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Unfortunately it is not only Ticos indulging in the over-pricing culture; many of the “illegal” and “legal” gringos selling property at the beach do it too. I’m more bothered by this since as in a recent land viewing, the Tico owner desparately needed to sell but his agent was too busy marking-up the property to people like me. Suspecting the price was too high even after the steep discount offered I had to walk away as I was not prepared to line the pockets of an agent who, far from facilitating a sale, was, in reality, preventing it. I later found out the owner was prepared to accept about half what his “broker” was shopping the property for….so we all wasted a few days; I believe the property is still on the market….what a surprise!
That is disgusting!
This is not what I was writing about with regards to some owners raising their prices, this sounds more like fraud to me.
“Everybody loses” is not a winning strategy and I would love to see the broker’s commission agreement that allows them to double the price of the property and keep what might be 50% of the sales price instead of a 5% “sales commission.”
If you would PLEASE email me privately (https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/department6.cfm) with more details and I would be happy to contact the parties involved to get their official comments.
I get bloody angry when I hear about anybody taking advantage of the Costa Rican people so would you please help us to try and put a stop to this? Would you help me do that?
Let’s name some names and see what they say to the 7,000+ VIP Members of WeLoveCostaRica.com and I’ll ask the attorneys I recommend what they think…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comIt’s really unfortunate that no matter how isolated these incidents of over-pricing it is badly hurting the entire industry. Every time buyers ask for the cost of certain properties anywhere, the stigma or suspicion of an over-pricing is already attached to the reputation of the agent despite of the steep discounts and fair offers. It is making more harder and harder for honest agents to gain buyer’s confidence nowadays because of unfair practices by others.
Edited on Mar 28, 2007 17:54
The problem is that there is no rules for agents to follow. It is truely the wild wild west in CR. Most agents have never sold a piece of property until they came to CR and they don’t belonge to the Board of Realtors where they must follow ethics.
Sadly, too many of those real estate agents (often erroneously referred to as “Realtors”) indeed have no prior experience or training. One of the missing components of the agent-client relationship is an understanding on the parts of both parties of just what that relationship is and who is playing which role.
Too often, buyers assume that the agent is acting on their (the buyer’s behalf) when, in fact, the agent is actually acting on behalf of the seller. This hidden relationship puts the buyer at an enormous disadvantage which is only magnified by a legal and linguistic environment with which s/he is unfamiliar.
Sellers, too, can misunderstand their relationship with the agent. There is one agency operating in Costa Rica which openly admits to marking up properties which they regard as being underpriced and keeping the difference. These agents represent neither the best interests of the seller nor the interests of the buyer but only their own.
In an utterly unregulated and non-professionalized environment, the best a potential buyer or seller can do is have an attorney representing their interests craft a contract between them and the agent which makes explicit what the parameters of the relationship are to be. In the United States, such a seller-agent or buyer-agent contract would be imposed upon the relationship by the Board of Realtors. Here, the situation is very much different.
No matter what regulations there might be, these people are obviously “ethically challenged” and would rip people off no matter what regulations there are… There’s simply no way that they would not know that what they are doing is VERY wrong.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostarica.comAs Realtor Bill Maes writes in ‘Costa Rica Realtor – A True Misnomer’ there are less than ten people in Costa Rica that are legally allowed to call themselves a Realtor. Bill Maes (who does not sell in Costa Rica) is allowed to call himself that …
But, if you search for ‘Costa Rica Realtor’ in Google you’ll find 1,500,000 pages and after seeing some of the total scumbags that are listed there, we were forced to use that term more on WeLoveCostaRica.com to compete with that…
David you say that “There is one agency operating in Costa Rica which openly admits to marking up properties which they regard as being underpriced and keeping the difference.” Would you PLEASE email me privately on that? I want to know all about that ….
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comHola Scott : It is not only the gringo realators but also the Costa Ricans themselves . I have looked at property all over the country . Mostly looking for a small farm . I actually found 1 over the internet listed by a major realty company . It took me 3 days to find someone who could speak english . I asked the agent about a dozen questions and told the guy I would buy the Finca . I insisted that he go that day and get a signed contract and take more pictures which he did .
My next problem was how was I going to close on the farm . I didn’t want to use thier attorney and I didn’t know 1 of my own . I was walking threw the house with a pile of papers,1 of them fell to the floor. It read Stewart Title Service . I took this as an omen . I had written the note 2 years before . I probably would not use them again, but for a first timer it worked .
I latter found out this was the agents first listing and his first sale . He latter went back to this same town and listed every property he could for exorbatant prices . Now it is all setting there with everybody expecting a huge wind fall and nobody is selling anything .
Non Costa Ricans have to understand the only thing these people have of value is thier land . They usualy only get 1 chance .So Do you blame them?
I would have to guess that if you did buy the farm, you would expect that it was worth more than you paid for it!
Many gringos come and buy the land and in a year turn around and sell it for double the price that they paid for it. Don’t you think the Ticos are wise people? Do you think they would like to get in on the money as well?
Seems to me as if you would like somthing for nothing?
No, I wouldn’t blame them. I would, however, check the value of similar properties in the area. I was lead to believe that you could deal with the property owner direct even if one of the so called Realtors had the property listed. I’m sure there would be some way that a person could find out who the owner is and bypass the so called Realtor and deal direct. Am I right or wrong on this?
Hola Mr Benson : The property I bought was owned by a Tico that had bought it 5 months prior to me buying the property . They must have made a fair profit . My point is the difference in the asking price for a Tico And the asking price for a gringo for the same property . The Tico owners must do thier homework just like the potential buyers .No realator wants to sell a cheap property .But the owners want and sometimes need to move thier property . A realator asking 10 times what it is worth helps no one .I would rather make a fair profit on several sales and build a viberant market instead of making a killing on 1 sale to 1 fool .Ticos are not bad business people . It is just that they are expierencing something that most of them haven’t been exposed to before . Most of them especialy the country people have land that has been thier family for generations .Most of them don’t realize that they could sell a very small piece of thier finca for more than they could get for thier whole farm .They could then get a full time position watching some Gringos lot or house . They would still have thier home and a full time source of income . I am a farmer and I know the mind set behind not giving up an inch of ground . I bought my finca at a price that I have already put it in my children and grand childrens names . It took me 9 years to find the right property and I am not going to sell it . I am trying to become part of the community . I am not a rich Gringo . But I do have 40 years expierence in agriculture and business to offer to my Tico Community .
The problem in Costa Rica is everybody is a realator . Owners list thier property with everybody generaly for different prices . Gringos do not understand how long it takes for paperwork to be completed .POSTED IN WRONG PLACE AND REPOSTED HERE…..
Posted Apr 01,2007 3:31 PM lynnebevan
We’ve only been in Costa Rica for two months, but we’ve already discovered everything that is being talked about on your web site is true. One ‘salesperson’ marked up the price of a condo by ‘only’ five thousand dollars and was caught red handed as the real listing agent showed up and quoted us the real price. It was actually kind of funny to see the other guy try to squirm out of it.
A five thousand dollar mark up down here seems to be almost nothing from what we’re seeing.Reply Delete Edit
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Posted Apr 01,2007 3:36 PM Scott
Would you please email me the name of the ‘salesperson’ who “marked up the price of a condo?”You can contact me here
I will move this posting to the ‘overpricing’ thread and delete this one …
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comyou are right because most ticos don’t sign exclusive listing contacts. How ever my caution to you would be have a really good Tico friend or Tico realive do the deal for you.
Most ticos know that if a gringo comes to make a offer they will up the price because the gringo has the money!
Many times my wife will tell me to keep my mouth shut just so we get better deals.
I am sure that most of the gringos will agree but I remember one time when our car broke down. We blew two tires from a pot hole, we were lucky when a recker came by and picked up our car for us.
When we got into a town that had a station, I had to vamanos so that my wife could have the car fixed other wise it would have cost us double than what the ticos would have paid.Scott,
I’ve had another person tell me to first make a friend of a local Tico and let them be your spokesman. I think that I have found a Costa Rican “Realtor” who will take very good care of me and the wife. They come very highly spoken of and have listings that seem to be much lower than others. I will meet with them in the near future and go from there. We will both be retired and cannot afford to take chances. What it will cost to work with these people will work out to be less in the long run. They do charge a fee but with all they do and the fact that they know the laws it will be well worth it. Scott Oliver gave me the heads up on the Realtor so I do believe them to be who they claim to be.
Art
PS. They do have a local Tico as an agent.
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