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[quote=”lavemder”]How to get a house insurance?
What companies are the best one?
How much does it cost?
What is covered and how does it work in CR?
Do you really need one?[/quote]As Scott says, presently there is only one choice = INS….however you do have choices (limited) within INS.
Option #1 – forget the “theft coverage” – they are too busy denying fraudulent claims to ever pay off on a real claim!
Option #2 – ask for a quote on “Fire and Natural Disaster Coverage” only. I believe option is the is the best way to go; however, a word of caution. You can choose whatever coverage you want on your house, but if INS comes out and “appraises” your house after a loss and determines that you have under valued your house, the they can proclaim that you “self insured” for the amount of under coverage – in other words, by under declaring the value you have, in essence, set a “deductible” by the amount (or percentage) that you under declared.
By way of example: Your constructed house is truly worth $400K US. You state the value as $300K US. You have a total loss. INS comes out, says “the real value of this house was $400K US, therefore you self insured for 25% of the loss”.
The same is true for a partial loss. If you have a fire and the damage is $100K Us, and you declared a value of $300K while the real value was $400K, then INS will declare that the first 25% of any loss will be your “deductible”.
Oh, and by the way….the INS coverage does not include contents or personal items![quote=”sueandchris”]Diesels12: Could you give the location that you are doing most of your projects? Central Valley? Do you have an architect that you would recommend? Thx![/quote]
We built a project of 8 very nice homes overlooking Playa Samara and they were all designed and administered to by architect Karin Nagel of Nagel SA. She and her sister Jessica have a reputable firm and are great to work with. Let me know if you would like additional information. costaricabill@gmail.com
I’m not sure a “country of residence” is included in this new twist to the law, but we won’t know until the law is actually published and all of the twists are incuded. Keep in mind, this is a news article, not the actual law, but the article states:
“The rule that a tourist cannot renew a visa by traveling to the same adjacent country twice is a new concept. That means a perpetual tourist living near the Nicaraguan border can visit that country once. But the next visa renewal will have to be at some other country.”
It appears that they are trying to limit the use of “adjacent” countries (Nicaragua & Panama) as the countries to “escape” to for a visit to satify the 90-day rule. Maybe the new law will also clarify whether the “escape” must be for 72 hours or for 24 as many people argue. But wait, why would I think a new Costa Rican law will “clarify” anything?If you don’t find a house sitting opportunity you may want to contact Dick Furlong at Posada El Quijote Country Inn B&B in Escazu. My wife and I stayed there many times during the construction period of our home and it is a very comfortable, easily accessible B&B with great view of central valley from . In addition to the large rooms, they also have a couple of apartments available for longer term rentals. We never hesitate to re-visit or recommend Posada El Quijote! http://www.quijote.cr/ 506-2289-8401
[quote=”mshasta”]Thanks a lot everybody. This really helps.[/quote]
I’m not sure how or why, but my wife and I fly to/from Costa Rica on one way tickets all the time and only once have we (she) been questioned. We purchase one way tickets because we never know the exact date(s) we will need to go back to the States – sometimes it may be before the 90 day limit. We have flown out of Orlando on Jet Blue, Atlanta on Delta (very expensive for one way ticket!), Tampa & Ft. Lauderdale on Spirit.
Only once was there any problem on a one way ticket, and that was when my wife did a 24-hour turn around – flying SJO to Tampa on Friday (with the grandkids) and returning the next day. Immigration questioned her about her flight back to the States (which she had not yet purchased). After 30 minutes or so of confusion they allowed her to complete the pass through at immigration and all was fine.
I know that it is the “law” that you must have a return ticket, but there are so many other ways to depart the country….car, bus, cruise ship, regional airline ….. I just don’t think that there is any way to enforce it. If ever forced by immigration to have a return flight, just get them to allow you to go to an airline ticket counter, buy a full fare, refundable ticket and then cancel it the next day for the refund – or save it and change it later for no fee.
People’s schedules change all the time, so maintain as much flexibility as you can!Hi Scott – thanks for your continuing efforts to get clarification on this issue. As you say, it is still clear as mud, but I hope there is some way to keep digging (as long as the mud is soft). If true I think there would be significant benefits to both the property owner (an easier, more efficient method to achieve residency) and the government (property owners who desire residency may opt to be a bit more “realistic” about disclosing the real value of their property, even though it will result in more annual property tax becoming due and payable).
I would surmise that the increase taxes would be far less than the fees charged by most attorneys for the residency approval process, with several years of the increased tax payments necessary to equal those legal fees. Plus, the recovery formula would necessarily have to include the costs of the obligatory 90 day “escape” trips currently required (exit tax, travel & hotel costs, etc.).
All in all, although it is a “double edged machete”, I think the benefits far outweigh the potential of increased property taxes. In addition, I think we can all rest assured that the government will find additional ways to collect increased taxes in the future.Hi Scott –
I have appended below an email response that I received from the young lady that wrote the article for the TT regarding “Temporary Residency”. She now states that she has been advised that it is an “administrative change”, and she has attached a pdf of a “CIRCULAR-UPI-239-2009-LAS” dated 28-August 2009 from the Direccion General de Migracion y Extrajeria. The circular seems to deal with a MODIFICACION ARTICULO 27, INCISO 4 Y ARTICULO 36 DE LA CIRCULAR SDG-461-2007.
She also provides information as to who her consultant is.
I am having difficulty attaching the pdf to this response, so I will send to you via separate email in the hope that you and your fellow attorneys can read it compare it to the current and proposed laws, and make an accurate determination of whether or not this does in fact modify the existing requirements for residency or create a new methodology for achieving “temporary residency”. I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you want to provide a link to her pdf attachment – it may be that some of the other members may want to review it as well.
Regards, and I look forward (hopefully) to the results of your inquiries.
costaricabillMs. Long’s email follows:
==============
Dear Bill Knight,
My information comes from the attached memorandum and from Fragomen consultants.What wasn’t clear to me was whether this would be included in the new law. I did write that it was part of the law, but was advised later that this is an administrative change.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts after you read this memo.
Cheers, Chrissie
============as a resident of Samara, I guess I need to ask “why not Samara?” At the same time, I will admit that all of the other places mentioned by other respondents (plus many other locations) offer “friendly beaches” with calm waves, reduced undertow, protected shorelines, etc. The type of beach, size of the waves, etc. all depends upon exposure to the typical ocean swell, prevailing winds, protection offered by headlands, reefs, islands, etc. You have a lot of options if you do your research. Don’t rely on my opinions or those of others – go see for yourself, talk to locals (Ticos and gringos) be observant (a lot of surf shops may indicate that the waves are not too small, although there are many surf shops in Samara because it is a good learning beach). It can be deceiving as well – Samara and Carrillo offer smaller waves, but just 20-30 minutes either direction (Camaronal and Guiones) offer world class waves and surfing. Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, there are a lot more things to consider than the size of the waves!
I tried most of the dates and rec’d no fares close to the $17. I think they may offer 2-3 seats per date at these rates.
OK, any clue on how to “withdraw” 1,000/month if you are not in country the other 8 months? If you are married, is it $120K or can only one spouse apply? If it is both spouses is it $2,000/month or still $1,000?
Thanks for the info – we are relocating in 3 months and have been trying to figure out which way to go….rentista or pensionado?check out this web site
http://www.lunalodge.com/lodge.html
this project was done by Paradoxe Architects in Escazu. I am working with them on another project in Guanacaste and they are very professional. The partner I am working with is Felipe Calderon, who speaks English very well.
Their phone #is 22 15 1565 email is paradoxe.arquitectura@gmail.comcrhomebuilder – what a great recap and “cliff notes” study of all of the location choices in CR. But please do us a favor – don’t mention the Samara area anymore…..we’re still trying to keep it a secret! For anyone considering our area, it is HOT & HUMID, the roads are really bad, a lot of areas suffer from water shortages, the prices are too high (and going up), permits are difficult to obtain, etc., etc.
Actually, almost all that is bogus. Although it is hot & humid (like coastal areas throughout the tropics) Samara & Carrillo are great little towns with a wonderful selection of restuarants, cabinas, hotels, B&B’s, hostels, etc., great roadways, delightful & friendly people (locals & expats), etc. Similar to other areas of Guanacaste, we do have a water problem, but the municipalities are working to overcome that, and well permits are time consuming but available.
Unfortunately, we have been discovered and our lifestyles are changing, but not necessarily suffering because of the changes.
Come visit us, and if you choose to stay, you will be welcomed!John, please. There are always reasons. First I noticed that you “owned” property in Hawaii. What happened there?
I am an experienced real estate developer (37 years) that bought property in Samara (2003) started bulding in 2006 with a plan to move in late 2007. Then the buyer for our waterfront home in Florida backed out 3 days before our planned move, and after that my wife had health issues arise, the combination of which has forced us to place our planned retirement dream house on the market. In 45 years of business, I can’t tell you how many people I have known that were going to move (neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, state to state. or in a few cases country to country) and I celebrated when their move was happy and successful, but I never questioned when their plans did not work out as planned because I realized that things come up that are beyond our control. After investing over $1M in our dream house in Samara, we still look at it as “our adventure”. We have sailed many miles across the oceans, and all of those hours and miles were “without roots”. This adventure has roots, and if those roots take hold that will be wonderful. But if they don’t, our other slogan is “we can always go back”. But what we have agreed is that “if we go back” we will still dig a root in Costa Rica, whether it be a smaller house, a condo, an apartment or whatever. One thing for sure “NOBODY ONLY VISITS COSTA RICA ONE TIME”I bought my first CR property in Sept ’03 through one of the “big” real estate companies and was referred to one of the big CR law firms. Since then, I have bought several other properties and have found a great young attorney who looks after MY interest, not that of the real estate company. I have referred him to several friends and all have been extremely pleased with his responsiveness and professionalism.
If you would like more information, contact me at costaricabill@gmail.com. I am in no way associated with this attorney other than a very pleasant and personally rewarding relationship.Randall – still looking for an answer to my earlier question…. is the tax 2.5% (.025) of value or .025% (.0025) of value? Obviously, the former is 10 times greater than the latter.
By the way, I live on the water in Florida and my taxes are .00375% of the taxable value, so if the taxes on my new home in Costa Rica are based on 2.5% (.025) of value, then my tax rate in Costa Rica will be over 6 times greater than in Florida, so the argument that “this is still better than in the U.S.” doesn’t hold much water. If the taxes are in fact based on 2.5% of actual value, I predict the new tax will slow development of new properties (not necessarily bad) and adversely impact the sale/resale of existing properties (bad).
Of course, it all depends on the CR government’s yet-to-be-seen book on how to value your property and the interpretations that it allows.
