Why Costa Rica Real Estate?
Purchasing
Attorneys
The most important step in the purchasing process is to find the right attorney. It is advisable not to use the seller's or broker's attorney and find an independent agent instead. A solid choice for an attorney should specialize in real estate, ensure that the contracts serve your interests and requirements and protect you throughout the entire real estate transaction. To enable yourself, follow these steps to ensure a smooth and successful real estate buying experience:
Make sure that your identification cards, driver's license and passport, are with you and current. Double check to make sure your passport was properly stamped for your visit. Upon finding the property that you would like to purchase, negotiate the conditions and purchase price with the seller through your broker, find out how the seller would like payments to be made and make a "good faith" deposit to be leaned against the closing of the real estate transaction. Have the seller put in writing all of the things to be included with the property. It is imperative that any pre-closing documents are signed and included if necessary. Obtain a registered plot map (plano catastrado) from the National Registry (Registro Nacional) that clearly shows the property that you would like to buy is the one you are getting per the contract. If the map is not current, hire a topographer to survey the plot again. Plot maps can be found in the registry section, Map Registry Department of the Property Registry (Catastro) of the Registro Nacional.
Each and every Costa Rican real estate plot has a registration number or matricula de folio real located at the Registro Nacional. The registration number is crucial for finding much of the information that you will need from this point on. The numbers on the code correspond to the folio real number, the province number and the number of individuals who have rights to that property in that order! 999999-1-001 is property number 999999 in San Jose (1) with one owner (001). Armed with this information, you have a huge check point at which to decide whether your seller and agent have been upfront with you and if you should continue. The next step is to investigate the public record with the registration number to obtain: a registered survey, property location, boundaries, ownership type, declared value, assessed value, liens, and encumbrances that could influence property transfer.
At this point in the process the seller may want an earnest money or a pre-closing deposit. This is not a point where you are ready to have money exchange hands. One way to assure the seller is to create an escrow or trust with your attorney. Do not engage in a transaction with the seller.
The next step is to review the transfer deed (escritura). It is executed by signing with you the buyer along with the seller and notary. The deed must then be recorded in the notary's records and a copy must be sent to the Registro Nacional for official registration. After the notary submits the deed with the Registry, it can be empowered through annotation. This helps to avoid potential liens and encumbrances by lawfully notifying the state that the deed is being registered enabling that to take precedence over other documentation that may surface.
At the Registry, the deed is verified, corrections are made at this time if needed and it is registered under the name of the new owner. The annotation gives three month's protection. The deed should be presented as quickly as possible to benefit from the protection assuring that no other deed or limiting documentation can be presented and affect the property rights you expect to have.
Now all stamps, taxes and notary fees should be transferred to the seller and the state accordingly. Upon payment and satisfying all these conditions, the deed must be registered within one year of the presentation date or else the state will void it! Once you register the deed, verify that it was properly registered by asking for a copy of the closing document (testimonio) that should be signed by the registrar and entered electronically to their records identifying you or your company as the legal owner. After this is completed the transaction is complete and you are officially the owner of Costa Rican real estate!