Costa Rica Mortgages - Income verification and medical exams.

Scott Oliver - March 2008

Mortgages are easier than ever to come by in Costa Rica but, unlike some places you really have to go through some hoops to get things done.

This is not good news for those of us who don't like BS and paperwork, but it is good news for the overall stability of the banking sector in Costa Rica.

One of our VIP Members, a non-US citizen but a legal, permanent resident of Costa Rica who has lived here for ten years has a mortgage on a home that he owns in Santa Ana. In addition to that home, he is also buying an apartment (for which he has paid 20%) and applied for a mortgage with the same bank that holds the mortgage on his first home.

Apart from the regular forms, forms and more forms that must be completed, he was asked to supply 12 month's worth of bank statements to get a 'proof of income' letter done and certified by a CPA.

He did this at the end of December to confirm the bank was interested in giving him a mortgage and since this process confirmed an income of over $20,000 per month, he was pre-approved by the bank.

Since the medical tests were expected to be done in February, the CPA did this again in late January because the "Bank by-laws say the certification has to be within 30 days. "

But because the bank then had to send in the appraiser in March to confirm the construction progress before releasing the first payment, he had to get a third 'proof of income' letter done and certified by a CPA for the year ending 1st March 2008...

This third letter really irritated him because he has nearly $200K sitting in that bank account and getting the data on another 29 days worth of income didn't really make a whole lot of sense to him... Or to me. Then again, as we all know, so many things, in so many places just don't make sense!

Costa Rica Mortgage - Medical Exams.

Then there's a full medical exam which had to be done with a bank approved Doctor which included an EKG, a one hour's examination, a urine analysis plus a battery of blood tests.

These blood tests were for 17 different items, few of which I understand, but included HIV, Hemograma, Leucograma, Plaquetas, Sedimentacion, Acido Urico, Colesterol HDL, Colesterol LDL and Colesterol total. Triglecirsomething, PSA, nicotine levels and half a dozen other tests which I simply can not read but thankfully, our VIP Member has a lot of blood and then...

They asked him to retake one of the blood tests a few weeks later...

What's Up Doc?: Medical tests for a Costa Rica mortgage.

• The medical exam and EKG with the Doctor - c30,000 which is US$60
• The urine analysis - c5,835 which is US$12
• The blood tests - c154,355 which is US$313
• Additional hemograma (blood test) - c5,000 which is US$10
• Total - US$395

He'll be picking up the blood test results tomorrow and we'll let you know how it goes next week.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore.

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