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.

By Ivo Henfling

The Costa Rica National Register anounced today, Friday the 10th of June that soon they will offer through an automatic alert, a digital guard service, that will let the owner of a property know through a text message or an email that there was some kind of movement in the title registry of this property.

Osvaldo Henderson, public prosecutor of the Fraude department of the Costarican Ministry of Justice, has told local newspaper La Nacion that their department receives up to 20 formal complaints of some kind of property fraud by a public notary.

In Costa Rica any attorney can become a public notary by doing an extra test that will allow them to work as a public notary. A public notary in Costa Rica can ofically give faith of a signture to belong to a certain person, which allows for crooked public notaries to file the sale of a property in Costa Rica, a mortgage on a Costarican property or any other lien that can change the title of a property.

By Rudy Matthews

I thought it interesting that we sometimes feel everything that happens here in Costa Rica is projected toward us because we are Americans or tourist. Anyone that has traveled to other parts of the world knows that there are going to be those who try to "get over" on you because you do not know exactly what the norm is in their country. Costa Rica does not have the monopoly on this even though we are taken advantage of at times. I know I have been charged more here but the bill is still less than in the states so I feel it equals out that I am in a country with a high level of poverty and the plumber did not charge me $75 just to drive up.

The plumber charged me what I paid in the states years ago. I have found Ticos first give you a price which is their wish price - you can negotiate in most cases. I recently bought furniture at Artistica and they came down two times to a price I thought was fair. I always give a little extra here and find that when I call that person again or visit that restaurant - I am remembered.