Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Yearly Real Estate Tax on Pacific Heights Property—$280

I have a not-so-glamorous skill set. It won’t dazzle someone at a bar or get me invited to an afterparty. But if you are considering buying property in Costa Rica, I may be the most important person you’ll meet. I am the one who bought TWO building lots in the mid-2000s before the government enacted stricter water laws.

What followed has been fifteen years of struggling and chasing attorneys, all while sitting on these properties and waiting for the tides to turn.

In The Costa Rica Escape Manual, I write all about buying property and building a home. But the most important chapter may be the Water Letter. It is the difference between having a lovely home or pitching a tent in a pile of dirt. No one likes to talk about it, but since I blab about everything in my books, I told the world about what happened to us. It’s embarrassing but true.

We have had great times in Costa Rica, but we have also shared plenty of heartache.

A water letter does not determine whether a property has water at the building site. Both of mine do, but it wasn’t legal to use. And without it being legal, I couldn’t get a permit to build. We were stuck in limbo many years before ultimately finding another place to build the Happier House. In fact, when we first visited Mar Vista, we wouldn’t go past the gates unless they showed proof of legal water. They did.

One thing I’ve learned about living in Costa Rica is to be patient. Whether at the bank or in the grocery store, things move slower here. But low and behold, it turns out 15 years was just long enough for one of our properties.

We finally received a water letter for our lot in Pacific Heights. An ocean-view, 10,000 square meter lot only fifteen minutes from the new Flamingo Marina. It’s designated forresta. Lots in this part of the community only need to be 5000 meters each to build a home, guest house, and caretaker’s house. This lot is twice that size and therefore it should be able to be split in two. Build on one lot and sell the other was our plan. 

Yesterday we requested an updated Uso de Suelo certificate from the municipality for this lot. It helps to prove we can build on the land. I’m on a documentation high right now and loving every minute of it. The Eye of the Tiger song plays everywhere I go. If I sound excited, I am.

I’m legal baby! And I’m telling the world!

Unfortunately, we can’t say the same thing for the other lot, our Problem Child. Fifteen years has not been enough time to sort it all out. There is no Rocky theme playing for that one. But it does have a spectacular view of the Flamingo Marina. We hope to sell Pacific Heights in order to fix and build on this one.

So the question now is, should we build, sell, or hold on to our beautiful legal Pacific Heights property?

If we do sell now it could be at a significant loss…
If we wait a little longer for the Flamingo Marina we might just get our money back!

But until we decide, I’m enjoying the moment. Rob and I did it, and that’s one hell of a happy ending.

If you are at all interested in the property please contact us at:

puravida@happierthanabillionaire.com

PM us at our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/happierthanabillionaire