Costa Rica economy and business news, guerrilla style.
Getting your residency in Costa Rica is all about long lines, lots of stamps, and tons of red tape. Your best bet in getting your Costa Rica residency with as little headache as possible is to hire a lawyer to help you. They can streamline the process and take care of all the red tape for you.
If you feel like getting all your ducks in a row before you find a lawyer, here is a checklist of the required forms for Costa Rica Residency.
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Renting a house can be a great way spend an extended vacation in Costa Rica or as a way to live in the country without buying property. Thanks to a popular real estate market, there is no shortage of rental houses anywhere in Costa Rica. The only tricky part is finding one that fits in your budget. With such a wide variety of houses, this usually isn’t a problem.
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Exchanging money in Costa Rica isn’t a hard thing to do, but many travelers are unsure of how they should exchange money when they first enter the country. You have a number of choices; you could use the money exchange service at your departing airport or in the Costa Rica airport, you could wait and exchange money at the bank, carry travelers checks, or any other number of options. the question is, which is best?
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Want to extend your Costa Rica vacation but your funds are running a little low? Why not try to find a local job? Finding a job in Costa Rica isn’t as hard as you might think. Many youth hostels hire travelers on a regular basis.
Some of these hostels pay you a small amount and give you free room and board. Others will pay more, but probably wont give you free room and board.
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4 – 6 Months Prior
____ Create a List of Names
Start creating a list of people you need to contact about your move. At this point in your planning it is just a list. As time goes on you will think of more people to add to the list. I suggest creating a Word or Excel document. This way you can easily add people as you think of them.
Some of the obvious people to contact are:
Creditors
Banks
Magazine Subscriptions (You’ll want to cancel these)
Friends and Family
Lawyers
_____ Banking
It is very possible to bank overseas by simply internet banking. …
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Planning a move to Costa Rica and planning a vacation are two totally different things. Don’t make the mistake of calling your last vacation to Costa Rica your fact finding trip. Odds are, you didnt really look at the things you needed to while you were on vacation.
Even if you have been to Costa Rica before on vacation, it is important to plan a fact finding trip before you move. These fact finding trips are essential in finding out information about the area you want to live. Or, if you don’t have an area in mind, a fact finding trip can help you find the area thats right for you.
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It is no secret that buying land and building houses in Costa Rica can be done for very cheap. Although prices for land are getting higher and contractors are starting to charge more, you can still get a lot for your money. Which means, if you have a whole lot of money, you can get one heck of a house. Check out this post to see what some people are building with their money.
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Costa Rica is a popular destination for people looking who are looking to retire o rjust live somewhere a little more exotic. If this is something you are intrested in, you have no doubtably looked at a number of books and website regaurding the matter. Many of these reousces are filled with great information, but much of it tends to be the same. This list is geared toward exposing you to some of the little facts you might not know about living in Costa Rica.
Gringo is not a racial slur to white people. It is simply a term used to identify foreigners. Remember, the meaning of many words are very different in Costa Rica.
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Important Papers
When it comes to any of your important papers such as identification, social security cards, passports and the like, you should have copies of them. Make multiple copies of each. If possible, give a family member a set of copies to hold onto. This way, should any thing happen to yours, you will have backups.
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CRL: What is the first piece of advice you would give to someone planning a move to Costa Rica?
Scott: Take your time and do your homework! Living in Costa Rica is NOT for everyone and of course, you need to make sure you are getting your information from reputable sources. Do not listen to someone’s “investment advice” unless they are experienced and qualified to give you investment advice and think very, very carefully about buying real estate from so called “developers” who have no previous track record.
When you search for suitable Costa Rica real estate, whether it is to live in or purely as an investment, you need to be informed about the challenges of Costa Rica real estate:
1. Contrary to what some people may have told you, there is no Multiple Listing Service! Trying to establish the ‘value’ of real estate is difficult.
2. Half the population of Costa Rica call themselves real estate ‘brokers’ because anybody can freely call themselves a ‘broker’. They do not need any qualifications, training or experience to try and sell you real estate.
3. An organization of real estate brokers does exist; however, few people belong to it and nobody is regulating the majority of these people!
4. The laws governing Costa Rica real estate are based on Napoleonic Laws and are different from Common Laws as they are in the US and Canada.
What this means is that when you search for Costa Rica real estate, which may be one of the biggest investments of your life, more than likely, you will listen to ‘expert’ advice coming from someone with zero qualifications or training in real estate, who is trying very hard to earn a sales commission selling you a property that could be overpriced.
And please! Do not buy real estate anywhere without visiting it. I am amazed daily at how many people tell me they have bought land in Costa Rica (when they have never been to Costa Rica before) from people they do not know and who have no ‘development’ experience.
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