I’ve got some home purchase advice for you, as I just learned a lot myself. I’d like to tell you about this home purchase advice that I have, while it’s all fresh in the mind. This is what happened:
I got out a pen and paper and made a list of repair, improvement, and additional projects. Those projects, in our minds, would elevate House #3 to “dream home” status. I put my best estimate of a cost beside each item. However, I had no idea of local construction costs and had used a wild#%*guestimate. So I was looking for expert home purchase advice.
I called on our realtor Isabelle Jones’ husband, Howard. He has built about ten homes in Costa Rica. Howard could function as a sounding board to help verify my cost figures. Once my numbers penciled out, we reached our decision point.
Armed with assurances and all of our data, we decided to make an offer. Negotiations continued for a short while. Then an agreement was reached that we felt was low enough for us to afford to bring the home and property up to our standards. We also wanted to tackle the projects we felt would have it approach “dream home” status. More on the actual purchase process later. But I will mention here, that we had a way out of the purchase if the pending inspection uncovered a deal-killing structural defect or another flaw.
Multiple Listing Service
I pause now explaining that unlike real estate in North America, there is no multiple-listing service in Costa Rica. No government-sanctioned real estate agent training or testing. Real estate licenses are gained by paying a fee to the only existing real estate board. Testing is not part of the deal. No preconceived concepts about requirements, customs, or observed standards about realtors, realty agencies, or the Costa Rica real estate industry in general really exist in Costa Rica.
There are few, if any, government-required forms, industry disclaimers, health and safety tests, forms, clearances, inspections, assurances or protections associated with purchasing a property. This is changing slowly with reputable real estate agencies like GoDutch Realty. But it is still a bit like the Wild West. It definitely is a “be on your guard” and a “buyer beware” environment when buying a home.
Don’t go on your own
With so many differences, not just language differences, potential pitfalls, and obstacles for the novice homebuyer in Costa Rica, having experts in your corner is a real advantage. It certainly helps give peace of mind.
Having gone through the process personally, my home purchase advice is not to attempt it on your own.
On the buyer’s side, there is no additional expense for hiring an agent when buying a home. And, my advice would be to stay away from the “For Sale By Owner” properties. Unless you’ve already made several property purchases in Costa Rica successfully.
Even then, you probably wouldn’t know your way around well enough to feel truly self-confident.
Here’s an example of what I’m trying to explain. I read that the Costa Rican National Registry, which tracks and records titles for all properties, shows titles for about 5-10-% more land than what exists. This means that there is definitely some title overlap. This could definitely affect your real estate purchase and having a clear title down the road. So home purchase advice from a surveyor can also be a must.
Home inspection
We contacted the gringo building inspector/contractor recommended by GoDutch realty for our home inspection. As I mentioned in my last blog, there aren’t many home inspectors. And even fewer who have are qualified to inspect with an eye to North-American building standards. Oh, and you want to communicate and have your report in English? We negotiated by phone and email. We wound up paying an extra travel fee to get him to come all the way out from his normal territory to perform the inspection. As I remember, the entire home inspection, including travel fees, was $450.
Here I will digress again slightly to explain the limitations of even a “thorough” home inspection. Any inspection, even in the U.S., is limited to a visual surface observation and what home functions and mechanics can be tested with limited access and time. Only suppositions about what is inside a wall or under the ground can be made from observations about what is on the surface. Or with the aid of architectural drawings if they are available. And, building standards and construction methods are very different here than in North America.
A case in point
The house has two attics, one on each side of a high-ceilinged central room, but only one attic had access. It sounds crazy that anyone would build an attic with no access, but probably not that unusual by Costa Rican standards. The inspector had to make suppositions about the sealed attic space based on observations made inside the other. Running a water pump for a few minutes isn’t going to prove how it will operate under continuous use or how rusted and worn inside the pump it may be.
The report
The inspection took half a day and we received what I would say, was a very full report of many pages with color photos. The inspector had a checklist of things to be checked. We also had already made him aware of our structural concerns, the roof, and a few other things. All needed and suggested repairs were itemized and detailed with photos. The inspector’s other concerns were noted and detailed with photos where applicable. What wasn’t noted were a number of other surprises; some of which will find their way as a topic of later blogs.
The green light
The inspection basically gave us a green light to proceed with the purchase. Armed with a purchase agreement, we gave the okay to continue with closing. This agreement showed repairs and improvements allowed. Now we had the assurances from an architect, a contractor, and now, a North American building inspector that there were no major structural issues. We’re really glad we got all this home purchase advice that made us feel comfortable.
The Author
The author of this blog, Ticonuevo, is a US expat who moved to Costa Rica and used the services of GoDutch Realty to purchase a property in Costa Rica. In his blogs, Ticonuevo describes his own experiences of taking the step of moving to Costa Rica and getting a new life started.
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I DO want to remind our readers that we appreciate any referrals you can send us. Also, when talking about your home in Costa Rica, please remember the GoDutch Realty agents. We appreciate it.