By Ivo Henfling

It is surprising what selling a house might do to perfectly nice people. When you need to sell your house in Costa Rica because for some reason you need to go back where you came from, and you have been waiting for a while for the right buyer to show up, then you suddenly might have to take this low ball offer that doesn’t make you happy at all, but you decide to go for it.

I just finished up the ugliest sale I have done in my Costa Rica real estate career, because my sellers wanted to take a bad offer and apparently thought it was my fault, though I never put a gun to their heads to accept.

Just like some of the abusive buyers we get, the angry seller is what takes the fun out of being a real estate agent in Costa Rica. From day one, after signing the option to purchase sale agreement at a sales price they really didn’t want to take. The sellers were never cooperative during the 2 months to closing, especially when the buyer was asking for perfectly normal procedure to Costarican standards.

Also, this week, I received a phone call from the owner of a property that Brooke Bishop has listed in Grecia. The poor man sounded so desperate and so irritated that Brooke was not behaving like the perfect listing agent he was looking for, that he started shouting at me. When I told him that unfortunately I disagreed with his tirade, he hung up on me.

Areal view of Grecia

This behavior of the above sellers made me think about putting some of these issues on paper, so next time, I can tell those sellers to just go to the blog where they can read about what I think of this behavior.

    1.     Yes, the realtor gets paid by the seller, but not until closing. The realtor does not get paid for advertising, gasoline, tires, phone bills lunches with clients and all efforts made unless he/she sells the property in Costa Rica. Just the fact that the sellers pay the real estate commission doesn’t give you the rights to abuse the realtor.

    2.     If you are a control freak and like to be bossy, do NOT get involved in the process of selling your house, leave it to your realtor. This will contribute to an easy sale. Control the way your house looks at showing and be ready to come pick up your check at closing. See point 1.

    3.     Selling real estate in Costa Rica and the way we do things here is totally different from real estate back home. Don’t say “in the US we do” on everything you don’t agree with. If you want to do it as in “the US”, don’t hire a real estate agent. Just advertise your property as a for “sale by owner” and go your own way. Costa Rica has different rules and different laws, so you need to adjust to the country.

    4.     Costa Rica does not have a real MLS, therefore there are no exclusives either, so the listing agent does not work exclusively for you. We actually recommend using several agents, so you won’t have all your eggs in one basket. Don’t expect your listing agent to touch base with you every week, for reasons see point 1.

    5.     Most buyers look at many homes and not always with the same agent. It is very difficult to get good feedback from most buyers. I know you want to hear how great your home is and that they are ready to come with an offer. If this happens, you’ll be the first to hear about it, I promise. If there is no feedback, you will get no call from your listing agent for many reasons. See point 1.

I now realize that I have many more points I want to tell you about than I can reasonably fit in only one blog. So I decided to split this blog into two. That gives you something to look forward to for next week (if you like this topic of course).

If you are a seller and after reading this blog and you still want to have us list your home in Costa Rica, it will be a real pleasure to list your property and you can be assured we look out for you well when we try to sell your property. If you still don't get it, you should look into listing your property as a FSBO.

When you are a buyer and you want to be presented by a knowledgeable realtor, who will help you make the right decision, feel free to contact me and read up on our great testimonials.

By Ivo Henfling, your Costa Rica realtor who does not put up with bad attitudes to make a real estate commission. But if you are a serious and qualified buyer of a property in Escazu or Santa Ana or you would like me to help you sell your home or land in this same area, feel free to contact me now. Take also advantage of our Special Travel Promotion for GoDutch Realty clients.