Anyone thinking of living in Costa Rica is faced with renting or buying an apartment, condo or home. Fortunately, there are many options if you are thinking of buying. One of the newest products available are high-rise condominiums. Prices start at around $100,000 for a condo in one of these structures. Buildings generally offer 1,2,

It helps to be familiar with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies you will be dealing with during the permitting process. Following, a brief list: MINAET (www.minaet.go.cr): The Ministerio del Ambiente, Energía, y Telecomunicaciones, or Minstery of Environment, Energy, and Telecommunications. This is the big cheese when it comes to environmental regulation in Costa Rica.

There is no one, single way to do the permitting process, and there is no single entry point. How you do permitting will depend a lot on who you hire and how much you’re willing to spend. Many of the procedures can be carried out in parallel, either legally or extra-legally. Permitting any sizable construction

From 2006 to 2009 there was an incredible explosion in construction in Costa Rica. Don’t let that fool you: Costa Rica is still one of the most difficult countries in the world to build in. In addition to being expensive in terms of fees and materials, the main hang-up that developers and home-builders face is

Title insurance is a relatively new concept for Costa Rica. Until only recently, it was rather difficult to get title insurance in Costa Rica. It is not required to have title insurance when purchasing a property since the properties are usually purchase by foreigners in cash Now, there are some very good options for obtaining

Anyone who lives in Costa Rica knows that we have more rainy months than dry months. Generally speaking winter begins towards the end of April and ends around the beginning of November. Every year the cycle varies slightly. The country’s copious rainfall take as toll on most homes. According to the Costa Rica’s professional school

Deal with local bureaucracy when purchasing a home or building. Retirees or anyone else who plans to live in Costa Rica and purchase a property has to jump through a lot of hoops when dealing with the local bureaucracy. Property taxes, building permits, and zoning are all handled by local municipalities. The country is divided