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be very careful we moved back to the states and used a company that told us our charges and had extra charges on the states end, 4k that we were unaware of. then they told us we had 3 days to remove our container or 150 a day charges for each day we went over the three days. and then we only had 2 hours to unload our container or another 150 an hour. and we thought they had people to unload…wrong, we had to find people to unload last minute in that two hour time frame.
medications and supplements by mail. medications I have heard can be approved by the ministry of health but I have also heard you would have a birthday before you get them. you can bring them in your luggage or someone else can bring them in for you. we have our med delivered in the states and have someone bring them in or we bring them in when we go. Here you can almost always get a ten per cent discount for cash. If you don’t ask for it you don’t get it.
I am sympathetic to you because we are in the same position, there is no such thing as a Realtor here, they do not belong to a MLS to market your home, are not educated or licensed here as far as I know.
The majority will not cooperate with each other so if you sign a listing they wont market it with other people that sell real estate. there are people that sold real estate in the states and are here but usually it is anyone with a pulse that needs money, when we were buying our house we went with three different people in jaco.
We drove by houses we had seen with one or the other and they prices were all different, I guess depending on how much money that selling person needed over what the price the owner would accept.
If you list these people want 6 per cent plus paying the taxes on the commission you pay them. So we have used craigslist, and we love costa rica, there is a market that has a display where we place a flyer.
We were overpriced in the beginning but are realistic now.
The neighbor listed with an agency and have had no showings. Good Luck to you. There might be someone out there that is honest and hard working.
we have been here almost 6 years before the corporation tax was enforced. It is getting to the point that by the time you pay all these fees to live here you could live in florida.
They just tripled our property taxes in Jaco, why you ask. well there is a luxury tax that is enforced for all homes over 125k colones …you have to pay it. they raised our assessment to 118 thousand colones.
what does that tell me?
As a former realtor and a person that does not trust government period….they are pushing the valuation to get you to the luxury tax level so you can pay another tax for the services you get here.
my opinion. It would be nice if they removed the corporation tax, we just paid ours because that is the way we were brought up…pay your bills.
What is ironic is that Costa Ricans, example a house across the street, has not paid his property taxes for twenty years.
The assessor talked to my husband when he was going through our area and told us that is not unusual.
[If you find them I would like to know. they have black and red raspberries at the ferria. never seen CR blueberries. Have a hard time finding Coconut oil or Coconut milk. In fact cant find Coconut oil at all in Jaco
we had to go to BCR in Quepos with our documentation. If you don’t direct deposit your funds during your residency they will not accept it. We then ended using the attorney that we used to do the residency the first time.
We, My husband and I, also have our residency together with combined income. So is there a change that will separate us on an income basis? If so, I wont qualify on my own. I would like to know the answer to that as well
We, My husband and I, also have our residency together with combined income. So is there a change that will separate us on an income basis? If so, I wont qualify on my own. I would like to know the answer to that as well
you have to be very careful with people selling real estate here. I had a brokers license in the states. we bought thru an agency here. when we were looking, if we saw the same property with two different agents they quoted different prices. They did not keep documents in order. drove me crazy. they don’t quote you costs for closing, just different. so be careful, find someone you can trust when you are ready. Licensing to sell real estate is really non existent here, there is not an mls. National chains from the states are not necessarily represented by license people, there is a new condo development on the beach opening up called Crocs, I think an American is the investor or builder., Supposed to open in December Take care
there are different levels of internet at different prices. the two suppliers are ICE and Cabletica. I think ICE has better service, but everyone probably has a different opinion. You should be fine with the internet we have a friend that works from here during nov-mar. He does animation thru his company in the states and is satisfied with the service here.
As far as American building standards, you really have to watch, Americans may build here but the standards are not necessarily the same as the states, No building permits, etc, a lot of workers are self taught.
We are selling our house here that has American building standards but there always some issues, lack of availability to products we are used to in the states, etc.
Good luck to you, it is a great place to live with nice people, ticos and nicas that try and help as much as possible.
You have to leave every 90 days unless you have residency and there are different types of residency. this website should have an area that explains the categories and requirements. As far as food costs, you can control them as long as you don’t try and eat American or Foreign imports. If you eat like the ticos, veggies, rice, beans and small amounts of meat you should be able to do it. We have Costco/Pricesmart here in San Jose where you can get your American fix, or Automercado carry some imports.
We have lived in Jaco for more than five years. We live in Jaco Centro.
The temperatures are warm, from 75, rarely low, to close to 100. we have a pool and use it often, Our electric bill runs from 200-225. we do not use air except at night in our bedroom. the crime is petty crime as it is all over the country. passports, cameras and computers left openly in vehicles or on the beach.
Jobs are not easy to find as a gringo unless you are bilingual. there are some instances that hire bilingual, but not easy to find. You can open a business here as a Gringo.
‘Now the quality of life is good, you have to adjust to differences in culture. we have two pastors that live close about 40ish with families. If you want to get involved in helping children then the possiblities are unlimited.As far as a house on the beach tico houses are available. A tico house may or may not have hot water, kitchen cabinets or a traditional american stove.
We bought here because there are three supermarkets here in Jaco, San Jose is only one hour away with the new highway. Doctors and other facilities are available here in Jaco. Property taxes are inexpensive here and I believe all over the country, telephone is inexpensive and water is cheap too. Our neighbors are great, did not know when we bought that there were Americans around us.
If you are interested in church Horizon church is here in Jaco and Costa Rica is a Catholic country. Our neighbors founded Horizon. There is a library here that was started by an American, Liana Robinson, she is on facebook. You can volunteer for the library.
When you come here opportunities are endless if you are willing to give of yourself and relax, I always say to leave your type A personality on the border.
Thoughts about Jaco? Risks, opportunities, quality of life for a married couple, well under 55, no kids? It seems there it may get way hotter than in SJ, other than that everything looks cool at least from what I see online.
We’ll rent there, instead of Escazu, when we visit CR in November. Tickets already booked, I just have to choose a hotel.
THANKS![/quote]
we have been out for two months without penalty. I pay my caja on line while we are gone. BUT I find that sometimes things depend on who is looking your papers over at the entry to costa rica, immigration..oh and you can take your boarding pass to caja and get your pills early if you wont be there for that month.
[quote=”Scott”]Thought you guys and gals might find this interesting and amusing.
Finding safe places to hold your money and see it grow anywhere in the world sure ain’t easy!
From the Sovereign Man – [url=http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/everything-thats-wrong-with-banking-summed-up-in-one-bonehead-advertisement-14966]Everything that’s wrong with banking summed up in one bonehead advertisement[/url]
[img]https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/images/ANZ-zero-interest.png[/img]
“If you’re looking around right now for a new bank account that pays a reasonable rate of return, ANZ bank has a hell of a deal for you: 0%!
That’s right. ANZ is offering its depositors absolutely zero interest.
Now, a bank paying 0% isn’t exactly abnormal in today’s banking environment. But what’s really strange is that ANZ actually took out an ad in an Australian newspaper to advertise this.
Yesterday’s page 10 of the Australian Financial Review (AFR) had a quarter-page ad from ANZ boasting about 0% interest rates for accounts denominated in number of foreign currencies, including Hong Kong dollars, Japanese yen, British pounds, and more.
Curiously, in order to qualify for this bargain 0% rate, you have to meet a rather significant deposit minimum.
There are people I know that are using Coopanae. The CD rates on Colones are above 9%, the interest is put in your account to use as it accrues. Safe, don’t know they don’t have FDIC here,. Their literature shows that they are rated very high in the south/central American banks. We just put our colones in cds at Banco Nacional last month at 7% on a 12 month.
cream of wheat, you can find it here. just see where the ants are coming from and put a small pile of it, find a dry area, not easy. Saw this in Arizona on a gardening show and it works on most ants, they eat it, ingest it and it expands inside them, they carry it back to their nest
I have to say that every single person that sells real estate that I have me here is not licensed, has not had any training. When going to two different realtors when we purchased our house; each house that we were shown by each realtor had a different price.
I find they do not follow through and don’t keep what I consider to be proper records. the real estate office I worked with had to ask me for copies of every single document that was involved in the transaction because they could not find the papers. the office was Century 21 Jaco.
