Livincr wrote:
I see the rent don't buy statement many times on this board and I wonder how many of these posters have any personal experience in ownership.
If you use the same common sense you would use in the USA you probably won't have a problem but if you pay cash, don't use a lawyer you have researched, try to steal something at way under its value, use the sellers lawyer or just basically think you are smarter and wiser that the Ticos you are dealing with then you are in the same league as those buying Florida swampland or Arizona coastal property and ownership here will result in a nightmare fore you...
Otherwise buy, buy, buy ....the market is great and a good place to invest wisely
I could not disagree more. I have lots of personal experience, and Costa Rica is a bad place to buy for many reasons. It takes a lot more than common sense. I have known real estate brokers who have been taken to the cleaners down here. There are a ton of ways you can get screwed, and you have essentially NO RECOURSE if things go wrong. If you have to go to court, you have already lost, even if you are in the right. The legal process here moves at a glacial pace when it moves at all, and unless you want to try bribing a bunch of judges, chances are you'll spend years waiting for resolution. And forget title insurance, they are down here but are not regulated locally and do a lousy job. You might get some satisfaction suing the US corporation, but do you want to spend your life in lawyers' offices?