Scott Oliver from WeLoveCostaRica.com Guest Blog
Profitable Costa Rica Real Estate Investments. Invest with the best in the path of progress in the Papagayo Region of Costa Rica.
Where to invest? How much to invest? For how long? What’s the risk? How easy is it to sell? Who can I trust to guide me along the way?
These questions are asked a hundred times per day in dozens of languages by investors all over the globe, and after looking at the poor state of various stock markets around the world, our real estate investor clients are more enthusiastic than ever about in investing offshore in Costa Rica real estate.
When you are considering investing in something new, you naturally tend to be more cautious. But after you have proven to yourself that you have a profitable strategy and that you are working with trusted advisors in a profitable niche, you are able to make quicker decisions on additional investments.
Here’s Why You Should Invest in Costa Rica Real Estate!
You will find many of the advantages of investing in Costa Rica real estate in my How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa book: If you live outside of Costa Rica, there are some great advantages:
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Protect Your Assets Offshore in Costa Rica Real Estate.
Sophisticated investors and business owners living in countries like the USA are well aware of the litigation explosion and the significant risks involved in leaving your assets exposed. By investing in real estate in Costa Rica you are successfully moving a percentage of your assets out of a high litigation risk area into a low risk area.
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Tax Advantages. Keep all the profits from your successful real estate investments!
Depending on your nationality and your tax obligations, there could be some tremendous tax advantages when you invest in Costa Rica real estate. For example there are no capital gains taxes paid to any Cost Rica taxing authority when you eventually sell your investment property.
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Diversification.
Investing in a stable, foreign market outside of your own country can help you diversify your assets. This can help you preserve your portfolio even in an economical downturn.
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A Safe Haven For You and Your Family.
The U.S. government has $18 trillion in debt and another $42 trillion in unfunded liabilities and I have written repeatedly about the imminent, massive underfunded pensions problem in the USA and in other countries.
Many people believe that the USA is facing some very serious and possibly bloody problems in the near future but if you have properties in Costa Rica, you have a safe haven to which you can escape.
Costa Rica is a fun place to visit, to live and to retire and you will love coming to visit your real estate investments here.
4 Important Problems You Must Know About!
- There is no single, official Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Costa Rica so trying to establish even a rough idea of what a property is worth is difficult. Take a look on the internet and you will often find the exact same property listed by different ‘Realtors’ at dramatically different prices.
- Half the population call themselves ‘Realtors’ because in Costa Rica you do not need any qualifications, training or experience whatsoever to call yourself a ‘real estate agent’ or a ‘broker.’ and… Although there is an organization of ‘brokers’ involved with real estate, very few people who call themselves ‘brokers’ have even heard of it never mind belong to it … And nobody is regulating or watching over these people!
- And you know the legal system is based on Napoleonic Laws and not Common Laws as they are in the US & Canada right? How much do any of us know about the Napoleonic legal system?
- Although many people speak some English, Costa Rica is a Spanish speaking country and all legal documents will be in Spanish. If you can’t read Spanish well then understanding contracts for example will be very difficult.
This means that when it comes to investing in Costa Rica real estate – which may be one of the biggest investments of your life – you could be listening to ‘expert’ advice coming from someone with zero qualifications or training in real estate, who is trying very hard to earn a sales commission selling you a property that could be dramatically overpriced…
When it comes to investing in multi-currency, globally diversified hedge funds or emerging markets real estate, I have always stuck to my ‘high probability, low risk’ strategy. It’s worked extremely well for my clients as you can see from the client comments from Sr. Federico Carrillo-Zurcher who was the Costa Rican Minister of Finance at the time and the former Chief Executive Officer of the Costa Rica Stock Exchange.
‘Not only have Scott’s investment recommendations performed better than the comparable indices, his attention to detail is impeccable. His personal service and level of client communication has also been excellent, as he has always been reachable at any time day and night. And in general I have been very pleased with our relationship and hope to maintain Scott, both as a financial advisor and as a friend, for years to come.’
But when it comes to investing in ‘high probability, low risk’ Costa Rica real estate, there’s a very small circle of friends and attorneys that I count on to give me expert advice and one of those trusted advisors is an American Realtor friend of mine Michael Simons.
Watching What The Smart Money Does And Who They Do It With.
Investing alongside the institutional investors!
There are a few excellent, bilingual Costa Rica real estate investment professionals who are highly qualified to help you but, if you’re sitting there in the USA or Canada clicking on a Costa Rican website, how do you know someone is who he claims to be?
How do you know if you’re choosing the best area to invest in?
How do you ensure that you’re not going to ‘lose your shirt’ when you invest in property in Costa Rica?
The Papagayo Area Is Where The
BIG Money Is Being Invested in Costa Rica!
Here’s The Realtor Many Of Them Count On
For Expert Costa Rica Real Estate Investment Advice.
Michael Simons has been an integral part of the 16 of those 46 big money transactions and he is someone I would strongly suggest that you speak with if you have an serious interest in investing in Costa Rica real estate in the Papagayo region.
In a nutshell? Michael Simons and his sales organization have most of the listings in the area, they have most of the Realtors, they do most of the sales and, by the looks of the overwhelmingly positive customer testimonials, they have most of the happy customers too…
Michael Simons is a U.S. citizen and a legal, permanent resident of Costa Rica who arrived in Costa Rica in 2002 and lives in the Playa Hermosa area near the Four Seasons Hotel.
As a member of NAR (National Association of Realtors) and CRGAR Michael Simons continues to be one of the top producing Realtors in all of Central America and the Caribbean. He personally sold over 50 properties in the past 12 months which is far more than any Realtor I know of in the entire country and specializes in residential and investment real estate in the Papagayo region of Costa Rica.
I asked Michael about his company’s philosophy…
“Our office will always put the best interests of our clients first, providing the most professional, informative, loyal and dedicated service in the country. We continually strive to be the most innovative, people oriented organization providing individual opportunity, personal satisfaction and rewarding challenges to all members of our organization, including the Owners. The leadership team and all of its Agents have a vested interest in Costa Rica’s Papagayo region and an unrivaled reputation and commitment to our community.”
Profitable Costa Rica Real Estate Investments. Invest with the best in the path of progress in the Papagayo Region of Costa Rica.
