Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Did you receive your Dimex residency card yet? Our “moving-to-Costa-Rica” travails are pretty much behind us. Our recent focus has been getting our Dimex residency card (cedula de residencias) making us official full-time retired residents of Costa Rica. It was the biggest item and the one that has also taken the…
Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Today’s story is about this Euro savings account that we needed to open. This should be an easy task. But it is not! Banking in Costa Rica is not as simple as it is in other countries. Please do not see this blog as a complaint about Costa Rica banks…
When buying a condo, you might not realize it, but the condominium might have an underfunded HOA, or it’s almost broke. The problem is that you won’t find out until the HOA sends out a notice about an upcoming extraordinary assessment. With 30 years of selling properties in Costa Rica under my belt, I’ve hardly…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes I’ve found out how to pay my utility bills. But I’ll start this blog with a disclaimer. My chosen topic for today’s blog, paying utility bills in Costa Rica, is a bit like an unfinished symphony: the final stanza has yet to be written. It also reflects my own personal…
A car accident is never fun nor is it ever convenient. One Saturday a couple of months ago my husband was driving through Barrio Mexico, going to a Little Theatre Group rehearsal. He stopped at a stop sign as required and was thinking about whether he should go straight or turn right (he wasn’t familiar…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes You can use this 21-step Costa Rica property buying guide to make a relaxed purchase without making any mistakes. You have visited all the countries that were on your due diligence list before moving to or retiring in Costa Rica. Now you are visiting to look to purchase a property…
After moving here, you will need a bank account in Costa Rica. Without it, you’ll be in trouble. How are you going to pay your bills? I certainly hope you paid attention to my previous blogs and prepared for gaining easy and ongoing access to your funds back home. At the moment, it’s difficult to…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Everyone who moves to Costa Rica asks if they should take the car with them to Costa Rica or sell it. So how to plan to get your possessions moved to Costa Rica? First, you need to focus on moving yourself and your loved ones south. But what about and…
How important are financial decisions before you move? I can’t overemphasize how much potential difficulty and inconvenience you can avoid once you move to Costa Rica. If you’ve attended to your financial details with a customized, flexible transaction plan. You will need ready access to your assets, so you have to take financial decisions ahead…
Some things are surprisingly different in Costa Rica than we think they are. Two weeks ago, I told you my experiences on setting up banking and utilities after our real estate. And today I am in my final blog about my story that started on January 25th, 2013. My wife and I think it turned…
by guest blogger TicoNuevo Back home, before I tackled the financial flowchart, we were dealing with a number of banks, and credit card and financial institutions; some of whom we felt either we would not need, whose fees would be too expensive to use when moving to Costa Rica or would not be easy to…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Setting up Banking and Utilities after our real estate closing was a treat! During the two weeks we visited the country during our Costa Rica real estate closing, we enjoyed some downtime. Also, we did some touring and exploring and learning more about our newly-adopted second home. While meeting more…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes There have been several changes in the temporary Costa Rican residency policy and law that affect the financial wellbeing of long-term visitors. This includes those visitors applying for one of the three immigrant resident categories. Just before our arrival, Immigration made changes in the temporary Costa Rican residency. We received…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes When you move to another country, it’s important to create a timeline for your plan. If you are changing countries, there’s a pot full of planning, changes, and notifications that need to be implemented. This is necessary to achieve a successful and less stressful transition. In my last blog, I…
Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes The builder and we had agreed on closing in February. We only have to make the final payment for our amazing property in Costa Rica. As soon as we wire the payment, we can proceed with closing the deal. Of course, these situations almost always have hurdles. The best…
Learn more about the life of expats in Atenas. Two sisters – Judy and Roxi – are creating a whole new life in Costa Rica post-retirement from the United States. They were in touch with our Atenas real estate agent before they moved to Costa Rica and gave Isabelle Jones a raving testimonial. Learn about…