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Please, please, please! Reread what maravilla wrote above.
No matter what your confidence level in your architect and builder, mistakes will be made and opportunities will be missed if you aren’t on-site to watch everything and make decisions regarding the final product which, with any luck, you will live in and with for the rest of your life. Let me share two examples from our own experience (bearing in mind that we were living one hundred feet away the whole time the house was under construction).
First, we awoke one day to find that the master bathroom walls had been completely raised. That was the good news. The bad news was that the master builder had misread the blueprints and there was no way in! Had we not intervened, the deconstruction project would have been much more involved. As it turned out, we can, in fact, use the facilities.
Then, on an inspection day, our architect took us downstairs, below the raised deck off the living room, to the area that was to be a carport which would be useful in wet weather. Instead of looking at it from outside, looking in, he had us look out from inside. The view, which we’d never considered, was lovely. So instead of having a carport with a view, at a cost of glassing it in and tiling the floor, we gained a wonderful office space that can double as a guest bedroom.
Consider, too, that until you can actually stand in the roughed-in kitchen (and maybe the baths), you really cannot get a feel for the space. If kitchens and baths sell houses, the decisions you make about these facilities are just too important to leave to someone else’s judgement . . . and execution.
Put off the start of your project if you must. Rent something short-term. But please don’t let these critical matters be dealt with by anyone who isn’t you.
Marcia and I just came back to Costa Rica via Juan Santamaria after a three-week trip to Michigan. As is my usual practice when we go north, I started shopping online a couple of months in advance and while there we covered just about every retail venue.
We brought back clothing, hard-to-find hardware items, two new iPads, shoes, Kindle covers, vitamins and supplements, Nylabones, dog vitamins, and flea and tick repellant, wireless telephones, coffee mugs, a decorative platter, three frying pans, cat urine odor dispersant, an external hard drive, a USB hub, and ten or fifteen pounds of stuff I can’t remember right now.
The form that Costa Rican Customs requires refers to things brought in for commercial purposes, asks about plants and animals, currency, and a few other things. It asks if you’ve used your tax exemption in the past six months.
Basically, if what you’re bringing in is for personal use, they’re not interested. We went through the “Nothing to Declare” line and nobody batted an eye.
Should Costa Rican Immigration deny a person entry into the country, the airline that brought him or her in is responsible for their passage out. If the airline fails in that duty, it is liable for a $10,000US fine. So it is the airline that imposes the requirement for the return ticket.
Some folks meet this requirement by buying a fully refundable one-way ticket out, entering Costa Rica carrying it, and then return it for a refund. Others talk of buying a bus ticket to Panama or Nicaragua.
As legal residents of Costa Rica, we can buy round trip tickets from San Jose to the U.S. and back because we have a legal right to enter. Those who are not residents or citizens enter at the sole discretion of Immigration. They enjoy no legal right to enter.
[quote=”costaricabill”]Please notice David’s first phrase: [b]”Unless you are advised otherwise”[/b][/quote]
Let me just add that because your server asks if you prefer bottled water it does not mean the the restaurant’s normal water isn’t safe to drink. This practice is commonly known as “Padding the Bill”.
You must report annually to the IRS your ownership or control of any interest in any foreign corporation. For a corporation that has no financial activity, it’s a minor aggravation.
And . . . Lest anyone forget, you must also report to IRS any non-U.S. bank account you have IF that account fphas a balance of $,10,000US or more at any moment during theyear, even if it has that balance for just one second. Again, it ain’t no big thing.
Costa Rican law mandates certin minimum public liability insurance which you must buy when you rent a car here. There are no alternatives or workarounds. Since your “home” insurance company in North America or Europe is not licensed to offer insurance here, your home coverage does not extend to Costa Rica.
In addition to the required public liability insurance, you will be offered at least property damage insurance and collision damage waiver coverage. The latter protects you if the rental car is damaged or stolen, as you would have some liability in such an event. Should the car be damaged while you have it, you may be held liable for the daily rental cost until it is repaired, since the company would be losing that revenue. They, of course, might not feel any great urgency to get it fixed since the income is guaranteed.
If you have a “premium” credit card (gold, platinum, titanium, vanadium, plutonium or whatever), that card may afford you some protection, but you need to check the credit card company for the details. It cannot absolve you from the need to buy the public liability coverage.
(By the way, this question has been addressed many times in this discussion forum. It would be useful to become familiar with the “Search” feature.)
[quote=”johnr”]
Well normally I would agree, however the document was sent to me by a municiple official so I have to assume at least in our area it’s going to be enforced.:cry:[/quote]Er. . . How?
Unless you are advised otherwise, the water and the ice in Costa Rica are perfectly safe to drink. The government now mandates chlorination of all water supplies. Don’t waste your money on bottled water. Costa Rica is not Mexico.
Since everything we ever bring back is strictly for personal use, we never declare anything on the back of the form. The wording on the form is a bit ambiguous as to what must be declared.
Should the Customs Officer decide that you owe duty on something, ask him or her for directions about how to use your exemption. And remember that each person gets the exemption, not each family. Remember, too, that the exemption is on a single item only.
And . . . Somebody refresh my memory. Isn’t the exemption now $1,000US?
No, sprite, what they would like is for you to either contribute one thought that’s new since (say) 2007 or to shut up. Playing the same old broken record over and over and over again accomplishes nothing save to aggravate everyone else.
[quote=”maravilla”]you’re kidding yourself if you think staying in the US 6 more months is going to improve the future of your children or grandchildren. the US is the Titanic. It’s going down, down, down. the election won’t save it and neither will all your good intentions. i think it is sad, but how can you fight the behemoth?[/quote]
Don’t give up so quickly, maravilla. Aguwarre(sp?) will have this all straightened out by the end of January. He has a secret plan.
I certainly share your aspirations for your children’s and grandchildren’s futures despite having never had children of my own, but I’m skeptical that you’ll resolve much in the next six months. Maybe you could mark your calendar for the end of January and report back on what you’ve accomplished?
All of this appears to relate only to medical care plans that provide for the needs of either retired service members or ones with a service-connected disability.
I’m an honorably discharged Navy veteran without a service-connected disability. I don’t see anything here for me. Or am I missing something?
