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My wife and I plan to move to CR in Mid-October. I would like to open an account and have money wired, prior to moving and being physically present in CR. Is this possible? Thanks
[quote=”bealman”]My wife and I plan to move to CR in Mid-October. I would like to open an account and have money wired, prior to moving and being physically present in CR. Is this possible? Thanks[/quote]
I think the chances of accomplishing this are somewhere between “Slim” & “None”, and “Slim” just went home.
[quote=”bealman”]My wife and I plan to move to CR in Mid-October. I would like to open an account and have money wired, prior to moving and being physically present in CR. Is this possible? Thanks[/quote]
I agree that it is probably next to impossible. It took me 8 hours of sitting and waiting plus two trips to my attorney for more notarized documents. The key with the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica seems to have turned on two things, first that I had a local CR citizens that introduced me to my branch in Orosi and second I could keep returning to my attorney for more notarized documents. Then on my second trip my attorney told he should have sent to his friend at the BNCR down the street in Cartago it would have been quicker.
You night look at Scotiabank (http://www.scotiabankcr.com/), it seems their English page is under construction but could use Google translate for particular page translations by copying, pasting and then translating.
Or you might try Banco de San José (http://www.bac.net/bacsanjose/esp/banco/personas/percuentas.html) but I don’t see an English page. I know they speak English since I got help with my ATM one time.
Just make certain whatever bank you decided to use is somewhere near where you want to live. Also if you take the ARCR seminar at Casa Canada you can the low-down on many of your questions.
Best to my knowledge, all electronic transfers of fund into banks in Costa Rica are through a electronic transfer from you hometown bank.
Tom
Portland, Oegonyou would have to be physically present to open this account, assuming it could be done at all. then the wire transfer expense can be considerable as they get you on both ends, so make sure that the costs are effective because they will be the same whether you wire one thou or ten. plan on about $70 for each transfer — $35 from your bank in the States, and at least that much on the other end.
although people seem to have been able to open an account without the appropriate DIMEX card, i think as the new law gets implemented this will be harder and harder. opening a new account for my husband at HSBC took 4 days and i have had an account there for 8 years. AND we are both residents WITH a DIMEX.
OK, with that said what is a person to do if they want to build there and are living in the states? Seems to me it will be very difficult if you have no way of handling the monies between the investor and builder. There has to be another way…would a lawyer hold your money in an escrow account and distribute as needed to the builder?
okay, i am going to be very blunt here. you are completely out of your mind if you want to build a house here and not be present. i could write a novella about all the people i know who did what you want to do and had it turn out worse than badly. some people spent all the money they had and their house still wasn’t finished, or was finished in such a way that a lot of stuff had to be redone, torn out, or modified. unless you have lots of money you can afford to lose, build your house when you are here; do not leave this task to your builder, your contractor, or anyone else. building a house in a third world/developing country is a hands-on project and it is not for the feint of heart either. you need to inspect every single little tiny phase of this process. even though i was here for most of the construction of my house, i found one glaring mistake. my contractor told me that when the guest bathroom was finished, it would be ready for occupancy. except for one little thing: they had neglected to put in the plumbing to hook up the toilet. so they had to rip out all the tile on the wall, bore into the cement and connect the toilet. and that was just a minor thing compared to some of the horror stories i know about.
I’m fine with “blunt”. This is the kind of info I need. Costa Rica has become like the beautiful cheerleader in high school that lures you into submission and then becomes nothing but trouble. 🙂 I feel in love with CR in 1996 on my first visit and have since returned/returened and am returning again. Last visit we purchased a small lot in Playa Guiones and want to put our retirement home there. The Nosara area has lots of builders who are Gringos etc. I was shown houses that were built for gringos by gringos while the investor was back in the states. I’m certian they had there share of problems as does bulding here in the US. There is a group of guys in Nosara who runs a rental/real estate business and they provide hands on inspection of your project on a daily basis. Of course this comes with a fee! It seems that they are very sucessful in managing these constrution projects for there customers. What is your opinion of this?
Thanks for your honestly! SRPlease, please, please! Reread what maravilla wrote above.
No matter what your confidence level in your architect and builder, mistakes will be made and opportunities will be missed if you aren’t on-site to watch everything and make decisions regarding the final product which, with any luck, you will live in and with for the rest of your life. Let me share two examples from our own experience (bearing in mind that we were living one hundred feet away the whole time the house was under construction).
First, we awoke one day to find that the master bathroom walls had been completely raised. That was the good news. The bad news was that the master builder had misread the blueprints and there was no way in! Had we not intervened, the deconstruction project would have been much more involved. As it turned out, we can, in fact, use the facilities.
Then, on an inspection day, our architect took us downstairs, below the raised deck off the living room, to the area that was to be a carport which would be useful in wet weather. Instead of looking at it from outside, looking in, he had us look out from inside. The view, which we’d never considered, was lovely. So instead of having a carport with a view, at a cost of glassing it in and tiling the floor, we gained a wonderful office space that can double as a guest bedroom.
Consider, too, that until you can actually stand in the roughed-in kitchen (and maybe the baths), you really cannot get a feel for the space. If kitchens and baths sell houses, the decisions you make about these facilities are just too important to leave to someone else’s judgement . . . and execution.
Put off the start of your project if you must. Rent something short-term. But please don’t let these critical matters be dealt with by anyone who isn’t you.
proceed at your own peril. have you actually gone and talked to the homeowners whose houses were built by these guys? if not, then you are missing an important piece of the puzzle. costa rica is worse than just being the cheerleader. here she might wind up being a transvestite! hahahaha and if you think you are safe because you are dealing with gringos, you might want to rethink that. most of the people whose houses were a disaster because of construction blunders were dealing with gringo builders. but hey, it’s not my money you’re spending. but forewarned is forearmed as they say.
Maravilla/David—-I have been a subscriber to this blog for quite awhile and have read many of your post. With that said I do value your opinions and feel they are very valid. Experience is the best teacher as they say, so I’m going to use your experience and put a hold on this project for now.
The last thing I need in my life now is a transvestite!!
Anyone want ot buy a 500m lot in Playa Guiones??[quote=”srigsby”]
…… Anyone want ot buy a 500m lot in Playa Guiones??
[/quote]Don’t give up on your dream!!
All they were saying is take a more cautious approach and find a way to protect your money and your investment.
Hundreds of posts on this and other forums say “come rent first”. It is not bad advice.
Were you planning to make the big move as soon as the house is completed, or is this planned to be a vacation home?Bill–not giving up! My initial plan was to put the house on the rental market as I can only be there a few weeks per year. I have a few years before retirement yet. Was hoping the rental income would help offset the cost until I can enjoy it for any length of time. Long term goal is to spend 2-3 months out of the year enjoying the surf and fishing. Cheers!
In regards to the news coming from the residents of Nosara I would wait until the road has been improved if not fixed! Many are saying rentals are ‘way down’ with some vacationers saying they will never return.
Last week an acquaintance was told by ARCR that he cannot get a bank account until residency is complete and he has a [i]cedula[/i] in hand.
A friend recently had his long time property manager leave and he decided that he could ‘do it himself’ from the USA. This included a building project and where he would arrange for the buying of materials and would have another ‘worker’ pick them up and report to him. Now, 6 months later, hardly any progress has been made even with three trips back and the new ‘overseer’ fired…In regards to the news coming from the residents of Nosara I would wait until the road has been improved if not fixed!
I’ve said before and will again…if the road is ever fixed to Nosara and the beach towns nearby, they will explode with growth.
My contacts there have told me they had a great high season this year, with some houses rented to the max. I’m not there so this is 2nd hand news.If you are talking with Erik and Andrew I believe you are in good hands. I too would recommend speaking with some of their previous clients. I think they have this place pretty wired It was a boom year this year and the green season has been good as well. I too have been traveling to Nosara since ’96 and 2-3 times a year for the past 4 years. I know many of the contractors. I think Andrew does a great over seeing construction. His Spanish is excellent and he comes with a development and marketing background. IMHO…..
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