Am I seeing All There Is?

How can one be sure that they are seeing all of the possibilities that fit their real estate criterion?

There is no MLS here in Costa Rica. Its too bad. The MLS system in the US came about due to the needs of the customer, not the vendor of real estate. It truly is a superior system. But, having said that, all is not lost. One just needs to understand the Costa Rica system a bit and then make the best of it.

All of us real estate brokers want to have all of the available properties we can in our inventory. It is every agency for themself. So, we spend a good bit of our time driving around in the mountains and along the coast, scouring the countryside getting those oh-so-valuable listings. There is, as of this writing, a good amount of inventory in our portfolios. However, it is the good stuff that is getting scarce. A real estate agent here knows when he’s got a good thing. It is akin to falling off a log to sell a good listing here.

So, how can the land buyer feel that they are seeing whats out there? One is to be thorough with your web search. There are several really good Costa Rica real estate websites out there. Get familiar with the sizes and prices, what influences the value, and so on. Then, pick your agent.

I think that this is one of the more important steps, if not the most important. You want someone that is concerned about getting you your property. This is Costa Rica Real Estate, unencumbered by licensing and any sort of a qualification process. So the onus is on the buyer to be able to discern what is, in fact, going on. Understanding the system helps.

Since there is no MLS, the seller of a property will likely want to list their property with all of the real estate agencies. This is one of the inconveniences of our non-MLS system. The sellers have to manually make sure that all agencies know about their property and are up to date with pricing and availability, not to mention things like lot lines, water, electric and road systems for each property.

In the event that a seller doesn’t want to do all that, they may opt to give an exclusive listing to an agency. This is usually because they have had a good experience with the office, or more likely, with someone in the office. This may affect things a bit though since the seller will likely still want to spend the normal 8% commission on the sale of their property. So, it is conceivable that the other real estate agencies will be dis-incented to show a property that some other agency has an exclusive on. If they show you a property where they might only get half of what they would get by showing you another one, they/we might be tainted.

I would like to think that I am above all that, and maybe I am. But I suspect that all of us real estate agents down here in Costa Rica would say that we are. One would hope that their primary concern is getting the client the property that is right for them, regardless of how the commission is split up.

Once again, we come back around to the buyer using discernment. Although, this really is what we do throughout most of our days here on good ole Planet Earth. Costa Rica real estate isn’t the only arena that we are on the watch for those who are truly interested in our well being so that we can do business with them, and conversely, watching to avoid those that don’t seem like our welfare is all that important to them.

So to answer the question, I think that the way to feel that you are getting to see the options that could potentially be right for you, is to ally yourself with a real estate professional that works in the area that you are interested in, and that demonstrates an interest in your success here.

Real estate in Costa Rica is an ongoing process. Once the sale is made, it is frequently followed by a huge life change, that of re-locating. It is nice to feel that you’ve got an ally in the process.