetheless, when you live in…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Quite often I receive an email from someone looking for property records. Sometimes it’s the wife of someone who believes her husband bought a beach condo in Costa Rica for his lover. More often a loved one passed away and for some reason, the heirs suspect they own a property…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Costa Rica is a marvelous place to live; however, there are 3 items new residents cannot do without. The Switzerland of Central America, as Costa Rica is known, is a place where it feels like every day is a vacation. With a population growth rate of 1.48% per year, more…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Buyers make loads of house shopping errors, especially when they come from another country. I’m sure that first making this big decision of moving to Costa Rica and then making costly mistakes when buying a house in your new home country, is not What you are looking for. I’m also…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes In many countries, it is pretty common for homeowners to live in a house for five to seven years before selling. It’s rare a house is a “forever” house. The truth is, if you are like most people, when you purchase a house, you only plan to stay for a…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes A non-smoker will notice immediately a smoker’s house, from the moment of entering. Also, a strong smell of Febreze, air fresheners or other fragrances could mean that the seller is trying to mask an odor. The other day, when we arrived, the seller was sitting up front, waiting for us…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Did you know that you can get a foot in the door by investing in Costa Rica using your retirement funds? Of course, there are some rules. But most think their IRA or 401(k) can only be used to invest in stocks and bonds or in real estate in the…
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Of course, everyone says they have done their due diligence before they buy a property. Unfortunately, many think they do. They end up buying in the wrong place and say it’s everyone’s fault, except their own. This happens more often than you think. That’s one of the reasons I always…
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Ethical Traveler keeps supporting countries working to maintain strong environmental, human rights, and eco-tourism values. This nonprofit organization, Ethical Traveler, started placing Costa Rica in its Top 10 in 2011 of the best ethical destinations worldwide. Costa Rica did it again in 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Ethical…
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Are you moving back to Chicago and buying a house there? Even though it’s pretty cold in Chicago, some expats have reasons for moving back. I’ve had quite a few clients moving from Chicago to Costa Rica over the years. Kathy D. Peterson even wrote about her experiences. Kathy has…
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes If you have a garden, no matter where in Costa Rica you have your home, tree upkeep is indispensable. There are over 2,300 different species of trees in Costa Rica, including the national tree, the Guanacaste. This tree is also known as the monkey-ear tree. With the average temperature between…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Are you buying a new house? From a real estate developer? Buying or selling a new house in Costa Rica is no easy task for a common man. It’s an everyday routine for a real estate agent, but it takes the savings of a lifetime for a buyer. One little…
Do you enjoy seafood as much as I do? Before I moved to Costa Rica, I was strictly a meat person. I would kill for a medium-rare steak! When I married Nina, who is a seafood person, I was introduced to the world of seafood. And I really never went back. When straddling both the…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes In this blog, I’m not going to solve the problems you have with bad neighbors. I’ve heard complaints from readers, who often forget that back home there are bad neighbors too. Everywhere! Hence the decision of writing this blog, so you can pick any of the 7 ways to deal…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes What is the definition of a condo in Costa Rica? To many, it’s not very clear. However, we have a wide selection of condominiums for sale. Therefore, I invite you to learn more about them. In other countries, a condominium is often something different than it is in Costa Rica.…