The Ultimate Costa Rica Real Estate Experience

Costa Rica real estate testimonials part 3

Costa Rica real estate testimonials part 3This is real estate testimonials part 3. We like to publish real estate testimonials from all our Costa Rica Real Estate buyers and sellers. Some people don’t believe in real estate testimonials as they think there are invented. Well, ours are not, as it will show in the real testimonials we receive.

Feel free to check out part 1 or part 2, our earlier testimonials.

These pages are a testimonial of the seriousness and knowledge of our realtors. I also want to thank both buyers and sellers, no matter if they gave us a testimonial or not, a big thank you for your business.

Real estate testimonials

Nothing skipped

Ivo, thank you for all your help in selling my property in Escazu.

You worked with me at every stage and explained to me all the requirements. You sent by email and FedEx the necessary documentation. You called me about all the difficulties encountered. Those were plentiful yet you stood by me every step of the way, finding solutions for any problem that arose. There really was nothing you skipped.

You are a professional and most of all an honest agent who has lived in Costa Rica for many years, speaks three languages fluently and knows real estate in Costa Rica fully. And best of all “you don’t beat around the bush”. I therefore highly recommend Ivo.

Arnold in Curacao

Outstanding Service

I cannot recommend Ivo highly enough; he has just helped me close on selling my property in Santa Ana. Several so-called “realtors” brought clients to view, many of them were totally unqualified and only want the commission without doing any work.

I feel lucky that Ivo connected me with the successful buyer – and was a calm but tireless presence throughout the process. He worked with me at every stage, fully explained all the requirements, emailed all the documentation promptly. He was in constant communication during the whole sale.

He is an experienced professional who has lived in Costa Rica for many years and speaks English, Spanish, and Dutch fluently. There really is very little he doesn’t know about doing real estate in this country. On top of that, Ivo has an invaluable blog about the “ins and outs” of living and doing business in Costa Rica that is a go-to mine of solid information.

Vicky in Avalon Country Condominium

A daunting task made possible by Brooke

We had talked about moving to another country for years. The talk became reality when Meghan’s, then 86 year old dad, said he would be open to moving with us. To Costa Rica! At that point, moving became migrating, and Brooke Bishop became our Realtor/Migration Specialist.

Divesting ourselves of decades of belongings, preparing ourselves and our three dogs, leaving our previous lives behind…to move to a new country? A daunting task made possible by Brooke.

In the seven months between making our decision and arriving, Brooke was available to listen, to advise, to collaborate. Through my briefly meeting her, and with months of us all emailing and calling back and forth, she earned our trust. By the time we arrived, she had found the perfect rental for us. Within months of arriving, she helped us find the perfect house! And buy it! And have it remodeled by the best contractor in CR!

We have been here almost two years now, and it is Brooke who we have to thank for successfully integrating into our new life. We couldn’t be happier with our decision to come to this land, country, people… home. We couldn’t be happier than to have met Brooke.

Thank you Brooke – Realtor/Migration Specialist Extraordinaire, you made it all possible!

Mikala, Meghan, Tom, and dogs

Brooke seems to have her role down to a fine science

We are happy to have used the services of an agency that is reputable and has English speaking staff, made the process friendly, comfortable and helped expedite the process.

We worked with Brooke Bishop. Brooke not only made us feel comfortable, with her laid back but very professional demeanor, we always felt that she knew what she was doing and could guide us through the process. Brooke created a very respectful, fair, non-stressful and supportive environment between the sellers and the buyers.

The purchase transaction was pretty easy. Brooke was supportive, had everything set-up and was there for us every step of the way!

Brooke’s post-sale services were above and beyond! Brooke continuously offered support for anything we might need, getting set up in a new country. The list goes on and on, from finding contractors, gardeners, house cleaners, pest control, setting up utilities, suggestions on where to shop, banking, home, and car insurance, medical and translating. We honestly felt and feel that this type of person is hard to come by. Brooke is an amazing realtor and person. We feel very fortunate to have found her 🙂

Brooke seems to have her role down to a fine science.

Kate & Sergey 

Brooke has given 150% of herself to her clients

We had been researching Costa Rica’s different areas for a couple of years, for places to retire.  As we proposed and crossed different places off of our list, CR moved to the first spot and then stayed as #1.  When we started looking for houses, we reached out to a couple of agents in different areas but didn’t get much feedback from them.  One day we came across a GoDutch Realty listing and went to their website.  This listing was how we met Brooke Bishop. Great day for us, let me assure you!!!

I contacted Brooke about a listing she had that caught our interest (which we bought, BTW).  Brooke contacted us back right away, with an enthusiasm that brought smiles to our faces.  She asked when we would like to see her listings.  As we were in the Seattle area at our house in the US, we told her we would plan travel & let her know.  She informed us that she would pull up listings in several areas that we liked and send along to us, which she did right away.  She also helped us find accommodations, set up a rental car and set a date to see homes on our arrival.  We gave her our budget & our wish list for a home.  She drove us to see every listing we chose (6 houses in 2 days), and on the 3rd day, we negotiated the contract on the first house that we had seen.  The rest of our dream is in motion, thanks to Brooke Bishop & GoDutch Realty.

Brooke Bishop was able to answer all of my questions with a confident and accurate explanation.  She got back to me on time when I contacted her.  She spent several days with us and did not pressure us on our decision.  If I wanted to know something that she felt she did not have all info for, she gave me the knowledge she had, then did research and followed up with more.

We could not have asked for a smoother transaction.  Brooke set us up with Tatiana (attorney) who explained every step of our transaction.  We received both Spanish & English copies of our contracts, survey & maps of our property.  Brooke attended all the meetings with us.  She helped in negotiating our deal with the seller (which I felt was extremely fair).  In the process of purchase & close, Brooke kept in contact with us at all times.

She took us to appliance stores, closing appointment, to register our home, to the bank, post office and introduced us to the greatest people that would help us along the way of making our new way of life possible.  As we ride along from place to place in our car (which Brooke took us to buy) after we had our Brooke-referred mechanic, Carlos, check for us…we could not be more pleased with the entire process.

Brook Bishop could not have made this transaction any easier!  She has given 150% of herself to her clients.  I have met many of her clients along the process and all of us feel the same way.

GoDutch Realty & Brooke Bishop are truly the best.

BTW, I am a real estate agent in the US & have high expectations in this area.

PS – When I read their website, they had many informative articles that helped us with our decision to go ahead and make the move.  Thank you to Ivo H and all the faculty at GoDutch.

Dennis & Phil

How deeply grateful we are

We are so very appreciative of working with Marian we have written this testimonial… it is hard to find the right words to express how deeply grateful we are for both the professional and personal role she is playing in helping us settle here in Atenas.

We had an amazing experience with Marian helping us find just the right home.  She listened to our needs and went out of her way to see that they were met.  After the closing, she made sure and continues to make sure that we are settled in our new home.  We have gone shopping together. She helped us with banking.  She recommended vendors.  Our Spanish is limited and we appreciated her ability to communicate our needs to others.  We are so grateful for the number of ways she has helped, a new friend.  WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND HER!!

JoAnne and Murray Tucker

We were nervous and didn’t understand many of the rules

https://www.godutchrealty.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Jaco-Beach-Real-Estate-and-the-Central-Pacific-1.png’s blog was definitely a determining factor in our decision to move to Costa Rica. Brooke Bishop is the best! She took us wherever we asked from the beginning. Once she knew us a little better, she quickly narrowed down the properties we’d like and what we could afford. Her expertise in dealing with the seller got us a great place at an exceptional price. She’s also continued to be a wonderful resource after the purchase of our new home.

Brooke and Ivo kept us informed and up to date with everything that was happening. They answered all of our questions promptly. We have never purchased anything outside the USA before, so the experience was different for us. We were nervous and didn’t understand many of the rules. They use a very knowledgeable and efficient attorney who also helped a great deal. The transaction went very smoothly.

Brooke “has a guy” for just about any question or problem we’ve encountered. She’s helped us find places in Costa Rica. Even after we had purchased our house, she’s helped us to find furniture, how to get to the airport, furniture stores, repair people, and has just been a great source of information and comfort.

There isn’t anything they could have done better. We are very grateful that we found GoDutch to help with our search and the purchase transaction. Purchasing a home/property in a foreign country is a big step, but if you have professionals on your side who know what to do, it is a tremendous relief. We have heard of people having many problems when purchasing here, however, our experience couldn’t have been better. We’re convinced it was because we found the best real estate company to handle everything. The fact that Brooke is from the United States and is also fluent in Spanish made the ease of the deal possible.

Ted and Wanda, Grecia

She guided us through every step of the process

We are nearly 4,000 miles away and truly could not have built our beautiful new home without Marian’s help. We felt that we had a partner from the beginning of our search. After our initial proposal to purchase an existing home didn’t materialize, it was she that suggested we consider building.

She guided us through every step of the process from finding the land, negotiating with the builders, introducing us to and meeting with our attorney, and finding every possible kind of service that we needed. We were astonished with how many shopping trips Marian took us on during our search for finishes, furniture, and accessories. She definitely went well above and beyond any expectations.

We can’t thank her enough for all that she has done for us!

Carlton & Bridget

Marian understood out our main interests

“The process of buying our new house in a rural location was an enjoyable one thanks to the great advice and support that we received along the way by GoDutch Realty’s Marian Veltman. We feel that Marian had a good understanding of our main interests and drivers and presented a list of great options to consider.

In the end and once we had made up our minds, the closing process was also very straightforward and clear. We strongly recommend GoDutch Realty’s services and especially Marian’s know-how on the insights of living in the Atenas area.”

Best Regards,

Fernando and Carolina

She was quite helpful without being pushy

I’d want to say thank you for helping along the process of finding a property in Atenas and understanding the options and possibilities.

I also want to say special thanks to Marian, who was holding our hands during our stay in Atenas this June and then later communicated with the seller for us until closing. She was quite helpful without being pushy, which I really appreciate. Without her efforts, we would be lost and could hardly be able to make a decision as fast. She connected me with all the people I needed to understand the details, which was very valuable. Her attitude was very open an friendly. I’m glad that we now have a person in Atenas we could trust and rely on.

We ended up buying a property that was not a “traditional” RE purchase. We bought a house that is built as half of the duplex. The house and the related land could not be subdivided, but we liked the property anyways as a good price/quality compromise.

It was owned before by a couple of friends (basically one owner), so there was never an issue handling two houses as one. With the sale of one house, the trick was to create a document that would define the responsibilities of individual shareholders of the holding corporation that would allow them to run two parts of the duplex as if they own individual RE properties.

Having quite good experience in RE and in the corporate world, I created such a document as a base for the local lawyer to incorporate at closing. It worked well in the end, making all parties happy. Marian has a copy of this document, so if there are any similar cases, I hope it may help.

Thanks again and all the best!

Dmitry Kulakov

Don’t lose her she’s a keeper!!

This is Scott and Debbie Novak.  My wife and I wanted to reach out to you to let you know what a professional job Marian Veltman, our real estate agent did on selling our San Mateo home.  We had a very difficult buyer refusing to cooperate on the purchase of our home.  They basically had to be educated on legal matters to purchase our home correctly through bank financing.  With Marian‘s continuous follow up with us and the buyer, we succeeded in the closing of the sale of our home.  We would’ve never been able to pull this off if it wasn’t for Marian coming to our rescue.  She had our complete trust.  Marian even went to the closing and followed up with both of us to the very end.  We both highly recommend her for any real estate transactions and will refer her when possible.  Don’t lose her she’s a keeper!!

Kindest Regards,
Scott and Debbie Novak

An incredible resource became a friend

We are pleased to write a testimonial for Marián.

We first met in 2015 when we rented Villa Clara in Roca Verde, Atenas for a month.  Mariam was the property manager, and we were immediately impressed with her caring nature and attention to detail.  She made herself very available to us any time we needed a recommendation, advice or something at the home.

It was a wonderful experience being in Atenas and living in this lovely home in Roca Verde, so in 2016 when we decided to look for a second home in Costa Rica, we immediately contacted Marian.  We wanted to be in the Atenas area and had very particular locations and amenities we were looking for.  Marian picked us up at our rental three different mornings and drove us all over the area showing us some very nice homes….two of which were good possibilities, but not quite what we had dreamed of.  Then on the third morning, she took us back to Roca Verde to a home under construction that she had a feeling we might like.

I knew the minute we walked in and saw the glorious view that we were “home”!  She certainly got it right!  There was so much to do in purchasing the house, finishing construction, furnishing the house, finding contractors for special upgrades, finding an attorney, a bank, security system, cable company and so much more.  Marian was always there to make a recommendation and lead us through the process.

She is incredibly knowledgeable of the area, and people.  So after three years of ownership, we decided our next chapter would be taking us in a different direction.  We contacted Marian about putting the house on the market, and she had a buyer for us within three weeks!  She is an incredible resource, but so much more, she has become our friend.  Without reservation, we recommend Marian Veltman to anyone looking to buy or rent a home in Atenas, Costa Rica.

Wayne Bookout

Very knowledgeable

We wish to express our gratitude for all the help Marian gave us in purchasing our property in Escobal.   Her knowledge of the Atenas area and her guidance through the purchasing process made the transaction very comfortable.  We have known Marian since first renting a property she managed in 2017 and knew that if we did end up purchasing a property in the Atenas area, that we would use her services for managing the property.

Joan & Gary Randlett

DA BOMB

Dear Ivo,

I want to commend you on hiring Brooke Bishop to represent your company in Grecia, Sarchi & Naranjo. She is an exemplary human being as well as a fantastic real estate agent.

I have had the privilege of working with Brooke over the course of the past 9 months. She helped me find the perfect lot in San Luis de Grecia and I am in the process of building my new home. She has cheerfully assisted me with translation when needed and has even accompanied me on shopping trips to look for tile, etc. for my new home.

Besides being a knowledgeable professional, she is also witty, fun and a joy to be around. But don’t let that fool you! When necessary, this little 4-foot-nothin’ gal can be a pitbull and straighten out anybody who thinks they’re going to intimidate her!!

To say “I just love this girl” is an understatement. She’s like my little Spiritual Daughter, and I consider her a forever friend. Anyone I’ve ever talked to who’s dealt with Brooke has said the same thing. She is DA BOMB!! We wouldn’t think of working with anyone else to buy or sell a property, and we all happily recommend her to all who ask for a referral to a good agent.

Thank you for having the good sense to hire this firecracker!! I wish you unparalleled success and hope you both enjoy a long, satisfying working relationship.

Maggie W.

Great guidance

Because of Brooke’s quick responses, we were able to view the house two times during our vacation. Also, her guidance and information during the entire process made it possible for us to make this big decision in a relatively small timeframe.

Brooke really knows the Grecia area, houses available, the different towns nearby, companies who can help, shops and other facilities.

Buying our house was a very good experience. Of course, it’s always a stressful time, but Brooke was there to help us communicate with the sellers, agree on terms and many more things. She was always available via phone, WhatsApp and email, which really helped us.

Also, Brooke is always available for questions and helps where needed when we are not around ourselves.

Mariette and Jose

Cooler with cold beers

Brooke Bishop knows the geography and real estate property available in the Grecia, Sarchi, Naranjo, Palmares, and San Ramon areas very well.

My experience during the purchase process was very informative and easy to understand thanks to the knowledge that Brooke Bishop shared with me.

All services before and after the purchase were superior.

The only way Brooke Bishop could have made the purchase process better would have been to have a cooler filled with cold beers to share during our meetings.

Tom Rosenberger

She’s a gem!

I am writing to tell you how much we loved (and love) working with Marian.

She represented us in our recent purchase of a beautiful home in Atenas. As we live in the U.S., most of our communication was via email, text, and WhatsApp. At every turn, Marian was quickly available to answer our questions, advocate for the best possible outcome for our purchase and worked diligently with our attorney to iron out all the technical details with documents, etc.

During our visit to close on the house, she went out of her way to ferry us back and forth to all the necessary appointments, pointed out areas of interest in Atenas and surrounding areas, helped facilitate Internet connections and utilities, and generally acted as our interpreter, as our Spanish is still quite basic at this point.

We feel so fortunate to have connected with her. Marian is not only highly professional but her warm personality makes her instantly likable and easy to work with. She’s a gem!

Best regards,

Sheila Collins and Mark Schulman

Positiva y tenáz

Vivo en Atenas Alajuela, y hace unos días concluí la venta de mi casa. Está venta la hicimos a travez de la empresa que usted representa.

Debo decirle que tuvimos una excelente persona, como agente. La Sra Marian, que puso mucho trabajo, fue constante, positiva y tenáz. Realmente estamos muy complacidos con el servicio que nos brindó. La recomendamos sin ninguna duda. Su trabajo fue excelente.

Walter Soto S
Atenas.

A delightful person to work with

Hello Ivo,

I just want to write to tell you how much I enjoy working with Marian.

She has been a stellar buyer’s agent and is proving to be equally adept at helping me set up and manage my new property in the Atenas area.  She is incredibly efficient, focused, and responsible, as well as a delightful person to work with!  You are so blessed to have Marian on your team, and I look forward to a fruitful partnership with GoDutch.

Respectfully,

Alice Despard
Connecticut, USA

Contact us

By Phone (506) 2289-5125/8834-4515

We look forward to hearing from you!

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