Costa Rica Mortgages - Wow! This is really easy.

The first impression I had when I went with the couple who are buying our house to the bank in January to try and get a Costa Rica mortgage was - Wow! This is really easy.

The young lady who is handling their loan was very helpful and cordial. She asked if they wanted US$40,000 or US$45,000 since the selling price was US$60,000 either number was "no problem."

To get a Costa Rica mortgage, she had asked us to bring some documents and told us everything looked good. She questioned why they wanted to form a new corporation to buy the house. They told her their lawyer had recommended them to do so when buy Costa Rica real estate, so they formed one.

She calculated the transfer taxes that would be assessed because of this and it added US$2,000 to the closing cost in addition to what they had paid to form the corporation or as it's known in Costa Rica - A 'Sociedad Anonima' or an 'S.A.'

She then explained that if they would purchase all of the shares of the corporation that owns the house, there would be no transfer tax assessed and that they would save that US$2,000. They did some due diligence on this and decided to buy the shares instead of the house.

In February they were asked for more copies of documents like bank statements, and credit card statements, etc. Several times they were asked for the same documents. Then about March 1st she advised the closing would be on Thursday, March 4 at 11AM.

The only documents we were lacking was a notarized statement from the 'Municipalidad' that all the taxes on this piece of Costa Rica real estate are current and a notarized statement that I would sell all of my shares in the corporation that owns the house.

On Wednesday I got a call from a young man who stated he is the Bank's Appraiser and he would like to stop by to do a review of the house and take a few photographs. The young lady from the Bank also called and moved the closing day to Friday at 11 AM so they could have the Appraisal completed.

I had scheduled a meeting with my Costa Rican attorney so he could prepare the one last document the Bank said they needed for Thursday and I moved it to Friday at 9 AM. Remember, we do not have a car and the bus to San Jose takes a little over and hour so we try and consolidate our tasks to reduce the trips to town.

The young man from the bank showed up and did some measurements and took some photos and I asked him to please make sure he got all of the information to the bank so we could close on Friday.

We all caught the 7AM bus so we could be at my Attorney's office at 9 AM. He squeezed us in between some other clients and called the young lady at Scotia Bank to be sure he prepared the document correctly to finalize our first Costa Rica mortgage. She gave him the information and then asked to speak to me.

She said she had called this morning and left a message that the Closing had been moved to 4 PM and that the loan could only be made for $31,500 due to fact that they do not loan more than 70% of the sales price OR the appraised value, whichever is lower.

The appraisal was only US$45,000. Did we still want to proceed? We hurriedly worked out a way to finance the balance and said yes, we want to close. We went to lunch and then went to her office to make sure we had complied with all of the requirements.

She told us my Attorney would have to be at the closing in person to transfer the stock properly. We called him and of course, he was not available for this time. We got him and the Bank's Attorney on a conference call and arranged to meet at noon on Monday and was assured that all requirements will be in order for the closing to occur.

We all took the bus in to San Jose Monday morning and everything went smoothly. The surprising thing was, we each only had to sign two documents to close on our Costa Rica mortgage. You know how many there are to sign in the USA...

So, yes! Depending on the situation, sometimes foreigners can get a Costa Rica mortgage to buy a house here. The interest rate for their loan will be slightly higher until they get their Residency and then it will drop. This is on a US dollar loan.

Written by our friend George Lundquist, who is the founder of Costa Rica Retire on Social Security. If you are thinking of retiring in Costa Rica, you might want to consider the tour that George offers, his goal is to share his experiences here with you to save you time and money!

George believes that "you measure a man's wealth by the number of things he does NOT need" and will focus on the items that he thinks he needs to live most abundantly.

Want More Information About Costa Rica Mortgages?

If you would like more information about Costa Rica mortgages, please help us to help you by using the simple form below. Please note that since many Internet service providers in the USA and Canada block international emails from Costa Rica and other foreign countries, we will require your telephone number so that they can call you and clarify your own unique circumstances.