By Ivo Henfling

Nothing is better for business than a good service to your clients. In my business, Costa Rica real estate, I have always tried to excel in service as to my opinion it means the continuity of your business and it is a lot easier to keep an old client happy than making new clients. But mostly the larger business like banks and insurance companies have a hard time making their employees understand what good customer service is and end up with lots of frustrated clients. I am one of those who complain when service is bad. But I also think that when people do a good job, they deserve a pat on the shoulder.

This time it is don Isidro’s turn for a well-deserved pat on the shoulder. Who the heck is don Isidro some of you might say? Those who have asked me, after closing on their house, where to get their home insured and their car insurance, or a medical insurance, know who don Isidro is. Isidro gives an extraordinary service as an insurance agent for INS, learn how he keeps his clients happy.

By Ivo Henfling

Where I was born and raised, December is pretty cold. I’m from Haarlem, a city almost right on the Atlantic ocean, close to Amsterdam. Christmas in Haarlem, when I grew up, was generally under 32ºF and we could skate the famous canals and get really cold. Christmas in Costa Rica is different and that is one of the reasons I liked the idea of moving to Costa Rica.

During the month of December, the temperature in Escazu is around 80ºF most of the time, though we have a lot of wind. Nothing compared to Haarlem, Holland. The rains have mostly disappeared now, though once in a while we still might get a drop or two. So we don’t have a white Christmas in Costa Rica. No snow so no snowman, no snowballs and no ice skating, though you could bring your roller skates if you insist. Honestly, I don’t miss the snow and the cold at all. 

By Ivo Henfling
 

Right now, while I am writing this blog, I’m having a tamal de cerdo, made by my mother in law and the rest of the family (see the picture on the left). This is a Costarican specialty that the locals eat for Christmas, but my mother in law makes them really well (I hope she reads this). I eat about 5 in two weeks and I’ve had enough, but I know people that eat between 5 – 10 a day. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. Like North Americans eat turkey for a week. If you want to feel at home in Costa Rica, you need to try one.

What is a tamal de cerdo

A tamal de cerdo is a steamed corncake made of corn dough, filled with all kinds of ingredients like cooked rice, pork meat (cerdo), peas and sometimes olives, raisins, carrots and many other ingredients, depending on how wealthy or poor the family is.

By Isabelle Jones
 

My family and I relocated to Atenas in 2003 and have enjoyed the benefits of living in Atenas tremendously. We moved from Colorado, USA, not yet ready to retire and have been very happy since. Many of our clients, when searching for the right place to live, ask me “why Atenas and not anywhere else?” My answer is that we fell in love with Atenas, that’s why. Let me tell you a bit about it, so you understand why. 

Atenas is not a city but it is still a small Costa Rican town that hundreds of ex-pats from the U.S., Canada and Europe have chosen to call “home”.  Climate, natural beauty and location are just a few of those reasons.  Daily, you see both Costa Ricans and foreigners walking, jogging and biking throughout Atenas. 

You and I are probably both frustrated most of the time with the services some larger corporations give, in Costa Rica and in many other parts of the world. Globalization and the large corporations are taking over. Therefore the client friendly smaller companies and mom and pop businesses cannot compete anymore, unless they take care of their clients.

Personally, I try to give any business I might have to smaller organizations, especially those that give me a good service. If you live in Costa Rica or any other part of the world, we probably battle these same problems.

In October this year I wrote a blog  about the nicest real estate closing of my life, where I complained about the bad service Scotiabank is giving lately and that many of my clients, who I referred to them, are not satisfied at all. In the past, I did put in complaints with the manager, the supervisor and everyone else I could reach in that bank, but nobody cared.

When I grew up, people and companies cared about their clients. Nobody seems to care anymore, at least that is my experience with lots of services I pay for. But soon, there might be a change in this pattern.

By Ivo Henfling

The new Costa Rica residency card is worrying some residents unnecessarily. Some online newspapers in English,  like AM Costa Rica, Inside Costa Rica and the Tico times reported this week about the new DIMEX residency cards but the information wasn’t clear what a DIMEX residency card is. For that reason, I have received several emails from my readership, worried about not being able to do any bank business without the new residency card. of course you will also need this residency card to buy Costa Rica real estate although you will be able to do that also with your passport.

By Ivo Henfling

How can you compare The United States to Costa Rica and other countries if you are planning to move overseas or retiring to a different country?  I thought it well worth it to write a blog about it because of the results you get on this website as a comparison between living in the US and living in Costa Rica and the reasons for these differences, which is where your own due dilligence comes in. I get questions all the time like” how much income do I need to live on if I move to Costa Rica? Well, it depends on your lifestyle. The website I am talking about shows you how relative the data you will find on the internet are. As a source, they used the CIA World Factbook. When you do your due diligence, make sure you compare apples and oranges or talk to a responsible real estate agent.

If Costa Rica were your home instead of The United States you would……. (My comments are in Italic.)

By Rudy Matthews

I remember ten years ago when I first discovered Costa Rica, which is when I decided to relocate to this beautiful country. A friend invited me to join an outdoors group in Florida and they planned a tour to Costa Rica. The tour was strictly outdoor activities such as white water rafting, canopy, hiking, horseback riding and anything else that was active. The nature of Costa Rica made a lasting impression on me and I always told others that Costa Rica was probably like Florida use to be many years ago. The beaches in Costa Rica are still mostly natural and do not have the rows of condos covering any view from the street to the ocean. There are plenty of palm trees and natural plants and flowers along the coastline in Costa Rica.

By Ivo Henfling

Every time I travel out of the country, it surprises me how much tastier fruits and vegetables are in Costa Rica. Just like those crab legs I enjoy so much when we travel and enjoy the seafood that we don’t have in Costa Rica, I enjoy the fruits and vegetables in my daily diet when I’m back home. Costarican tropical fruits and vegetables are larger, taste better and are even juicier.

I’ve always enjoyed the huge range of vegetables Costa Rica has to offer. Just going to a farmer’s market and see the huge choice of vegetables that many of you won’t even know make my mouth water. My wife is Costarican and she loves to cook and I love to eat, though I am not a big eater. But I enjoy the different vegetables she uses in her cooking. You’ll find a lot of vegetables available you might know from oriental cooking, like Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian kitchen.

By Ivo Henfling

Living in Escazu has lots of benefits and depending on the lifestyle you are looking for, these benefits might fit you and your family’s view of what moving to Costa Rica should offer to you or not.

I moved to Costa Rica 31 years ago and have lived in Escazu quite a few of those years. When I first moved to Escazu, I remember stopping at the Mas X Menos grocery store in San Rafael, which they called a supermarket. Yeah right. Escazu had two churches, a soccer field, a couple of bars (cantina’s) and cows in the streets. The highway to Santa Ana didn’t have toll booths and there were no cars. For serious shopping you had to go to San Jose as there were no decent stores in Escazu.

By Isabelle Jones

Steve Jobs affected our move to Costa Rica much more than I would have ever thought. Losing Steve Jobs recently and the release of his biography has affected so many of us in many different ways. As a very private icon, his death has allowed more personal details revealed about him than ever before. 

I worked for Apple Computer for 14 years so Steve Job’s death made me stop and really think about the impact, inspiration Apple had on the world.  I resigned from Apple in 2003 to finally pursue our goal of moving to Costa Rica and we have never regretted it.

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.  

By Ivo Henfling 

Costa Rica speeding fines are becoming a major topic in all newspapers and on Costa Rica online forums. The Costarican Ministry of Transport is installing cameras on the roads that register the most accidents and Costarican legislation changes the traffic fines from ridiculously low amounts into serious fines that are higher than you will find in many 1st world countries. The cameras have reduced 90% of the abuse of crossing the speed limit. Eeven though people are talking badly about the installation of these cameras, opposed to some others, I don´t think Costa Rica real estate will be affected by this. In fact, most who will realize that this is done to make the roads safer, will agree with me. For those who complain tourists will get a speeding ticket I can assure that most other countries in the world also have traffic laws and speding tickets. These expensive tickets make Costa Rica living much safer though.

By Isabelle Jones

I have been living in Atenas since before the boom and I can assure you my family and I still have a blast. While many retirees moved here since 2004, which is when I started selling real estate in Atenas seriously, there was only one real estate agent in Atenas and surrounding areas. Most have moved away again after the boom was over and we’re back to an easy going life as it was before.

The biggest advantage Atenas has received thanks to the boom is the much better choice for grocery shopping, restaurants and all kinds of services, while the opening of the new highway has made our visit to Escazu and San Jose a lot easier. This also gives us the necessary access to medical services, religious services and going to the movies for example.  We do have a great farmer’s market here.

By Ivo Henfling

Costa Rica punctuality, or so called Tico Time, will be a very important part of your lifestyle if you plan to move to Costa Rica and buy a home here. I consider myself a punctual person, even after living in Costa Rica for over 30 years. Writing a blog about this occurred to me after a seller of a property in Ciudad Colon got really mad at me for not showing up on the time that he thought we had agreed on. I had another appointment at the same time and I keep an electronic agenda on my computer and my iPhone, so you can probably guess what I decided to tell him. I think I said it nicely though.

By Ivo Henfling

Getting anything done in Costa Rica, sometimes just needs a nudge and sometimes needs complaining publicly. Aren’t we all used to NOT tell people when things are great? Never give anyone a pat on the shoulder? Costaricans also like a pat on the shoulder, like we all do, I believe in them. But therefore, you first need to complain and then wait for something to happen. Most of us foreigners are used to complain and most locals don’t. AND, as foreigners, we have freedom of speech and people will actually listen to us. And that’s what todays’ blog is all about. AND about the mayor of Escazu deserving a pat on the shoulder.

By Shell Johanson

Being a Costa Rica realtor in Cariari is never an easy job. There are twists and turns in every deal. Patience and nerves are always on edge. It means putting up with a lot of things from the buyers as well as the sellers, without the other party finding out about it. It’s part of the job.  

But there’s one thing that I wish I could do something about, I’m going to call it the ‘Busy Bee’. We all know this person because we all have one near. It is usually a family member, a friend or a neighbor who thinks he/she is a fountain of knowledge and loves to share his/her opinions. Never short for words, that’s for sure. The ‘Busy Bee’ is very good at screwing up real estate deals.

By Ivo Henfling

I really enjoy my time off and my vacations. My wife Dany and I love to travel and get to know new destinations and when we like one very much we might repeat, once. This time, we went to Las Vegas and really enjoyed it. Impressive city, great shows, lots to do. We even went to see Rod Stewart, who still sings and dances. The food is fantastic, and while we’re not big eaters, Dany and I enjoy the Jumbo shrimp as big as two fingers, Oysters Rockefeller, New England Clam Chowder, Steamed Clams in White Wine & Garlic, King Crab Salad Sandwich, all under $15. Or the all you can eat dinner for $25 each, where you can eat yourself silly with crab legs, all kinds of sea food, Asian, Italian and a ridiculous amount of desserts. You're right, we are both seafood lovers. Meat we can eat in Costa Rica.

By Ivo Henfling
 

In my first years of living in Costa Rica, I was always surprised that Costa Ricans have an amazing quality that most of us don’t have: patience. Over the years, I have learned there is more freedom of speech in Costa rica than in many other countries.

Costa Ricans have a huge quality that most of us foreigners don’t have. They can stand in line at the bank in Costa Rica for hours, no matter how long it takes or how bad the service is, they can stand stoically in line forever. I don’t know if it’s my Dutch up bring or that I am just an impatient person, but I generally cannot put up with it longer than 10 minutes. My wife does most such things that need standing in line. She is Costa Rican though she seems to starts complaining too. Even my 24 year old son is getting impatient. Impatience seems to be contagious. But if we get to change those things, everything would be just like we were back home again. It’s all about balance, and that is what we look for when relocating to another country.

By Ivo Henfling

Most Costa Rica realtors are afraid to write about topics like home invasions, robberies, squatters, expensive prices in the supermarkets and many other negative things you will read and hear about Costa Rica and most other places you might be researching to retire to. Most of you who follow my blogs, know by now that I am not. I just think people should be aware of what is going on around them and it will make them be a tad more careful.

The shooting neighbor

To start this blog, I want to call your attention to something that happened a couple of weeks ago: a good neighbor heard some noise ourside, found out his neighbors were being robbed and shot one home invaders dead, wounded another and saved his neighbors. Oh my God, I hear some of you say, how can anyone live there? Is it that dangerous to live over there? Where is this place?