Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Here’s something to think about: a significant number of all of the expats fail. This mostly happens within their first year in Costa Rica, then they return home. I have some ideas about why this happens, and how to avoid becoming a statistic. I’ll discuss the most prominent reasons that…
When we returned from our due diligence trip to Costa Rica in February of 2012, the work really began. Now things started to get pretty interesting. So first, before we head home from our due diligence trip, let me pass along a few bits and pieces that I haven’t covered yet or require reinforcement. As…
Have you heard the story about the gringo and the fisherman? I’ve seen several versions, now that I Googled it. But it’s an interesting story, that I heard back in the ’80s. It shows the mindset of the average gringo and the mindset of the average Tico. Understanding both, is a fantastic assistance to anyone…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutos Costa Rica retirement vacation properties and bird watching go together well, the reason so many have decided to retire or buy a vacation home in Costa Rica. When you retire to a country like Costa Rica, you must love nature and in particular birds. If you don’t, why even bother…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Today, I’d like to cover dining in Costa Rica, as well as the cost of it. While the country isn’t renowned for its own cuisine, you will find a multitude of international restaurants. Additionally, there are well-known restaurant chains. In case you yearn for a taste of home. Although, then…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Some might think otherwise but there is great music and entertainment in Costa Rica. A client told me he met a gringo in the hotel who was complaining there was nothing to do in San Jose and he was bored to death. In less than half an hour, I showed…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Who is responsible for the security of your car while staying in a hotel or shopping at the mall? Well, you of course! That’s not the legal truth, but the reason for this blog. Last week, my clients were staying at the Best Western Irazu Hotel and while waiting for…
Many found another reason to retire in Atenas and in other locations in Costa Rica after my post a couple of weeks ago with pictures takes by our ex-pat and I’ve received a lot of emails from readers asking for more quality photos of birdlife and views in Paradise. In February this year, I already…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes I decided to create a blog page so you can easily find great blogs about moving to Costa Rica and retire in Costa Rica written by people who are going through the experience of becoming and being an expat in Costa Rica. Just last week, at a party, I heard…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Allow me to show you how we got to the point of looking at Costa Rica as our retirement destination. My story is an introduction to Costa Rica as seen through the eyes of a retiring expat. To briefly recap our decision criteria to find the right retirement destination, I…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes As real estate agents, we have housewarming parties all the time. A month ago, we received an invitation by email from Irina. The invitation said “Jim and I have moved into our house in El Cajón (the one we bought from Joan & Sally). We would like to invite you…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes To make important retirement decisions, we needed to be specific about our criteria. In my introduction, you know that we have decided to make Costa Rica our permanent retirement residence. So, I’d like to show you how made retirement decisions based on a step by step process. Our criteria and…
by Ivo Henfling If you have a Costarican driver’s license, no matter if you have legal residency or not, you should read the following information. In the past, when the Costarican transit police would write out a ticket, it would go to the tag of the car. In December, when you’d pay your road taxes,…
Allow me to introduce you to our new ex-pat and guest blogger “TicoNuevo”. Ticonuevo and his wife arrived in Costa Rica this week to start another leg of his journey. Therefore, they are now both an ex-pat in Costa Rica. TicoNuevo has exchanged probably a couple of hundred emails with the GoDutch real estate team.…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes The builder and we had agreed on closing in February. We only have to make the final payment for our amazing property in Costa Rica. As soon as we wire the payment, we can proceed with closing the deal. Of course, these situations almost always have hurdles. The best…
A lo Tico is a Spanish dictionary with words used in Costa Rica. A week or so ago, in another blog, I asked you to learn Spanish and told you how the Ticos will respect you if you make an effort to learn their language. Today, I’ll make it even more interesting for you. You…