Should I move to Costa Rica? Rent or Buy? Between Jaco and SJO? How much monthly income do you need to cover all basics and occasionally go into the Jaco/SJO for a Chica? Cheaper to have regulars (obviously). Cost of the CAJA? Private Insurance if better or a combination of both and costs? Can I use the better Hospitals like Clinica Biblica or Cima? Let me know folks, much appreciated!!

Should I move to Costa Rica? Rent or Buy? Between Jaco and SJO? How much monthly income do you need to cover all basics and occasionally go into the Jaco/SJO for a Chica? Cheaper to have regulars (obviously). Cost of the CAJA? Private Insurance if better or a combination of both and costs? Can I use the better Hospitals like Clinica Biblica or Cima? Let me know folks, much appreciated!!

There's a million stories in the naked city, always room for one more.

Serious advice ...
Read the threads in this forum. Check out C Howard's blog. Take the 2 day ARCR seminar on your next trip.

Come down for as long as you can and get a 3 year lease on a condo/apartment including power/water/internet. This caps your costs and minimizes the number of contracts. If you bail early, you are just out your first, last, security.

Sort everything out once you get here. Everyone's story is different. Listen a lot, talk less, make your own decisions based on your circumstances. Free advice is worth what you pay for it. The most expensive, and wasteful, dreams are someone else's.

I moved here pre-pandemic and filed for residency as soon as I got here, it took 2 years. I just filed for permanent residency. I live off $70K a year but could easily reduce that to $50K and still live well. Some guys spend less, some spend more. Living here opens up a LOT of chica options not available to tourists. I have made some mistakes but have few regrets.

Do you have to be living in country (Costa Rica) to apply for residency? The reason I ask is somebody told me they got their residency (it was another country) and they were still living in the USA. Do you have to live there a certain amount of time? Like if you lived 6 months in Costa Rica and 6 months in the USA (or another country) could you still have Costa Rican residency? Final question, what’s it like tax wise? Do you have to pay US income tax and Costa Rican income tax? When i retire, Social Security will be greatly reduced since they will be taking in less than 70% of what they pay out.

Where is C Howard’s blog? Where is the ARCR seminar?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Zunbeck3, hope you are doing well.
There is an expat called Christoper Howard who has a site dealing with living in CR.
Lots of information but nothing about the hos.
Go to https://qcostarica.com and at the top click on bolgs and then Christopher Howard
Take care

Christopher Howard's blog is referenced in Isra's post, the 3rd one in this thread.
ARCR.CR (Association of Residents of Costa Rica) provides a variety of services to expats. One of those is a two day seminar held once a month. Details are on their web site. They also publish a bimonthly magazine, pdfs of current and back issues are on the site.