[This is the Jamie Meloni Real Estate Show on 1250 WHNZ. Now live in the studio, your host local real estate expert Jamie Meloni.]

Jamie Meloni: Hi everybody. Happy Monday and welcome to the Jamie Meloni Real Estate Show here on 1250 WHNZ. You will find this show on every Mondays at noon. So I invite you to please tune in as my show aims to become your information source for the Tampa Bay real estate market.

Got a great show planned for you today. In the studio I got co-host Robert Paredes with Fifth Third Bank. Robert, how are you doing today?

Robert Paredes: I’m doing well Jamie. How are you this Monday morning?

Jamie Meloni: Doing great. I also have Stella Giudicelli, a regular contributor to the radio show. How are you doing Stella?

Stella Giudicelli: Hello, hello everyone. I’m doing great. Thank you.

Jamie Meloni: And also in studio on the second half of the show we will have my guest Sal Ruggiero with the City of Tampa. He’s in the studio with us today as well.

Sal Ruggiero: Thanks for having me.

Jamie Meloni: Thank you Sal for coming in and the first guest Rebecca Clower, she’s a call-in. We will be going through her here in just a moment here on the first half of this show. But before we talk to Rebecca, Robert how was your weekend?

Robert Paredes: Not long enough Jamie. How about you? But the good news is that rates are actually down from last week. So I’m looking forward to a very profitable week for everybody this week.

Jamie Meloni: Interesting and now you are a loan officer with Fifth Third Bank and also a regular contributor to the Jamie Meloni Real Estate Show. Are they down significantly or …

Robert Paredes: No, but anywhere from an eighth to a quarter. So it’s still a big difference I think especially if it’s — you know, the loan amount is pretty substantial. It makes a big difference.

Jamie Meloni: That’s excellent news. I’ve been preaching for since the beginning of the show. Now it’s a great time to buy in part — due in large part to the low interest rates that are out there on the market, historical low rates, and they only have nowhere to go but up. So values are down, considerably from their highs in 2006 and people are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see if they need to get into the real estate market and they’re missing a golden opportunity right now.

Robert Paredes: The time is now my friend. The time is now.

Jamie Meloni: Absolutely, absolutely. I want to go ahead and go to our first guest, Rebecca Clower. She is a broker/owner of a real estate company in Costa Rica. She’s also a licensed Florida realtor and vice president for the Costa Rica Global Association of Realtors. She’s also a certified international property specialist, an international investor and resident of Costa Rica. She worked as a successful real estate agent with RE/MAX in Costa Rica before starting her own real estate and travel tour agency.

She was the featured realtor on several episodes of HGTV Canada’s new show called Live Here Buy This and HGTV USA House Hunters International.

Rebecca has also been nominated as one of the top 100 Realtors in Costa Rica by the VIP Members of WeLoveCostaRica.com and is a contributing writer for the site too as well.

Rebecca, welcome to the show.

Rebecca Clower: Thanks Jamie. Thanks for having me.

Jamie Meloni: Rebecca, I’m very interested in learning more about real estate overseas and how it compares to real estate practices here in Florida. Now you’ve actually began your career in real estate here in the States before relocating to Costa Rica.

Tell me a little bit more about your time you spent as a real estate professional here in Florida and the success you had in that and also why you decided to relocate from our beautiful state to Costa Rica.

Rebecca Clower: For sure. Well I started working in — I moved to Florida actually in May of 2000 and started working in real estate about two years after that and got into the renovation and rehabbing wholesaling type of thing over there and basically worked for an independent — was actually a coworker of yours Christina. I knew her as Christina.

We worked together there for quite a few years and basically started out doing the renovations. Over the course of about five years, I would say we did about 40 homes.

Jamie Meloni: Yeah. You were doing this in the early 2000s when that was a very profitable and explosive industry.

Rebecca Clower: Exactly. Obviously times change. So yeah, basically in about 2002 when we started renovating homes and did that for several years. I got my license in 2003 and started hopping over to the residential side because obviously there was a need after you renovated a home. You had to sell up to your retail buyer.

So that’s basically how I got going in Tampa and we did very much focus in the areas of Seminole Heights and Tampa Heights when those areas were up and coming. So basically between 2002 to 2006 which was when I came over to Costa Rica.

Jamie Meloni: You came over to Costa Rica in 2006?

Rebecca Clower: You got it.

Jamie Meloni: Got you.

Rebecca Clower: Right at the end of 2006 actually. So my timing was pretty good.

Jamie Meloni: Yeah. You left here right as the market was really taking the downturn. That was — what I would say the peak of the market in Tampa Bay was 2006 and we’ve lost about 50 percent of the value from that time although we’ve recovered about 20 percent of it in the last couple of years. Now you’re not originally from Florida. Where were you from originally?

Rebecca Clower: Well, I was born in Chicago but I grew up in Buffalo, New York. So obviously I needed to get out of cold places. So I moved from — I went to college in Arizona, graduated from Arizona State and then moved out to Tampa in 2000.

Jamie Meloni: Interesting life. I myself from West Virginia and just like you, I did not like the cold weather climate and when I was 18 I set on out of here and I picked a warm weather state for just that reason alone.

Rebecca Clower: Exactly.

Jamie Meloni: Now, how often do you return to Florida? Do you still practice real estate in Florida at all? Do you send referrals this way or what?

Rebecca Clower: Yeah. I come back to Florida at least once a year. I still have family and friends in the Tampa area in Temple Terrace and my parents live in Fort Lauderdale. So I come back and see everybody of course and in regard to selling real estate, I honestly am not too involved other than an occasional referral because when I left Florida, I decided to really focus my efforts 110 percent on Costa Rica real estate.

Jamie Meloni: Interesting. Now Rebecca I myself have never been to Costa Rica as I’m sure many of our listeners have not as well. Now I’m sure you’re going to tell us about why we should be investing in Costa Rica. So let’s begin with just some general information as I really don’t know much about this area. First of all, what are the requirements for Americans to travel into and out of Costa Rica?

Rebecca Clower: It’s actually pretty easy. You don’t need a visa, just a valid passport. You just need to make sure that you have at least six months left on your passport before it expires, to enter the country and not have issues. But other than that, there’s no other special requirement.

Jamie Meloni: OK. And where exactly is Costa Rica located? I know I was thinking that this was an island and that you corrected me. But it’s down in — off in South American region, right? So fill me in.

Rebecca Clower: But it’s funny because so many people say, “Hey, how is life on the island?” I kind of joke and say, “Well, if I lived on an island, I would tell you.”

But the same kind of thing applies here. It is very much like island time but we’re located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama and Costa Rica is actually a really great place. We have really stable governments, democracy. We have no army and so it’s a great place to live.

Jamie Meloni: Interesting. So I learn something everyday. I was thinking that was one of the Caribbean islands and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because of the “Rica” in Puerto Rico.

Rebecca Clower: People get that confused all the time.

Jamie Meloni: Thanks for making me not feel so dumb and so other people out there with that misconception as well. So what is the local currency? Is US dollars traded there or is there a separate form of currency that you use there?

Rebecca Clower: Yeah, the local currency is called the “colon” or “colones” plural, actually named after Christopher Columbus. But US dollars are widely accepted here and in fact real estate is almost always quoted and sold in US dollars. It’s just the reason being is because the US dollar is more stable than the local currency.

Jamie Meloni: And how prominent is the English language in the country?

Rebecca Clower: Rather prominent in the beach areas that I service and the areas where there are lots of expats including around the capital of the country which is San Jose. There are also many people — I think you’re wondering about if people can get by also without actually speaking Spanish and a lot of people do. But I do like to mention that as someone who speaks Spanish fluently that I always try to encourage my clients to at least try and learn some basic Spanish because it will make your life a little easier although body language does go a long way here.

Jamie Meloni: Got you. Now did you learn Spanish before relocating or have you always been a Spanish speaker?

Rebecca Clower: I’ve always been a Spanish speaker because my mom is from Costa Rica.

Jamie Meloni: Oh.

Rebecca Clower: And my dad is from Chicago. But I grew up speaking Spanish. My mom was a stay-at-home mom at the beginning and always spoke Spanish to me and I thank God for it now. But I never thought in a million years that I would be down here and selling real estate and doing what I do. So I really do appreciate that she spoke to me in Spanish now.

Jamie Meloni: It’s a great skill to have. It’s something I wish that I had working in the business that I do but I never — I took two years of it in high school and I’ve had a Spanish girlfriend that I dated for 12 years and I still can’t speak Spanish.

Rebecca Clower: It’s hard. If you don’t practice it everyday — even here, 95 percent of my clients are English speaking. So I always make an effort of speaking Spanish with my coworkers and everybody in the office because otherwise, you will get through the whole day and realize you really didn’t speak much Spanish at all. So I do make an effort when I’m in the office for sure.

Jamie Meloni: Now obviously the Caribbean weather is great. But how often do you see rain and what’s the coldest that Costa Rica gets?

Rebecca Clower: In our province, which is called Guanacaste, we have a dry season from December to April and a rainy season from May to November and the rainy season is very much like Florida in the summer. That’s what I try to tell people.

So you have blue skies in the morning which gives way to rain in the afternoon for a few hours. Our rainiest months are September and October which are also the slowest month here for tourism but it’s also less expensive. There’s less chores around which is a plus for some people.

But in terms of the temperature, it really doesn’t waver, maybe five or ten degrees year-round. We’re pretty much in the mid to upper 80s, low 90s during the day and low 70s at night. We don’t really need heat here obviously for that reason. So it’s pretty predictable.

Robert Paredes: Hi Rebecca. This is Robert Paredes with Fifth Third Bank. Good afternoon. How are you?

Rebecca Clower: I’m good. How are you Robert?

Robert Paredes: I’m well. Thank you. On a financing perspective, maybe you can share with us a little bit some of the different financing options. I don’t know if this is all cash mostly that you handle on your clients. Is there some type of special financing that they can get in the United States? How does that typically work?

Rebecca Clower: Before the crisis Robert, we had more options than we do today. Unfortunately after the crisis, the banks really tightened up here and that didn’t — really unless you’re a resident, it’s rather impossible to get financing here.

So, most of my transactions are cash-based. I do have a few transactions that I did this year involving IRAs. So, you can purchase in an IRA over here and I’ve also heard that Scotiabank is coming out with a product for Canadian clients because we have a lot of Canadian clients that come down to Costa Rica to buy.

So I’m cautiously optimistic and waiting to hear what that program is and if Fifth Third Bank has something, that would be super because that’s the one thing that we do lack here. There are also developers that offer developer financing, private in-house, usually anywhere from 20 to 50 percent down depending on what it is and there’s also opportunities for private owner financing as well. Now of course that’s going to lessen the options for a buyer but at least it is an option.

Jamie Meloni: Now Rebecca, that’s some great information. I got to take a quick break here to hear from my sponsors but I want to understand coming back from the break a little bit more about real estate customs and practices. So if you’re just tuning in, you’ve been listening to the Jamie Meloni Real Estate Show here on 1250 WHNZ. Back in a moment.

Jamie Meloni: Hi again everybody and thanks for staying tuned into the Jamie Meloni Real Estate Show here on 1250 WHNZ. We’ve been talking with Rebecca Clower. She’s the broker/owner of her own real estate company in Costa Rica and I want to continue the conversation with her right now.

Rebecca, take me through the price points for entry level real estate up to how beachfront property works in Costa Rica.

Rebecca Clower: Yeah, sure thing. I mean we basically have all sorts of different properties. I sell lots, homes, condos. I even sell farms. But generally speaking, lots start around $30,000 and go all the way up to $500,000 plus just depending on the size of the parcel and the views.

We also have homes generally speaking starting around $170,000. Again, up to multimillion dollar homes depending on what you’re looking for. That would be an ocean view and ocean front and also condos. We sell a lot of the condos as well. We have condos that start basically in the — generally speaking in the low 100 range all the way up to million dollar plus again. These can be penthouses, ocean front. So it’s kind of a wide range but basically showing that there is something for everybody here.

Jamie Meloni: Now, is property titled in Costa Rica the way it is here in the States? Are there any prominent differences and ownership rights versus how it is here in the States?

Rebecca Clower: Generally speaking, yes. It’s the same. Most of the properties here in Costa Rica are fee simple, fully-titled. The difference is ocean front property. Ninety-five percent of the ocean front property are what we call the [0:14:51] [Indiscernible] maritime zone is concession which I try to easily explain it as kind of like a land lease from the government. So, you have to renew it in 20-year increments and if you’re not, you can’t own it 100 percent by yourself. You have to have the Costa Rican citizen on title with you but usually you get around that with your attorney.

Jamie Meloni: OK. So all beach front property in Costa Rica is owned by the government then you’re saying?

Rebecca Clower: Not all of it, 95 percent. In our area, we have quite a few that are fully titled. Basically what it is, is if you had a title before in the 1970s or a time to kind of get grandfathered in, some people take advantage of that. So, that’s why five percent of the country. More so in our area you will find fully titled ocean front property.

Jamie Meloni: Do you get any pushback from the citizens with that or is that pretty accepted amongst the residents of Costa Rica?

Rebecca Clower: No, it’s pretty accepted because again it’s the same for everybody and anybody that buys here from the US, Canada or beyond has the same ownership rights as any Costa Rican citizen. So that’s obviously a plus and it makes it safe purchasing here.

Jamie Meloni: Now, what are the licensing requirements for sales professionals such as yourself in Costa Rica?

Rebecca Clower: Believe it or not, there is no mandatory licensing. I’m the vice president of the Costa Rica Global Association of Realtors, we call CRGAR, and our association is really pushing for professional licensing and we’re getting there. Right now we offer voluntary licenses and with the voluntary licenses, you’re required to take several courses where it’s a real estate, real estate law, condominium law, et cetera.

So we really are pushing for that and right now there are two professional organizations in Costa Rica. So hopefully here in the future, we will be able to say that we do have professional licensing. I keep my license in Florida even though I don’t practice there that often obviously because it does give me credibility here in an area that doesn’t have mandatory licensing. It really does mean a lot to my buyers coming from abroad.

Jamie Meloni: Yeah, absolutely. I mean you’re dealing with people — many of which are making the most — biggest decision, biggest investment in their careers. I even say even in Florida, I mean the licensing requirements I think are subpar and in Costa Rica, we don’t even have any licensing requirements. That’s a scary thing if I’m a consumer in Costa Rica looking to purchase real estate.

So I mean obviously if you have a license, in the States, that’s something that gives you a heads up — head up on a lot of the people that are probably practicing in Costa Rica. Do you have a lot of people practicing in real estate down there or is it not common?

Rebecca Clower: Well, there are a lot of people that practice real estate and how many of those people take it seriously is a whole another ball of wax. But I think that people that truly call themselves professionals, it’s an exclusive bunch. They really are not that many. Those that are good are good and really like I said before, trying to push for professional licensing.

On the other hand, we do bring opportunities for realtors in the country to be able to get licensing in terms of for example the Certified International Property Specialist Designation. We actually have brought the class here and an instructor here and CRGAR has an affiliation with NAR, with the National Association of Realtors.

So again there are professional affiliations here. It’s just that the licensing is still not something that is truly mandatory. But we’re getting there.

Jamie Meloni: How do property taxes work in Costa Rica? Are they similar to what we have here in the States? Were you having annual property taxes?

Rebecca Clower: Yeah. We basically pay once a year. Property taxes here are very, very low. They’re basically one quarter of one percent of the registered value. So for example, if you buy a house for $300,000, then your taxes will most likely be $750 per year or less depending on what the registered value is.

So that kind of gives you an idea. We also have another tax but it’s more for the luxury segment. That’s another tax that honestly doesn’t really apply to the majority of my buyers but you can always bet at least one quarter of one percent of the registered value.

Jamie Meloni: Now Rebecca, now that we got a background on yourself and Costa Rican real estate and practices and customs, let’s talk a little bit more about some opportunities for people in the States to invest in real estate and how you can help them. Tell me a little bit more about your real estate company and the areas that you specialize in.

Rebecca Clower: Sure thing. We’re located in Guanacaste which is the northwest region of Costa Rica and our closest airport is the Liberia International Airport which is just under an hour away. Our beach areas, we basically cover about an hour of coastline from Hacienda Pinilla, Tamarindo area, North Playa Grande, Flamingo, Potrero, Danta [0:19:25] [Indiscernible] all the way up to Coco and Hermosa. So we cover quite a wide range of coastal properties.

Jamie Meloni: And I take it you have many listings and you also handle buyer representation as well.

Rebecca Clower: That’s correct. Yeah. We have couple of MLS type systems. We don’t have one general MLS that everybody is on. There are a couple of different ones that we use. So on our website, you’re able to see many great listings and we cooperate with all other brokers in the area to be able to bring the best products to our clients.

Jamie Meloni: Now I see you also have a Costa Rican tour company. Tell me a little bit more about that.

Rebecca Clower: We do. Well, when that company started, we had clients asking us, “Well, you sold me a house. You sold me a condo. Who’s going to manage it? Can you manage it?” So I thought, “Well, how hard can it be?”

So managing property is — we started with two and obviously as time has gone by, we have about 50 now in five different beach areas and our business partner that runs the office in Playa Negra has about a dozen.

So we have a lot of beachfront ocean view condos and homes and about five or six different beach areas. That’s how that started. So with the tour company, the need comes out of the property management side where clients come in. They’re now renting your house or they need airport transfer if they want to go se the volcano. They want to go doing zip line. They want to go see a waterfall. Well, all those things are kind of one-stop shop.

Then necessity for the travel agency grew out of the property management side. So we basically handle three different types of businesses in one place which really helps the client, which just takes all the guesswork out of it.

Stella Giudicelli: Rebecca, this is Stella Giudicelli from Coldwell Banker.

Rebecca Clower: Hi.

Stella Giudicelli: Hi. I’m curious about what is the average or maybe the best return on investments that an investor can expect when investing with you in Costa Rica?

Rebecca Clower: You mean in terms of return on investment percentages?

Stella Giudicelli: Yeah, like with the tenant, putting a tenant in there.

Rebecca Clower: Yeah, I mean the best property to honestly buy is either a house or a condo near the beach and that’s going to be the key point. Any property you ever want to buy, the closer to the beach and specifically you can buy a property within let’s say 200 to 400 meters from the beach. That’s where you’re going to have your best return on investment.

Of course if you have an ocean view, those properties tend to not only be easier to rent out but you can also fetch more money for them on the resale side.

So, all those things are important aspects. With our 50 houses over the course of the last eight years, we’ve been able to have a lot of good data and basically what we see as the best are homes with ocean view or within a couple of hundred yards from the beach, condominiums that are within again a couple of hundred yards from the beach and also specifically within a resort community, which we have a few different golf and resort communities that have condos within them and homes within them. Those generally speaking do very well, also on the rental and resale side.

Jamie Meloni: Now Rebecca, I got to wrap up the interview here as we’re coming to the bottom of the hour. But in closing tell me a little bit more about why you know we should be buying Costa Rican real estate and give out the contact information for the audience so they can get in touch with you if they have any Costa Rican demands for real estate.

Rebecca Clower: Yeah, for sure. I mean basically what I tell people is that Costa Rica is a really magical place that has beautiful weather, great people. It’s a stable area to buy. Your investment is safe here. You’re going to buy something. You know that it’s still going to be there when you come back and you have trusted individuals on the side that can take care of everything for you and taking all the guesswork out of it.

But if you’re looking for good return on investment and a place where you can come and enjoy your investment and stay in your condo or your home, a few weeks or months out of the year and rent it out the rest of the time for positive cash flow, then you definitely should be looking into Costa Rica. The logistics of getting here especially from Florida …

Jamie Meloni: Rebecca, thank you very much for coming on the show. It was a great interview. Stay tuned. We will be back in a moment.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.