Business negotiations with Costa Ricans can be tedious, circumspect affairs, and in keeping with the general cultural aversion to confrontation, it will take a while for talks to get down to business. The health of family members will be inquired after, and small talk will ensue. Bear with it. It’s the only way you’ll eventually get anything done. By the same token, it’s important to remember that rude behavior - threats, shouting, bullying - generally won’t get you anywhere with Ticos. It doesn’t even matter if you’re offering the best deal. They will smile and say, OK, let’s talk about it tomorrow, and you’ll never hear from them again. Once again, respect is a highly-prized virtue in this culture.

As for pricing, this is in some ways a pretty straight-forward aspect of doing business in Costa Rica. A price is a price, and Ticos don’t haggle as much as you might find in other cultures. In other ways, it’s not what it appears. Especially when it comes to property, there is a “gringo price” that’s much higher than average. And though the “gringo price” is more common in real estate, it certainly manifests itself in other markets. Prices on all sorts of things – restaurants, appliances, furniture, clothing – are outrageously high when gringos live in the area (though some of the high prices you see can be blamed on double-digit annual inflation).

There’s not much you can do about the high prices of everything else, other than shop around. When it comes to real estate, however, a few strategies are useful. First, when looking for property, send a Tico emissary to make the original contact. Both for cultural and linguistic reasons, your Tico representative will be able to negotiate an initially better asking price (though obviously this strategy isn’t much good when negotiating with a developer selling condos). Your other option is to not take no for an answer. Offer to buy with cash (if possible), leave your contact information, and do everything possible to let the seller know that you are very interested in the property, but you are not dumb enough to pay such a high price. If the seller really wants to sell (and really can’t find a dumb gringo) he or she will come around eventually.