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Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
https://forum.costaricaticas.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=35736		 Page 1 of 6
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:24 am ]
Post subject:  Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
TimBones wrote:
1) Squatter's Rights codified into law. A squatter simply has to occupy your land to get rights to it. The longer he or she or them, occupy your land, the more rights you get to it.
2) The government can simply take possession for it if they want to.
3) Dubious title search services don't prove who really own the land.
4) Dubious real estate agents or would be owners sell houses and land that don't belong to them
5) Gringo tax, nuff said.

6) Once you buy, it is very difficult to resale.
7) You will be the only one in your building or community that notices things like sewer gas entering the homes.
8. You should not buy a home in a country where you don't first have residency.
9) After you buy a nice family moves in next door and stares at all your guest and you can't move because you bought instead of rented.
10) After your 2 or 3 year itch to move comes you can't because you bought instead of rented.
11) You visit Medellín and want to stay for a month or two but cant because of your crappy Costa Rica purchase that you can't sell.
12) The walls in your building allow rain to seep through the walls but your the only one that seems to care.
13) You want to sell but don't want to be dishonest to the potential buyers about all the crap thats wrong with the building.
14) You don't have people in Costa Rica with residency that you trust that are necessary to be the secretary and officer for your corporation for your home.
15) The alarm in the government building across the street goes off all night, all weekend, Christmas day etc, but again, only, "the gringo" seems to care.
16) You meet a beautiful girl and want her to stay the night and the next but since you own you cant because if she lives with you , she can claim domestic abuse and keep you from your home for a year or two.
17) Every other problem, hurdle, and challenge is magnified because you own and the pressure is on. No more, 'foot loose and fancy free in Costa Rica'.
18) Your roof leaks and you have to sue the homeowners association to get it fixed 3 years later.
19) You buy during one season and realize during the next just how crappy the construction is.
20) A new neighbor moves in upstairs from you and stomps like a lumber jack and shakes your walls but now you cant move.
21) You buy a home with 20 foot walls but somehow all your crap still gets burglarized .
22) Homeowner's association fee $350 a month.
23) Nobody in your neighborhood has been able to sell in 4 years.
24) You want to switch from a beach location to the city or to the beach from the city but cant because nobody had sold in 4 years.
25) Even if you could sell, you'd lose money so what was all the hassle for ?
26) After you buy your realize that EVERYTHING here to improve you home is Double. If you want a nice refrigerator, its $5000.
27) In the USA you had all the time and energy in the world to handyman your home . Here you only want to relax and play.
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
28) Now your girl that used to be happy with $50 bucks wants a hundred because she sees you paid $5000 for a refrigerator.
Author:  TimBones [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
Excellent post that should be made into a sticky!!! :D :D
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
29) You feel the need to have a bank account because you own a home but one day your bank locks your account because they want to see some "documents".
30) All downside and ZERO upside.
31) NO ONE has a crystal ball to see the future and while you may not change, you may evolve. Hell, a few years ago, you did not think you'd be living here.
32) You realize that 'home ownership' was a 'habit' that you caught in the USA.
33) Owning a property leads someone to become a hermit. Renting leads to social interaction, going to the gym, finding local restaurants, walking etc.
34) You look around and realize you are on top of the roof trying to locate a leak and wished you were at the Sportsman's Lodge shooting pool.
35) The last girl that you took to your nice home is sitting with her boyfriend planning your next burglary.
Author:  Don Rico [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
Well said and a great perspective! We will always be strangers in a strange land in CR.

DR
Author:  Muadib [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
Numero uno should be:

Never invest in anything in a 2nd / 3rd world country that you are not willing to walk away from...

Doesn't matter if it's real estate, business', women, etc...

All it takes is for someone with a little pull to drop a dime on you for some fictitious claim and the next thing you know you are banged up or deported... Game over...
Author:  TimBones [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
Muadib wrote:
Numero uno should be:

Never invest in anything in a 2nd / 3rd world country that you are not willing to walk away from...

Doesn't matter if it's real estate, business', women, etc...

All it takes is for someone with a little pull to drop a dime on you for some fictitious claim and the next thing you know you are banged up or deported... Game over...


Neil (Robert DeNiro in HEAT): "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you feel the heat around the corner." :D
Author:  Don Rico [ Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
TimBones wrote:
Muadib wrote:
Numero uno should be:

Never invest in anything in a 2nd / 3rd world country that you are not willing to walk away from...

Doesn't matter if it's real estate, business', women, etc...

All it takes is for someone with a little pull to drop a dime on you for some fictitious claim and the next thing you know you are banged up or deported... Game over...


Neil (Robert DeNiro in HEAT): "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you feel the heat around the corner." :D


Damn TimB - Strong movie reference (and a little obscure) - Nice quote!!!!!!
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Sat Nov 06, 2010 7:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
36) Landslides. :(
Author:  Western [ Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
Never do anything in Costa Rica that you can't undo in 5 phone calls or less!
Author:  DiegoC [ Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
The guys who invested years ago are okay. They have learned the rules and they probably purchased when there were good deals. There are no good deals today.

If you plan to move to Costa Rica with the belief that you by a wonderful house, live problem free and find paradise, you will not realize your dream but you will find so many new and shockingly unconscionable problems that your mind will be boggled with the absurdity of it all.

The recommendation to rent is excellent advice.

On the other hand, IF you believe that it is a wise investment is to lend large sums of money to friends or family without a contract and without any type of security or assurity, then by all means invest in real estate in Costa Rica.

. . . and if you drop the soap in the shower, don't pick it up. :shock:
Author:  Del Rey Dave [ Sun Nov 07, 2010 2:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
Great advice DiegoC.
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Sun Nov 07, 2010 5:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
DiegoC wrote:
. . . and if you drop the soap in the shower, don't pick it up. :shock:


I thought 'prison gay' didn't count.
Author:  DiegoC [ Sun Nov 07, 2010 9:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
okay, maybe that one :lol: :lol: :lol:
Author:  Jsmythe23 [ Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Why you should NOT buy in Costa Rica.
The entire premise here is WAY overgeneralized. Buying may not be for everyone or even for most but to say that there are no good deals anymore or list a bunch of stuff that MAY happen and then advise against ANYONE buying is just plain foolish.

There have been similar posts on this board since it's inception and I am sure glad I never listened to them I owned a place for a number of years, never had a hotel bill, made money on rentals, was able to write off travel expenses and meals and sold it for a profit.

For sure you have to buy in the right place and at the right price and you must be much more careful with lawyers than in the states, but the bottom line is that there are thousands of foriegners who have bought and profited in Costa Rica.

I feel it's important to be in an area where you can get rentals easily in case you want out and aren't able to sell right away. While you wait to sell the rental income will most likely be many times what you would earn in interest from a bank.
As far as all the liability fears you take the very easy step of forming a corporation as the registered owner of the property.

If you do get stuck with the property and can't sell quicky, besides the rental income you can utilize sites like http://www.itravex.com/ and be able to stay anywhere in the world on trade points from your place or pay only 10 cents on the dollar for rental. Tough to beat!.
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