Generally you’ll find a fairly ordered deal process in areas of the country where there is vibrant activity in the expat real estate market. However, it still ain’t Kansas! There are marked differences in the way things operate down here versus the States. Over my years of orchestrating real estate deals in Costa Rica, I have observed a few commonly repeated mistakes. If you want your Costa Rica deal to go smoothly, you’d do well to follow the advice below… Don’t Get Lawyers Involved at the Offer Stage Offers, called letters of intent (LOIs) in Costa Rica, are informal documents. Your agent s ..read more

Earlier this year I wrote a post that attempted to forecast the Costa Rica real estate market for 2022 and beyond. In large part what I wrote has been consistent with experience. Nevertheless, this very fluid situation continues to evolve. There have been changes in the financial and political landscapes that could indeed spell trouble (or, perhaps, opportunity) in the year(s) to come… The Financial Landscape While I correctly predicted the possibility of inflation rearing its ugly head in 2022, I had no idea it would do so to the extent that it has. At the moment inflation in the U.S. is the ..read more

With the Costa Rica real estate market continuing to boom in 2022, more and more wannabe expats are faced with that most important question of where to invest… Here’s a broad overview of Costa Rica’s 7 provinces that might help… San Jose The province of San Jose is smack-dab in the center of the country, in the so-called “central valley.” It is where the capital is located, as well as Costa Rica’s oldest and largest international airport. It is the seat of big business in Costa Rica. However, as a tourist attraction, it is lacking in many respects. Most tourists tend to want to spend as littl ..read more

I came here 21 years ago for one simple reason, to make money. I didn’t even know Costa Rica existed until I was hired to broker a fairly large business deal here… But I stayed for completely different reasons. These days everyone seems to want to move here. The country is experiencing a wave of immigration from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Donald Trump might call it an invasion. Tucker Carlson might call it “brown replacement” (as in replacing the browns with the whites). However, there are no “caravans” amassing at our borders. The folks moving here are flying in, often first class. And th ..read more

On April 11, 2020, less than a month after Costa Rica closed its borders on March 16, I posted that there could be a “silver-lining” with regard to the effects of the pandemic on the Costa Rica real estate market. Did my prediction come true? You betcha it did! Granted, it wasn’t until the latter part of 2020 that the market started turning around. Then in 2021 all hell broke loose as Costa Rica experienced one of the strongest bull real estate markets ever!! How about 2022? Will the bull continue to buck strong in the Costa Rica real estate market?? Before getting right to the prediction, le ..read more

Moving your life to a foreign country can be a harrowing endeavor. And that’s especially the case for acute worry-warts! Here’s a post on 10 things newbie Costa Rica expats worry about designed to help those who tend to get too anxious about all the “little” things that could go wrong… 1. Theft Yes, there’s theft in Costa Rica. It’s even more common in locations where tourism is the main economic driver. However, is it something to “worry” about? In short, no. Now one should take precautions. Most thefts in Costa Rica are crimes of opportunity. So, give them less of it, duh! How? Well, use yo ..read more

I read so much yada yada on the Costa Rica cost of living that I thought I outta chime in… For a bit of background: I’ve lived here for two decades. I was a permanent resident for the majority of that time and as of last year, a naturalized citizen. I was born in the U.S. and lived the first two-thirds of my life in the Carolinas, where I practiced law, among other things. I operated a tourism business in Costa Rica for many years, before joining the Coldwell Banker real estate team in Dominical about 7 years ago. While I’ve made a decent income, by Costa Rica’s standards, during my many year ..read more

The real estate market in Costa Rica, pretty much everywhere you look, is booming! This is no joke. If you’re thinking of jumping in, it will not pay to wait… The market in many areas, especially those beachy and touristy ones, has already flipped from a buyer’s to a seller’s market. Demand is beginning to outstrip supply… And economics 101 teaches us that when that happens, prices will go up… and they are! They’re certainly NOT going down. However, I’m really not writing this post to convince doubters of the current Costa Rica real estate boom, but, rather, to convince myself as to the reaso ..read more

I’ve been an expat in Costa Rica for a long time now, 20 years almost! From a purely physical perspective being an expat means absence from one’s home country and long-term presence in some foreign country. However, to be an expat has more than just physical connotations… What does it mean to be a Costa Rica expat? Well, let’s first discuss what it doesn’t mean… To be an expat does not mean one is unpatriotic in any way. Some may feel that it does, but they’d be dead wrong. Of course, some folks may become expats out of a sense of betrayal by their home countries and therefore develop a desir ..read more

I’ll admit from the outset, that title is pure clickbait… since there is no correct answer! This is a continuation of posts I’ve been writing lately, largely motivated by questions and comments I see posted in various Costa Rica expat-oriented Facebook groups… Other articles in the series (so far) are: 10 Tips for a Successful Costa Rica Exploratory Trip Costa Rica Online Advice – Is Any of it Good? Serious Advice on How to Move to Costa Rica We North Americans always demand the “best”, right? We don’t settle for second, or third…we want to know, where is the BEST place to invest in Costa Ric ..read more