by Ivo Henfling

Costa Rica coffee and Costa Rica real estate have a lot in common, they can both be the ultimate experience, as long as you pick the right one. I remember very well my first cup of coffee in Costa Rica, it was totally horrible.

Café con leche in Spanish, coffee with milk, or white in English was too white and awful. It was milk with coffee; my stomach still hurts when I think of it. But that was 30 years ago the way the Ticos would drink their coffee and we had to get used to it. 

Europeans, and mostly we Dutch, grow up drinking coffee, much more than the North Americans do. But we grow up with a mix or blend of different types of coffee and not with Arabica coffee only.  For many years, Costa Rica had a protection stop on coffee imports.

By Ivo Henfling

GoDutch Realty wants to send a big hug and congratulations to Keith Watlington and Blue Flame, who just inaugurated the first LP Gas station in Costa Rica.

Blue Flame is the first company in Costa Rica with an LPG station that functions only for large vehicles that will use this fuel instead of the traditional diesel. Another new business started by foreign investors in Costa Rica.

It is always great news to see that my clients adjust well in Costa Rica and even more if they are successful in their new life in Costa Rica. That is the best testimonial a Costa Rica real estate agent can have when he sells a home.

by Ivo Henfling

GoDutch Realty’s real estate agents all check title before listing a Costa Rica property for sale but we still like to share our knowledge with buyers as well as sellers of Costa Rica real estate. Many of you do not speak Spanish and it is not too easy to know where to get started on a website you are not (yet) familiar with.

Anyone who owns property in Costa Rica should check at least once a month if his/her property is legally in good shape or not. It takes only 10 minutes of your precious time. Put it on your agenda, so you won't forget and read this blog so you can learn how to pull a title search online.

Costa Rica property can be purchased in one person’s name, jointly, or in the name of a corporation or Sociedad Anonima. It is very common in Costa Rica for individuals to put property in the name of a corporation in which they own all the shares, although since 2012 you have to pay corporation taxes if you own a corporation.

You should discuss this asset protection with your tax accountant and real estate attorney so that you will be informed of the tax implications and other issues before you purchase Costa Rica real estate or make an investment.

By Ivo Henfling

Adventure, sunshine, lower cost of living, being happy and a better lifestyle, to mention a few, are reasons that make us take the decision to move to Costa Rica or to any other country. It is a great decision or a horrible one, there is nothing in between, no matter if you move to the city or to the beaches. If it is a happy story or a horror story does not only depend on being committed or not, there are a lot of big and small details involved.

Google

When I moved to Costa Rica 32 years ago, Costa Rica was different, the world was different. Google didn’t exist and it was not so easy to do due diligence on a distance. The only way to make it happen was to burn your ships back home and give it a shot. I never regretted the adventure and still enjoy every day of it.

by Ivo Henfling

If you need ambulance services in Costa Rica to get to the hospital, make sure you know your Tico address so the ambulance will know where to find and will not get lost, or ask a local to give the ambulance the address. It's amazing how many people I sold a home in Costa Rica and it took them months to learn their address.

Because we don’t have any street addresses in Costa Rica, some of these hospitals might be a bit difficult for you to find, so it might be easier to call 911 and ask for an ambulance, so they will send a Red Cross ambulance.

If you don’t want to wait for the ambulance just hop in a cab and tell the driver “al hospital más cercano urgentemente por favor”.

By Ivo Henfling

If you have residency in Costa Rica you are obliged to be registered at the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social  or C.C.S.S.  though this government mannaged health care system has long been broke. To see any doctors, you will need to start standing in line at 4:00 am to get attended and most of the time they’ll give you an appointment 6 months later. The system works though for those who do not have private insurance like I.N.S. or any other insurance company, you just need to be a bit patient and bring a book.

No matter where you bought a property in Costa Rica and decided to live, the time will come that you will need medical attention.

What I hear from retired people and expats coming from other parts of the world, is that the Costa Rican public hospital system and the doctors attention to sick patients is a lot better than it is in many parts of the world. I really don’t know because the two times that I was in a public hospital was to pick up my wife after giving birth to our kids, but that was 25 and 27 years ago.

By Ivo Henfling

Lately I’m seeing a lot of the inside of Costa Rica hospitals. Since I quit smoking 3 years ago, I started going to the doctor. I haven’t seen any doctor in my life and now suddenly I need to see all kinds of doctors. Most doctors in Costa Rica hold office in the same private hospital they operate in. In Costa Rica you don’t need to be referred to a specialist, you just make an appointment.

I have never been in a US hospital and the last time I was in a hospital in Europe was like 40 years ago but I hear from many clients that the Costa Rica hospital services and are outstanding and that medical services here are on a very high level. Most doctors speak excellent English because many have specialized in the US or in the UK.

by Ivo Henfling

Because I grew up in Holland it comes easy to talk about the topic and quite a few gay people email me asking that question: “are gay people moving to Costa Rica”. The answer is yes.

When I was a kid, there was a gay kid on my block and at the time nobody would talk about it. He was the first person on national TV with his partner, talking about his experiences of coming out of the closet.

Jeez, I knew when I was 12 years old that he was gay. His mom and dad were very religious, poor guy, he suffered a lot and his mom and dad probably too. That was like in 1972.