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I was wondering if anybody knows if ARCR (Association of Residents of Costa Rica) is so helpful and reliable as it looks in their website? Is anybody a member? Should I join it?
Thanx
There are many people here who belong to that association and for some, it has been a worthwhile thing to do.
What I have heard from quite a few is that they are disappointed that after they joined and paid their dues that it’s not an ‘association’ that exists merely to improve you lives here but they discover that it’s just another ‘for profit’ organization where they will earn a commission from each service provider that sells their services to you and where they will earn the usual sales commissions when their real estate arm sells you a home etc. etc.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI think Scott is right that ARCR exists, at least in part, to sell services. Fortunately, many of those services are services that folks need or want, and it is convenient to be able to get them in one place from a staff that speaks English. If I understand the situation, ARCR is managed by the Casa Canada Group which offers a variety of services to professionals and individuals. Managing a not-for-profit association would not be unusual for a company in that business.
We are members and feel like we get good return on our dues. Their mail forwarding service is reasonably priced. They have an interface with INS and CAJA for health, auto and homeowners’ insurances. They have a travel service which we haven’t tried yet. And they can put you in touch with knowledgeable, experienced attorneys who will manage your residency application for set (and comparatively reasonable) fees.
Is ARCR perfect? Nope! Are they pretty good? Oh, yes!
Ditto David C.
I’m a member and have found it well worth the money.No one organization can do everything No one organization is perfect. But in many areas they do a great job.I did try their real estate department however and I would highly recommend you to stay away from that one.Anyway Scott’s real estate connections are great. Try him first.We cancelled our membership after the first year. We found that any discounts they offer memebers for companies, tours, etc. can all be gotten simply by asking for a discount. As others have said, they are a “for profit” organization really, so your best interest may not always be at the fore front. To each his own of course and I know of others that think they are worth the fee. We personally though did not feel we got our money’s worth. Also we found their level of customer service to be lacking in many ways.
Dkt2u Lots of talk about that big tower proposed for Playa Hermosa that will really change the landscape of the area. Whats up with some pics/updates on C heights etc..
I have heard of the purposed highrise in Playa Hermosa. If what I have heard is true, I personally can not recommend it. While on one hand we can off handedly say “you can’t stop progress”, I believe in being a responsible neighbor, or in this case a responsible developer/neighbor. What I have heard, but have not confirmed yet, is that this highrise will actually occupy part of what is now the local soccer field. Again, I have not confirmed this yet. When I have some more information I will post it. As to Columbus Heights, I was there about a month ago. For how long that project has been selling lots and the amount of time since they first broke ground, I was not impressed with the little amount of progress. I spoke with one gentleman that had requested his deposit back after almost a year because of the promises made at the time he put the deposit down on his lot had not been fullfilled. He returned almost a year later to see the sign that says 80% sold out, and there was very little in the way of progress on the infrastructure since he had been there a year ago. His legitimate fear was that if they are 80% sold out then why is there not more in the way of progress. The best advice is to invest your money with a developer that has a proven track record and ideally can show you examples of their work from other projects. At the very least, invest your money with a developer that is following through on what they say they are going to do. There can always be delays in any given project. However, if some of the other projects are steadily moving along and making progress, then it might be an indication that some of the slower projects have more issues than just delays with the local Municipalidad.
Yes it has taken a much longer time than we were originaly told. I added 6-10 months to the time frame they originaly gave as I was familiar with the buracracy in C.R.. The main problem was getting the final permit from SETENA. Considering they started construction on infrastructure in late october I thought they had quite a bit done by December. I did see pictures since and all the roads are cut and about 1/2 paved with paver bricks and water is at each lot. I’m in no rush and paid $30k for 5200M2, of cousre I knew I was rolling the dice when I bought. I am surprised your report is not a little more favorable considering how much equiptment is on site and all the roads that were cut a month ago? Certainly a lot more happening than at the Costa developers sites in the area although I believe Costa will build out all there projects. However it may take longer than there original proposal. I think what these developers of land underestimate is the amount of time it takes to get the environmental study done and final permits from SETENA, the municipal permits come rather quickly but roads and such can not start without the SETENA permit.What happens also is they are “selling” and marketing lots in some cases before the e.i. study has even started, and this alone is min. 6 months to complete and thats if there are no problems. There is an article on the Hermosa tower in the Tico times that explains all this and even though this tower is basicaly just a proposal they have begun to take deposits. My guess would be that if you put down money now you may not see construction for two years. But those taking the risk will be greatly rewarded if it all goes through. Whats yor risk tolerance is the question to ask. Or like you said buy from someone with a proven track record in Costa Rica.
I was actualy told by one of Wellingtons attorneys that they did underestimate the hurdles of getting a project like this finished, that said it will all be done by May. Yes if I had the cash I would have bought a finished lot in a gated community but as you know 5000M2 would cost Minimum of $150,000 and today I would guess closer to $250K?As I said it was two or three months ago at least since I was by the Columbus Heights project, so they may have made some substantial progress since then. If I get by there again soon, I will give an update simply on what I see. I am not personally recommending this project or not recommending it. I was simply giving my perspective on the amount of progress or lack of progress, based on when they started. That primarily is compared to some of the other projects that have a much more substantial level of progress than some of the other ones currently selling lots. All considering the same amount of time since each project may have started. Unknown to many buyers, many of these projects start selling lots long before they have finalized all of their permitting process and in many cases, before they even officially own the property.
I’m sorry in your post here you said you were there a month ago thats why I was surprised you felt little work was done. I was last there in December and quite a bit was happening with a large number of trucks etc on the property.And even with the Christmas holiday they were still working. I was curious about the last few weeks as I was told so much more has happened. I agree with you that most of these projects get underway with there sales and marketing etc..before they even own the land. That is why Columbus heights seems to have taken so so long. I did my due diligence before buying and new there were lots of hurdles that had to be jumped before anything could happen, in this case all they had was an option to buy and also had to join the property, all this was in the contract of sale. If you had your own attorney he/she would have alerted you to these special risks involved. Because of all this I knew we would not see infrastructure for two years. I also knew my deposit was with Stewart Title and according to my contract I could get it back with out having to go to Wellington and verified this with a manager at Stewart Title. Of course there was a time frame on this, as work was done Stewart began releasing funds to Wellington. I must say they did keep us all updated quite well, Fasio would send out the occasional letter DHL delivered to let us know what was going on. Of course the Wellington sales team was “optimistic” about completion dates, but as I said I knew better from speaking with local developers and the permiting process involved is lenghthy with thre field inspectors for SETENA. So do your homework folks when buying land, even at the Costa Rica ltd project in Bejuco people have moved in and homes are complete but still no one has a title yet after two years…problems abound in Costa Rica, here in NYC no title no occupancy. There you can get around things such as this…
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