Thursday, July 23, 2009

How to find a house in Costa Rica

By Randy Berg

The question of "how to find a house in Costa Rica" will need a lot of thinking to be answered; especially of you are an American. Costa Rica has various types of housing which can easily meet the expectations of people who would like to come there and invest in real estate. The prices of real estate in Costa Rica has seen a downtrend during the beginning of recession, however, now it has begun picking up mainly due to the demand.

Costa Rica, with its picturesque landscape, captivating mountains and lovely volcanoes, is now a hot spot for buying property. People from different countries of the world, especially America, come here in dozens in the hope of finding their dream house on this soil. This has especially seen an increase since the time recession started because of the dwindling real estate prices in America.

People who would like to find their house in populated areas would prefer the provinces of San Jose, Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago. These are centrally located provinces and are highly populated. Nearly two thirds of the population is that of the "ticos". People, who like to find beach homes, flock to places like Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limon which are well known for their spellbinding beaches.

Overseas investors who come to Costa Rica to intend to find their dream nests in this country need to keep a few important points in mind. If care and precaution is not taken while finding the right house in Costa Rica to invest in, it will lead to many issues later which will make you regret your decision. Listed below, you will find a few tips that will come in handy.

Having a "tico" (native Costa Rican) by your side will really prove to be advantageous while finding a house in Costa Rica. You need to ensure that the tico can be trusted up on to get help you make the right choice. It is better if the tico is your friend rather than some stranger on the road.

Once you have a trusted tico by your side and you have chosen the area where you want to buy a house, the next step is to know more about that area. This is because there are some areas in Costa Rica that are not suitable for spending your life because they specialize in criminal activities. To get a better understanding of the area that you have chosen, you and your tico friend should rent out a place there and stay for a few months.

Once you have decided on the area you want to stay and the house you want to purchase, the next step is to find out all the details about the property. Your tico friend will come in really handy now. Both of you have to go to the Public Registry office and find out about the title details of the property. Since all the details there are in Spanish, your tico friend should be able to read and understand it and tell you. If the relevant title documents are not present, it is better not to purchase that property because it can lead to ownership issues later.

After confirming that all the title documents are correct and there is no cause for concern, the next step is to find out and fix on the price for the property. Here again, your Costa Rican friend will come in handy. Most of the Costa Rican property owners work on an assumption that "gringos" have money plants back home and they can afford any price they quote. Hence, if you are looking to buy a property, it is always better to get a "tico" to negotiate a price on your behalf.

Great! Now that you can answer "how to find a house in Costa Rica" better, it is time to proceed with your plans and make that much awaited trip.

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