Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your reply. I’ll definitely put that information in “my folder” as well. Yes, a Toyota RAV, or something like that,sounds like a good idea. We’ll check with Purdy’s next time we’re there and meet up with them for future needs. It’s also good to know there won’t be problems with parts or service when buying from an established dealer.
Diane
Wow! That was a mouthful, and I appreciate every word you said. I can tell you’ve had lots of experience there in CR. Paul and I haven’t had as much, but we can relate to many of the things you mentioned. Just from building a small home, which of course took much longer and many things weren’t done correctly, which meant more time having to re-do. When fill was ordered from the dirt company, they never returned my calls (about 5 calls) so I left messages…it was never delivered. We found out that about 8 months later (when we were back here in the states) someone dumped a pile of dirt on our front yard. haha! Yes, the work ethic is totally different there. But it is their lifestyle we choose to move into and so if we are determined to live somewhere so completely different to our U.S. “Nature”, it can be either “heaven or hell” depending on what our needs are at the time. You really brought home to me the differences and how it can affect us personally. Thank you GringoTico for all the information.
Diane
Hi,
Guy sounds good, but just be careful with properties in Puriscal. I was told by a Costa Rican gentleman that there are earth quakes in that area with lots of land slides. I don’t know how true that is, but he seemed to be a reputable source. Just check it out with Guy…can’t hurt, and if he’s good, he’ll definitely look into it or already knows which areas are affected. It really is a lovely area. I was interested in land there before he told us that information. Quakes scare me to death. Was raised in California during a time when we had some pretty heavy quakes, still have nightmares from that time. I supposed all areas of Costa Rica have a certain amount of quakes, however, one would want to know how stable the ground is before building.
Just a thought…thinking of your girlfriend…I would try for a place with air conditioning for this first trip. It gets pretty hot and humid on the beaches. She may be very uncomfortable unless she’s used to humidity.
This is very interesting. Why do banks consider beach real estate “high risk”? That seems very odd to me. Wouldn’t beach property be less risk because of it’s desirability? It’s probably the easiest property to sell, isn’t it? This is confusing to me. Can you explain this in more detail, Scott, because I want to understand how this works.
Thanks much…
DianeGood information to keep. I’m writing that name down. Thanks, Scott. I have a folder in which I keep all my Costa Rica information. The Chiropractor you recently talked about is in that folder, and now Mauricio Artavia “The best Car Mechanic in Costa Rica” is there as well! These are little jewels of information. Very important people to know.
On this subject of cars, I’ve heard that the duty taxes on cars from the U.S. are extremely high when bringing them to Costa Rica. For those of us who can’t really afford to pay for a car twice, would you recommend buying a car there, and if so, where would one go, and are the Toyotas the best deal? We had thought about driving down there in Paul’s Jeep, but are re-thinking this avenue due to the stories we’ve heard on prices one pays bringing it into the country.
I saw the same article in the newspaper recently and wasn’t at all surprised by the number of people going elsewhere. Health care in the U.S. has become financially prohibitive for most folks. Insurance policies become more and more expensive to purchase and some people are simply refusing to pay that much for a policy that may not even cover something that may happen unexpectedly.
I have also heard that people are going elsewhere not only because it’s inexpensive, but because they can find equally competent care and service in other countries. Many of the doctors, dentists, etc. are U.S. board certified and have worked in U.S. hospitals. I have heard of many people going to Costa Rica for dentistry work because they are very skilled at what they do, very quick, and reasonably priced. Many people (men and women) are going there to see plastic surgeons because most of the surgeons have certifications from US.
Another interesting piece of that article stated that some insurance companies in the states are starting to see the benefits of covering people going to hospitals in other countries and several have already begun to cover in other countries. Even Blue Cross/Blue Shield sent an emissary over to Bangkok to observe the doctors and see the facilities. The gentleman was very pleasantly surprised by the updated machines, the cleanliness of the facility, and the competency of the doctors. So it seems there is a new trend here. I’m all for it, give the AMA a little competition. I’ve heard lots of slams against doctors in other countries, but frankly, I’ve heard many, many more stories “behind the scenes” about people dieing in hospitals in the states and the reasons are frightening. Sure U.S. docs have malpractice insurance, but when you’ve lost one of your family members due to a doctors incompetence, that doesn’t really help the family much. It’s like my husband says, there are doctors who graduate lowest in their class…and they’re still allowed to be doctors.
Who knows, this new concept of going overseas for medical help may be the beginning of an interesting change in the U.S.
In September, while in Costa Rica on business/pleasure, we got married through our atty. No frills, just the paperwork routine. Was going to cost $900 and our jaws dropped. So they brought it down to $750. Still a lot for us, considering we weren’t having a preacher and church ceremony. We went for it though because we had planned to do this while in Costa Rica this time. He said it would take at least a couple of months for the paperwork to go through the ministry. In the meantime, back in the states, we had moved and were having a difficult time trying to open bank accounts, get driver’s licenses, etc. under the new name because we had no “marriage certificate”. We decided to just go to the JP here and get the deed done. So we paid $82 and got married. Again, no frills. Our atty in Costa Rica called us and said there were new forms that he wasn’t aware of that we’d have to fill out, and we were still not married in Costa Rica. He reimbursed us about $650 so we figured he charged us quite a chunk for his services and that the fees for a marriage license are probably about the same as here, give or take a few dollars. He is going to go ahead and fill out the paperwork for us, and send it in again…so we will have a marriage license on file in Costa Rica. We were only required to give him our passports for ID.
We actually found it more expensive and more of a hassle getting married there. We thought it would be less expensive, when in fact it was almost $700 more than the states. The license isn’t good until it goes through the ministry…which can take months. Then, if any changes take place in the ministry…new paperwork may have to be filled out and refiled…taking who knows how many more months of time. We still haven’t found out if our marriage license is valid there or not.
It’s a lot easier to marry in the states, at least from our perspective. You may have better luck than we had though. Just giving you the facts of one story.
Good luck to you!
DianeThanks for your feedback on the issue of Title Insurance. As for Attorneys carrying malpractice insurance, I don’t know…but I would doubt it. Simply because most Costa Rican Doctors don’t carry malpractice insurance, so it follows that lawyers wouldn’t either. But that’s just my speculation on the matter.
Did you read what Scott said about his friend and lawyer who he trusts? Jose Rafael Fernandez said one does not need to buy Title insurance in Costa Rica. We have never had to buy it before, even when we had a lot close to the beach in Potrero. That’s why we questioned the need for it. It has never been mentioned to us before when we bought land there…so we were curious about finding out more information on the subject. There have been lots of various opinions about it. I tend to go with what Jose Fernandez said, since he knows the laws in Costa Rica better than most of us gringos.
It would be interesting to know if lawyers do have malpractice insurance though! If you find out, please let me know.
Thanks.
DianeBrian,
Thanks for your reply. The property we are buying in Tamarindo is a mile inland from the beach, so it’s not really beach property. Our lawyer seems competant, and said there were no encumbrances or liens on the property and that everything checked out fine. So this is why I was confused about the Title Insurance.
We do enjoy Costa Rica. It is such a beautiful country and the people are wonderful. Hope you enjoy your times there as well!
Diane
Dear Jose,
Thanks so much for your lengthy and informative reply. I really learned a lot from your message. Thanks to Brian, too. I realized that I didn’t make it clear in my original message that the property in Tamarindo isn’t “on” the beach but about a mile inland from the beach. Does this change things in terms of whether it’s “normal” property? When we bought the property in Petrero we had a Folio Real and there were no insurance fees so I suppose it was considered “Normal” . It was about 4 blocks from the beach. That’s why I thought our property in Tamarindo would be the same…”normal” with no Title Insurance fees.
I do understand that each lawyer will ask their fees differently. The one we have now seems very competant, however his fees seem extremely high to us, compared with our first encounter with the buying process. He explains everything to us well, but we still don’t know if he’s overcharging us on work we may not necessarily require. As I mentioned, he is very personable and nice, and I enjoyed our time with him. But the fees seemed much higher than we have experienced before.
Would you say that being a mile from the beach would require “Beach Front” real estate regulatory systems, or “normal”.
Diane
I would like to reply to Mr. Fernandez’ message because we recently had some problems with this issue.We bought land in Playa Petrero in 2003 and did not have to pay Title Insurance on it. We built a small house on the property and then decided to sell because the area around us had become busy and we wanted more “quiet”. So we sold it, and proceeded to buy land south of San Jose in the mountains. Again, we did not have to pay Title insurance on it.
Then a friend in Tamarindo said to come look at some beautiful lots in that area, so we flew over to see. We loved the lots, and bought one.
Now our attourney is saying we need to buy Title Insurance on this land because it is near the beaches. He already checked to see if the land was unencumbered, which it was, and yet he says we still need to buy this insurance. His fee turns out to be more than 1% of the amount.
We also decided to get married in Costa Rica this last Sept. He was going to charge us $900 to provide us the service and paperwork. We were going to cancel, and he brought the price down to $750. We went ahead with it, even though it went against the grain to pay that much. We found out recently that it only costs about $85 for the paperwork.
With that, and now another $800 for Title Insurance, we are beginning to feel as though maybe he’s taking advantage of our “foreign ignorance”. Do lawyers there typically charge this much for these types of services? He is a very nice person otherwise, and we like him. We’re not sure if we should keep him though. I would appreciate any feedback you have on this.
Diane
