Selling land in Costa Rica – South Pacific Region

[jojanzen]

Hi!

I was looking for some advice on selling land in Costa Rica.

Three years ago my husband and I took a trip to Costa Rica and purchased a small block of land in a community development area through Ventana Del Pacifico.

We are now looking to sell that land.

It is owned under a corporation.

What is the best way to go about selling it?

Also, we need updated pictures of the land, so if anyone is the the Ochojal Osa area and wants to make a few quick dollars we are willing to pay someone to go and take a few digitial pictures of our land and the surrounding area.

Thanks! I love this website. I have been following the discussions for a few months and I fell comfortable that I’ve come the right place.

Last year I contacted a real estate office in the South Pacific Region and listed the land with them.

As far as I know they never showed it to anyone, never took any pictures for us and just generally never communicated with us, so we are really in need of some help! We live in Canada.

Regards J & J. Janzen

[Andrew]

If this is land is located in one of the many projects that are being sold by high-pressure telemarketing boiler rooms with the promise that the project will be developed “one day” but you still only have a fancy entrance with nothing behind it, then professional real estate agents probably won’t touch it.

We do have a Help-U-Sell section on this site where owners can sell their own properties for a very affordable fee but we have turned down most of these kinds of properties.

We have declined to feature them because although these sellers can prove they are the owners of a Costa Rican corporation, many of them have been unable to prove they are the legal owners of the land that the corporation is supposed to own and one of the ways we help protect our VIP Members is by doing a basic title search before we feature the property for sale in that section.

This does of course depend on the particular project.

Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com

[jojanzen]

Hi Scott,

Thanks so much for the reply and your frankness about the property.
I actually did list with Dominical Realty (Coldwell Banker) and they told me that they were familiar with the development company (Ventana Del Pacifico) and gave me the impression that they were above board, although didn’t hear from them after I signed the listing contract. Do you know of this company and their projects? Also, how can I do a title search, will you do one for us without buying the listing package, of course we will pay a fee. We need to know at this point if we have lost our cash or if we really do own the land.
Regards J. Janzen

[scottbenson]

J.janzen,

Just a question, why don’t you travel to Costa Rica yourself? why are you going thru the issue of listing or selling the property with out traveling to Costa Rica to interview agents and take the pictures your self?

[Andrew]

From the feedback from other VIP Members in this forum it does appear that this development is further ahead than many of the others that we hear about and, we have not heard the same horror stories about this group that we have about others so that’s good news for you.

You can see our Costa Rica Title Search service at

The Costa Rica Title Search service will include the following:

1. Complete survey of all relevant information on the National Public Registry known as Registro Nacional.
2. Complete investigation of any liens or encumbrances the property might have.
3. Investigation of any Court case (within San José’s Court Circuits) from which liens are attached to the property.
4. Confirmation that the engineering plan plano catastrado for the property exists otherwise you can not legally buy it.
5. A full report of the legal status and dimensions of the property with interpretation into simple English language terms.
6. Electronic copies of all relevant registered legal documents obtained directly from the Costa Rican Registro Nacional system.
7. You can also telephone attorney José Rafael Fernández and take advantage of his generous free fifteen minute telephone legal consultation and discuss your concerns related to the report.

Guaranteed Results:

This report is guaranteed to be accurate when produced and will be delivered to your email address in three full business days.

Information You Must Have:

1. The folio real number (the unique identification number that all properties must have) or, the complete name of the owner company or person

2. If you are buying land in a subdivision that is to be divided in the future, you must have the finca madre number which is the unique identification number of the mother property.

Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com

[awilson1333]

Hi there,

I purchased property in San Martin (just south of Dominical) last year through Coldwell Banker and found my experience to be a very good one. I think it depends on the actual agent that you work with however I will say that you will more than likely have to take the initiative to follow up with them. I still to this day keep in touch with my agent and he has been very helpful in answering questions and continues to offer help in any way he can (he’s an American expat). I remember seeing the Ventana del Pacifico in their listings, although specifically I am not familiar with their projects. I had my title search completed by my lawyer in San Jose, who was recommended to me by Coldwell Banker. I have met with my lawyer on several occasions and continue to keep in touch with him via email, he is fully bilingual, belongs to a large firm and has at his disposal many lawyers with different areas of expertise. I have never been steered wrong by him and have grown to trust him. Maybe I got lucky, not sure. Let me know if I can help with any additional information.

[jojanzen]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the information. I have read the rest of the forum discussions regarding Ventana and I am feeling very comforted about our purchase. One of the people posting just happened to be going to the Ventana development today as they are building in the same area and has agreed to take some photographs for us, so we are very thankful for this forum.
Just to answer a few of the questions posed in this discussion thread.
My husband and I did travel to costa rica, did look at the property before we purchased and we feel we did do our due diligence to the best of our knowledge, but part of me is still a skeptic sometimes.

My husband will most definitely travel to Costa Rica if we have someone interested in purchasing the land.

Right now travel is not an option for me, so I enlisted the help of a reputable real estate office thinking that was my best shot at selling or getting some interest. I did keep in close contact with them, phoned and emailed but rarely heard back from them and when my listing failed to appear on their website listings I asked why and was never given any response. So, I guess I was just unlucky or they weren’t interested in selling our small block of land even though I agreed to a ridiculous commission.
Forgive me for sounding skeptical, I don’t mean to be, I love Costa Rica and Ventana have been very good to us. Sometimes you just hear the horror stories and start to worry.

Scott, I purchased a title search through your site which is great, thankyou. Will I hear from someone or who do I submit my folio real number to?
Thanks everyone!
J Janzen

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