by Ivo Henfling

In the past, I have had people question if the testimonials on my websites are for real or invented. All our agents always ask both buyers and sellers to write a testimonial and some do and others don’t.

Most don’t want their email address posted because they don’t want to be bothered. You can check our testimonial page and see it’s a mile long, not something I could easily invent.

I just received a testimonial from the owners of a building lot in Escazu that I closed a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would make up a good story. Below the testimonial, I will explain a bit more about this special Escazu building lot, why the sellers were so happy we sold it for them and what was wrong with it in the first place. This is a textbook example of how NOT to purchase Costa Rica real estate.

by John Doe

We are now in the month of February, when we had agreed to make the final payment for our amazing property in Costa Rica, and proceed with closing the deal. Of course, these situations almost always have hurdles, and the best one can do this these is keep calm, and as much as possible keep one’s eye on the ultimate goal. I believe it was one of the ancient Greek philosophers who said “The long journey to Mount Olympus begins with a single step”

First, I should say a few words about my last post. Ivo informs me that he had some emails regarding the difficulties I described, with some wanting to know where the development was. I have sworn Ivo to secrecy about this, since my intention from the beginning was to be quite frank about the problems and issues, as well as the good things about our purchase process. If parties were identified, I knew that I would have to soften my comments, and that would defeat the purpose of my blogs.

by John Doe

Maybe you have read John Doe’s first blog, "Early in the Costa Rica property purchase process" in December last year. We are now 1 month later.

John described the initial stages of their property purchase in Costa Rica; touring around the amazing Costa Rica countryside, meeting its friendly, welcoming citizens and other expats, finding a developer with a property they were very attracted to, delaying their flights back home to stay two nights in the property and signing papers to purchase the property for sale.

John’s story is a great one as it is a first-hand and interesting experience of purchasing a home in Costa Rica. The name John Doe was used so it won't upset any people who are involved in the stories. Let’s see what John has to tell us:

by Ivo Henfling

President of Costa Rica, doña Laura Chinchilla, proposes a new bill to control capital that flows in and out of the country. The Colon is the most depreciating amongst 19 Latin American and Caribbean economies tracked by Bloomberg.

Doña Laura Chinchilla announced measures to slow capital inflows that she called “weapons of mass destruction” against the nation’s economy.

Is this bill an effort of keeping retirees and foreign investors out of Costa Rica? Will it hurt Costa Rica real estate owners? The Costarican government has created the Luxury Home tax as well as the Corporation Tax, both overrated in the press, but that is another story. Many of my readers have asked me for a comment on this proposed bill, so here we go.

by Ivo Henfling

What if a burglar could not see anything, and could therefore not steal anything? Once in a while, like almost every day, we see on the news or read in the local papers that another burglary has happened. I hear the same happens in Ecuador and almost every country that is on a list of top retirement destinations like International Living or Forbes.

Countries with a lower cost of living have more security problems and the more burglaries happen, because there are a lot more poor people than in developed country that have a higher cost of living.

But do not worry, we now have the solution for your property in Costa Rica: fog protection.

by Ivo Henfling

This week I have received an amazing amount of phone calls from home owners who did not know what to do about the Luxury Home tax Costa Rica 2013 and though I am not an expert on the Luxury home tax issue, I decided to update you all in a blog.

This tax, created by Ley Nº 8683, has to be paid before the 15th of January 2013.

The Luxury home tax law or Impuesto Solidario, was invented and approved by the Laura Chinchilla government in October 2009 to eradicate the slums on Costa Rica and they decided the rich should pay for that. If you are reading this blog, you might be rich in the eyes of the Costarican tax department and you better keep reading.

by Ivo Henfling

When I get a new property to list, the first thing I ask the sellers is to disappear when I show their property to potential buyers. A couple of weeks ago, I showed clients properties with four different listing agents.

Each real estate agent has her/his own style of showing a property and I really do not know which style is the right one and which the wrong one. I have not been through showing school, like those realtors on the HGTV House Hunters International seem to have been.

During my Costa Rica real estate career, I have learned that it is best to keep the sellers away from the buyers, until closing.  Let me tell you about some of the property showings I go through and you will understand.

by Ivo Henfling

Every year I get surprised emails from interested people asking to see Costa Rica real estate during the Christmas holidays. They act surprised when they find out our real estate offices close down a couple of days before Christmas until after the 2nd week of January of the next year.

Thousands of tourists visit Costa Rica during their Christmas and New Year getaways and email us ahead of time that they will be in town from such date to so date and please let’s go see some Costa Rica property for sale.

Been there, done that, for about 20 years. All those wasted days, wasted gas and a mad wife (I know honey, you were always right). All those missed Christmas dinners or just seeing the last of it wrapped in a sandwich and to eat it during the next real estate tour.

by John Doe

This is the real story from a husband and wife who is purchasing property in Costa Rica and wanted to tell us all about the purchase process they are going through. Since this is still an ongoing process, you may expect more blogs about this process in the near future. The name John Doe was used so it won’t upset any people who are involved in the story.

My wife and I recently decided to purchase Costa Rica property. I had been considering this for a number of years, and the urge became so strong that I convinced my wife that we should take some steps.

We have visited many countries as tourists, but not with the intention of purchasing property, so this was a different perspective for us. We went to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico earlier in 2012, and visited Costa Rica this fall.

By Ivo Henfling

Google sends me messages when somebody writes a blog or an article about Costa Rica real estate, moving to Costa Rica, retire to Costa Rica or living in Costa Rica. This is very interesting because it shows you how many writers hired by realtors write total bullshit articles that are published as a newsfeed on hundreds of fake newspapers.

These blogs don’t really say anything but are packed with keywords that will help them on their Google ranking to get a better position. They don't do anything but fill the world wide web with garbage and make doing your due diligence on Costa Rica a lot harder.

by Ivo Henfling

I received this email from Paul, a future expat, today:

“I just returned from a 4 day trip to San Jose and participated in a Expat seminar put on by International Living magazine at the San Jose Marriott.  I walked to 7:00 mass one morning through a neighborhood where EVERY HOUSE had heavy iron gates across the driveway, razor wire and or electrical security fence and some even had uniformed guards.  

What on earth are the Ticos afraid of?  I live in the DETROIT area sometimes called the MURDER City instead of the Motor City and I assure the only razor wire you see is at the county jail.  What gives? “

by Ivo Henfling

Over 200 future retirees attended the 2012 International Living Fast Track Conference from the 12th – 14th of November in the San Jose Marriott Hotel.

Many of those 200 have come by our table at least 4 times. My feet are still hurting, imagine my mouth! It was a lot of fun and both Rudy and I realize how enjoyable specializing in the Costa Rica retirement market is.

Costa Rica blogs

A future Canadian expat joined me in the bathroom while washing my hands, telling me how he loves my blogs, especially the one about Obama. And he isn’t even buying property in the Central Valley, the area we specialize in, but at Lake Arenal.

By Ivo Henfling

When you are a Costa Rica real estate agent, you are on call, just like a doctor or a priest. When a client calls to see a property, no matter what time or day it is, you jump in the car and you are ready to make it happen. The other day I checked my emails and found one from a client where he asked several questions and two hours later another email asking why nobody had answered his email yet.

When a client emails you that he or she is going to be in Costa Rica for a week, they expect you to spend 8 hours a day with them and show them everything that is available and expect to receive a moving to Costa Rica training program in 3 days, for free. The best part is that realtors don’t eat, unless they buy. Smart real estate agents take one client in the morning, go home for lunch and take another client in the afternoon.

by Ivo Henfling

I am not a political person but I want you to vote for Obama. Some might smile at this comment and some might hate me for it. That’s why I generally stay away from politics, religion and issues that should not be mixed in business in my blogs.

The reason for me writing this is really because Shell Johanson, our agent in Cariari, sent me the cartoon below. I have always thought it was just me that saw this happen, but it seems to be a general feeling. Those clients that have been with me in the past couple of months, as well as many North American voters that I meet every day will agree that I have been promoting Obama like crazy.

Don’t worry, I have not gone crazy (yet), this has a reason.

By Ivo Henfling

I remember the times we had cows and horses in the streets of Escazu and you could build anything in real estate in Escazu you felt like and those are long gone now. There were no controls, building permits were not important and zoning did not exist. The 4 year Costa Rica real estate boom changed all that and suddenly we had quite a few 7 story condos. That was more or less the only thing the engineering department of the city of Escazu controlled, no more than 7 floors, due to the seismic code.

Not only traffic in Escazu has gotten worse, it is the same thing throughout the Central Valley and the entire world. When I grew up, we had only 1 car at home. My Escazu neighbor’s family has 6 cars now. The Municipality of Escazu has always been a little slow on things but in the last 2 years, things have accelerated.

By Ivo Henfling

Before you retire to a new country, you need to find out which country to retire to or buy a 2nd home first. Once you have decided Costa Rica will be your retirement destination, in 3 weeks you can tour the country and find out where to concentrate the search or scratch it off your list.

Doing your online due diligence is only the start. I know some people who bought a house in Escazu years ago and still only do the trip airport – Escazu and vice versa. Please don’t be one of those; you don’t know what you are missing. The real fun starts when you come to Costa Rica rent a car for a couple of weeks and hit the roads. Leave you GPS at home and just get lost. When you hit ocean, you know you will have to make a turn.

By Claude Dugas in Atenas

I was born in Quebec, Canada and I lived there for more than fifty years. I knew from a previous winter spent in Amazonia of Peru that living in a warmer environment could contain its charms. Indeed, I have been suffering from the winter cold ever since.

So by the end of January 1993, I decided to come to visit Costa Rica to look at the possibility of making it my place of living.

I drove through USA and Central America and had the chance to live many adventures that could be the set for some very long and interesting blogs by itself. I still could speak some Spanish that I had so easily learnt in Peru so many years before.

by Ivo Henfling

In all my years as a Costa Rica real estate agent, I have had very few clients ask for Costa Rica title insurance. North American buyers are used to take title insurance when they purchase a property but a European or Costarican client don’t even know what title insurance is.

When you purchase a home or land in Costa Rica, you should be purchasing land that is free and clear from any claims, debts or other impediments. Costa Rica's national registry operates under the Torrens system, so with the proper steps you can be certain that your title is free and clear. For sure you don't want the headache of a bad title, so make sure you are informed about your options.

By Ivo Henfling

When in school, you might have learned about yards, inches, square feet and acres. Well, in Costa Rica, all that is no good and you will have to learn about the metric system. Unless you have found a real estate agent you trust.

If you are buying property in Costa Rica, you will find the measurements will normally be in the metric system, though many real estate companies list the size of the house for sale in square feet and the size of the land in acres as well as in hectares.

I know, you do it different back home but just like you have to learn the Spanish language to make your new life easier, you will also need to understand how we measure properties in Costa Rica.

by Shell Johanson

I would like to tell you all about this incredibly beautiful older home I just listed right on the Cariari golf course. This 6,600 square feet Spanish colonial was one of the first homes built in Cariari and has been continiously updated.

This almost 1/2 an acre property overlooks the length of the 8th fairway and its green and also the tee-off at the ninth hole of the Cariari Golf and Country Club. Very few Cariari homes for sale offer this kind of luxury setting.

The home is one of the finest golf properties availables in Costa Rica and offers five bedrooms and 4 bedrooms on the 2nd floor, all spaciously set up for the luxury lifestyle you are looking for, plus a second floor patio with a gorgeous veranda overlooking the golf course.