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I am going to CR monday to see how work is being done on a home I purchased in the Bandera Beach area. I really enjoyed Scott’s book and real estate kit . It is a must read. I found that more and more Banks are becoming interested in lending to Americans. Lately it is not as hard as you think. If you would like a couple of contacts that I made email me and I will share them with you.
Stanley Putra
studly26@hotmail.comBear in mind that although there are more banks interested in working with US citizens, their fees are sometimes OUTRAGEOUSLY high and, most of them consider beach real estate – “high-risk.”
Some of them that might help you with a mortgage in the Central Valley will may NOT help on at the beach so do make sure you understand that before you waste your time trecking into the city to meet with them.
I have met with a couple of people in this field and have declined to recommend them for a variety of reasons (extremely poor service, bad communication skills and very high fees) so if someone does make a suggestion, PLEASE do your own homework.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comPS. Did you see my article on “Costa Rica Mortgages – Commission Costs” at
This is very interesting. Why do banks consider beach real estate “high risk”? That seems very odd to me. Wouldn’t beach property be less risk because of it’s desirability? It’s probably the easiest property to sell, isn’t it? This is confusing to me. Can you explain this in more detail, Scott, because I want to understand how this works.
Thanks much…
DianeYou would have to ask the bank about their specific policies but I doubt they would tell you.
Let me stress that the following comments are assumptions only, I have no real data to back this up:
1. The weather is certainly more damaging to real estate on the coast.
2. The ‘longevity’ of owners at the beach is ‘probably’ lower than in the Central Valley. People tend to ‘dream’ about cocktails at sunset on the beach but then discover that ‘living’ there is different from being on vacation and then they want to sell up and leave. This probably applies to both Tico & Gringo buyers.
3. People with plans to rent their homes out to make a little money discover that it’s more of a ‘high-impact’ rental situation (more damage to the home) than a home in the Central Valley where they might be renting to ‘professionals’ who leave the home to go to work every day and managing a rental property form a distance is NOT easy at all.
4. Crime is higher in many of the beach areas and there are more burglaries.
5. Since property prices at the beach tend to be significantly higher, I am assuming that the default rate is also higher.* Again – Let me stress that these are assumptions, I have no real data to back this up.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWell, those are definitely some good points that I hadn’t considered…at least not all of them. I can see how some of them would be true. I can understand how renting wouldn’t be a good idea. To me, renting is not an option, whether in CR or US. People have very little regard for other people’s property in my experience. In the US, you can live on the same piece of property as your renter, and they still trash the place. The length of time people stay is also a good point. It seems that there are quite a few transients that move in and move out again shortly after. Ok…well, we’ll keep this in mind.
Diane
I would think that beach property values are much more volatile, something that gives banks the heebie jeebies.
Gringo Tico
It appears that the trend in beach property has been up and up The Banks don’t like concession properties because it is hard to foreclose on them. Otherwise the Banks do not care about anything but your ability to repay. I say this for the National Bank. That is not to say you should still check around.
StanEdited on Nov 21, 2006 08:49
Scott I met with a Manager at the National Bank on tuesday. They don’t like concession property. That doesn’t mean other banks won’t allow it Otherwise they are very interested in financing my project with a credit line after my plans are approved.
StanEdited on Nov 21, 2006 08:05
Edited on Nov 21, 2006 08:47
Hello,
Even if this post is pretty old, I still would like to provide my feedback…
I have been doing an extensive research from the web, referrals and magazines in order to be able to finance my condo in Tamarindo. Here are the 2 best brokers I found, responsive, fast, reasonably priced and honest:
– http://www.rivierafinancial.com Fernando@rivierafinancial.com 506 888 1307
– http://WWW.MDOMORTGAGE.COM info@mdomortgage.com 800 518 2066I also tried to work directly with most banks and Stewart Title with no success: phone calls or emails not returned, lost documents multiple times or the Loan To Value was too high.
This post is based on my experience for the last month of research…
See you,
Sir Can you email me privately?
studly26@hotmail.com
Thanks
Stan
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