Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes Imagine visiting all these beautiful places in Costa Rica! and on top of that, the sun shines! Yes, for many people on the planet, to imagine that you wake up in the morning and the sun shines, is just that: an imagination. For us, the ones who are lucky enough…
Once you have decided on relocation to Costa Rica, there a few things you should do first. Okay, now you’ve had an offer on your house for sale and accepted. You will soon be faced with the prospect of nowhere to live. Pre-plan all you want, but it can still happen that you now are…
Estimated Reading Time: 6 Minutes You could end up on a leash if you sign an exclusive listing agreement without having read this blog first. Property sellers should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of signing an exclusive listing contract with a realtor. You should be aware of what this contract obliges you to.…
Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes Before you move: get rid of your stuff! If we were going to make a successful move to our new land, there was no choice but to sell our house. Most websites counsel you to take it slowly. But, before you get rid of your stuff, decide if you want…
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…
When you grow up with burgers, you cannot live without them. Moving to Costa Rica doesn’t change your eating habits. If you have grown up eating hamburgers and hotdogs, you cannot just start eating Gallo Pinto the next day. The advantage is that if you move to Costa Rica, thousands of US citizens have done…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes I am often asked, with a lot of skepticism, why yoga and horses? Where is the connection? My standard answer is; I have experienced the similarities between riding and yoga practice. The same stillness and union I find in my yoga practice I feel when I ride. Last week I…
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…
Yes, we have hail and lightning in Costa Rica. Real estate agents always write about the beautiful weather in Costa Rica, but this time I wanted to write about bad weather in Costa Rica, in fact, about hail and lightning in Costa Rica. The girl in the photo below is not in Denver, Colorado. She…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes You have been doing important things all your life. Now it is time to take it easy, by doing nothing important for a while. Hundreds of baby boomers who live in Grecia are barely surviving by doing nothing important. Grecia seems to be the perfect place on earth to do…
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 We hit on 3 more challenges before closing on our property. I apologize for the length of time that has passed since my last blog in late February. I wanted to let some time go by to digest our house purchase, before writing the last chapter, and wrap up our…
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…
Most U.S. citizens and green card holders rushed to file a US tax return by April 15. However, Americans living abroad on the regular due date of their tax return can take advantage of several extensions. We updated this blog on 3/27/2020 First and foremost, American expatriates get an automatic two-month extension until June 15…