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Tamarindo Beach
On the final installment of Kristine Gorman‘s real estate adventure in Costa Rica, she runs into some issues with regard to her plans of acquiring an investment property in the Gold Coast beaches of Guanacaste. Still, the Boston accountant persevered and is now the proud owner of a condominium unit in Tamarindo Beach.
Before reading this insightful account of purchasing residential property as a foreign buyer in Costa Rica, you may want to get acquainted with Kristine’s real estate saga:
Buying a home in Costa Rica proved to be both exciting and nerve-racking. We finally closed on our new townhouse in Tamarindo Beach last month. The process was lengthy and often very confusing, and I could not have done it without the help of our real estate agent Chris Spears of Remax Costa Rica!
We began working with Chris about a year ago. We needed a home with owner financing because it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get a mortgage loan in Costa Rica as foreigners. In October 2014, we visited places in Playa Flamingo and Playa Tamarindo. We settled on a place in Tamarindo because of its proximity to the beach and rental potential. Chris negotiated the owner financing options and the owners agreed. Once we returned home to the U.S., the anxiety part of buying property in Costa Rica set in.
As a foreign buyer, one of the first things you should do when buying a home in Costa Rica is to form a corporation. It is my understanding that this is done for liability purposes [Author’s Note: It is actually for taxation purposes, but it also helps with the immigration and property transfer processes]. The mortgage and utilities such as water and electricity are filed under the corporation you form. We kept it simple and named our corporation Gorman-Keenan Corp.
Our real estate agent referred us to an attorney that took care of the closing and the transfer of utilities while acting as our legal representative. There was a lot of back and forth communications and work via email. We wired over our closing costs and then we were all done! We finalized everything on December 5th, which was excellent because we returned to Costa Rica on December 6! We were certainly cutting it a little close.
In the weeks preceding our arrival, we shopped and shopped for our new home. We wanted to get it ready to be rented, and so we purchased sheets, utensils, blankets, and towels. When it came time to pack we had no idea how we were going to get all the stuff into suitcases! With succeeded with a little creativity and vacuum-packed bags. Once we were at our new home, which I will refer to as La Casa De Boston, we immediately broke out the Pinesol disinfectant and began cleaning like no one’s business. Our new home had been vacant for 6 months or so, and it was extremely filthy.
During our first evening, we met neighbors from Canada. They live there permanently, and we had no problems chatting it up with them. They suggested places for us to do some shopping for small appliances and kitchen items. Before going to bed we made a plan: We needed to paint the interior and find someone to install new cabinets. But, how do you get all this done with a 3-year-old child in tow? Hit the beach in the daytime, and the paint brushes at night! This is exactly what we did.
There was a hardware and paint store down the road. If you have never bought something at a hardware store in Costa Rica, you are in for a treat. I was sent out to the back of the store to find a certain paint item. All the hardware items were stacked in boxes in a somewhat orderly, yet still disheveled, fashion. For the checkout process, I was sent to one register where the Tico clerk typed something into the computer, gave me a piece of paper, and sent me over to a woman behind a glass wall. I handed her my slip, she stamped it and then sent me to a different cash register to pay for my item. It took me longer to check out of the hardware store than it took me to rummage through boxes to find what I needed. Nevertheless, I got what I needed and came out of the store unscathed.
During one afternoon we headed out to the MaxiPali in Santa Cruz. This store is similar to a Wal-Mart in the U.S., but on a much smaller scale [Author’s Note: It is owned by Wal-Mart]. Here we were able to purchase a TV set, small appliances and dishes. At checkout we had yet another unusual experience. Every small appliance and the TV set had to have its own stamped receipt. Not sure why, but it was a lengthy and confusing process. Still, we left that store unscathed as well.
I won’t say that our entire week in Costa Rica was all work and no play. Like I mentioned before, we went to the beach everyday and we even caught up with old friends in Playa Flamingo. Our 3-year-old was a champ with us dragging her all over the beaches; she would fall asleep around 6:30 in the evening, so we had plenty of time to paint.
We painted the entire place in about 4 days. We only had one problem; remember that item I needed at the hardware store? It was an edging attachment for an extension pole to allow me to paint higher spots. When asked where that attachment part was, the man at the hardware store told me it never made it over from the U.S. Not sure how that happened; all I had was a square sponge. I ended up buying duct tape and taping a paintbrush to the end of my extender pole. In the end, a little ingenuity solved the problem!
With installing new cabinets our, neighbors suggested a professional named Erik; he installed cabinets for almost all the units in our new condominium. They are custom-made, and he uses wood from Guanacaste species. They are beautiful cabinets! We agreed on a price and he will be installing them in the near future.
On our final days we met with our property management company, Horizon Pacific. They took our inventory, added us to their property listings and began booking our place for the times when we are not there. There you have it: Buying a home in Costa Rica was a success! Understanding the purchase process, forming a corporation, and understanding some of the property laws in Costa Rica was incredibly nerve-racking. But, our accomplishment will allow us to someday live permanently in our dream place, Costa Rica. Pura Vida!
