Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Start with a few referrals from your real estate broker and work from there. Once you have a few names you can Google them and get the info you need to pick one. Everyone’s experience and expectations from their attorneys will vary… the best of situations can turn to crap quickly just as a minefield of problems can be turned around just as fast by a good attorney. Your R.E. broker wants a smooth transaction and a good outcome just as much as you do.
If you’re not using a broker it might be a little tougher to get a good lead on an attorney.
Sorry…. I’m calling BS on this one…. troll. Always uses terms like “Wealthy”, “Expensive”, his “Estate”, former treasure hunter… world traveler…. yet he allegedly parts with $50,000 to an escrow company no one has heard of after dealing with the best real estate people, best attorney… but don’t worry…. he can absorb the loss he’s a rich treasure hunter.
Who needs trust when a 5 second Google search would have been all you needed as Scott has pointed out. I guess your due diligence and superior senses on who to “trust” got the better of you…. sorry friend… no more quarters to feed the troll. LOL
Flame away my friend, I’m guessing I called it correctly… you are NOT going to last here…. that is if you ever really were here in the first place. If you’re going to bash Costa Rica at least come up with better story line, this one didn’t pass the sniff test from the get-go.
Thanks again for the additional information. I was looking to see if anyone had first hand experience with joining CAJA via ARCR with the “new” group rates that had been quoted here and on the ARCR forums. I will attempt to contact ARCR to confirm this new offering of a group rate pricing plan on CAJA for members.
As you pointed out the information, price, rules, and other tidbits dealing with ANYTHING here in CR can be rather fluid and subjective for expats. If I was offered a fixed rate (knowing what you’re getting into) price residency makes sense. Unfortunately pinning down solid information can be difficult at times, and impossible at others.
Thanks for the info. I had looked over at the ARCR site as well as scanning the forums for conformation with no luck. The only info I was able to find was your posting there which you copy and pasted here. My concern was the last line which you left out in the posting here.
>>For those interested in becoming affiliated with CCSS/CAJA through a group plan that is once again being offered by ARCR if you are a member of ARCR, here is some additional information and confirmation from the ‘ARCR team’ of these rates.
Permanent Resident over 55 yrs old is $77
Permanent Resident under 55 yrs old is $137
Pensionado over 55 yrs old is $89
Pensionado under 55 yrs old is $162These are the rates we can offer for now until we finish all the full details of the contract with CAJA”<< Seemed kind of odd that ARCR was offering rates without some type of final agreement with CAJA in place. Has ARCR now finalize their contract with CAJA? Has anyone taken advantage of this new group rate and actually affiliated with CAJA via ARCR at these new fixed group rates?
Can anyone confirm that ARCR is once again offering the CAJA group rate that they had once done but had been discontinued several years ago? This makes a big difference in my possible plans. Not yet SS age but retired and have a good size pension I wasn’t willing to part with 8%-10% of for the process of residency and mandatory CAJA affiliation. The subjective nature ($$$) of the CAJA assessment at the END of the residency process was not worth the gamble. If they now have a fixed rate available for ARCR members it might make sense.
First off…. get your money out of the bank so that you will have cash just in case they separate you from your funds by freezing your account. Leave the minimum in the account just to leave it “open” until this is settled.
If your account is at BN why not just do the “update” on line at their website and put in your current number with a future date of expiration (make it up but use the projected new expiration date) to satisfy their “requirements” until this is settled. Once settled you can put in the correct information. As with many “processes” here it’s often form over substance! They want the boxes filled in…. do they really care or check the information…. not likely. Talking to folks at the branch only opens a can of worms. I’ve managed to keep my accounts open and active for 10 years by simply doing the update when prompted at login seems they don’t check anything…. they’re just programmed to make sure you fill in the box!
This may buy you some time. As for the license issue. If you still have an active license from another country and have traveled outside CR recently use your passport and other license in the unlikely event you are stopped by the police…. might get you through if you play the “tourist” until you settle this.
This time of year is horrible (is that really possible?) to get anything done with government offices. For now you don’t have much of a choice. Once the offices are reopened take care of this in person.
There’s a phrase that’s several hundred years old that sums it up.
“A fool and his money are soon parted.”
I’ve seen numerous fools come and go. House Hunters International just packages the experience into a tidy half hour format rather than watching the real thing happen to folks you’ve met in CR that self destruct making bad choices, failing to do their homework (like researching CR with all the great info on this very site), or loosing their minds while enjoying this beautiful country and it’s people.:roll:
That’s a great idea for a show…. “Train wrecks”…. a new reality show that follows up on the participant’s stories on House Hunters International. I’m sure it would be a hit!:D
Lucky you! It’s going to take CR quite a while to catch up to charging me anywhere near the $10k+ in annual municipal taxes I’m paying on my home in NY!
I guess everything is relative…. even with my annual CR property taxes, attorney fees, and now the tax on corporations it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the scalping we take in NY.
Best of luck and enjoy the view…. It’s a bargain!
That depends on how he structures his work. Taking pictures that he sells privately or via the Internet would be fine. Running a business in CR where he is anything beyond a manager and is directly involved in working in the business would be a problem. I think artists get more latitude then folks involved in more traditional business pursuits like hotels and restaurants when it comes to CR enforcing the laws. I’ve seen many media and musical artist float right under the radar while folks running a restaurant have had nothing but problems with the authorities. Often it’s a competitor that flips them in!
Either way it’s not going to provide him with a means by which to get residency.
They should call House Hunters International the new Fantasy Island. It’s a joke…. a more interesting show would be a follow up to the train wrecks that occur to these folks when reality sets in on their dreams. Most seem to have a bag of cash and NO idea what they’re doing. I’m venturing a guess that MOST don’t last a year in their new “home”.
The proposed tax on corporations is a minor annual fee. Just think about what your annual property taxes in the states would cost for a similar condo. Keeping the property in the corporation still provides some advantages that are worth the small annual cost of keeping the corporation taxes current.
I guess I can get over feeling like an idiot for properly paying the prior corporation tax faithfully when I know many people that didn’t. … and then just laughed at folks like me that had paid when it was nullified. You had to figure that the folks running the CR taxing agency would have to add some teeth to this relaunching of this corporate tax scheme. If they had not done so they would have had folks just simply not pay it again waiting for some court ruling that overturned it a few years down the road!
Should be a big boost to the lawyers helping folks move assets outside corporations before the government moves to attach those assets for non payment. That threat seems a bit over the top however…. if CR can’t even effectively collect taxes what makes anyone think they would be able to take action to seize physical assets held in a corporation. I’m sure they’ll do their best to make an example of some people, that’s how governments scare people into compliance.
My view is it’s better to fly under the radar than to put yourself firmly on it when the cost to keeping your stealth is rather cheap.
Just my two cents.
I think you’ve answered your own question there my friend. If the attorney you’re working with is operating this practice out of the back seat of a 1987 Honda parked on the corner across from the MaxiPali and is requesting cash upfront…. RUN AWAY!
Might I ask how you came to engage this person? Was he recommended by the real estate agent? The seller? The cab driver that picked you up at the airport?
I think you have already identified more than enough warning signs without even having to get to the issue of how payments will be made.
Do yourself a favor and get a referral from the real estate firm you’re working with…. that is if they’ve been properly vetted and aren’t running their operation out of the front seat of that same 1987 Honda!
Best wishes and welcome.
Fair enough.
Your question was would/should you pay your attorney in cash….
My answer Yes (BTW, Always with a bill for services and receipt of payment)…. for if you don’t trust your attorney enough to pay them in cash at the conclusion of your business you certainly shouldn’t be using them to conduct your legal affairs.
The idea that paying by check, credit card or wire provides you any additional level of “protection” or recourse is foolish here in CR. And in many ways can expose you to other issues that will impact you financially at the hands of someone up to no good.
If you get a bad vibe or have not properly vetted your attorney then DON’T use them.
What wonderful history and resume. Adventure is fun and exciting. Challenges are part of what makes it such. You may however find that the frustrations of living day to day life here in CR are very different than the past adventures you have endured. As Bill pointed out it’s a different world here. And for many folks it dooms their stay from the start. Thinking that you will change it may be the biggest roadblock in finding your happiness here. Adjusting to the Pura Vida lifestyle is possible and I hope you do so… you sound a lot more interesting than many of the folks that find their way to CR under somewhat less interesting circumstances!
Once again best of luck here and soak up all you can from this site.
