Real estate in Costa Rica

For the past 9 months I've been in Costa Rica mainly. Left San Diego a year ago, spend a couple of months in Amsterdam (great place to party, bad place to get stuck in), then took the plane to San Jose, Costa Rica and discovered a whole new world. Costa Rica is the place I wished I had come to about 10 years ago. I miss the United States a lot. My daughter, my friends. My plan is to spend 8 months out of the year in Costa Rica and the other time in Atlanta, Georgia (even though I will have to go back to San Diego to take care of some business). What makes the real estate market in Costa Rica very different is the fact that you don't have to be a licensed agent here in order to buy and sell houses. You don't have to hire a buyers' agent to purchase or sell your property, even though it might be a good idea to do that if you like in Washington, D.C. and only have a limited amount of time to do your transaction in Costa Rica. What you do need is a GOOD attorney and there are not that many here. Maybe 40 percent of the attorneys will do a decent job, but only few will do an excellent job and look out for YOUR best interest. The good part is that lawyers here are fairly cheap, even the good ones. Something like $25 per hour. My friend had a team of 6 of them with him the last time he made a transaction just to make sure he'd get as much legal input as possible. I call it silly, but hey, he wound up paying less than he would have paid for one lawyer in the United States. The place to build right now is the Nicoya Peninsula which includes areas such as Motezuma, Cabuya, Santa Teresa (my home), Malpais (great place to surf and party) as well as Tambor which has the country clubs, golf courses and fine dining experiences you might be accustomed to. The way that you buy real estate down here is very different from the United States. You will get the best deals by word of mouth. I for example have many friends who own property by the beach, many of whom are willing to sell it for way below market value. I'm not here to exploit Costa Rica as I believe that the key to doing business here is to do everybody right. I do however find those willing to be fair and wanting to relocate here find property and know the best deals all around the beach area. If anybody wants to get more information on property investing, doing business in Costa Rica, building requirements and legal issues, feel free to contact me thru the contact link below. I may not be able to service you in person, but will definitely "pass you on" to a trusted real estate or developer friend of mine to get you more information. Hope to see some of you in Costa Rica :) Nice to be back in the world of Real Estate. Mike Dammann

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