By Ivo Henfling

To purchase Costa Rica real estate you should ask a professional and responsible real estate agent to help you with. You will be moving to another country with a different culture than your own where they speak a language you don’t understand. Do NOT try to save yourself the 5% real estate commission by going through For Sale By Owner websites or real estate agents you have not thoroughly checked out before dealing with them. Buying a property is one of those huge investments you make only a few times in your life and you should do it right. Use Google or other search engines to its best advantage and you can find the good news and the bad news about any real estate company and its agents.  

Most people who relocate to Costa Rica or even those who are already living in Costa Rica don’t realize that most real estate agents in Costa Rica work huge areas of the country that no normal person can ever responsibly cover. GoDutch Realty agents and all other affiliate real estate agents of the American European Real Estate Group specialize in a certain area.

Local real estate agents

Our real estate agents live in the same area that they work in. This way they can recommend the right schools for your children, the right gynecologist, the gardener and the handyman and where to pay your property taxes. Doesn’t make that a lot of sense to you too?

I have seen so many in my real estate career suffer after making the mistake of buying their property in Costa Rica directly from the seller or from the wrong realtor.

10 reasons of using a realtor

Allow me to show you 10 reasons you should NOT purchase your property in Costa Rica directly from the seller and why you should buy from a responsible real estate agent:

1.    The seller who sells his/her property on a FSBO Costa Rica site will always tell you the advantages of the property, but NEVER the disadvantages. A responsible realtor will.

2.    You don’t know the different communities and the services offered, your realtor will.

3.    You don’t know temperatures, rainfall in each community and even if there is fog or not in certain times of the year in certain areas, your realtor will.

4.    You don’t know the advantages and disadvantages of each community and how to adjust to your new environment, your realtor will.

5.    You don’t know what the city or town’s growth pattern is and in which direction this growth moves to next, your realtor will.

6.    You don’t know where the wind and rain usually come from, so you don’t know which is the protected and which the unprotected side of the property, your realtor will.

7.    You don’t know if any roads or other type of infrastructure will be built in the immediate area soon. The seller for sure will not tell you about that highway that is planned next door, your responsible realtor will.

8.    The seller will not be around to help you fix all the problems that will show within the next year, your real estate agent will.

9.    The seller will not be around to connect you with all those people you need in your community, your responsible realtor will and can show testimonials about it.

10.    The seller will not be around to introduce you to other expats and to clubs and other groups of interest, your responsible realtor will.

If you do your due diligence online, I hope you will find this article and you will appreciate it enough to contact me when you are ready to buy a home in Costa Rica.