Last year I released the first edition of my book about real estate in Costa Rica —”Christopher Howard’s Guide to Costa Rica Real Estate.” Prior to writing and publishing this new guide I had only authored books about retirement in different countries in the region and Spanish language guides. The other day I received a call from a realtor friend and we got talking about the modus operandi of some of the less than scrupulous real estate developers who prey on naïve foreigners. After talking we decided that there are major warning signs and red flags to look out for. If you pay attention to most of them you will run less of a risk of being manipulated into buying property here. Beware of : (1) Seminars that hype one development. The ARCR seminar is the only seminar to attend because it is impartial. (2) Companies that pick you up at the airport and basically kidnap you and then take you to their development without seeing anything else. (3) Boiler room operations who try to sell you property at rock bottom prices site unseen. (4) Companies recommend by global retirement magazines who slant their information about countries where they sell real estate. (5) Fast-talking guru-like salesman a la Tony Robbins style. Most don’t even live in Costa Rica and only have enough knowledge to pressure people into buying. Don’t be bullied by them! (6) Most of these properties are found in the Central and South Pacific where everything is sold from denuded slopes that have been illegally cleared to worthless former cow pastures that have been turned into over-hyped and over-priced developments. (7) Don’t assume that just because the agent or developer speak English they are trustworthy. English speakers have been involved a lot of shady land deals over the years. I probably forgot a couple warning signs, but the ones above should help you. Further advise: (1) Ask the developers to let you contact at least 10 people who have bought in their project to get feedback. You should be allowed to choose them randomly. (2) Talk to people who live in the area to get their opinion of the development. One project below Uvita is an ecological disaster. By talking to the people in the area you will get the real scoop and not what the developer tells you. (3) Check the Costa Rican registry of Properties call El Registro Nacional to see if the development has any legal issues and if the people who are selling it are really the owners. (4) Tell the people you want to see other properties in the area to make a comparison. Hopefully as many people as possible read this blog. I really can’t stand the developers and their henchman who basically kidnap perspective buyer by funneling them into their overpriced properties without giving buyers whole picture. You don’t want your retirement dreams spoiled by making an unintelligent purchase.