By Ivo Henfling

It is not so important to have a licensed agent to sell Costa Rica real estate or not, you just need to find an agent who puts love and care in your property purchase and that is what today’s blog is all about. The day after a real estate closing, I received a call from the buyers agent, complaining the appliances weren’t there. I told the agent that the appliances were not included in the property purchase.

The property was not advertised with appliances nor is it customary in Costa Rica to include them. The agent said that in the US they are always included and since the buyer AND the sellers are North Americans, they should be.

Beside the fact that we are in Costa Rica and not in the US, which I chose to ignore, I asked the agent if she had included the appliances in the inventory attached to the offer and to the option to purchase – sale agreement. She said she didn’t check….

Checklist for real estate closing

To my opinion, this buyers agent should purchase new appliances for her buyer out of her 50% of the commission. The above is the exact reason why a serious real estate agent who sells homes in Costa Rica should know how to write up an offer. GoDutch realty agents have a checklist for all these things. The check list will take them from writing up the offer, all the way through the real estate closing, so nothing will be forgotten.

I never forget this deal I had many years ago. I was the buyers agent and a week before the real estate closing I went through my checklist and called the listing agent of this property in the Escazu mountains for all the papers on the property, like water bills, power bills, property taxes and other important documents. She got mad at me saying she knew how to do her job, so I left it at that.

The documents of the property

At the closing, on a Friday morning in the closing attorney’s office in San Pedro, on the others side of San Jose, the buyers appeared with their cashier’s check in hand and the seller with an airline ticket to leave the country the next morning. When we got to checking the documents of the property, the listing agent didn’t bring any, nor did the seller. The listing agent tried to defend herself by saying this was the closing attorneys’ responsibility, which got him mad of course.

The utility payments

I called my buyers outside the room and told them not to get scared, that we would fix this problem in no time but to leave it to me and they agreed. Back in the room all parties, I told the seller that I was very sorry but that we couldn’t close without proof that all the utility payments and property taxes were up to date. The poor seller went through the roof.

The listing agent

Since I always ask the buyer to cut several checks for the closing: one for the seller, one for the attorney, one for the listing agent and one for the buyer’s agent, the solution was really very simple. I told the seller that he didn’t have to worry; he could catch his plane the next morning. We would have the attorney hold the listing agents’ check until the paperwork would be delivered. If not, the utility payments would be made out of the agent’s commission and she would receive the difference.

As you can guess, the buyers agent still doesn’t talk to me and this deal was like 12 years ago. But we had a happy buyer who didn’t get stuck with someone else’s bills and a happy seller who caught his flight in time, with a cashier’s check in his pocket.

By Ivo Henfling who worries about closing every Costa Rica real estate purchase to have a happy buyer and a happy seller. Happy clients make great referrals. This story also proves that you don’t need a real estate license to be a good real estate agent. As long as the agent is careful, diligent and cares about the clients, you’ll be happy about your agent.