There’s a bit of the old Wild West to real estate transactions in Costa Rica, and not just because so many buyers are stampeding here to buy property. More than a handful of brokers have a shady cast to them, tall tales issue from their mouths, and some drive cars that might lose out in

You will encounter probably the single most bothersome aspect of owning real estate in Costa Rica (and living there) soon after you enter a car in search of property: the roads in Costa Rica are almost never good, and they range from the poorly maintained to the abysmally bad. We who live here wish we

Escrow is a process that allows a potential buyer to place an amount of money (either a down payment or the entire purchase price) in the secure hands of a disinterested third party for a set amount of time. In so doing, the buyer demonstrates to the seller the intent—and capacity—to make payment on the

Of course, no system for registering and protecting title is foolproof (or fraud-proof). Here, for example, there have been instances in which a dishonest employee at the National Registry colluded with an unscrupulous “seller” to defraud the buyer. You can buy title insurance in Costa Rica if you want to protect yourself from title disputes;

All titled properties in Costa Rica are titled under a single, legal, government-managed system (Nicaragua, it should be noted, has multiple, conflicting title laws, making it more difficult to invest there safely). Property titles are registered in the National Registry (Registro Nacional), whose records serve as ultimate proof of ownership. In addition to recording title,

Earlier in the chapter, we noted that foreigners are legally empowered to own property outright, under fee simple ownership. A foreigner who purchases property receives the benefits and protection of exactly the same property laws as does a Costa Rican citizen. That is the general case, but it is important to note a single, exception

A final note about taxes, for the time being: when a property is sold, a tax is levied on the transfer of the property (impuesto de traspaso). In nine out of ten cases, it is the buyer who pays the property transfer tax, though this is a negotiable point. The amount of the tax is