For Buyers

Seller Options: Exclusive Listings

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I have been a bit negative about exclusive listings in the past. My attitude towards these is now changing and, if anything, I’d say I’m a bit positive towards them now – with caveats.

The Exclusive Listing is a hybrid business model between the existing Costa Rica non-MLS model, and the Multiple Listing Service model that so many are accustomed to in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. I have recently learned that England does not have an MLS and, get this, that Mississippi doesn’t have an MLS. The point about England came from a reliable source. The one about Mississippi was chit-chat. I did a cursory study of the Mississippi matter on the internet and found a little bit of information but it’s still unconfirmed.

confusionexclusive.gifIn my previous article I considered the workings of the standard Costa Rica real estate model – the Open Listing.. If you haven’t read it (and would like to) you can by clicking here.

A Spot of Trivia
Realtors in England are called “Estate Agents” and the term “Real Estate Agent” is looked down upon. The non-MLS model has been used forever in the UK and they are quite settled with it, thank you very much. In a single yard of a house for sale you can see numerous signs to the various agencies that have the property listed. The typical commission paid to an Estate Agent in the UK is 1.5%

The exclusive listing attempts to provide buyer/seller representation in the Costa Rica market place.

The Way it Works
You approach your favorite real estate agent. You give that agent the listing for your property. That agent then takes the full responsibility of marketing your property so that it receives the broadest possible exposure. Sounds good right? Well, it is, but…

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A Brief History of Real Estate in The Zone

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“The Zone” is made up of a stretch of coastline starting from Hatillo in the north, and stretching south to Palmar Sur.  Included in that zone are the following towns, noted from north to south:

  • Hatillo
  • Dominical
  • Uvita
  • Ojochal
  • Palmar Sur

The inland portion of The Zone is a leg that runs from Dominical to San Isidro de el General, also known as Perez Zeledon.  In between Dominical and San Isidro is the town of Platanillo.

A word about pricing:
When dealing with ocean view properties in Costa Rica’s southern zone, the usual criteria of looking for a “per square meter” pricing fails us.  This becomes evident quickly as one familiarizes themselves with the market place.
Evaluating an ocean view property in this area is a combination of attributes, or virtues that come together to give the property its value.  Based on observing land buyers over the years, I rank these virtues in roughly the following order:

  1. view
  2. access
  3. size
  4. infrastructure
  5. amount of usable land
  6. proximity to the beach or a river
  7. privacy
  8. air motion

As an example of this, I once had a 10 acre property that had a window view of the ocean.  Of the 10 acres, perhaps 1 ½ were usable, the rest falling away in jungle covered hillsides. Price: $115,000
Across the way from this property, perhaps within 500 meters, I had another property of 2 acres with a sweeping ocean view,

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Relocation – Surviving the Transition Financially

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Are you an entrepreneur who wants to relocate in Costa Rica? Many of you have ideas of what you would like to do but you don’t know if it is feasible. Do you buy a well-priced piece of real estate then develop it to your liking? Or, do you buy a turnkey business in one of the small towns of the Southern Pacific Zone (SPZ)? Those are two questions The Guys In The Zone are asked often, and I thought I would shed a little light on the possibilities.

Buy land, build structure, announce grand opening.

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Relocators who lean toward the Buy & Build model are the most common brand of investor. Rarely, does the building process go perfectly smooth especially if you are a “first timer” in Costa Rica. Even with a good contractor, we encourage most owners to be on-site often. In fact, the more you can be there to answer questions and provide direction, the better. There’s nothing worse than flying down to check on the status of your building only to discover the size of your custom kitchen and bathroom have been interchanged?! If you follow this advice and move down to oversee the building process, then there are the obvious costs associated with living here (rent, bills, food, gas, etc.). However, this increases your chances to end up with the small (or large) business you always dreamed of. I have attended a few “Grand Openings” in the past few years, and most owners smile with pride, albeit with a touch of fatigue.

Most of our commercial land sellers are open to negotiating price and/or carrying paper (seller financing) as long as there is a significant down payment. Currently, we have excellent “raw land” properties that can accommodate businesses ranging from a small hotel-restaurant and one of the best “large commercial” pieces on the Costanera.

Or, buy a landmark!

surf-shop.jpgUntil just recently there were very few businesses to buy in the SPZ. Over the past five years, the ticos and early bird gringos have successfully

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Help for Buyers and Sellers Takes a Big Step Forward

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Imagine this: you are interested in buying a piece of property in Costa Rica’s southern zone, so you walk in to one of the real estate offices in say – Uvita. You consult for awhile with an agent there. (For the sake of this article, lets call him “Ben” :o) and off you go looking at properties that fit your interest. After looking at all that Ben has to show you, nothing strikes you as the right piece (hard to imagine, but it has happened a time or two).

So far not a lot of imagination has been required. Here’s where it gets a little more difficult.

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Ben says: “how ‘bout we pop on down to this other agency, some competitors of mine down by Ojochal, and see what they’ve got” or “Let’s go on up to an office of my peers in Dominical that’s been around for years. They’ve probably got a few listings that I don’t that may be a perfect fit”.

I know – hard to imagine, but stay with me here.

Last Saturday marked the 2nd meeting of… well frankly I’m not sure what.  I’m not being evasive – we actually don’t know what to call it: Costa Ballena Realty Board? Association of Real Estate Professionals?  There were a few other names tossed about: Think Tank, Master Mind Group, Coffee Talk… whatever it ends up being, it holds the key to making the real estate buying and selling experience in our zone 10 times better than what it currently is.  (I like “Unified Realty Professionals”.  This could have the distinguished acronym URP which would be said something like – well, like ‘urp’ which would bring to mind the satisfied feeling one has having just enjoyed a good meal.)

Ojochal, Uvita, Dominical, Hatillo Platanillo and San Isidro are the towns that make up “The Zone”.  There are numerous real estate agencies in these towns. Some with recognizable names from other parts of the globe such as Coldwell Banker, Century 21 etc…  Then there are the “no namers” such as yours truly with Dominical Dot Biz Select Properties, and there are many such private label real estate companies.

The objective of the meeting was to improve our ability, as a unified and cooperative group, to serve people who want to either buy, or to sell property in our zone.  This is a beautiful, and much needed thing.

The meeting was attended by the owners of Osa Tropical Estates (Ojochal), two of the Coldwell Banker partners in the Dominical office, The Land Company (Dominical) principal and myself (Uvita).  We all have knowledge of all areas of The Zone, but have greater expertise in some areas over others.

Problems Identified:
It was agreed that the non-MLS (Multiple Listing Service) business model in Costa Rica makes it difficult for sellers and buyers.  The core problem is the lack of REPRESENTATION available to our buyers and sellers.

Buyer’s Problems:
When a buyer spends a day or two with a single realtor looking at property, they are only seeing what that particular real estate agency has for listings.  To really know that they have seen everything, a buyer would have to

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Who is Buying Land In Costa Rica?

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I think that this question is probably the second most asked question of a real estate agent in Costa Rica. Second after: “what’s going on in real estate in Costa Rica”? Actually, the two run hand in hand.  In my recent post where I stuck my neck out and made some specific predictions regarding the coming season, I basically said that I felt that there was compelling reason for 1) relocators and 2) land bankers, to buy land in Costa Rica in the present financial climate, and specifically, the southern zone.

I’ll profile my two most recent showings below.

Profile #1:
I’ll call them the Boydsons, were the ones that inspired the post: “Do You Have to be Rich to Buy Land in Costa Rica?”.  We spent a couple days together here, and I think that they represent a large percentage of buyers that we’ll be seeing here this season.

Mr. Boydson had mentioned that he had a little money, $50,000 to $75,000 to put down on a property, and that he would like to have an existing house. His budget was around $150,000.  So seller financing would be required.  An ocean view wasn’t required, but privacy and acreage were. Mr. Boydson is an avid gardener.

The Boydsons and I met in the office and spent our first couple hours discussing their objectives and arranged to go out the next day and put our feet on some available Costa Rican soil.

In our conversation, I mentioned that a lot of folks come to Costa Rica looking for a finished house so that they can avoid the hassle of building, but after looking around some they more often than not, end up buying a piece of land and building.  This has been due to the fact that we are early in the real estate cycle and the bulk of our inventory is still raw land.  The available houses enjoy somewhat of an inflated value due to their scarcity, and the fact that many folks don’t want to build.  After looking at land and houses, the calculations generally make it clear that the best financial decision is to build.

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Do You Have to be Rich to Buy Land In Costa Rica?

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I received the below e-mail last week and have been working with “Jim” (name is changed to protect…).  His situation is one that I think a lot of folks will be able to relate to.

Reading through your blog it appears that purchasing a home or property in the southern zone is now just for the wealthy. Those who have 5 or 6 other houses and for which one more is just another investment. There are those of us who would like to make Costa Rica our new home and leave the corporate hassles behind. We just may not have the $300K – $1M in cash for such a move. What do you recommend for those of us who are a little ahead in the US real estate game and are looking for a quiet, secluded, place to raise some fruit, veggies, etc. and settle down?

Money in Hand

Nicely put, and meaty. I wrote back:

I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to answer your question with some questions. Nearly all of our deals here are cash deals. What amount of cash

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Sales Process Overview Part I

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Part 1 of the Costa Rica real estate Sales Process

This is the first of a 4 part series. Click for: Part 2. || Part 3 || Part 4
Down and Dirty:

If you want to know specifically about any of the above details without reading through all 4 parts, click on the bulleted point above to go directly to that information.

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Sales Process Overview, Part II:

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Part 2 of Costa Rica Real Estate Sales Process

This is part 2 of a 4 part series. Click for: Part 1 || Part 3 || Part 4

Go and View Properties:

Once we have identified the purpose that the person(s) have in looking to buy land in Costa Rica, the agent will consider this as he directs them to the available properties that suit their interest.

I have always found it interesting to watch the process of land selection. I think that we all come down to Costa Rica with some preconceived notions of what we want, and for most of us, these change after we’ve stood on a few properties. Our marketplace is, for the most part, coastal mountain terrain. It’s hard to arrive here knowing what these properties are like; they are quite unique, even on a global scale.

Throughout the consultation and property viewing, the buyer is asking questions, getting informed, and making decisions. They are considering the various value-affecting features of the property such as: the view, the access, proximity to neighbors, proximity to the beach, waterfall, how much breeze there is, the jungle, and so on.

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