Mochagrad wrote:
Alot of old pessimistic men here lababath.
I am neither Old or Pessimistic, and have been self employed since I was a K*D doing lawn work for neighbors. I have made a good life for myself and have done it with a lot of hard work. I have made lots of decisions that have gone very well, and some that have turned out extremely bad, but I have learned alot during the journey. If the op was looking to do some sort of venture in the USA I would be much more encouraging and give him much differernt advice. I have looked at what it takes to run a business in CR and talked with many people about how their experience has been. CR is not like anything you will encounter in the US. You have no protections, the courts are a joke, the bribery and payoffs that are prevelent in government is incredeble. The person with the most money is going to win any sort of dissagreement if it goes to court. As a foreigner if you end up in any sort of court appearence you are immediately behind the 8 ball because you are not a Costa Rican national.
Your advice about doing your own research and talking to locals is excellent. Finding a great lawyer is also sound but that in Costa Rica is very difficult. There is no real Bar Association like the US where you can get information about the person you are going to hire as your attorney. If you are not living there full time your lawyer just might be the one that takes you to the cleaners, and there will be very little you can do about it. I embrace technology but cameras in CR are only going to give you a visual reminder of what happened. I was recently robbed a gunpoint and have it on video, 4 different views, very good clarity on the video and you can see the faces just fine. I turned over along the video, the license plate number of the car, along with the names of 2 of the 3 people who were involved to OIJ. It has now been 4 months since it happened and no arrests. Thankfully my insurance covered the loss but it could have been much worse. COSTA RICA is not the USA, you have to think much differently down there, and you certainly need to take your time and do your homework.