currency, spending, cost, and cost of living.

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Viewing 4 posts - 16 through 19 (of 19 total)
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  • #165105
    Xentar1976
    Member

    Hi Bill, you list the costs for unmarried couple, is it worse or better for married couple?
    Also, I just joined the forum yesterday and you guys have already burst my bubble. 😆

    #165106
    BillNew
    Participant

    The cash requirement s the same for a single or married couple …

    The CAJA is the same …

    The lawyer fees will likely be heavily discounted for the spouse.

    And … most bubbles need bursting …

    Sometimes the grass is only greener because there’s a lot more poop to step in …

    #165107
    VictoriaT
    Member

    Living in a beach community like Domincal has a lot of disadvantages. Electricity to run AC and dehumidifiers will kill your monthly income. Tourists swarm and raise prices of everything. If you move into the higher regions between Dominical and San Isidro General you will save a ton of money on electricity, have the ocean close by and be able to get to a city to shop.

    As for the massage therapy, if your clients are gringo no one is going to care if you are working “illegally”. But be prepared to charge $20-30 an hour because there are plenty of Ticos who will give a great massage for that price.

    #165108

    I am going to be kind here and say if you don’t make a trip or two here before you move, you are waiting for a disaster. I came here running from 2008 to 2012 before I moved here in September 2013 and I still had shocks for settling in to living here and making it my home. I live on $1,100 USD a month up in the mountains outside of Grecia. I keep at a minimum what imported products I buy here from either the US or Europe. In a month you can spend as much at PriceSmart buying by what you get at Costco marked up 30% to 60% is my best guess. Meat, fish and chicken are on a par with us prices and very seldom when on sale, not sale price anything like stateside. You need to give yourself a crash course on these things, plan and simple: go to http://www.arcr.net/ to give yourself that crash course. You need not do business with ARCR, but their information on every tab will be very helpful. Since you are on this website, read every thing in the article section and buy all of Scott’s books and read them diligently. You may never buy property, but Scott’s books can show you have this country functions. Remember you are not moving to Kansas, but to a country that is very different to what you are use to in the US. Weekly check food prices on these sites keeping in mind that the measurements are not ours, AutoMercado (http://www.automercado.cr/); Wal-Mart (http://www.walmart.co.cr/); and maybe MasXenos (http://www.masxmenos.cr/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=inst). Learn/teach yourself to read the pages in Spanish, doing that is not rocket science even though it might be difficult. Use copy and paste PLUS google translate to get you over the rough bits. In a few weeks t will be easier and easier. YouTube is full of videos like this one, check them out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtfCAWDwLlg . Good luck, you can do this but remember that this country is a great place to live, but it is their country, and they REALLY don’t care if you don’t like the way they run it!

Viewing 4 posts - 16 through 19 (of 19 total)
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