Costa Rica´s Best Guide Online Magazine

REAL ESTATE IN COSTA RICA

The purchase of Real Estate is a significant event and when it is being done in a foreign country, even one so friendly toward buyers as Costa Rica, one must be aware of various important things to have a successful, problem free transaction and end up with your dream home or valued investment property. It is very important to remember that the property market here in Costa Rica is not as strictly regulated as it is in North America and having visited Costa Rica, possibly taking several exploratory trips and falling in love with it, you are now ready to buy your own place in Paradise. Few places have The purchase of Real Estate is a significant event and when it is being done in a foreign country, even one so friendly toward buyers as Costa Rica...

By The Editor

all the pluses that Costa Rica can offer for retirees, relocators and investors, as long as you do your homework properly! Do it right and you will be very happy but if you do not do your due diligence and work with expert Legal and Real Estate help to guide you, then you are basically rolling the dice and hoping to win. A big plus is that the foreign owner of property in Costa Rica has the same constitutional rights as do Costa Rican citizens. In Costa Rica, most land is titled, and those titles are registered and kept at the offices of the Public Registry in San José (the Capital city) in the Property Section (Registro de la Propiedad). http://www.registronacional.go.cr/ Most titles are currently organized by means of a computerized system

called the ¨ Folio Real ¨ , although there are some, mostly older ones, for properties that have had no transfers or other transactions affecting them for a long period of time, which are not organized in the computer system and are still registered the old-fashioned way, in physical books with a system for locating them based on specific books, pages and entries, located at the Registry. A property ownership transfer requires that both the buyer and the seller sign a deed before a Costa Rican Notary Public (whose concept is different from the ones in many other countries such as Canada and the United States and is required to formalize all transactions dealing with real estate transfers) and that the deed is then recorded at the Public Registry.

COSTA RICA ´ S BEST GUIDE MAGAZINE 192