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Because of cost to bring items from US to Costa Rica, my husband & I had originally planned on leaving most items (furniture,etc) & shopping for new once in Costa Rica. A realtor told us it would be cheaper to have an international mover do the job. I am beginning to get estimates on moving door-to-door, however quote doesn’t include taxes/duties,or whatever upon arrival there? Where can I get that information & it it very costly??? Already, a conservative figure to bring some items (medium sized household)- -no appliances or car is over $5,500 from Illinois to San Jose. Is even that reasonable?????
You are probably entertaining the container idea. Without a complete inventory of your household goods, we could only gestimate what you might pay in taxes — but expect to pay about $1500 mas o menos. That brings your total up to $6500 or maybe more. You can furnish a whole house in Costa Rica for a lot less. With each trip I make I bring with me 100 pounds of “stuff” — in 8 trips that’s nearly a half a ton of personal items, mostly clothes, bedding, towels, etc. So far I’ve had to purchase a stove, fridge, and washer, plus some kitchen items such as dishes, glasses, utensils, 4 beds (queen, double, and two twins) and had my bed frames custom made and I haven’t spent even spent $2500. When we get our major furniture pieces made we expect to pay about $2000 for everything. We had a budget of $5000 to buy everything new or have it made for the house. Unless you have priceless antiques or things that cannot be replaced, I suggest buying the big things in Costa Rica. When I looked at the things I had here in the States, I decided I’d only take my art, baskets and pottery, and good linens, and everything else I can get in Costa Rica.
Good Imfo, i was planning in moving all my Furniture to CR. Can you tell me were did you bought all your furniture down there. We are moving to CR in Aug, Thats when I retire from the Army and currently i am working in my residence right now.
The price you’ve been quoted for a container shipped from Illinois seems very reasonable.
Maravilla is right that many things can be purchased here at very reasonable prices. And her guesstimate about the Customs duty is probably very close. Remember, everything is “used”.
Where I disagree with her is in the fine details. Most folks won’t be making eight trips, and even if we do, and we bring an addtional 100 pounds of stuff, there’s a cost for that, too.
If you have any significant amount of stuff that’s truely important to you (artwork, antiques, heirlooms, etc), that’s going to be expensive to ship as a small consignment (not in a dedicated container), and it’s going to take a long time to get here.
Either in Illinois or in Costa Rica, too, you’ll have to consider the little stuff. Somehow, you’re going to have to furnish a kitchen. Either you bring your pots, pans, cutlery, dinnerware, silverware, utensils, plasticware, hot pads, countertop appliances, etc, etc, etc or else you have a garage sale and then try to outfit a kitchen with the money once you get here. I promise you’ll take a licking in that transaction.
Consider tools, linens, clothing, the computer, TV and stereo, etc, etc.
Same goes for the rest of your household contents. If you add up the replacement cost of all the small stuff, you’ll be astounded at what it will cost, and in the U.S., you’ll get just a few pennies on the dollar for whatever you leave behind.
And . . . While it’s true that you can have (say) a bed made at a very reasonable cost, typical Costa Rican furniture is dark and heavy. It looks to me like a poor copy of stuff from the 1920s. If that’s not your taste, you may find yourself shopping in the gringo-oriented places around San Jose where the prices are right off the U.S. price lists.
So you sell what you own in the U.S. at 20% of its replacement cost (if you’re lucky), avoid (say) $8,000 in shipping and Customs duties, and then replace it all (if you can find equivalent stuff). And since you’ll never be able to sell everything, some of it will end up at Goodwill where they’ll give you a receipt for a $500 tax deduction, which is only good if you itemize.
If you inventory your home, I think you’ll be amazed to learn that the replacement cost is of what you plan to leave behind is easily $75,000 but more likely much more. Is that worth selling cheap and trying to replace, just to save shipping a container?
Oh! And this is stuff you like, right, or you wouldn’t have bought it in the first place?
Edited on Jan 08, 2007 04:43
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