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Hello,
I’m exploring my construction loan options… I could get an equity loan on my state side property as previous post have suggested. But, I saw this while google’ing Costa Rica mortgages… CostRicaMortgage.net Has anyone heard of these folks.. I’m a strong believer in the “Too good to be true” principle… I’ve yet to find and stink on them… I spoke with a very nice lady “Cristina” in Nosara? over the phone… Are they the real deal?I have submitted inital documents to them over 2 weeks ago and have yet to get a response on my pre-approval request. They connected me to a US broker who has yet to use them. He stated to me that it is a big IF right now if they could do anything for us. I have just contacted a company called mdomortgage.com and spoke to Scott (in CR). They profess to do loans in US for CR property. He is to contact me back today. Hoping for the best as we are coming down 7/20 on a house hunting visit. Not counting out CR Mortgage but so far – nothing.
cd,
Thanks for the feedback… Sounds like costaRicaMortgage.com might be a no show… I knew going in a cr mortgage was a longshot. I’ll try mdmortgage..Thanks again, please post back If your successful…I’ll do the same…
We used Stewart Title Co. in San Jose as a mortgage broker a year ago. The approval of our application, done by a bank in Texas, took some time, but otherwise the process went pretty well.
David,
Do you still have a contact with Stewart Title… Also, if you don’t mind me asking, did you go with a conventional loan or an equity loan against a US property…
Thanks,
RickWhen we were seeking construction financing for our home in Costa Rica, we did not own any property in the U.S.
Stewart Title functioned as a facilitator for our mortgage. We submitted our proofs of income and assets, etc. to them. They forwarded that information to a bank in Texas which reviewed it as if they were considering making a loan to themselves. The Texas bank then made a loan/don’t loan recommendation back to Stewart who then sent it to one of their participating banks here in Costa Rica. At the time, the only Costa Rican bank with which Stewart Title had a working relationship and which was doing construction financing was Banco Banex, so that’s where our loan ended up being placed.
From Banex, we got a mortgage based upon our application, the Texas bank’s recommendation, and an appraisal of the property (which already had a paid-for guest house on it and which we owned outright). As part of the deal, our Costa Rican corporation, in the name of which our property is owned, was “folded” into a larger real estate trust which somehow holds or guarantees the mortgage. When the mortgage is satisfied, the corporation will regain its previous independent status.
Ours is an adjustable rate mortgage based upon the New York prime rate. On our To-Do List is to talk to Banex about converting that to a fixed rate loan. It is expressed in U.S. dollars.
David,
Great info… Once our Arq. finalizes the plans we’ll get the ball rolling. I would prefer to leverage against my CR property vs my home in the US. This sounds promising..
Thanks again.
Rick.
Ross Sveback took great care of me. I closed on the date I was supposed to and everyone was happy. Gathering the paperwork was not all that fun, but he got it done and I was glad to not have to deal with the hassle. Give him a try – you won’t regret it.
Kurt
NOTE FROM SCOTT OLIVER – We have now officially recommended this well trained, professional mortgage broker at and you can now reach Ross at mortgage@welovecostarica.com
Thank you Kurt..
I was curious, I’m not sure how a CR lender protects themselves in the event a borrower defaults. Do they protect themselves by requiring the equivalent of a “Quit Claim Deed” against your mortgaged property or do they have less draconian means.
Thanks again…
It’s not a “quit claim deed, upe. They file a lien against your property just as they do in the U.S. When the loan is satisfied, they are required to remove the lien.
In our case, the corporation in which we own our real estate was folded into a trust that’s controlled by the bank. Our attorney reviewed the paperwork and declared that it is a normal, safe, legal way for the lender to protect its interests.
This is correct, although the foreclosure process in CR is different than in the States. You are not afforded the rights/legal processes, you can lose your property a lot faster after you default – another reason the banks are extra careful when they lend to gringos.
Kurt
Not yet- have sent paperwork – but nothing has been done yet. Also – FYI – CR Mortgage did call me back, after hearing about a previous post in this forum. They said they would e-mail me the info I needed to do the loan and apologized for not getting back to me. Problem is – that was about a week ago. No e-mail yet. Hope I get something going soon as we are going to CR on 7/20 on a real estate buying tour.
I´m just curious how the process works using local or regional banks versus U.S. banks. In the U.S. there are automated underwriting systems used to qualify borrowers based on credit report and the info provided on the application for instant approvals. As long as you can provide proof of the requested documents per the automated findings, Fannie Mae or Fredie Mac for example will purchase these loans from the lenders, making the loan pretty easy to get done.
I imagine your loan package has to go to some committee in the banking system here for a decision and then to processing if approved. This manual approach maybe takes some time, anyone have the number of days or months to get approved and closed using local banks that they would share with us.
I can tell you how my process worked. Ross took a loan application from me, pulled my credit (emailed me a copy of my report, which noone has ever done before) and submitted my loan for preapproval. I heard back from him the next day and he also emailed me the preapproval showing the loan amount, rate and term (which was 8% for 20-years). When he called me with the preapproval, he sent me an email while we were on the phone with the list of documents I was had to pull together and explained them to me, i.e. last two years taxes, passports, purchase agreement, etc. I sent them all to him overnight and he let me know the following day that he had all of the paperwork in to the lender. He called me a week later and told me I was fully approved and that we had to then order the appraisal (which cost me $425 – he said it goes by the loan amount – which is different than here in the States). I wired the funds to him and he let me know he had recieved the wire and when he sent it to the appraiser. Then he also told me when the appraisal was going to be done (I had already given him the contact informaiton to get into the house) and reiterated that we would not hear back for a week. Just like clockwork, he called me and told me the appraisal was back and that we were ready to close in three days. I got my plane ticket and flew down there. The closing went smooth, I did not even have any questions as nothing was unexpected. I thought it was very much like getting financed here in the States, but I suppose every once in a while there is a problem. Sorry for rambling…
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