moving my household goods from us to costa rica

Do a simple cost analysis.

First, determine what you’re likely to get if you sell everything and bring the cash to Costa Rica.

Then figure what you’re likely to spend here replacing everything. Bear in mind that anything imported to Costa Rica will be substantially more expensive than it is in the U.S. While locally made large pieces of furniture will be cheaper than in the U.S., kitchen utensils, silverware, dishes, pots and pans, small appliances, linens, lamps, tools, computers and printers, etc will cost much more. And you won’t have the selection you’re used to.

If you balance the income from liquidating everything against the cost of replacing it, I think you’ll find that the cost of the container shipment is probably well worth it.

And finally, if you have things of emotional value (family heirlooms, antiques, the ashtrays the kids made at camp, family photos, artwork, etc), you’ll have to make some provision for those. Are you really ready to give all that up?

Simple answer… store them in the US for a year (or two)… see how your relocation to Costa Rica goes… then have them shipped if you stay! If these items are important to you… don’t sell them, make the move…. and then have to kick yourself in the rear end twice. Once for parting with them, and two for not lasting in what you felt was paradise. The cost of storing them will be nothing compared to parting with them or shipping them here and finding you’re part of the large percentage that don’t last more then a couple of years here and then having to pay to ship the same things back to the states again!

Besides… depending on what you have… replacing it here during your trial period might be rather less expensive than you think. And the stuff here is more suited for this climate, your things might not do as well. We didn’t bring a thing from the states other than some ceiling fans, electronics, and assorted stuff we couldn’t find here. All of which was transported in our luggage over several trips.

Edited on Mar 03, 2009 08:28

We moved a year ago and my suggestion is ship your goods. We left a furnished house in California so don’t have to pay storage but are finding it hard to replace the comfortable sofas, chests of drawers, rugs etc. at a reasonable cost. It is a matter of having the things that make a house “home”.

Good luck.

I dunno, imx. We know a bunch of North Americans and a handful of Europeans and so far we can account for only one couple who’ve left Costa Rica. They did so because the climate in the rainy season was incompatible with her respiratory problems. The only other couple we know who left went first to Nicaragua and then to Panama. And now they’re back.

I don’t know where one would go to get the data to support the assertion that ” . . a large percentage . . leave . .”, but the anecdotal evidence available to me certainly doesn’t support it. What’s more, making the decision to bring one’s household goods or leave them behind shouldn’t be made on the basis of what somebody says they think maybe some unquantified number of other somebodies might have done.

Well David… I guess I’ll defer to your experience and amend my advice since I can’t quantify my numbers… but then again can anyone as Scott points out? It’s advice David not math… advice that has to take into account so many different variables… all unknown to us… if it were mathematics we wouldn’t be discussing it. 🙂

So then…Simple answer Porkychop6…. MOVE everything you have down with you… no matter what the cost and possible damage in transit. Don’t concern yourself that when you unpack you’ll be wondering why you paid to move half the stuff you brought with you…. it will pass. Time allows us forget our mistakes more quickly than our successes. Don’t worry that your things might not do well here… or fit in your new surroundings. Don’t give yourself an option with this Costa Rica relocation… jump in both feet… don’t hesitate…damn common sense… throw caution to the wind! Don’t worry that storing them in the states for a while doesn’t cost much… pay to have them moved… after all you have a money tree in the yard don’t you? LOL

While you’re at it… don’t rent for a while somewhere in CR as many (whoops not sure I can back that up either) people advise… buy a home right away… just like the move… jump in both feet… in fact buy the first home you look at… I’m sure it will be everything you dreamed of, you’ll never want to move again! LOL

Hey it’s only money… and your life… if you have to pay to move your things twice… so be it! And hey… if you have to move back… you can always post your ad on A.M. Costa Rica’s classified section with all the other folks selling the entire contents of homes and apartments that aren’t moving back home either!

Hope I made my point… or at least made you smile! Please let us know what you plan to do… my risk/reward scale might be different then yours… but giving yourself options is never a bad idea!

Scott… there might be slightly less than 10,000 “legal” permanent US residents in CR… but I’ll bet there’s three times that many living the PT life or flying under the radar all together. But as you pointed out… hard to back up numbers and opinions. Migracion can provide a hard number based on those that have legally relocated and obtained residency, but it’s anyone’s guess as to the real numbers.

With such a small number it’s no surprise the pending changes to the residency laws show such little concern for folks looking to relocate or those who are currently residing in CR. With such a small number it’s a solid statement to make that the majority of money that has been invested in CR is by folks that don’t live here. As such, why would the CR government care. The big money has already come in… and the flow has slowed or stopped now.

Just read Derek Dodds article… “There are supposedly over 100,000 North-Americans living in Costa Rica and the number is growing daily.”

Perhaps my guess was much too low! LOL

Edited on Mar 04, 2009 09:33