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Living in Alaska and owning a fairly high-maintenance property in Costa Rica has us pondering some issues.
What is the usual arrangement for a resident property manager, one who would live in one of the houses on our property, oversee the gardener, and meet our paperwork filing requirements?Two offers we have had for this position are requesting free rent, paid utilities and a salary. Silly me, I thought exchanging free rent in our little corner of paradise would be a suitable trade for overseeing our property and living there. In other words, we don’t charge rent, they don’t charge us management fees. Does anyone have any prior experience with this kind of arrangement?
Why exactly is the property “high maintenance?”
How many homes are we talking about?
Where are these homes exactly?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThe property is nearly 5 acres and nicely manicured and landscaped. The groundskeeper works every other week 5 days per week. We pay his salary, pension, etc., all legal and above the board. There is constantly plant trash,the lawns need mowing,weed eating, etc. Because we are not living there at this time, we had a person who took care of his pay, the property taxes, and other incidentals. She is moving on, and until we sell the place we don’t know what to do.
There are two homes, a nice little “guest house”, one bedroom, bath, kitchen, living room. One large 3 bedroom, two bath, large living room and kitchen home with unfinished quarters in the downstairs. We have a beautiful rancho, a small lagoon, and many fruit trees and flowers.Edited on Mar 22, 2008 08:27
You know what they say in Real Estate; Location is everything. Here in the Central Valley finding a trustworthy house sitter who will exchange rent for maintenance and or supervision is common. I have friends with houses in popular beach communities that have this arrangement with caretakers who come and go but the owners have no trouble finding replacements. Perhaps you could advertise in Alaska or Western Canada where folks enjoy living in rural areas.
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