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You won’t have to worry about any specific requirements for the family for this initial extended stay if you are here for only 5 or weeks. If you all have passports then there won’t be any issue. You have to leave the country every 90 days for at least 72 hours.
What area are you considering staying in for your 5 to 6 weeks stay?
LG is probably one of the best quality brands and available everywhere throughout Costa Rica. They typically have a longer warranty and parts and or repairs are typically not a problem.
My understanding is your box from the States will not work. We have satellite, but may be getting cable soon so we can have a higher speed internet connection. Our satellite installation was $92, and that included the equipment and the first months service. Our monthly service without added premium channels is about $33 a month. They just installed the cables for Cable Tica in our town and it won’t be ready for another month, but we were told the installation and monthly service is similiar to what we have paid for Direct TV.
The advice from an attorney that yes indeed the law changed in August of 2006. The requirement now is $60K per adult and $30K poer child, so a family of 4 would require $180K to be placed in the 5 year account, with a specific amount being required to withdrawn and converted to colones each month. The amount for a pensionado changed from $600 to $1000 per month. However, Scott is correct, seek advice from a qualified attorney. There are too many horror stories of people trusting just any attorney that was willing or said they were able to handle your residency, only to keep coming back to you saying they needed more money.
actually that might have been cubic feet. Can find out if anyone wants more info on the crate route.
Even linens and tools are much more redily available than they were even a few years ago, so it really depends on how much stuff you have that has sentimental value, etc. to you. A big factor is what kind of life style are you planning on living down here and the type of house. What your budget is going to be is a factor. If money is not an issue, and you are planning on having a larger modern home then you can buy quality furniture down here. Yes, modern furniture too. We have a simple home near the beach and prefer a more rustic type of furniture for the most part. Unless you have furniture you are particularly holden to, it just doesn´t make sense to do the container route. Some people spend $12K or more shipping a container. You might consider a shipping crate type instead. Our friends here in Esterillos shipped a 200 sq foot crate for around $2500. They brought their tools and a lot of personal items, but no furniture or bigger items.
As I said it was two or three months ago at least since I was by the Columbus Heights project, so they may have made some substantial progress since then. If I get by there again soon, I will give an update simply on what I see. I am not personally recommending this project or not recommending it. I was simply giving my perspective on the amount of progress or lack of progress, based on when they started. That primarily is compared to some of the other projects that have a much more substantial level of progress than some of the other ones currently selling lots. All considering the same amount of time since each project may have started. Unknown to many buyers, many of these projects start selling lots long before they have finalized all of their permitting process and in many cases, before they even officially own the property.
I have heard of the purposed highrise in Playa Hermosa. If what I have heard is true, I personally can not recommend it. While on one hand we can off handedly say “you can’t stop progress”, I believe in being a responsible neighbor, or in this case a responsible developer/neighbor. What I have heard, but have not confirmed yet, is that this highrise will actually occupy part of what is now the local soccer field. Again, I have not confirmed this yet. When I have some more information I will post it. As to Columbus Heights, I was there about a month ago. For how long that project has been selling lots and the amount of time since they first broke ground, I was not impressed with the little amount of progress. I spoke with one gentleman that had requested his deposit back after almost a year because of the promises made at the time he put the deposit down on his lot had not been fullfilled. He returned almost a year later to see the sign that says 80% sold out, and there was very little in the way of progress on the infrastructure since he had been there a year ago. His legitimate fear was that if they are 80% sold out then why is there not more in the way of progress. The best advice is to invest your money with a developer that has a proven track record and ideally can show you examples of their work from other projects. At the very least, invest your money with a developer that is following through on what they say they are going to do. There can always be delays in any given project. However, if some of the other projects are steadily moving along and making progress, then it might be an indication that some of the slower projects have more issues than just delays with the local Municipalidad.
We cancelled our membership after the first year. We found that any discounts they offer memebers for companies, tours, etc. can all be gotten simply by asking for a discount. As others have said, they are a “for profit” organization really, so your best interest may not always be at the fore front. To each his own of course and I know of others that think they are worth the fee. We personally though did not feel we got our money’s worth. Also we found their level of customer service to be lacking in many ways.
I would disagree a little about bringing in a container. It really depends on your plans. Your life style can change dramatically once you settle in here, and what seems important now, may not seem as important even six months from now. We had the luxury of having a friend that lived here and once we knew we were moving down we started bringing two extra suit cases during visits and leaving them with our friend. We have no regrets that we sold everything before moving and did not go to the expense of shipping a container. I definitely agree with not bringing a car. Availability of items such as small kitchen appliances and household items are much more readily available than even two years ago when we first arrived. So it really is not an issue finding comprable replacements at comprable prices. The most expensive items can be electronics. Replacing stereo and TV equipment can cost you as much as 2 or 3 times what they are in the States. If you have the opportunity to come and rent a place for even just 6 months, it will give you a better perspective on what you need and what you feel is important.
agree that unless you bringing a shipping container it is not cost effective to ship individual boxes. Used books can be expensive down here, so that is one thing to consider. The used bookstore in Jaco near us is in the neighborhood of $3 for a used paperback book.
Some people obviously have their minds made up ahead of time and put their blinders on and don’t see any red flags when it comes to some of these projects. Common sense would tell me that if I’m getting information from a person paid to make recommendations, that I am getting nothing more than a paid advertisement……but, maybe that’s just me.
I met with the marketing director with Costa Developers and will be meeting with him this week to take a look at both the Costa Esterillos and Costa Reserva projects. I will give an update this week for anyone that is interested.
What is your time frame, expected starting time, etc.? I may have a recommendation, but need some more details. E-mail directly if you would like.
One of the best pieces of advice Scott gave here is to make sure you set and maintain personal boundaries. There are plenty of people, Tico as well as Gringo that once they have a foot in your door, it is an opening for them to take as much generosity as they can get from you. These people are users and although in the rare case it is totally innocent of ill intent, that is not typically the case. Knowledge is money, here even more so than back home. We all pay a little for the knowledge through mistakes we make. We made our share at first, and still continue to learn. That is what makes a forum like this so valuable, especially for the ones just now considering a move. The best thing you can do is learn from other peoples mistakes. It’s a much cheaper lesson.
