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[quote=”Doug Ward”]Whatever you do do NOT come here with the thought of buying. I agree with the renting. Many say one year. I say permanently.[/quote]
Can you tell us why you would rather rent ?
I have been renting for the last 9 years and am tired of it, tired of throwing money into the throat of a landlord, tired of living in places I hate because I can´t afford to rent a nice U.S. standard home and I don´t like Tico Style. I am remodeling a home right now and am expecting to move in to my own place again soon.
As long as someone is not sure if they want to stay permanently or not, renting is o.k. but for permanent, I very much prefer to live in a home that is designed and built to my taste and needs, otherwise it just does not feel home.
From what we experience, many of those who regret having bought a place are mostly folks who did it with the expectation to resell and multiply their money in a couple of years (though they will never admit it). Unfortunately, those “golden years” have long been gone…….
Whatever the client wants can be done. In most cases the buyer contacts the listing agent directly (internet) and this agent will then represent both parties. The final paperwork and property transfer has to be done by an attorney, in most cases chosen by the buyer if the sale is in cash (In case of owner financing, the seller will chose the closing attorney). In rare occasions the buyer and seller chose to work with different attorneys and agree to pay separate fees, the attorneys, however, have to work together on the property transfer. If a buyer is represented by another broker, then this broker will be the buyers agent and the commission will be split. It is common that the seller pays the commission, but in reality, the buyer is the one who brings the money and part of it goes to the broker. The final sales price should be the result of the negotiation between buyer and seller, the broker should be the messenger and not push the sale to his own advantage. Because in today´s market, a sale for a lower price is better than no sale at all.
[quote=”juliebarnett”]My husband and I want to come down for a 3 months stay Jan – March, 2015. We have never been to CR. [i][b]We would love to hear why you chose the place where you reside and what you love about it.[/b][/i] We love city for conveniences, we love beaches for the beauty, but no nothing about either. Our budget is $2500 per month to include rent, utilities, food, outings, car, if needed, etc. Can’t wait to get some answers. Julie[/quote]
Lake Arenal since 1995 and still loving it 😀 no need or desire for city (pollution, noise) or beach (heat heat heat). Both can be reached quite fast if necessary.
$ 800 would be 400,000 Colones 😯 How many workers did you report and at what wages ? I just paid a policy for 3 months for 2 full time construction workers and the amount was close to nothing.
Therefore I never withdraw or transfer more then $ 9990 in one single transaction and per day. Otherwise they have to fill out a stack of papers. Stay below the 10 K mark and there is no problem.
Regarding bank accounts, one of our clients just opened a bank account at BNCR, he has no residency yet. One of the requirements was to prove that he has been a property owner for more than 1 year and he had to bring financial statements from the U.S. (he owns several businesses).
I had to update my info several time in the past, but since I live in Costa Rica and the bank can call me any time, I have no problem with that. In case of my friends, I am a signer on their bank acct. and if the bank decided not to wait another 3 weeks I could withdraw money and put in a CD for the meantime, leaving an almost empty account for the bank to freeze.
For part timers we can only hope that the online update will work in the near future.Living in a golden cage called gated community has nothing to do with luxury or elite. Luxury for me means Space and Privacy, not staring at other peoples roofs and into their back yards. Just my opinion, others may feel the opposite way.
Our dogs get Endovet CES pills once per month, for parasites and ticks. We have not had bot fly problems for a long time. Probably the pills kill them when they just drill into the skin. All the years before, I have squeezed out hundreds of bot flies from my and other peoples dogs (and some from people too).
The “update” button on the BNCR page is quite new and they apologize with new webpage design etc. My friends in Germany have the same problem, they have to do it in person once they come to Costa Rica in 3 weeks.
For Corporations, a person with POA generalissimo can probably update the info.
What we experience with many expats is the “grandparents-syndrom”. As long as the kids don´t have kids they are doing great in Costa Rica. Once there is a grandchild, all of a sudden they “have to move back because our kids need us…” which in my opinion is just an excuse to not say “it was o.k. for a while but not what we had expected”. I raised my 2 kids all by myself, no grandparents help needed or available whatsoever.
What you want to do is called “reunion de fincas”. And this is whay you do:
1) you pay all corporation taxes and property taxes up to date, from both properties and corporations.
2) you need to pay a surveyor to do the new survey plan.
3) you take the new survey plan to your municipality to get the “Visado”
4) You hire a notary to register the “reunion de fincas”. I If the 2 properties are registered under 2 corporations you will have to transfer one property into the other corporation and then put both together. This can be done in one transaction. You will have to pay legal fees (notaries fees) and stamps/taxes to the registry. Nothing is done at the registry without paying stamps and/or taxes. The amount depends on the registered value of the properties (valor fiscal) because there is not Sale involved.Now, as Scott also mentioned, depending on the total value of construction on each lot (including fences, walkways etc.) if you throw the 2 together, you may be subject to pay luxury taxes.
The problem is not necessarily a narrow pipe, it is also the toilet itself which has a very small hole in the bottom where it sits on the pipe. The hole is only about 2 inches and in order to flush “larger items” plus toilet paper, it needs several flushes in between. If someone here knows about toilets with larger bottom holes, let me know.
Another problem can be that people love to landscape and plant trees and other plants too close to the septic pipes and tanks. Roots can grow into the pipes and plug them. We just paid a company $ 600 to clean a whole septic system at a friends house. The tank was not even half full (after 15 years!) and the drain field was o.k. but tiny little roots somehow got into the pipes and, together with toilet paper, plugged them over time.I have a great book, unfortunately (for non-German speakers) it is in German. The title is “Pflanzen der Tropen” which means Tropical Plants. It has pretty much every plant (ornamental and food plants) that I have seen in Costa Rica so far. And it has the common names and the scientific names. I am sure there are similar books available in English.
