Did you buy land from Paragon Properties of Costa Rica? If so, we want you to be part of our group.
DISCLAIMER: I am neither an attorney nor a real estate agent. The following information has been gathered through my personal experience as I endeavour to develop my own properties which were purchased from Paragon.
I make NO claims regarding the validity or legality of the information contained herein. I advise everyone to seek legal counsel with respect to their properties. Several investors who purchased property from Paragon Properties have come together to form a Sociedad for the purposes of claiming our land.
Many of us have our deeds however; no infrastructure was developed by Paragon even though they contractually committed to that effort.
Many others paid in full and never received deeds and still others made huge deposits towards their properties only to find that Paragon abandoned them before finalizing their investments.
Hi there, my name is Clarita Bassett.
I have been absent from reporting to you about Paragon for many months now and I apologize.
Since March of 2014, my husband and I have been busy trying to build one of our two lots that were purchased from Paragon in 2006/2007.
We have made some progress, although not as much as we would like or had expected at this juncture in our journey.
We found an attorney, confirmed our legal claim to the property, and hired a topographer.
We surveyed and staked out our boundaries including access roads, filed, revised and updated our plot map in the National Registry and hired a contractor to begin the permitting process.
Everything seemed fine until we tried to bulldoze a clearing through the overgrown foliage which covered the access road to our property. Time had worn away any vestiges of its existence.
The “current” owner of this mother “finca” interrupted our progress by claiming we had no right to trespass on his access roads. If we didn’t immediately seize and desist from our construction efforts, he would call the police, confiscate the bulldozer and sue us. He mentioned the access roads were not part of our property and that by the time he was through with us, we would need a helicopter to access out lots. That did not deter us from our quest.
Since then, we’ve rented a house in the Miramar district and we decided to fence in both our properties until we could come to terms with this unreasonable person. All of this to no avail because the moment we went back to fence them in, we were stopped once again, this time by the police.
Even though we showed the officers our papers verifying our legal ownership, they suggested we refrain from pressing the issue until it was worked out through legal channels. The mayor of Miramar, who came to view our property for the purposes of granting us a permit for “movimiento de tierra”, was also denied access to our property. It seems that the people we are dealing with regarding our properties do not play by the rules.
I write this article to encourage you to join our new found group called, The Costa Rica Properties Investors Group. We have all purchased properties from Paragon and since they are not cooperating in their development, nor giving us clear titles; we must organize to try and save our investments.
We have been working with the local Municipalidades and other city professionals to help us locate our individual properties, legalize our documents and create a single payer system to make it easier to pay our taxes. Local Municipalidad officials would rather see these properties developed rather than waste away untouched. Their potential for increasing tax revenues can only come with their development. The more valuable a piece of land is, the more they can tax it.
There seem to be 2 major areas where Paragon Properties owned land, Miramar and Parrita- both in the Province of Puntarenas. So far, our research shows there were 16 projects in which Paragon sold lots. We are trying to locate as many owners as possible because we feel there is strength in numbers. If only one person, like me, is trying to build on one lot, out of 16 projects, Paragon and this new owner can easily stop my progress; as they have demonstrated time and again.
However, if “they” have to continually stomp out fires which are coming from all directions, chances are they will not be able to keep up the fight. The odds of reclaiming our properties and later developing them ourselves increase dramatically if we all come together as a united front. We need to amass our resources in people, money and intellect to fend off these unscrupulous adversaries who are trying to keep us from possessing our land.
You can contact us anytime at and give us your contact info.
We will try to guide you towards the best solutions for your particular situation.
The more people who join our group, although there are no guarantees, the more we can wield power to negotiate and deal with local authorities, banks, and the current owners of these properties.
And P.S. – Paragon still owns many of these lots.
There are several ways to salvage this mess.
- Find an attorney and get your documents in order. My experience has shown me that it is best to find a local attorney. The local populous needs and wants employment. Ticos like to keep things at the local level. And, the process of permitting and taxing properties falls under local jurisdiction.
- Pay your Sociedad (State) and Municipalidad (Local) taxes. Most of us received properties under the name of a Sociedad (a corporate entity). You must get current with these taxes or risk losing your property. And, most Sociedades need to be amended to substitute you as the legal representative of the corporation. When Paragon gave us these Sociedades, their attorneys were listed as the legal representatives.
- Hire a topographer, survey and register your new plot maps into the National Registry.
- Fence in your lot, place a “no trespassing” sign on it and make use of your land. Possession is 9/10th’s of the law; you MUST TAKE POSSESSION OF YOUR LAND. If you do not claim it; it is at risk of being adversely possessed.
These are the immediate action steps you must take. Those of you who do not have deeds or Sociedad books, you will need to take extra steps to reclaim your land.
One of the many goals for our organization is to help those of you who paid in full but do not have deeds.
Everyone should have a copy of their original contract with Paragon, copies of the original checks paid and letters that Paragon sent congratulating you on your purchases.
Please locate all of your documents and place them in chronological order so you can easily show a time line of your dealings with Paragon.
Connect with us. Join us. And yes, there will be a membership fee (nominal) $300 initiation and $35 per month so we can grow a fund that will be used for communal purposes towards the reclaiming and development of our land.
We were all planning on investing money towards the construction of our properties anyway; this fund will give us a running start toward that end. We can deal with Municipalidad issues pertaining to infrastructure, taxes, and legal possession of our land.
The fund will not be used for individual’s needs, only to serve the community at large. It will be a “not for profit” organization and we still expect everyone to take care of their own personal taxes and attorneys fees.
Anything that pertains to the best interest of the “whole” will be investigated, discussed and then voted on by the board of directors before any funds are dispensed.
Transparency will be crucial to our existence and continued efforts. Please be assured that no one is going to take your money and run. We’ve all experienced that pain before.
We will be sure to post public forums where you can check the progress of our work.
Please start taking care of your Paragon business. Time is of the essence.
We have until December 1st of this year to organize our efforts because after that date, if you have not paid your Sociedad taxes, you will not have a property.
That is the very last deadline to pay those State taxes.
Please like us on Facebook chime in and leave us your Facebook name so we can communicate.
Written by VIP Member Clarita Bassett.
Article ID Number 5180
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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