As you embark on your mission to invest in property in Costa Rica, lots of people will appear out of nowhere to sell you things. Whatever else you do, be sure to take your time and shop around. There are a lot of deals out there, but they take time to find.

You’ll have to stay somewhere during your search for the home of your dreams, and whether that turns out to be a hotel, a weekly rental, or a monthly rental, it takes some work to find it. This section will give you some advice on how to do that – where to look and what

Once you’ve made it down to Costa Rica, it’s time to explore. Your first order of business should be to pick up a few of the local real estate magazines that litter expatriate hangouts. This include 4 Sale by Owner, as well as another called Inmobilia. The Tico Times publishes on Fridays and is also worth a read. Next,

It is possible to find and purchase a Costa Rican property without ever visiting Costa Rica – possible, but stupid. Without seeing the property, the competition, the roads, the availability of services, etc., you just can’t be sure what you’re buying. You wouldn’t buy a car without driving it. Your next step, then, in finding

Like most other things in today’s information marketplace, the best place to start looking for a Costa Rican property is the Internet. The sites addressing Costa Rican real estate split into three rough categories: Those offering services (brokers, lawyers, fixers, property tours), those selling their own properties (developers), and those offering third-party listings (newspapers, Internet

Pros You pick the design: Unlike buying or renting an existing home, building your own allows you to truly live in the home of your dreams, since you’re the one who designs it. Save money: Building a home is generally cheaper than buying an existing one because the cost doesn’t include a cut for the

By building your own home, you take on significantly more risk: The risk that materials costs will go up during the project, the risk that you’ll get involved with a legal dispute, the risk that it won’t come out the way you want it to. Once again, the money you save from building instead of