Finince a home in Costa Rica

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  • #175327

    Do anybody bouth recently a house in Costa Rica, me and my wife are planning to move to San Jose next yera and we would like to know if anybody nows if a house value is about 70K how much would i have to put down in the loan.

    #175328
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    May I sugegst that you read our Costa Rica Mortgages article?

    which will give you a very good idea of how the banks work here “if” you are a fully legal resident of Costa Rica

    If you are NOT a fully legal resident of Costa Rica it is very hard to get a mortgage

    Scott – Founder
    WeLoveCostaRica.com

    #175329

    Thank you very much for the info, i will do the paper work to become a resident once a get down there, my wife is from Costa Rica and we have two Daughters so i hope we dont have to many problem doing all this paperwork

    #175330
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    If your wife is a Tica, you should have no problems whatsoever…

    Scott

    #175331

    Yes she is from San Antonio de Coronado is closed to Sa Jose. Thats were we are going to try to buy our house since most of our friends and her parent are located there.

    #175332
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    There are some lovely areas in Coronado and since it’s not one of the ‘gringo’ hangouts the prices tend to me far more realistic.

    I have been out there on a few occasions visiting an investment client who’s family owns the HiC bottling company…

    Scott

    #175333

    Scott, do you now anything on medical insurance. I have Tricare which it cover me and my Family here i the States and its also and Army medical insurance but i know i would have to get my wife and my kids insurance for any medical expenses down there. Can you give me any advice. Also i want to bring a vehicle from the Sates but i dont know how much I would have to pay in Costa Rica for taxes to retire the vehicle from the port.Can you please answer these question.

    #175334
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Did you read our article ‘Costa Rica Healthcare for Military Veterans’ which you can find at

    The ‘Costa Rica Cars – New or Used?’ is an important article and talks about import duties at:

    Scott

    #175335
    DavidCMurray
    Participant

    Stewart Title Co. of Costa Rica is advertising in Tico Times for a mortgage program for gringos. They service both legal residents and non-residents and can finance 75% and 70% loan-to-value respectively. The processing cost is $280.

    What they do is this: They take an American-style mortgage application with all the required documentation and have that reviewed by a bank in Texas. The Texas bank then makes a recommendation to a Costa Rican bank to make the loan or not. Stewart says that the recommendation is always followed.

    Contact: fvega@stewartcr.com and tell him Dave Murray sent you.

    So this is a way to take advantage of your U.S.-based credit history, using documents (income and bank statements, etc) that you already have, and then get a loan in Costa Rica.

    We’re using this process to obtain construction financing. It has taken a bit longer for the Texas bank to review our records and make their recommendation, but the Costa Rican bank acted very quickly to give us a preliminary approval pending submission of the construction plans, permits, etc.

    #175336

    What are the typical rates offered? Are they in the US range, Costa Rican or in the middle. Thanks!

    #175337
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    I am meeting with Federico on Friday and will make sure we have all the details posted on the site as soon as I can… I think it’s safe to say that the rates will be substantially higher than what you would find in the USA.

    To be blunt, I had tried to communicate with this company a couple of years back and after leaving a dozen messages without a single reply, forgot about them.

    After seeing David’s posting, I though I would give them one last shot and was shocked to receive phone call from Federico within SECONDS of emailing him a very vague email.

    Best wishes

    Scott – Founder
    WeLoveCostaRica.com

    #175338
    DavidCMurray
    Participant

    If I recall all the details correctly, we’ll be paying the New York overnight prime rate plus 2.5% with a minimum of 8% amortized over 20 years. By U.S. standards,it’s high, all right, but given the cost of construction, the monthly payment will not be excessive, and the interest you pay on a home mortgage is deductible from your U.S. federal income taxes. (You do realize, don’t you, that living in Costa Rica you’re still liable for U.S. income tax?)

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