How we measure properties in Costa Rica

How we measure properties in Costa Rica

By Ivo Henfling

When in school, you might have learned about yards, inches, square feet and acres. Well, in Costa Rica, all that is no good and you will have to learn about the metric system. Unless you have found a real estate agent you trust.
If you are buying property in Costa Rica, you will find the measurements will normally be in the metric system, though many real estate companies list the size of the house for sale in square feet and the size of the land in acres as well as in hectares.
I know, you do it different back home but just like you have to learn the Spanish language to make your new life easier, you will also need to understand how we measure properties in Costa Rica.
To help you a little with this difficult part of buying property for sale, we’ve made a Costa Rica Land Measurement Chart below

Under roof

Houses in Costa Rica are measured by taking the width by the length of the house, as opposed to many places on earth where they measure interior space, a/c space or even by volume. Houses in Costa Rica are measured in square meters or m2 and everything under roof is what counts. To get to find what the size of the house is in square feet, take the size in meters and multiply it by 11 is an easy shortcut.
Costarican builders and real estate agents just take full measure of interior spaces as well as exterior spaces. Some might not include a covered terrace; most do include the garage as they always have tiled floors and are mostly finished as nicely as the living room.

Registered size of a house

The size of the house is never registered in the National Register or on the survey. For that reasons, most option to purchase sale agreements will show an approximate size of construction. The only ways to find out how large the house is would be to measure it or to try to find the construction plans in the Municipality. You will need a lot of magic for the second option.

Registered size of a condo

The size of a condo in Costa Rica is what will show in the National Register and will show the size of the living space only. Many condos will include parking spaces and storage spaces as common areas and some will have a separate registered title with its own survey for the parking and another for the storage.

Registered size of land

Land is registered in the National Register in meters. But you will find that property will be described in a listing in m2 when it is under 10,000 m2 and in hectares when it is more than that. One hectare stands for 2.5 acres though you’ll still find a lot of local farmers use the word manzana, which is 7,000 meters (1 3/4 acre), the size of the minimal allowed agricultural lot size. When you purchase a property in Costa Rica, make sure the size on the survey is the same as the one showed in the National register.

Shortcuts

Easy shortcuts for you would be:

• Translate 1 linear meter (m1) into linear foot: multiply meters by 3 (to be exact 3.28).

• Translate 1 square meter (m2) into square foot: multiply by 11 (to be exact 10.76).

• One meter is one big step of a middle sized person, for easy measurement.

• One hectare is 2.5 acres.

When you buy property in Costa Rica, make sure you do it through a real estate agent who knows his/her job. Talk to a GoDutch realty agent now.

How we measure properties in Costa Rica

A memorable sale of property in Santa Ana, Costa Rica

A memorable sale of property in Santa Ana, Costa Rica

By Ivo Henfling

To be a real estate agent in Costa Rica, you really need to love what you do. I DO enjoy what I do, every day. When I get up in the morning, I know something is going to happen today that will make it another memorable day in paradise. I sometimes think about those people who for 30 years, day in day out, do the same thing over and over again.  I never do the same thing ANY day in my life and that is fun. Let me give you an example.

During Easter week I was going through the testimonials I received from my past clients and I found the longest one I have ever received. It was from a happy seller, whose house in Salitral de Santa Ana I listed in 2007 and was probably the most memorable sale I ever made in my real estate career, the listing is still online.  When you look at the pictures of the home, you will see why and that it shows that to be a good real estate agent you have to be smart, inventive and excel at what you do, but the seller needs to help the real estate agent a bit. My seller did and it was a win win situation for everybody.

That’s why you should contact me if you are in the market to buy or sell Costa Rica real estate. Read in the testimonial from my seller John Pond why:
For more than 15 years I lived on a Costa Rica property which I had bought in an area called Salitral de Santa Ana. This place is about 5 kilometers south of the town of Santa Ana itself.

      

Because of personal reasons I had decided to sell my place and move to another Central American country. And, to this end, I attempted to sell my property myself for more than two years. I had used the internet to initiate the sale. After a numerous of individuals wanting “more information” or “new and different photos”, and the troublesome stories of the many, I lost my patience to frustration. At one point, I had used my Architect to do the photography part so the pictures would be more professional in nature. Everything I tried was of no success.

         

After this relative long period of “trying to sell” this Santa Ana real estate myself, a very good friend of mine asked me to try Mr. Ivo Henfling of GoDutch Realty. This person had sold property before through Ivo and he had presently a home listed with GoDutch Realty. I had previously “bad luck” using realty companies, but I was “getting no-where fast” selling my place on my own. So, I phoned Ivo’s company for a meeting with him.

 

          
Ivo Henfling immediately offered me suggestions on how it would be best to quickly close a deal. He impressed me so much that I agreed to let him act as my agent in this transaction.
Ivo had a multitude of clients and he would always telephone me first stating the ETA of his showing. This, along with the number of personas accompanying him, would be the lead subject as to the reason for bringing these individuals for a viewing in the first place. To me, this was very comforting and impressive.

   

In a very short while a 100% cash deal was made by Ivo. At the closing, he handled all the details at his office so the transaction went smooth and trouble free. Due to his efficient handling of the whole matter I was able to depart ahead of my original plans and to do so knowing that all was handled efficiently and correctly.

I would recommend Ivo Henfling and the GoDutch team to anyone wanting a very honest appraisal and a prompt sale of their Costa Rica real estate holding.
John Pond

A memorable sale of property in Santa Ana, Costa Rica

Costa Rica escrow and real estate closing

by Ivo Henfling

Why run the risk of losing your money

You want to purchase Costa Rica property and you have your money still in your own country.Your GoDutch Realty agent has found you the right property and your offer has been accepted by the seller. Congratulations, you are on the way of acquiring a beautiful property in Costa Rica but might be a long way.A Costa Rica real estate closing can be very smooth, if you allow a professional handle it. But the real estate closing can be full of obstacles too. Stay away from those obstacles and use Costa Rica escrow.
Your real estate agent sent the accepted offer to your attorney to have the option to purchase – sale agreement to be drafted. At signature of this agreement, you will have to make an earnest deposit of 10% (this is customary but negotiable) of the purchase price.
Your attorney doesn’t have an Costa Rica escrow account. You have no bank account in Costa Rica yet and the bank won’t open one until you have residency. So where should you send the earnest money to? Costarican sellers usually want that earnest money to go to them but you should insist it goes into escrow with your attorney.

An attorney with no escrow account

A couple of weeks ago, the buyers’ agent brought a client who had an attorney representing him who had no Costa Rica escrow account. She held the earnest money check, a cashiers’ check in her name (!!) until the closing. When we got to closing, nobody had figured out how to cash a $21,000 earnest money check in the attorneys name and pay commissions to two real estate agents, pay the attorney her fees and the transfer taxes and transfer the leftover to the seller who was leaving the country the next day.
Banks in Costa Rica do not carry that kind of cash. What an unnecessary hassle at a moment that should be a happy one for everyone: the real estate closing. Guess who spent the whole Friday afternoon in the bank with the seller to get paid.

The why

The US government has been pressing the Costarican governments to call anything over $10,000 money laundering if there is no proof of origin of the funds. It doesn’t have anything to do with drugs but it has to do with control on US citizens and them paying their taxes.  The new DIMEX residency card is also part of that whole Big Brother thing.

The when

Don’t wait until you run into trouble. Why even look at Costa Rica real estate for sale if you don’t have the solution to being able to pay for your property? Pick your Costa Rica real estate attorney BEFORE you start looking at Costa Rica property for sale. Don’t EVER pick a closing attorney who doesn’t have an escrow account registered with SUGEF.

The how

The solution is very simple. All funds, the earnest money as well as the lump sum should go through a Costa Rica escrow account that is registered with SUGEF.
Even though Costa Rica does NOT have escrow laws like the USA has, there will be a paper trail that is supervised by the Costarican government (SUGEF).
If you do as described in that transaction above and give the closing attorney a cashier’s check in her or his name you ask for trouble. What will happen if she passes away before the real estate closing?
Using escrow in a Costa Rica real estate transaction makes it not only easier for the buyer but also the seller will have no trouble with the proceeds.

Costa Rica escrow and real estate closing

How to check Costa Rica property title yourself

How to check Costa Rica property title yourself

by Ivo Henfling

GoDutch Realty’s real estate agents all check title before listing a Costa Rica property for sale but we still like to share our knowledge with buyers as well as sellers of Costa Rica real estate. Many of you do not speak Spanish and it is not too easy to know where to get started on a website you are not (yet) familiar with.
Anyone who owns property in Costa Rica should check at least once a month if his/her property is legally in good shape or not. It takes only 10 minutes of your precious time. Put it on your agenda, so you won't forget and read this blog so you can learn how to pull a title search online.
Costa Rica property can be purchased in one person’s name, jointly, or in the name of a corporation or Sociedad Anonima. It is very common in Costa Rica for individuals to put property in the name of a corporation in which they own all the shares, although since 2012 you have to pay corporation taxes if you own a corporation.
You should discuss this asset protection with your tax accountant and real estate attorney so that you will be informed of the tax implications and other issues before you purchase Costa Rica real estate or make an investment.

Real Property

Costa Rican law requires that all documents relating to an interest and/or title to real property be registered in the property section of the National Registry (Article 460 of the Civil Code). Most Costa Rica real estate has a titled registration number known as the Folio Real, and the property records database can be searched with this number, by name index or ID number. Properties located in the Maritime Zone function differently. When you go to the National Registry website, you’ll find what is in the image below. Click on where the red arrow shows.

That will take you to the next screen, where you click on “Bienes Inmuebles” which means real estate.

 

That will take you to the next screen where you need to click on what you want to do next

Here you have several options, but you will be mainly interested in the following ways of doing your title search:

1. By Property number or concession - Por Número de Finca o Concesión
2. By Personal name or Corporate name - Por Nombre Físico o Nombre Jurídico
3. By Identification number - Por Número de Identificación

The registry report (informe registral) provides detailed information on the property, I’ll show you as an example my condo in Sonesta One Jaco and detail on the image what each part of the report means.

Title information

I have deleted some of the numbers, for obvious reasons. The report gives you the title number, the location, the name of the owner (individual or corporate), boundary lines, tax appraisal, liens, mortgages, recorded easements, and other recorded instruments that would affect title. Since Costa Rica follows the doctrine of first in time, first in right, recorded instruments regarding land for sale presented to the National Registry are given priority according to the date and time in which they are recorded.

Title Insurance

For purpose of the transfer of Costa Rica real estate this means that any mortgages or liens which are not recorded at the time that title is transferred are invalid. Since the certificate of title issued by the National Registry is prima facie evidence of the condition of title on the date issued, any instrument not recorded at the time the certificate is issued is invalid. This eliminates the need for title insurance since any instrument omitted from the report is deemed invalid, to my opinion.
In this case, this condo in Jaco has a suit pending or lis pendens. The term “lis pendens” is Latin for “suit pending.” A lis pendens is filed against a real property to indicate that the title of property is in question, or that some sort of lawsuit involving the property could occur in the near future. When someone files such a notice, it serves as a public notification that the property is involved in a lawsuit.

Liens and incumbrances

Obviously, every situation differs and in some cases a review of the National Registry record will not be enough to uncover all encumbrances. That is why it is important that the buyer have her or his own attorney conduct an independent title search and investigation rather than rely on the seller's attorney. A good and responsible closing attorney will pull a title search on the day of the real estate closing. A GoDutch Realty agent is ahead of the game and will pull the title search when he/she lists the property.
Some buyers feel more comfortable purchasing title insurance, in which case the title company will take care of the search and insure the title or not. In case you are looking to take title insurance, many of the attorneys we recommend on our website are star attorneys for a title company, so you can do your Costa Rica property purchase and everything else all in one office with your trusted closing attorney.

How to check Costa Rica property title yourself