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Thus, if you are buying a second home or an investment property, it makes more sense to raise the money in your home country at a lower interest rate as the rates here te6nd to be much higher. Owner take backs can also be found and other creative financing options can be found through creative and experienced Real Estate companies including the use of your 401k. ----------------PROPERTY LISTINGS, COMMISSIONS and DISCLOSURE in COSTA RICA In general, exclusive property listings are the exception rather than the norm. The local market has many FSBO ´ s as well, although more properties above $150,000 can be found listed with Real Estate companies more and more. Very high-end properties can tend to be exclusive property listings as the RE company with the listing will commit to spending some serious money to promote the sale of such properties due to the prospect of a very high

amount of commission upon the sale. For the most part many properties offered for sale are open listings that many brokers try to all sell at the same time. There are no hard and firm commission rates established but generally they start as low as 5% and can go up to 10% depending on the location and type of property, and the agreed upon amount negotiated between the seller and the broker or brokers tasked with finding a buyer. There is also the practice of net commissions where the broker is given a net figure that the seller wants to get for the sale of the property and the broker is left to add his commission onto that amount to come up with a final selling price. Commission rates are usually confidential between the seller and the broker. You can also negotiate to use a reliable broker as your representative (Buyer ´ s Broker), where you as the buyer will pay an agreed upon commission to that broker upon completion of the sale. Currently, there is no real Consumer

legislation in place to protect the buyer with mandatory disclosure so it is definitely a case of Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) and a very good reason to find right from the beginning a good lawyer and a good broker to be in your corner before you begin the purchasing process. It is generally recommended that you find a good, honest, responsive, experienced and bilingual attorney in or near the area that you decide as the area where you wish to acquire a property as the lawyer will be more familiar with any happenings in the area that could affect your purchase and also will generally have good intel and a good working relationship with the local municipality which is of course particularly important if you are developing raw land and need certain zoning approvals.

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