Guides

What I explain most often, written down properly

Buying property in Costa Rica does not work the way it does at home — wherever home is. Most of it is straightforward once someone explains it properly. Very few people do.

These are the three conversations I have most often — how the transaction runs, what ownership really costs, and the three checks that decide whether a piece of land is worth owning at all. Read them before we talk rather than during, and jump straight to whichever question brought you here.

Long Form

The Three Guides

Buying & Selling

The Process

How a Costa Rica transaction actually runs, step by step — the LOI and the SPA, why the buyer’s attorney drafts the contract, escrow and wire fraud, what a notario is, the transfer tax, and the twelve documents that decide whether a closing goes smoothly. Then a second half on living here: schools, healthcare, internet, power, banking, groceries, wills and trusts.

The Numbers

What It Actually Costs to Own Here

Every figure a buyer needs and most sites leave out — closing costs, commission, annual property tax, current build costs per square meter, the luxury home tax and why nearly every new house here triggers it, the 2026 rental tax, residency, and why the electricity bills surprise people in a country running on renewables.

Due Diligence

Water, Access and Title

The three questions that decide whether land here is an asset or an expensive photograph. A title study answers none of them. This is the order I work in before deciding whether to represent a property at all — and the one I would rather you understood before you fall for a waterfall.

These three cover how buying here works. For what is happening here — the market, who is buying, and the land itself — see Insights.