Ivo’s Blog by Godutch Realty

a Costa Rica real estate blog

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TicoNuevo figures out how to pay his Costa Rica utility bills

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…

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Housewarming party ideas for your new house in Costa Rica

Estimated Reading Time: 5 Minutes Here are some housewarming party ideas for when you purchase a house in Costa Rica. A couple of months ago, TicoNuevo was planning his housewarming party. He asked me where to find musicians to turn this into a real happening. Who else to ask than your Costa Rica real estate…

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My 90 day perpetual tourist visa stamp for Costa Rica

It is tourist visa stamp time for my wife and me. Our 90-day visa was expiring and we needed to make a border run. Therefore, we had to leave Costa Rica and re-enter to renew our visa. That was the only way to keep our U.S. driver’s license and Costa Rican driver’s insurance in force.…

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Winter in the US and Canada vs Winter in Costa Rica

Estimated Reading Time: 8 Minutes I hate winter, don’t you? But, unfortunately, it seems never to stop being cold up north, even the realtors on Google+ complain about it almost every day, and we’re almost in May! It never rains in Southern California is a lie because it does. Although we get hail once every…

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Tennis outfits Grecia perfect for active retirement in Costa Rica

Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes Did you know there are two tennis outfits Grecia? When showing property with clients a while ago, I saw a couple of tennis rackets and a basket full of tennis balls in the garage of the Grecia home for sale. We were way up in the mountains of Grecia and…

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Can you legally drive on a pending residency

Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes How can you legally drive when you have just moved to Costa Rica? Can you legally drive on a pending residency? Have you decided to settle down and start living in Costa Rica? Maybe giving it an extended tryout? Then you’re going to have to leave the country every 90…

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TicoNuevo dodging obstacles at the horse parade

TicoNuevo joins ranks at the horse parade. A little-known fact for novice “tope-goers”: you can actually rent a horse and join the riders in most Costa Rican tope or horse parade. We had this offering at our horse parade. Some of the renters, to be delicate, “detracted somewhat” from the aura surrounding my vision of…

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How to dissolve your Costa Rican corporation

Maybe you have a reason to dissolve your Costa Rican corporation? As many of you are aware, or certainly should be aware by now, the Costa Rica government imposed an annual corporation tax on all Costa Rican corporations. This is done by way of Law No. 9204 in 2012. The date the law was implemented…

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Is Daylight Savings Time used in Costa Rica?

Estimated Reading Time: 3 Minutes In the United States, Daylight Savings Time (DST) 2014 is on Sunday, March Nine and in most European countries on March 30. In Costa Rica, Daylight Savings Time was used for the first time in the summer of 1979, once in 1980 (from February until May), and in 1991 from…

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