Businesses and B&Bs for Sale in Costa Rica: What the Market Actually Looks Like Businesses and B&Bs for sale in Costa Rica come up in conversation with me almost as often as houses do — usually from buyers who fell in love with the area on vacation and started thinking, "what if we just... stayed and ran something?" It's a real path, and I've helped people make it happen. But the small...

Costa Rica Residency for Property Owners: Pensionado, Rentista, and Investor Visas Explained Costa Rica residency is one of the first questions most serious buyers ask me, usually right after "can foreigners actually own property here" (yes, they can — see my post on that here). The good news: owning property does not require residency, and residency does not require owning property — they're...

Retiring in Costa Rica: What It Really Costs and What Nobody Tells You Retiring in Costa Rica is one of the most common reasons buyers reach out to me, and I get it — I made a version of this move myself (albeit with work still on my plate), and years later I'm still here. But there's a gap between the "live like a king on $1,500 a month" articles you'll find online and what retirement here actually...

Healthcare Near Uvita and Ojochal: What's Actually Available, and What It Costs After "is it safe," healthcare is probably the next question I get from buyers — especially retirees and families. It's a fair question, and the honest answer is: it's better than most people expect, but it's not the same system you're used to, and where you live within Costa Ballena affects how far you'll travel for...

Costa Rica Mortgages for Foreigners in 2026: What's Actually Available I wrote about this topic before, but financing options here change often enough that it's worth a fresh, current look. The short version hasn't changed: most of my clients buy with cash or financing from outside Costa Rica, but local financing options do exist, and they've actually expanded in recent years. Here's where things...

Dominical vs. Uvita vs. Ojochal: Which One Is Right for You? I get some version of this question almost every week: "We've narrowed it down to Dominical, Uvita, or Ojochal — but which one should we actually buy in?" It's a great question, because these three towns sit within about 20 minutes of each other along the same stretch of the Costa Ballena coastline, yet they have genuinely different...

Is Uvita, Costa Rica Safe? A Local Agent's Honest Take "Is Uvita safe?" is one of the first questions almost every buyer asks me, usually before they've even booked their flight. It's a fair question — you're considering moving your life and your money to a foreign country, and you want to know what you're walking into. So here's my honest answer, based on living and working in this area: yes, Uvita is...

The Real Due Diligence Checklist for Buying Property in Costa Rica I've walked a lot of buyers through the due diligence process, and I can tell you the deals that go sideways almost always trace back to one of a handful of issues that are completely avoidable if you check for them upfront. This isn't a generic "hire a lawyer" post — it's the specific list of things I make sure get checked on every...

Farms for Sale in Costa Rica: What Buyers Need to Know Before They Start Looking Farms for sale in Costa Rica attract a wider range of buyers than you might expect — not just retirees dreaming of a few fruit trees, but serious agricultural investors, agritourism entrepreneurs, and families who want self-sufficiency and privacy. After years of showing farm and finca properties around the Costa...

Property Taxes in Costa Rica: What You'll Actually Pay Each Year Of all the cost questions I get, property taxes is the one where buyers are most pleasantly surprised. Coming from the US or Canada, where property taxes can run 1-2%+ of value annually and feel like a second mortgage payment, Costa Rica's system is refreshingly simple — and cheap. Here's exactly how it works. The Base Rate: 0.25%...