The Right Way for Success
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 MLS. It's the new Omni MLS that was launched a little over a year ago by the CRGAR, or the Costa Rica Global Association of Realtors. I believe that in the future, this will become the main way to search for properties in Costa Rica. However, we're not quite there yet.
There was also Point-2-Homes, which up until around July of this year was a widely used platform to search for Costa Rica real estate. But it is no longer!
Therefore what you're left with is our messy non-MLS system.
The way it operates, at least in my southern zone market is this:
Whenever I, or any agent, takes an exclusive listing, I will share it with all other agents and agencies. The idea being is for those other agencies to upload my listing to their websites. That's why you'll see any given listing on multiple sites with the names of many different agents. You can never really know if the agent whose name is on that listing is the actual listing agent.
And that's perfectly fine. You don't need to know who the listing agent is because any other agent can show it to you as your buyer agent.
Truth be told, would you rather see the property with the seller's agent, or with your very own buyer’s agent? Keep in mind that the seller's agent has allegiances solely to her client, the seller. Doesn't it make sense to have an agent who represents your interests alone?
This brings me to my advice for how to best manage Costa Rica's messy non-MLS:
Find a "buyer" agent you have a good rapport with and stick with him or her. She can do the research to find the properties that match your criteria. And she can set up the showings with the actual listing agents. There's no need whatsoever for you to contact multiple agents in a futile attempt to "cover" the market. Find one good buyer’s agent who knows the market you're searching in and then put that person to work searching for you!
Also, to be honest we realtors don't like to see buyers contacting us and using our time, only to find out they're also contacting every other Tom, Dick, and Hairy agent out there. That makes us much more reluctant to commit and give you our all!
And isn't that what you expect from us - our all?
Well that of course is a quid pro quo (pardon my Latin). Show your agent loyalty and you’ll be rewarded with his or her major efforts on your behalf.
I really believe that's a much better way to achieve success in the messy Costs Rica real estate market!
