Closing Costs

In Costa Rica, real estate closing costs average about 4% to 4.5% of the total purchase price. This will include attorney fees, the transfer tax of 1.5% and stamps, recording fees, and miscellaneous. Extra items like surveys and mortgage draft may be extra. These numbers are general and reflect both land for sale as well as existing homes. Remember that the closing attorney performs the due diligence and represents the buyer. The costs affiliated with the closing attorney, for this reason, and to avoid a conflict of interest, should almost always incurred by the buyer. 

200 m from the high high tide line here in Costa Rica is known as the Maritime zone. 150 m of that can, in some parts of the country, be purchased as a concession, or lease, granted by the government, and usually for increments of 20 years. HOWEVER, in this part of the country, there are very few concessions, so if you are shown beachfront real estate be extremely careful, because what you are being offered is not titled or granted legitimate Concession, but rather AT BEST possession rights (legal) and perhaps an application for a concession.

Of course, the time between a fully accepted offer by both parties, and closing day, is the due diligence term. and is what is known in North America as abstract of title, i.e. search for imperfections in title. This process is done by the closing attorney, i.e. buyers attorney. We do not allow nonrefundable deposits for any real estate or land for sale prior to the buyers review and satisfaction with these documents. That way they can see a complete and legal description of the property, do the work as quickly as possible, and not risk losing a deposit if they find out some bad news. 

We pride ourselves on having been with the biggest real estate firms in the country for the last 20 years, Keller Williams, RE/MAX, and Century 21. Our boutique style approach here is low impact but we come from mature markets full of licensed brokers and creditable well reputed lawyers and treat our clients best interest like our own. We do not employ, nor do business with, "salespeople". Our business is buyer representation and we do not take exclusive listings, in order to maintain a zero conflict of interest business model…

We love our little beach town… Nestled at what appears to be the end of the world. There is great surfing, and a great sense of calm and detachment. This part of the country is extremely rural and there's lots of land for sale. The vast majority of our clients are surfers or escapists, looking for their little piece of paradise. Pavones is a sleepy little surf town, but is growing now and becoming a place that's attractive to not just surfers, but also those who wish to be away from the world, while still having Golfito and conveniences nearby. We have seen this place come a long way...

Showing listings and drawing purchase offers, in-house, as licensed contractors, is a integral part of what we do, but we also fight hard negotiating to meet needs. A very important service we offer is appraising a property based on sold comparable properties, or the income approach, cost approach, or RLV (Residual Land Value, often associated with land planning for large development). A seller may ask any price he or she desires, but it is up to us to determine if it is priced well. If your agent cannot define appraisals or assert these three approaches to determining value, be careful of list price. In other words, the numbers need to make sense. Being overly emotional about real estate can be an expensive venture.

We are real estate contractors and draft all of our contracts, purchase offers and listing agreements, addendums, etc. here in house. Negotiation of contract is a big part of what we do. Besides drawing and negotiating contracts once you found the right land for sale, we also work closely with the best escrow companies, the best attorneys, the best builders, conduct an appraisal and  market analysis, and much more… Choose your broker wisely. This is a part of the world where unlawful and unethical behaviors unfortunately have occured on many occasions with impunity. Therefore it is our obligation and duty to steer clear of these folks and strongly suggest that our clients do the same.  Thank you in advance for your trust and for your business...

Despite what you may have heard, there is no fully cooperative MLS for real estate in Costa Rica. There are non-exclusive, listings and exclusive listings. in order to have access to all listings and not just our own, we work with other local brokers with homes and land for sale so that our buyer clients do not have to be involved in a potential conflict. If you see a listing on another site, please feel free to send it to us for feedback…