By Ivo Henfling

Today, I showed some Costa Rica real estate to a client and I found the perfect seller, probably for the first time in my real estate career. My buyer is looking to buy a property in Costa Rica that offers views and security and I listed this incredibly nice condo in Escazu that looks like a house on the outside but is really a penthouse, even though its on streetlevel. Weird eh, check it out.

But today I really don´t want to talk to you about how nice and how cheap this penthouse is, though it really is, but to tell you how anybody who wants to sell their home should behave. The situation in this case is really special because the seller used to be a realtor in the US before they moved to Costa Rica, so he and his family know this inside out. Allow me to tell you how refreshing this was to me, the listing agent, and to my buyer in particular. I hope every seller in Costa Rica from now, until I die, will read this blog.......

Last night, I called the owner to make an appointment for the showing, which we need to do because we don´t have any lockboxes in Costa Rica. Usually, most sellers want us to accomodate the showing to their schedule but this seller consulted with his wife for 15 seconds and said that yes, feel free to show my condo. "Please call us when you´re five minutes away and we´ll have the garage open for you, so you can pull right in. We will walk the dog meanwhile, so the house is all yours". WOW. Unreal. Finally a seller who is not trying to do the showing for me or is breathing down my buyers´ neck trying to tell him how great a house this is and when will he make an offer.

Views of the most of the Central Valley

As promised, we drove right into the carport. One of their cars was parked outside, to make space for us. Its nice for a buyer to get the feeling of coming home.

When we walked into the home, everything looked picture perfect, the only thing missing was the price tag sticking out the front door. Let me sum it up a bit, so we can all try to learn from this:

• No dog poop in the front yard.
• The grass was well cut and the garden nicely landscaped.
• Picture perfect front door to start with, no dog scratches on it and a clean window in it.
• All the lights were on in the house, which makes any home always look great.
• No bad smells in a well ventilated house, the home smelled fresh and nice.
• All furniture well arranged and organized.
• Not too much furniture, though this living room is so large, you can hide a boat in it.
• The kitchen was all clean and clear, nothing was sitting in the kitchen sink. I didn´t look in the dishwasher. No clutter nor any kitchen machines on the counter top.
• The pantry was well organized and clean.
• The beds were all made and the curtains and blinds were open.
• No underwear or clothing on the floor next to the bed or in the bathrooms.
• No clutter or loads of perfume bottles, shampoo, cremes and other stuff all over the bathroom. The counter tops were clean and clear of clutter.
• No clutter anywhere in the bedrooms, but amazingly the closets didn´t look overcrowded either. I guess they go rid of all the stuff they don´t need.
• The laundry room has no buckets, brooms and other cleaning articles all over. Everything was nicely tucked away in its place. No dirty laundry was to be seen anywhere.
• Everything well painted with no dirty spots anywhere.

Thank you Dear Sellers, you deserve a medal for this. Your medal will be that your house will sell very soon because you are motivated and you show the buyer that you are. Not only do you have a beautiful home but you are showing that you are proud of it.

Open kitchen and breakfast area

I wish we would have more proud sellers. Many homes for sale in Costa Rica are offered by totally disinterested and unmotivated sellers who do not want to get their home ready for sale. But who wants to buy a house that looks terrible?

I hope all my realtors read this blog too and show this to their sellers.

By Ivo Henfling, your Escazu realtor who loves perfect sellers to death because it makes my job so easy.