My hope is that my unique experience in being involved in hundreds of real estate transactions in Costa Rica over the years will help simplify the sometimes complicated process for you of buying a home in Costa Rica.

How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa (Shirt) is not a book about “living in Costa Rica”, it is a 99 page simple, easy to read – updated as of October 2012 – condensed version of our original ‘How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate’ book in .pdf format.

When you search for suitable Costa Rica real estate, whether it is to live in full time, as a holiday home or as an investment, you need to be well informed about the five main challenges in searching for Costa Rica real estate:

“The advice in this book could save you a thousand times
more than the purchase price…” Dave Reynolds, Brooklyn. NY

• Contrary to what some people may have told you, there is no Multiple Listing Service to speak of, so trying to establish even a rough idea of what a piece of property is worth is extremely difficult. Take a look on the internet and you will often find the exact same property listed by different ‘brokers’ at dramatically different prices.
• Half the population of Costa Rica call themselves ‘Realtors’ because anyone can… To be involved with Costa Rica real estate, you do not need any qualifications, training or experience whatsoever to call yourself a ‘broker’.
• An organization of real estate brokers does exist; however, very few people who call themselves brokers have even heard of it, never mind belong to it, and nobody is regulating or monitoring these people!
• The laws governing Costa Rica real estate are based on Napoleonic Laws and not Common Laws as they are in the US and Canada. How much do you know about the Napoleonic Law system?
• Although many people speak some English, Costa Rica is a Spanish speaking country and all legal documents will be in Spanish. If you can’t read Spanish well then understanding contracts for example will be very difficult.

This means that when buying Costa Rica real estate, which may be one of the biggest investments of your life, more than likely, you will be listening to ‘expert’ advice coming from someone with zero qualifications or training in real estate, who is trying very hard to earn a sales commission selling you a property that could be overpriced…

If this sounds like a recipe for disaster, it can be!

In this 99 page ‘no-fluff’ How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa (Shirt) EBook in .pdf format, I have tried to detail all the most important information so that you do not make the sometimes very expensive and painful mistakes that others have made before you …

Amongst the many topics covered, we will give you the answers to the following important Costa Rica real estate questions:

1. If you wouldn’t buy real estate from an immigrant working illegally in your home town, why do it here?
2. Did you receive one of these 30,000,000 very deceptive Costa Rica real estate marketing emails that were sent out each week?
3. What you should do when the boiler room “closers” (who’ve never been to Costa Rica) call you to sell you land in Costa Rica?
4. Where can you get the most accurate Costa Rica real estate information?
5. What natural problems exist that you should remember when looking for real estate?
6. Why Costa Rica real estate is not like ‘back home’?
7. What you should consider before even contacting a Realtor?
8. As a homeowner in Costa Rica, what taxes should you expect to pay?
9. How does the new luxury property tax work?
10. What are the main differences between the different geographical areas in Costa Rica?
11. Do you really need a Realtor to buy a home?
12. How to find a trustworthy, reference checked Realtor?
13. What questions should you ask your Realtor BEFORE you hire them?
14. What is the Registro Nacional?
15. Will Ticos really try and charge more money for their home just because you’re a Gringo?
16. What are your rights when it comes to buying a home in Costa Rica?
17. Why should you buy your home in the name of a corporation?
18. What kinds of companies could you use to buy a home?
19. What should you do BEFORE you make an offer on a home?
20. Why should you get a registered plot map (plano catastrado) from the National Registry (Registro Nacional)?
21. What exactly is a folio real and why is it so important?
22. What exactly is replanteo and why is it so important?
23. Why should you periodically check the registration of your property?
24. In what kind of zone can you only lease the land and can buy it?
25. When should you contact a real estate attorney?
26. Why you should NEVER use the seller’s attorney?
27. What’s the difference between an attorney and a notary public?
28. What sort of closing costs would you be expected to pay? And who pays them?
29. What is it that so many people do when buying a home that is actually considered tax fraud?
30. What are are two key valuation parameters to calculate the taxable value of the property?
31. How easy is it to get financing in Costa Rica to buy a home?
32. What are the two main kinds of condos available?
33. What exactly is the Zona Marítimo?
34. What exactly are the King Of Spain’s Lands?
35. Is the beach the right place for you?
36. What sort of liens, encumbrances and other problems should you watch out for?
37. Under what circumstances could the Costa Rican government expropriate your property?

In a country where real estate scam artists and boiler room ‘closers’ from the USA and Canada can be found hiding behind dozens of websites in Costa Rica, this information should simplify the Costa Rica real estate process for you so that you can avoid the scams, find the perfect property and focus on living the good life!

After you register – which is free, quick and easy here – you can then download your free 99 page Ebook on ‘How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa (Shirt)‘ here.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1: How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, 2: Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore and 3. ¿Cómo Comprar Bienes Raíces en Costa Rica, Sin Perder Su Camisa?

As a VIP Member of WeLoveCostaRica.com you can save 40 – 50% off normal U.S. dentist prices with our Costa Rica Blue Cross preferred dentist and enjoy a terrific vacation while you are here, you can rent affordable cars and SUVs (with free GPS and cellphone included) with our preferred car rental company.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.