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A good lawyer I use with reasonable rates is Miguel Cordoba Retana. He is in San Jose, very thorough and careful. mcordobaretana@yahoo.com
He advertises in the Tico Times.Most of the labour is local (in the papagayo area), but there is a real shortage of skilled local labour…a good plumber, electrician, welder, carpenter etc can virtually name their own price. and yes people will try to charge the maximum…everyone wants to profit from the boom here.
Do you have a builder already?
Phil
I would really think twice about using suppliers in San Jose for appliances. If there is a problem and you have to return them it can be problematic. Why not use Verdugo or Gallo in Playaas del Coco, Do it or Liberia.
The same with tiles… factor in the cost of transport, breakages e3tc. You also need to be around when they load the transport or you may get the wrong materials.
I speak from experience having built here in Sardinal and now building another.
An excellent local cabinet maker is Jose Luis Bello in Liberia 666 8716 or 364 3488. Expensive and probably booked up for months.
The long established kitchen places like Meubles America and Euromobilia in San Jose are certainly woth talking to.
I used Technogranito in Santa Ana, worked out in the end but they had to measure twice.I live nearby, Sardinal, after living in San Jose for 12 years. We built a house and moved here this year. I’m in the process of building another house for sale. Ask some speecific questions and I’ll try to help you.
you are comparing two different things….land at $30 a metre 1km from the sea and a condo with no land at a price of around $1000 a square meter. Land at $30 a meter with good services in a nice development close to the beach is not so bad.
Try Scotia Bank. The level of English of the staff is usually pretty good. However banking in Costa Rica is different to the english speaking world as the other poster suggested…some of the procedures will seem really crazy to you. You cant get around this even if everyone speaks english. Do not assume anything…for example here there is no such thing as a post dated cheque…the bank will clear it even if the date hasn’t arrived yet…things are different!!
This is an interesting question. I know what people do but I would like to hear (from Randall?) why the fiscal value, or the declared value should be lower than the purchase price. Obviously it “saves” the purchaser money by not paying so much in property tax or transfer tax. What is the basis in law for how these amounts should be calculated? Is this tax evasion or tax avoidance?
its my belief that any contract in Costa Rica that states an ammount in dollars can be paid in colones at the exchange rate of the day. I believe that there is a law that backs this up.
yes David, i have, and that is what happened to me but of course i cannot be sure the same will happen to you that is why I wrote as I did.
yes you can wait to see what happens, it may be added to the Marchamo or it may not. If it is there will be added interest and probably other charges but it wont ammount to much.
Basically the article talks about a large number 390 declared robberies and assaults associated with drug dealers and drug users. While a particular neigbourhood on the edge of Parrita is identified the article suggests that the problem is affecting the inhabitants of the whole of Parrita. Whether this should be of concern for people contemplating buying property nearby I make no comment and I just want to point it out and correct the image given of Parrita as a “quaint” town. There is a large ammount of poverty, indeed most of the town is built on land liable to flooding (the two go together).
hope that helps.regarding Parrita as a quaint little town you might like to read the article in todays Nacion (23rd April)”Drogas, robos y asaltos siembran temor en Parrita”
http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2006/abril/23/sucesos1.htmlAs a geographer I would like to correct the information regarding hurricanes. Costa Rica can and has been hit by hurricanes. That said it is to a lesser degree than say Florida due to our more southerly location. During the Hurricane season passing hurricanes in the Caribbean bring large ammounts of rain to the PACIFIC coast (if anyone wants an explanation I can provide it). In recent years (the last ten)this has often been significant washing out bridges and roads and destroying the houses of usually the poorest people.
The Caribbean coast suffers during the DRY season from large ammounts of rainfall that can also lead to flooding (this is not related to hurricanes), however this rainfall is variable and is interspersed with dry periods.I visited it over a year ago. Construction seems OK but the density is high and the swimming pool is very small (big enough for half a dozen kids). The salesmen was helpful but we decided not to follow it up.
