By Ivo Henfling
 

I just went through the nicest Costa Rica real estate closing of my life, even though it was probably one of the most difficult ones too. I have had some real nice closings but I’ve also had some real impossible ones. Well, we went through practically every obstacle that anyone could ever come up with, mainly because this sale involved bank financing through a Costarican bank. I had the perfect buyers, the perfect sellers and the perfect bank employee in one room, quite a feat on itself. I am having a very low opinion of bank employees lately, but Nataly was incredible and unusual responsive and cooperative. This was a deal with a lot of heroes in it.
 

By Ivo Henfling
 

Not every Costa Rica real estate closing is fun. When you purchase Costa Rica real estate and you have a Costa Rica bank mortgage involved, the documents mentioned in part 1 will pre-qualify you (or not) and once this is all approved by the bank, you can go on to the next step.

The paperwork mentioned in part I is mostly the same in every Costa Rican bank, but make sure you ask the documents enquired for the mortgage with the bank you will be working with. My nicest Costa Rica real estate closing was done through BAC San Jose and thanx to an ourstanding bank executive and very cooperative buyers and seller, this real estate closing had a very happy ending.

Your realtor should be able to help you on the property tax certification. Some property owners will have paid their Municipal and property taxes for the whole years but being able to show a receipt is not enough.

By Ivo Henfling
 

A Costa Rica real estate closing can be a nerve wrecking issue if you don’t know what you are doing or if you’re not in the good hands of a knowledgeable realtor when you purchase Costa Rica real estate. I just went through the nicest real estate closing of my life as described in part I and part II. The long and tedious closing process of filling out documents and more documents after that to apply for a Costa Rica bank mortgage is just like driving a bad Costarican road, it is full of potholes.  And going through an even more nerve wrecking Costa Rica bank appraisal and even a home inspection done by the same appraiser will get anyone heartburn.

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 Ivo Henfling

My mom and dad had Costa Rica retirement dreams over 30 years ago, and they made them happen. At the time, retiring to Costa Rica was an incredible adventure and it still is.

My mom and dad didn’t buy their home in Costa Rica from a GoDutch Realty agent, because GoDutch Realty didn’t exist at the time. Big mistake! So they lived here only for like 6 years and moved on to the Canary Islands where they were not happy again. Guess why? Just joking but trying to make you clear why I wrote this blog.
 

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 Rudy Matthews

A quirk of the housing economic crisis is that for the most part rental property in Costa Rica has held its own and has returned a better investment than the normal investment alternatives.

Rental Property in Florida

I held my breath when the housing crisis hit because I still have rental property in Florida. Over the last four years I have been 95% occupied. Florida, as you know, got hit very bad in the downturn and has yet to recover. I am sure there are pockets where rentals are better than other places so I feel very fortunate.

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 read this unbelievably interesting post on a forum from a US licensed builder in Costa Rica, trying to advertise his business of building container homes. I wanted to share this with you as it shows the totally wrong attitude, to my opinion, of someone who lives in Costa Rica and is advertising himself by saying the locals suck at doing construction.

This week, our preferred Costa Rica home inspector Tom Rosenberger, sent me a shocking post on the CostaRicaCentralValleyLiving Forum. This post gave me the idea of writing this blog because it might be educational for those who might have some construction plans in the near future or want to start a business in Costa Rica.

By Andres Henfling

Sometimes we need a break from the tedious day to day routine, so we decided to take a weekend trip to the beach. In this article, I would like to show you how you can take a full weekend vacation, enjoy a Costarican beach and spend no more than $300 for a weekend.

Saturday morning I went with my girlfriend Melissa to Jaco Beach by bus and arrived in 1 hour and 30 minutes from downtown San José. Fortunately, the bus took the new highway so it is not a tedious or uncomfortable trip. We arrived at 9:30 am and went to get a simple but centrally located hotel where we had all the facilities and places to relax the weekend.

The hotel, Villa Nazua, is located at 200 meters from the Jaco Beach main street and 300 from the beach. The hotel offers a pool and a nice terrace to have a great time. The condo of 3 bedrooms is only $60 a night, it is pretty nice, clean, air conditioned and there were only 2 more condos with families so we enjoyed the peace and tranquility.
 

By Ivo Henfling

It is all in a lifestyle. I was reading on Glozal, a social network for realtors worldwide, an article about active Adult (55+) communities, which reminded me of several clients who moved to Costa Rica in the past. After some years, they thought they would be better off retiring to a real retirement community in Florida, where thousands of people retire to every month. Some of them never come back to Costa Rica but the adventurous ones realize that they made a big mistake by moving to Florida to retire and eventually end up in Costa Rica again. Let me tell you why.

Most of us, during our lives and our career, have acquired a lifestyle. Some love to read a good book or enjoy a nice glass of wine, others cannot live without concerts and theater and other just like to read a good book or live a different adventure every day. And that is what my blog is all about today.

By Ivo Henfling

When we drove to Nativa Resort a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that on the new highway to Caldera, the Autopistas del Sol concessionary was doing landslide prevention different ways because in some places the rainfall is causing a lot of damage. They sprayed concrete on the hillside and drilled pipes into the mountains to take the water out and through the concrete, when they re-did part of the highway at the turnoff between Sabana and Escazu, This was the first time I saw it done in Costa Rica. A little past the beautiful town of Atenas, they are now making incredible use of the large rocks they took out before they put the pavement in.

As most of you know, Costa Rica's rainy season runs more or less from July from November but September and October generate the heaviest rains. Although in July this year 2011, we already had some incredible downpours. It looks like we're going to get more and more rain every year. While coming out of a real estate closing on the east side of San Jose with AE affiliate Barry Ashworth, I saw a car disappear in the water OVER a bridge. I don't know what happened to the driver or the car. That was VERY impressive.
 

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?

By Ivo Henfling

Fantastic ideas and lots of dreams, they might all come true one day.

A very dear client, who years ago had planned an assisted living facility in Costa Rica, sent me a link that gave the recently released Cost of Care survey from Genworth Financial looked at the average prices of home care providers, adult day health care facilities, assisted living facilities and nursing homes across the USA, and unsurprisingly, found that there are staggering variations between states but all very expensive to Costa Rican standards.

Years ago, my client bought with his wife and several partners, a beautiful 300+ acre farm in the middle of nowhere from their preferred GoDutch Realty agent, with the fantastic idea of starting an assisted living facility on this land. Costa Rican governmental permitting and other circumstances slowed down their project and even before they got to completing it, their panorama changed completely.

By Rudy Matthews

My son plays on the Alajuela youth soccer program. He is 11 years old and really looks forward to Saturday practices and games on Sunday. There are eighteen players and he has two coaches.

I have never been around Costa Rican parents a lot and the team has given me a chance to observe and get to know the parents more. Most of the parents do not have cars and you will see them walking to practice with their son or getting off a bus and in some cases a taxi.

The point is they make it to practice with their son one way or the other.

By Ivo Henfling

As some of you know, I bought a condo in Jaco from a developer who did a good job in Escazu, Joshua ten Brink of Desarrollos Naturales. When the crisis hit, the bank thought that most of Joshua's buyers were not capable of closing, so they didn't give Joshua any more money to finish his project. Desarrollos Naturales and the bank are fighting each other, both forgetting that many people have all their savings tied up in this project and only thinking of their own interests. Joshua didn't want to tell me who all the other real estate buyers were, so I started my own private little war against him to try to get in touch with the rest of the people. I have done so online, just like I am writing this and many people have found me.