I'm often asked, how essential is it to speak Spanish in order to live in Costa Rica?It certainly helps, but it's not entirely necessary.Costa Ricans are very patient with non-Spanish speakers. And most communicate quite well with English speakers. Many actually do speak it. And many who don’t have learned how to manage rudimentary conversations.I'm also often asked wheth...
Over the 25 years that I've lived in Costa Rica, I've seen dramatic improvements in infrastructure, especially with Costa Rica's roads.Nevertheless, compared to the U.S., Costa Rican roads are bad.In many areas of the country, the main road might be paved and quite good, but virtually all secondary roads will be dirt.And in some cases, a paved road can be worse than a dirt...
Since many of the folks making decisions to move to Costa Rica are what I would call "political refugees", the question many probably are pondering is, what's the political climate in Costa Rica?As a newly minted expat, even one with a residency, temporary or permanent, you won't be able to vote in Costa Rica elections. To do that you must take the step of actually becoming a c...
The phone’s been ringing off the hook since the election!If you're one of those calling me and considering a move to Costa Rica, you've probably already been somewhat frustrated by our lack of an MLS, or centralized multiple listing service, as exists in virtually every real estate market in the good ole U.S.A.Truth be told there is a relatively new nationwide Costa Rica...
The 2024 election is finally over!And, while I’m certainly not happy with the result, I can't say that I'm really all that surprised.Previous posts have revealed the depressing effect the election was having on the Costa Rica real estate market.Election years always provoke a lot of uncertainty and that usually doesn't bode well for real estate buying decisiveness. And th...
That's a bit odd since there seems to be so damn much of it! I mean, its one of the rainiest places on earth. There's certainly no shortage of fresh water rivers, creeks, and springs.Nevertheless, Costa Rica takes the issue of water very seriously.One of the areas of real estate that can be most confusing for expats is how all these water laws and regulations might affect the p...
You’ve been diligently searching in the Costa Rica real estate market and have finally found your dream property.Your buyer-agent drafted an offer (or letter of intent) and after a bit of back and forth, it was accepted by the seller.What’s next?The next step is for you, the buyer, to choose an attorney to represent you in the deal.The very first task of your attorn...
Understanding where you as a buyer stand, in terms of negotiating power, in the Costa Rica real estate market essentially means understanding what type of market you're dealing with.Just like real estate markets everywhere, there are essentially two types:Buyers' markets - where supply (properties) exceeds demand (buyers);Sellers' markets - where demand (buyers) exceeds supply...
Costa Rica has been near and dear to my heart since first arriving in 2001. However, 15 years ago something happened in Costa Rica that changed my life, forever. I married a Colombian lady named Lily!And ever since then, Colombia has also been near and dear. I’ve made month long visits there ever since and even before we were married on November 29, 2009.I’ve notice...
There are many considerations when buying real estate in Costa Rica that might seem “foreign” to the investing expat…One specific area of weirdness are the rules surrounding so-called “Agrarian Parcels.”For starters, let’s say what they aren’t – say you have your sites on a particular piece of real estate that happens to be direc...
Despite all the craziness that’s been going on in the world over the last 12 months, there’s been a noticeable uptick in Costa Rica real estate demand…In fact, I think that the reason for this uptick may in fact be all the craziness that’s been going on in the world over the last 12 months!It seems that many out there view Costa Rica as a safe haven fro...
Let’s face it, so far 2024 has been a bust for the Costa Rica real estate market…Writing as a full-time Costa Rica realtor, when you go through one of these luckless downturns, it’s easy to start thinking, what the F am I doing wrong?And believe me, that thought has been entering my mind too damn much lately. And we all know that such negative thinking rarely...
Doing a real estate deal in Costa Rica is not so different than what you’re used to back home. However, one aspect that can make it seem so is the terminology. I’ve listed below ten Costa Rica real estate terms you ought to know. You will probably hear most of them during the course of your real estate activity in Costa Rica. Some are simply Spanish translations of...
I had an interesting exchange with a fellow realtor the other day. This realtor had reached out to me about “farms” in the mountains of Perez Zeledon. She’s known me for a long time and knew that I usually have a good inventory of these types of properties. She said her clients were looking for properties with altitude, privacy, a nice home and room to grow th...
Often times you’ll hear or read generalizations made about the Costa Rica real estate market as a whole that might just not hold true in all cases.In fact, I even wrote a post about the fact that in Costa Rica, the exceptions are the general rules.One reason that these generalizations might not hold true is because they fail to take into account certain distinctions betwe...
