Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes I have described in another blog why doing a fixer upper in Costa Rica is not so easy. Nonetheless, doing a fixer upper can be a profitable investment project, if you do all the right things. Sometimes, the perfect home for you can be in that older neighborhood that you…
It’s time to tell you what can happen when a seller backs out of the property sale. In another blog, I’ve covered what happens when the buyer backs out of a property sale in Costa Rica. Today, we’ll turn things around. A real estate deal can be scary as hell, for both sides. Some people…
When you are totally over your head in work, you can say “estoy hasta el copete de trabajo”. Then Ticos will understand you perfectly well. When you’ve had enough food, you can say estoy hasta el copete de la comida. Also, being totally fed up with someone’s behavior, you say estoy hasta el copete de…
In this blog, you’ll find the comparison of the cost of groceries Costa Rica versus the cost of groceries in Florida 2019. Diego Xavier, an expat in Costa Rica since 2014, shared this tremendous information recently on Facebook. I’d like to thank Diego Xavier, for allowing me to use this incredible comparison between the cost…
Lately, we have been receiving quite a few requests to sell 5 bedroom homes. The problem is, they’re impossible to sell. Unless the price is extremely attractive! There are several reasons why these 5 bedroom homes in Costa Rica are impossible to sell. Unless they’re a large luxury beach home that caters to the rich…
Are you looking for cheap Central Valley homes? Then you have arrived at the right place: GoDutch Realty. Real estate prices in Costa Rica have gone up so much that it is difficult to find any Central Valley homes under $175,000 anymore. BUT, you just need to know where to look. At GoDutch Realty, we…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Are you planning to invest in a rental investment property in Costa Rica? Then you first want to know what profit you can make on this investment, right? The profit in rental investment property depends on many factors. As you know, income is important, but profit is what makes the…
Do real estate agents have to charge sales tax on real estate rentals and sales in Costa Rica? Do tenants now have to pay sales tax on top of their rental? Many real estate agents and their clients are not very clear about the sales tax on real estate sales in Costa Rica, so let’s…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes If you say no me toquen el pito in Costa Rica, make sure you’re sitting in your car. If you are not, this can become quite a misunderstanding, especially if you are a male. Tocar el pito means honking. Another way to say honking is tocar la bocina or tocar la…
If your property in Costa Rica has been on the market for 3 months or more, it’s probably time for a price reduction. Has it been sitting for a while without a buyer? Often, I hear sellers say “my agent is not doing anything”. Or “I haven’t had a showing in months”. Well, it’s time…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Jim asked about how realtors work in CR. Do real estate agents only show you their own home listings? Don’t they show home listings from other agents? Is it possible to use a realtor that will show you everything in a certain area even if it’s not listed by them?…
policemenTheWhen you move to Costa Rica, you should know how to recognize the different police forces, know what they do and recognize them. As you all know, Costa Rica has not had an army since Pepe Figueres abolished it on December 1st, 1948. The country needed a police force that came under the command of…
Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes Qué vaina is one of those expressions your landlord might use when you complain about a leak in the roof. Or when your coffee maker stopped working and you’re asking for another. In this case, the translation is “what a problem”. But. instead of qué vaina, it is also possible…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes North Americans and Canadians do not need a visa or residency card to enter Costa Rica as a tourist. Most Europeans do not need a visa to enter the country either. To be able to live legally in Costa Rica, a person of any nationality needs legal residency. The government…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes An unfinished house in Costa Rica is as difficult to sell as a rented house. I don’t even know why I sometimes make the mistake of accepting to list an unfinished house anymore. I rarely do because I know they’re almost impossible to sell. Most of the time, it is…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Can you learn from other expat recommendations and their experiences? Of course, you can, those expat recommendations will help you tremendously to learn what they did right and wrong. So it won’t happen to you. A couple of weeks ago, I published an article Why Bill does not consider Costa…