By Isabelle Jones

Last Thursday, our 20 year old son Taylor had a medical emergency in San Jose due to a seizure. That day, we found out that the medical emergency care in Costa Rica is very good and affordable, if you can get to the hospital in time.

A good friend needed help in getting his new ID number to reflect on his new drivers’ license, so even though we live in Atenas we were in San Jose for this diligence. Howard, my husband, Taylor and I were driving from the license office to a school in Heredia, an accident and protest on the highway to the airport made us go a different route than normal. Our son had complained of a severe headache that morning but he took a couple of Ibuprofen and wanting to make sure he ate well, we were just discussing stopping for lunch.

By Ivo Henfling

I’d like to share with you all an opinion by economist Vinzenz Smack, published in La Nacion on the 18th of July this year. I used to buy white pepper from Vinzenz Schmack 25 years ago and at the time, he was a pioneer in growing pepper in Costa Rica and a pioneer of Costarican Eco tourism.

He started the Laguna Lagarto Lodge  in the middle of nowhere in the 90’s, to attend the tourists who were just starting to come at the time, thanks to the promotion of Costa Rica by President Oscar Arias. 

Some of you might not know that former President Oscar Arias put Costa Rica on the map by receiving the start of International tourism coming to Costa Rica and later governments picked up on it by advertising Costa Rica as a green destination.

By Ivo Henfling

Yes, why keep money in your Costa Rica bank account if they don't even pay you 1% interest on your money. Invest in Costa Rica real estate through your preferred realtor Ivo Henfling and I can get you 6% at a bare minimum. You don't have your money in a Costarican bank account but sitting in some retirement fund like an IRA, a 401K or a Canadian RRSP? Why would you want to do this to yourself?

Why am I saying this? Because I just listed this perfect investment property that I sold the actual owner about 5 years ago and is waiting for this smart investor. I personally supervised the remodeling of this property and can assure you its well done. Meanwhile, the owner got sick and let it go a bit, so it needs some care and some more love. Its some hunidity problem here and there and check on the gutters, nothing like a big deal but the potential is incredible. And when I say its not a big deal, its not.

By Ivo Henfling

In last week’s blog I left you standing in line at the Orotina toll on the highway, so we’ll take it from there now. As soon as you get past the Orotina toll, you have to be careful not to miss the Jaco Beach turnoff on the right. If you do, you’ll end up in Puntarenas. From there, you’ll enjoy a one lane easy going drive for the next 20 minutes until you get to the Tarcoles bridge.

Once you drive down the hill toward the bridge, you can enjoy the view of the Carara National Park right in front of you. Slow down when you get to the bridge because many tourists park their car and walk on the bridge to see the crocodiles for which the Tarcoles area is so famous for. They do this awesome crocodile - birdwatching tour at the river, next time I'll go do it again and I'll tell you all about.

By Ivo Henfling

For several months, our friends Robert and Silvana Craig have been inviting us to visit them in Nativa, Tarcoles. Tarcoles is located in the Central Pacific, just before you get to Jaco Beach, for those who don't know the area. Robert and Silvana live part-time in Nativa Resort and I hadn’t been there in a long time. We have 4 dogs, just like having kids, are a problem to make more than just a daytrip. So yesterday we hit the road for a daytrip to Nativa and since Monday is some kind of a national holiday, the traffic was heavy though moving along. The Ticos love to complain about the highway and because it is so expensive but I paid like ¢1,500 ($3) toll to get to Tarcoles.

By Ivo Henfling

When you move to a new country or a new city, you tend to look for somebody or something that feels comfortable, feels safe and helpful in your new environment. Everything is new and even though you welcome the adventure, you like the security of what is known as the Human Thermal Environment.

by Ivo Henfling

When I started writing this article about the angry seller of Costa Rica real estate last week, I found out that there were more than only 5 points that made my life miserable on that last deal I did were I had an angry seller because the sellers decided to take the buyer’s offer.

Let me repeat point 1 again, so you don't have to go back to the other article all the time:

1. Yes, the Costa Rica realtor gets paid by the seller, but not until the real estate closing. The realtor does not get paid for advertising, gasoline, tires, phone bills lunches with clients and all efforts made unless he/she sells the property in Costa Rica. Just the fact that the sellers pay the real estate commission doesn’t give you the rights to abuse the realtor.

by Ivo Henfling

I have to let you all know about this totally rustic home in Escazu that I just listed because it is a very cozy home which has this incredible view of the Central Valley but because of the rains, I have not been able to take a decent picture yet.

Every morning I look out of my office window, where I can usually see the area of Bello Horizonte, but the rain hasn't allowed me to go take better pictures than I have on the listing.

What is living in Escazu about?

Most think that living in Escazu is all about highrises and traffic and shopping, but this area of town is totally the opposite. This is abotu quiet and green surroundings and views.

By Ivo Henfling

The famous Costa Rica rainy season, also called the wet season but baptized some years ago by tourism gurus "the green season" has just started. For most days, we have nice weather in the mornings and might have some rain in the afternoon. Some days might be a bit gloomy or fogged up and it doesn't rain all day long.

Yesterday, we had so much rain come out of the sky, I thought of Noah and his Ark, I was waiting for that Great Flood. As many of you know I am not very religious, but I almost started praying. Then I thought of the gutters and drains at my house and the damage rain can do to your property, which is when I though to write this blog. if you own Costa Rica real estate, you should read on....

By Isabelle Jones

I have lived in Atenas for almost 8 years now and I still enjoy it. Over ten years ago, two French Canadian pioneers started Vista Atenas and build some ranch houses there (one story), they tell me that this was kind of the middle of nowhere back then. 

This is where Howard my husband, Taylor my son and myself bought our first house and did our first spec-home which is was connected us to Ivo and GoDutch Realty. I went through training and since then I have been the GoDutch realty's representative for the area of Atenas selling the best real estate available in Atenas.

By Ivo Henfling

It is surprising what selling a house might do to perfectly nice people. When you need to sell your house in Costa Rica because for some reason you need to go back where you came from, and you have been waiting for a while for the right buyer to show up, then you suddenly might have to take this low ball offer that doesn’t make you happy at all, but you decide to go for it.

I just finished up the ugliest sale I have done in my Costa Rica real estate career, because my sellers wanted to take a bad offer and apparently thought it was my fault, though I never put a gun to their heads to accept.

Just like some of the abusive buyers we get, the angry seller is what takes the fun out of being a real estate agent in Costa Rica. From day one, after signing the option to purchase sale agreement at a sales price they really didn’t want to take. The sellers were never cooperative during the 2 months to closing, especially when the buyer was asking for perfectly normal procedure to Costarican standards.

By Ivo Henfling

I was just checking the statistics on the traffic we get on our GoDutch Realty website and saw that Rudy’s blog about dishonesty attracted a lot of interest from our readers last week.

I just realized that even though I have traveled quite a lot in my life, I am also guilty of not knowing the customs in some other countries and careful of not to be taken advantage of. Allow me to explain.....

When I grew up in Holland we used to go to a nearby beach during the summers, which was much visited by the German tourists.

By Ivo Henfling

Find out if Atenas or Escazu - Santa Ana is the lifestyle you are looking for. I have lived in Escazu and Santa Ana for most of my life in Costa Rica, which 30 years ago were small towns and most of us did their shopping in San Jose. There were no malls and no traffic at the time and life in Costa Rica was a lot easier back then, you didn’t need much to live well here.

Growth of Escazu in the 90’s and of Santa Ana in the year 2,000, have turned both into one big city almost, not much different from any small city in the US. Before that, most of the well to do Ticos and foreigners were used to travel at least once or twice a year to Miami. Some would even keep an apartment on or around Biscayne Bay for those shopping trips or those visits to the doctor.

By Ivo Henfling

Moving to another country and another culture is sometimes harder than we think it is because we have to adjust to 101 issues and living in Costa Rica helps you do just that. Well, moving to Costa Rica that doesn't have addresses is another adventure. Years ago, I sold a property in Heredia to a client, who instead of writing down his address on a scrap of paper, wrote down my phone number, so the taxidrivers could call me for his address. At one point the taxidrivers stopped calling me, so he either got married or he learned who to say his address in Spanish.

For most of you, an address and driving directions are two different things. In Costa Rica, they're both the same thing.

by Ivo Henfling

One more time, I'd like to prove to you that climate and real estate are definitely related to each other, especialy Costa Rica real estate. When you purchase a property in Costa Rica, you should not only look at the property you are buying, but also at the surroundings. In a former blog, I wrote all about checking our the surroundings of a property before you buy and the damage water can do to your property. In another blog, I told you all about the mess of an unfinished job by irresponsible engineers in charge of a constract that they are doing for A y A (The Costarican Water Company). In another blog, I have told you about sending an email to the Mayor of Escazu, complaining about it.

by Ivo Henfling

The 10 commandments for easy living in Costa Rica

GoDutch Realty agents and staff relocate people from all over the world every day. Depending on where they come from, they adjust easily or they don’t adjust. There is nothing in the middle even though some think otherwise. Most of us complain sometimes, it’s hard not to.

We all strive for a better life for ourselves, at least all of us who moved from somewhere else to Costa Rica. The question is what is the reason for moving to another country and are we successful with the move and adjusting to our environment.

by Ivo Henfling

Today I read in La Nacion the great news that the first sewage treatment plant in Costa Rica will soon be inaugurated, although no name of the private company building the plant was given.

Many years ago, some tourist guru told the Costarican government they should sell Costa Rica as an eco friendly country and it worked. Millions of tourists have been visiting Costa Rica for many years, based on that believe. Today, this is starting to catch up on us, even though little by little we're starting to see the effort that is being made by many governmental and private enterprise.

By Ivo Henfling

Becky Clower of Blue Water Properties in the Tamarindo area just wrote an article for the We Love Costa Rica newsletter titled “how not to treat your realtor”.

For some time, I have been thinking about writing about “the abusive buyer of Costa Rica real estate” but after getting bombarded with negative comments from some abusive people on the home invasion article, I’ve tried to make my Costa Rica blogs more “easygoing” as they are supposed to attract buyers of Costa Rica properties and not scare them off. Some readers misunderstood Becky´s article and comments like “I find the article condescending” is from people who don’t care about anything but for themselves. People like that, I prefer they go to my competitor.

Some buyers abuse of their realtors because they think that the realtor has an obligation to play tour guide, information desk, relocator and chauffeur all for the opportunity to earn a commission sometime in the next 5 years.
 

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By Ivo Henfling

Some sellers of property in Costa Rica offer their property for sale “turnkey”. Read turn-key, not turkey. Turnkey means you will be buying the property with everything in it, except the sellers. Most sellers offer their property as such because they want to save themselves the hassle of shipping all that stuff back. Some times its nice stuff, sometimes its old stuff. Sometimes cars are included, animals and girlfriends….The word turnkey comes from "just turn the key" or "just bring your suitcases".

As a realtor, I generally prefer not to get involved in furniture being part of a real estate deal, unless you want to give it to me as a gift after closing. I’m not a used furniture sales person, nor am I a used car salesman, I'm a realtor (or try to be). Keep the furniture and the car out of the deal and you’ll make me a happy person. Over the years, I have been able to accumulate quite a nice inventory of flat screen TV’s, furniture and coffee makers. The other day I even got a tripod for my camera as a bonus.