No License Requirements For Realtors In Costa Rica

[vbcruiser]

I'm a retired builder from Canada, living in Costa Rica. In Canada, I dealt with real estate professionals who sold my properties for 31 years. All worked with me to make my ventures successful and over the years I have become friends with those realtors.

Most of the homes I built were on speculation and I just turned the sales over to the realtor I used for a particular home. I always joked with the realtors saying "I only want to hear from you when you sell the house". In other words, I didn't want to have a part in the person to person selling.

In Costa Rica, there is no licensing, no special requirements for a person to be a realtor. Anyone and everyone in Costa Rica seems to be selling real estate and it appears that foreigners here, are buying from these unregulated, unlicensed people. The problems foreigners are having using some of these people are unbelievable and the last thing I want to experience in Costa Rica is a legal problem.

I'm for licensing, I'm even for a probationary period for real estate professionals, if it helps with the credibility of the craft.

Notice I don't refer to them as realtors. That's because I think there's a big difference between a trained licensed realtor and a person selling real estate.

I have contacted two realtors in Costa Rica who claimed to be licensed in the USA, but it turns out they were not.

I was hoping for an opinion from "real" realtors on this forum.

Should I continue to try and sell my own home or should I use an unlicensed person selling real estate in Costa Rica?

[fwd]

Why not try through remax?
http://remax-caribbeanislands.com/pr...costa_rica.asp

[DebbieJ]

I am a "real" Realtor in Florida. I believe in licensing and think it's a great service to the public. As I'm sure you've seen over the years, there are still licensed realtors doing bad things. From what you mentioned in your post, sounds like you should becareful using an unlicensed person there. The good news is that you know a lot about real estate and the process. Foreigners go to these places thinking they can flip properties, not knowing anything about RE and get into trouble. Add in unlicensed people and it spells....well it doesn't sound good. How long has your home been for sale? Do homes sell quicker using these unlicensed people?