Costa Rica Real Estate: Experienced realtors in different areas
My name is Ivo Henfling and I am the president and owner of GoDutch Realty. This web site tells you a little about our company and a lot about Costa Rica real estate. GoDutch Realty offers you residential real estate in many areas of Costa Rica, including Atenas, Cariari, Escazu, Santa Ana and San Miguel & Coyote Beach. Each office specializes in a specific area of the country. All the offices are independently owned but are franchisees of GoDutch Realty, which gives them the tools to be able to work as a specialist in their area. They also have the opportunity to be a part of two valuable networks: GoDutch Realty and American European Real Estate Network. Each franchisee is carefully chosen and screened so we are sure they can give you a responsible and professional service.
Costa Rica does not have a multiple listing system like many other countries. That does not make it easier for you, the buyer. GoDutch Realty takes care of that; we contact other real estate brokers to update our listings and offer our clients the best available on the market. Go Dutch Realty is part of American European Real Estate Network, so we can refer you to our partners in different areas throughout the country. AECostaRica offers you the largest listings database in the country.
But the most important thing is legal status of the property you’re buying. Like most other countries in the world, in Costa Rica many things can happen, from the property not having legal title to not being in the proprietor's name yet, for whatever reason. The properties could also have a burden or a mortgage. GoDutch realtors always check the National Property Register before listing a property for sale, to make sure it has free and clear title. If it doesn’t, at least we know about it and it can be cleared at or before closing.
At closing, also your attorney will have made sure that the property is free of all burdens and mortgages and is properly titled in the Public Registry. He/she will register the deed (escritura). Be sure you have a good attorney, so that he/she will do it fast. If you need a reputable lawyer, we can help you contact a bilingual lawyer’s office with a long experience in legal and business matters. We can also offer you Stewart Title Guarantee and other Title Guarantees. For such information, look at other pages within this web site.
Buying a house:
If you want to buy a house, we offer you many listings, which you can see by clicking here,
properties for sale . But these are not the only homes for sale in the country (of course). Costa Rica does not have a multiple listing system; so all real estate brokers have their own listings. GoDutch is part of American European Real Estate Network, so we can refer you to our partners in different areas throughout the country. American-European offers you the largest listing database in the country. We often cooperate with other brokers, in case we don’t find the right listing for you in our inventory.
If you would like some good information about buying a house in Costa Rica, click here
Buyer's Tips. This page offers you some good guidelines for buying a home. If you can’t find the home you are looking for, just send us an e-mail and we’ll look for it. If it’s on the market, we’ll find it for you.
To sell a house:
If you want us to market your property please contact us. We will need of course your help to market the best way possible. You know your property better than we do. Let us know about anything that can help us do our job. We will need from you a copy of the survey, so we can do a correct title search in the National Register. We want to make sure that your property is free of any burdens and title is in your name. We will also help you in calculating the price on your property. From experience we know that is the hardest part of the deal, we know that you are not an expert in construction. In the end every property has its own circumstances and therefore its own price label. We can also point out the necessary repairs of your home. It’s more important than you think to spend some time and even money to get your home in good shape. You wouldn’t want to buy a home and have to start fixing the first day you live in it. Always try to keep it well maintained, that will help sell it better than you think. Click here,
home enhancement checklist
for tips on preparing your property for the market.
Do yourself a favor and contact home inspector Jere McKinney, who can do a thorough home inspection and supply you with a full report of what you should need to get repaired to get your home sold as quick as possible. Jere’s website is
http://www.toadheaven.com/
The Costa Rican system doesn’t have a true buyer's broker and seller's broker like many other countries. Often, the broker is both buyers and sellers. Sometimes it can be necessary to have your own trusted broker to help you out on a deal. We charge half the commission to the buyer if he/she wants us to work as their buyer’s broker and will register ourselves as such with the other realtor. Just let us know when we can assist you in any way.
After a couple of years working real estate here, I found out that Costa Rica is too large a country to serve buyers and sellers well. Three of us got together in July 1989 and founded the American European Real Estate Referral Network. Besides the 4 GoDutch Realty offices, the referral network has 7 reliable and responsible partners located in different areas with a total of 27 agents:
GoDutch Real Estate –
Specialists in: Escazú, Santa Ana, Cariari and San Miguel & Coyote Beach.
ABC Real Estate -
Tamarindo, Samara and surrounding areas.
Coronado
Realty -
West side San José
Costa Rican Real Estate Group -
East side San José, Cartago, Turrialba, Orosi Valley & farms
Tucan Realty -
Heredia area and Boquete in Panama
Pacific
Coast Realty
– Flamingo Beach and surrounding areas
Caribe Sur Real Estate
– Southern Caribbean coast, from Cahuita to Hone Creek, Bribri, Puerto Viejo, Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva, Manzanillo and the surrounding areas.
American-European is very much up to date with our electronic Open Realty data base, which allows us to put any newly listed property in our database and online instantly. This database generates the largest on-line real estate web site in Costa Rica, with the most complete information and greatest amount of listings:
www.aecostarica.com
Look at our ads in the Tico Times and The Real Estate Guide for information on Real Estate in general and our new listings. Visit our awards & memberships page for more information about our company,
click here.
Good luck with your search.
Tropically yours,
Ivo Henfling
President GoDutch Realty
