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SYNDICATIONby Ivo Henfling for the Easy Times
When you are looking to purchase Costa Rica real estate in a development, no matter if it is in pre-construction or while construction is going on, do yourself a favor and make sure you do your due diligence on the development.
After the real estate boom in Costa Rica, many investors and developers went on their face and lost their money, just like anywhere in the world. Costa Rica is no different and with a different culture and a different language, someone who speaks our language we automatically trust. Therefore we have decided to give you a tool that will help you decide if you should purchase a property from a developer or walk away.
By Ivo Henfling for the Easy Times
Have you ever put money down on a Costa Rica real estate project that did not happen? Learn from others’ mistakes, so it won’t happen to you. On the 30th of May, I wrote a blog about developers in Costa Rica and the promises some make to their clients
I’m a real estate agent in Costa Rica and don’t want to sound holier than the Pope, but I bought a condo in Jaco beach from the Sonesta One Jaco developer and now the whole building has been in court, there is a lien on my property and I haven’t been able to use my condo for two years now.
Of course some developers don't like what I am writing but my testimonials show I always try to make my buyer's investment to be safe one.
By Ivo Henfling for the Easy Times
As a buyer of a condo in Sonesta One Jaco, I received an email from the Developer, Joshua ten Brink of Riverside Developers during Eastern Week 2010, saying that he is suing the bank who lent them the money to build the project of One Jaco Place in Jaco, later Sonesta Jaco Resort.
The reason, he alleges in his email to those who bought a unit or put earnest money down against an option to purchase/sale agreement is that the bank who lent him the money (BCIE) because they are changing the rules on them and they can not afford to finish the condo buildings.
Meanwhile, some of us closed on the purchase and some others have paid the earnest money but will not close or cannot close for one reason or the other and the whole project will be tied up in court for who knows how long.
By Ivo Henfling for the Easy Times
Home inspections in Costa Rica, find an inspector who knows what he is doing
You fell in love with that beautiful 2 bedroom ranch home for sale that offers these fabulous ocean views. The home has a pool and though the kitchen looks simple, you just fell in love with it. This is the home you have wanted to retire to or have as a vacation home. You have made an offer on this costa rica real estate through your American European Real Estate Groups' agent and your offer was accepted. What is the next step?
You have no idea if this home was built right, if the septic system was correctly installed and if the electrical wiring was done correctly. You don't know if this building lot was cut out of the mountain or if it was fill and if your swimming pool is secure or not. It might end up down the mountain one day.
Costa Rica Riverside condominium is one of the finest condos in Escazu for under $500K. NOW you can get this incredible 3-bedroom / 2.5 bath plus office condo for sale of over 2,500 sq.ft. for under $300K and the owner is even throwing in almost $40K of fine furniture, appliances and window treatments.
For those who enjoy Costa Rica condo living, because of the security and the amenities, you HAVE to jump on this incredible offer of $289,000.
The most incredible about this bargain for sale is that smaller apartments than this are offered in building 2 for much higher prices. We have a 2-bedroom condo on the 4th floor at $280K and a 3-bedroom condo on the 1st floor at $350K. And Riverside is one of the finest apartment buildings in Escazu.
Before you buy any Costa Rica beach front real estate, you should know there are certain restrictions for a Costa Rica real estate concession held by foreigners and the maritime zoning laws of Costa Rica.
If personally held, the foreigner must first have five years of legal residence in Costa Rica. For this reason, many foreigners purchase the rights to beach real estate or ocean front property by first forming a Costa Rican corporation, a simple process that takes about 30 days and can cost from $150 to $1,000, depending on the attorney that constitutes it, the type of corporation or if you use a typical shelf corporation.
Your Costa Rican corporation must have at least fifty percent of its shares held by a Costa Rican resident or citizen. Most people are not comfortable with this so at the time of closing the sale, the "token" Costa Rican shareholder, simply endorses the shares to the foreigner so that the foreigner is holding 100% of the shares.
When buying Costa Rica beach front property, you should first of all do so through our knowledgeable affiliate beach real estate agents. Second, you should use any of the closing attorneys our affiliate real estate agents recommend. But the following blog is hopefully useful so before you purchase Costa Rica beach front property in the Costa Rica Maritime Zone, you will be more knowledgeable than you were before, which will help you in your due diligence.
Land in the Maritime Zone of Costa Rica has certain restrictions that you should know about and we also want to tell you about the precautions you should take before purchasing land in the Maritime Zone.
Although local governments will collect a land use tax known as a canon from occupants of land located in the maritime zone it does not mean that a concession has been granted.
We get questions if you can own Costa Rica beach front property all the time and if there is maritime zoning in place, so it is easier to write a blog about it and refer to the blog. This will make it more accesible to everyone who is interested in buying Costa Rica beach front property.
To begin with, not all beach property is maritime zone property. You can purchase fully titled land in front of the beach or overlooking the beach or within walking distance to the beach and never have to worry about the Maritime Zone.
No matter if you are purchasing Costa Rica real estate or Costa Rica beach front property to live or as an investment, you should always contact one of our affiliate partners so you are sure or having an expert real estate agent who knows the area and all the pro and cons of each property or beach concession.
By Ivo Henfling for the Easy Times
During the Costa Rica real estate boom there were suddenly lots of people with absolutely no experience in development of real estate projects doing all kind of real estate developments in the Central valley and in the Costa Rica beach areas of North, Central and South Pacific.
During the boom, there were also quite a few real estate agents turning themselves into developers, buying very cheap properties and then offering the best deals in town at even better profits. Today, there are a lot of those investors stuck with shares in some kind of real estate development that never happened.
Paragon Properties became infamous because they were a boiler room sales office and took millions from innocent Costa Rica real estate investors. Investing is Costa Rica is as serious business as it is anywhere in the world, but you can always learn from other's mistakes, especially when investing your money in Costa Rica real estate.
By guestblogger Jeff Lichtenstein for the Easy Times
As you all know, Costa Rica real estate is very connected with Florida real estate. Both are retirement markets and people look to move to warmer destinations as the weather keeps changing with more rain and more cold. The Florida real estate market got hit hard when the bubble burst but the Costa Rica real estate market has been pretty stable, mainly based on a strong local purchase power from the young professionals who have great paying jobs from the US companies that moved to Costa Rica looking for cheaper labor. Costa Rica banks are very happy to give these yourng profesionals a mortgage for their property purchase.
Because I believe that when the Florida real estate market comes back, Costa Rica will be right behind it and I forsee that when that happens, we will soon get lots of retirees from up north deciding to retire to Costa Rica again. For this reason you will enjoy this article by Palm Beach - Florida realtor Jeff Lichtenstein who sells luxury homes in this area.
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