Mistakes Expats Make in Costa Rica

Here’s a list of Mistakes Expats Make in Costa Rica

The law can be preventive medicine, but if not used correctly, it is a devastating curative medicine.  Please let me try and help you avoid the mistakes ex-pats make in Costa Rica. Always bear in mind that the legal system in Costa Rica is Napoleonic, not Common Law. You wake up and realize things are very different here than in the US or Canada. Because of that, the best place to begin your investment plan is in an attorney’s office. Fundamentally, it’s always best to be proactive.

Eleven things not to do

Do not do anything you would not do in your hometown:

Many ex-pats seem to believe they can outsmart the system when they come to a less developed country. Or, it just may be the way most Costa Ricans behave with ‘gringos which turns them into wishful thinkers.

It is best not to try the Do it yourself method!

I know some try to save some dollars in legal fees and avoid the work of finding a good attorney to guide them. Do not do that! Do your homework. Find an attorney, you feel comfortable with and stay with him for as long as he does good work.

Do not rush into the decision of hiring an attorney.

Most importantly if you are thinking of investing in Costa Rica, hiring a local attorney is a must for you. It does not matter if you are just buying a car, a home, or planning to set up a million-dollar business. You will need an attorney. You may not like the idea of paying legal fees, but who does? But accept it and live with it. The idea is to have your lawyer working for you as ‘preventive medicine’, as insurance against what ‘might happen. Consider the legal fees as your insurance premium, because that’s really what it is. Today, you will pay a fraction of what it will probably cost to try and fix that problem later on if you do not have an honest attorney to guide you.

4. Do not think of buying Costa Rica real estate and only follow the real estate broker’s advice! In Costa Rica, real estate brokers are not licensed in the same way they are in the United States. Some of them are real professionals, but a lot of them are just ‘enthusiastic’ salespeople.

Either buying or selling real estate, you will probably need a broker’s services, but even if your Costa Rica real estate agent is first class, have your attorney on board and have him supervise the process. These are other mistakes ex-pats make in Costa Rica.

5. Do not blindly trust your own countrymen! Just because they have been here more time than you have. I have seen US citizens being conned by US people and, Canadians by Canadians and so forth. Be careful! There are a whole lot of strange people in this country, some of them fleeing from the FBI, Interpol, ex-wives, and even from mental institutions.

6. Gentlemen! Please remember that you do not, I repeat, do NOT need to marry the first beautiful ‘Tica’ (Costa Rican woman) that you meet!

7. “Old Mac Donald had a farm“: And he lost it because he never took care of it. This is a common story in Costa Rica. Again, please remember that our legal system is different.

8. South of the Border…

I am well aware not everybody here wears a big Mexican ‘sombrero’ and has a big bushy mustache. Not all the ladies are named “Juanita Bonita’. South of the Río Grande. They all come from México, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia, and Perú, All of them are different countries, with different histories, different people, and different laws.

9. “Easy comes easy goes.” I will not even waste your time on this matter. If it sounds too good to be true, then yes! It probably is too good to be true. Nobody on this earth can give you 45% per annum in a legitimate investment.

10. There is ‘risk’ even with legitimate well-known and established private banks. Right now I am trying to help a client who deposited a large amount of money in CDs, in one local bank.

11. If you really want to live in Costa Rica then, please live IN Costa Rica! It was the year 335 B.C. Alexander the Great faced one of his greatest battles. When his army reached the Phoenician coasts, he realized their enemies outnumbered them by 3 to 1.

Do you know how he managed to win the battle? Quite simple! He ordered his ships to be burnt… While the ships were on fire and sinking on the ocean, he spoke to his army and told them the only way to go back home was on their enemy’s ships. It was that or else.

If you really want to become a resident of Costa Rica, you may have to burn your ships.