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It’s easy to establish a corporation, anybody can do that…
Just because you want to “develop property using local workers” does not mean that the Costa Rican government will bend over backwards to give you residence.
You need to establish the correct residency that will allow you to do what you want to do and this should have been done BEFORE you decided to “develop.”
Please contact your attorney ASAP and ask him or her to look into this for you.
You may also wish to see
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI read a LOT.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comPS. Tell me ‘HappyGirl!’ What’s your life’s mission statement?
I didn’t know anybody was expecting a list?
I would LOVE to produce such a list but since some of the most aggressive land promoters in Costa Rica happen to have some of the most aggressive attorneys in Costa Rica as partners in their projects, life can get very expensive for people very quickly if you happen to mention that a particular developer is one that’s on the “For God’s sake, hang up the phone!” list
EVERY SINGLE DAY, I hear about some other group or project that are doing things that they should NOT be doing. 90% of them are Gringos ripping off other Gringos but, it is exceedingly difficult for me to ‘highlight’ those companies.
Needless to say, we focus only on recommending financially strong, experienced developers with a proven track record of delivering a quality real estate product in Costa Rica.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI did not even see this thread – sorry! Working 100+ hours per week and now trying to do that and not knowing for how long we’ll have electricity has forced me to focus more on ultra high priority items.
The closing costs on this transaction were extraordinarily low Diego. Please do not use this example as the ‘norm’ – it is not all normal. Your initial estimate of around 3.62% is far more common.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comDiego states that it’s disturbing that: “$ is worth more than clean resources and the availability of them.” And “Are we to continue to define ourselves by our bank account, or will our deeds, our actions be the criteria for self definition?”
Until we realize – in the very near future – that we REALLY don’t have enough water to drink or grow food and 75% of our newborns are suffering from some respiratory disease because of the pollution in the air.
Human nature is such that the game will be all over before the majority of people understand what’s going on. Of course the people will then be very angry at the ‘organizers’ and ‘referees’ of that game and why they allowed it continue …
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comSaw this company advertising in the Costa Rica Chamber of Construction (I am a member) magazine which looks very reasonable.
Their advertisement boasts of a solar powered water heater for 300 litres which costs only US$1,900
Their site is at http://www.solraycentroamerica.com
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI don’t honestly know if there is much interest Julie.
For me, meditation is an invaluable, very private activity and I have always been convinced that if we taught meditation seriously in schools, we would have only 5% of the problems we have right now.
Unfortunately, on our present path, it would appear that we are racing towards total self-annihilation.
As for a suitable property – wchich should purchased before the end of the world – you might want to take a look at
PS. I am just about to finish reading ‘The Monk and the Philosopher’ by two Frenchmen – Father, Jean-Francois Revel (philosopher) and his son Matthiew Ricard (Buddhist monk) Matthiew Ricard which is fantastic.
Best wishes
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comFor calling locally maybe but don’t believe you can use that with your cellphone can you? Or to make international calls for .20 cents per minute?
Sctot Oliver
Profiting from the increase/decrease in foreign currency exchange rates is not for the faint of heart. Even experts with a lifetime of experience are only right half the time so as long as you appreciate that ….
I would suggest that unless you are a sophisticated investor who truly understands the risks involved, if you are earning US dollars from SS or investments that you stick with US dollar investments.
And as mentioned previously, you DO NOT KEEP ALL YOUR MONEY in Costa Rican or in any Costa Rican ‘investment’ firm. I recommend that you keep six months’ worth of cash living expenses here and the rest is invested outside of Costa Rica.
Many foreigners living here own their own homes here AND they have all their cash here, that is not sensible. You must be diversified.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThere’s a bit of a credit card ‘war’ going on at the moment here with credit cards companies advertising that if you use their cards in certain stores you’ll get 35-50% discount.
Please don’t ask me about the economics of this, I have NO IDEA how this could be good for the merchant but my point is that cash is certainly considered superior by most businesses.
The negative of paying in cash is that if there are any serious problems with whatever you have bought, you have no leverage with cash but certainly do if you had paid with a credit card.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comREPOSTED HERE BY SCOTT:
Posted Apr 29,2007 4:39 PM Renewable Energy
Hi,My name is Jason Borner and I have been living in Costa Rica for 16 years and have my own alternative energy company here. I am writing in response to some of the questions that were posted here and hopefully I can help with some quick answers for now and will write more tomorrow….
First the project regarding pumping the water up the hill to a reservoir during off peak hours and then re-using it to produce energy during peak times is feasible when the economic costs justify it.
These type of projects take into account the kWh price differences between peak and non peak hours. The per kWh price difference could be anywhere from 10%-50%, which then makes it feasible to pump water back up the hill, even though there is a loss in efficiency by doing this.
It is kind of like a perpetual motion machine with the economics of energy driving it. In some instances this is a viable strategy but in most markets it is not.
Most alternative energy equipment in Costa Rica pays 14% import tax which is essentially sales tax, plus the 1% “selectivo de consumo”.
The sales tax component can be recovered if you own a business that collects sales tax through it’s operations (retail sales, food, hotel etc). I say most because some components are not covered by this. The biggest example is with batteries.
If I import a complete solar “kit” with everything from inverters, to charge controllers, mounts, cables, and batteries, the system is classified in customs as an “AC generator of less than 30kW capacity” (there are different ranges).
Since the primary function (and this is how customs classifies items) of the system is to generate AC electricity then all components that are needed to make this happen only pay the 14% tax.
If I were to bring components in separately (as in the case when I have replacement batteries), then the panels, inverters, charge controllers, and other electrical equipment pay 14%, the batteries however jump to 62%!!! This is what makes systems expensive, and why it is better to buy in kit form.
Now on the solar thermal side of things (hot water, hot air), taxes are the 14%, plus 9%. This makes no sense to me and I have been trying to convince MINAE of their position and it may change, but for the moment we are stuck paying the extra 9%.
Part of the energy crisis in the country could be alleviated if the government and mostly ICE would allow renewable energy systems to be connected to the grid. Currently the ICE is doing a multi year study to figure out how to implement this even though the technology has been proven around the world and is very easy to implement.
Only here would it take them so long to see how this could be a benefit. There is another catch though and that is that by law only 5% of the national energy grid can be produced by private companies or individuals.
Although this seems like a very static number, this 5% share is growing annually with the overall expansion of the grid. Mostly this 5% share comes from smaller hydro producers in the 500kW or less range, and excess energy produced by palm oil and sugar cane factories burning biomass.
What is lacking is for Joe consumer to be able to add solar to his building, connect an all in one inverter and hook it up to the grid. This is what we call grid tie, and is very easy to implement and maintain as there are no batteries (although a small bank could be added for backup). Imagine if all the new condos being built would include some of this energy in their design, it would relieve some stress on the grid.
The other issue that was raised was payback. Typically payback in Costa Rica on a solar electricity system where the house is near the grid is unrealistic in purely economic terms. The reason for this is simple; there is no funding.
In California, Germany, Japan and other places, half of the system cost is paid either by state incentives or from the regular energy service provider. In some cases the excess energy is bought back at market price, and in Germany the energy is purchased back at 2-4 times the market price.
This obviously makes an impact on payback. However when other concerns are factored in, (CO2, environment, energy security) and given an economic weight then the situation can change, but this is a personal quantification and at this stage in human environmental appreciation not an economic one.
Payback for solar thermal systems, water pumping systems and remote homes in Costa Rica can be as little 3 years, depending on the variabilities of each project, and wind and small scale hydro can payback on a much quicker time frame than solar.
In pure market terms the price of solar panels was lower about a a year to two years ago, but the global demand for silicone of the proper grade and purity has caused prices to rise again.
The lowest price that one could buy panels in the US today is about $3.5 per watt $350 for a 100 watt panel). This however would probably be a one off, or limited stock item and the normal price is more like $4.5 to $5 per watt. Then shipping and taxes must be added to get the product here which means that a panel in Costa Rica sells for about $6 to $8 per watt.
For an off grid home system with batteries and including installation the price can be from $13 to $18 per watt. As a baseline to compare systems the industry uses the solar array capacity to describe a system, therefore if a typical vacation home would need a 2 kW solar array the system would cost between $26000 and $36000.
This would also include some type of a back up generator as the batteries in the systems require periodic maintenance that is too expensive for solar to provide alone.
OK….bear with me I have one last question to answer!
Looking at this crises from a global view and finding the root causes leads us to the CO2 debate and a theory of what we can do to stabilise the current emissions (other than radically reduce the human population).
The theory revolves around the 7 wedges of stabilization which are strategies for reducing CO2 emissions and go hand in hand with providing for the future energy needs of Costa Rica and other countries.
If everyone would attempt to implement some or all of these strategies in their daily lives the world may be able to reduce emissions and increase economic growth – the holy grail. If not grab your surf board because the tide is rising on a beach near you!
I won’t explain this all here but please go to:
http://www.princeton.edu/~cmi/resources/stabwedge.htmPopular Science also had a great article on this a few months back.
I hope I have been able to provide some answers and look forward to continuing this discussion.
Cheers,
Jason
A NOTE FROM SCOTT OLIVER – FOUNDER OF WELOVECOSTARICA.COM
You can see the article entitled ‘Solar Energy in Costa Rica – An Interview with Jason Borner’ at
Jason’s website and contact information can be found at http://www.poderco.com
Hmmmm! Cindyc – Please tell me this is not a “commercial posting”! Or are you referring to what you did for your own house only?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comPS. We have hired an interior designer to do her ‘thing’ with a new home in Santa Ana and we’ll be doing lots of ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs so if she does a great job, we’ll feature her in an article.
Costa Rica banks will pay interest on colones and interest on US$ accounts but in comparing the risk you must compare apples to apples.
One of the local banks BAC San Jose is presently offering the following terms for one year deposits 7.24 on *colones* and 3.04 in *US$* so if you are being offered 6% I am assuming that’s a colones investment which you would only be able to make after buying colones with your dollars.
An investment in a ‘AAA” investment in Costa Rica is NOT the same a ‘AAA’ investment in the USA – 90% of the time they are two totally different and separate rating systems.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comAuthor of ‘Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore’
Funny enough I was joking about this with some friends saying that maybe the head honcho from Intel in the USA telephoned Oscar Arias saying “we would like to suggest this power problem is fixed NOW or you can kiss goodbye to the largest high-tech employer in Costa Rica.”
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThanks Tom… I do hope that you are not disappointed Tom – Costa Rica today is not even recognizable compared to 1988.
You might want to read the new article by attorney Nidia Maria Cordero at Costa Rica Retirement – A summary of the kind of residencies available.
I am guessing that the immigration department will need to see proof of your SS income so that may mean that you would have to wait a little while before applying but if you contact Nidia’a assistant using the contact form, they should be able to answer your questions.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com
