Real Estate Purchase and Sale in Costa Rica

Buying property in Costa Rica is not the same transaction it is in the United States or Canada. There is no title insurance industry in the American sense, no closing agent standing between the parties, and the person who transfers the property is not a lawyer in the common-law sense but a notary public — a public officer who gives faith and executes the deed.

We represent the buyer, and only the buyer, from offer to registration.

What the process involves

A purchase properly handled runs through defined stages: verification of title and encumbrances at the National Registry, review of the cadastral survey against the physical reality of the lot, confirmation that the seller has capacity to transfer, drafting of the purchase agreement with the conditions that actually protect the buyer, placement of funds with a registered escrow agent, execution of the transfer deed before a notary, and registration.

Each of those stages has a way of going wrong that is specific to Costa Rica. A survey that does not match the fence line. An easement nobody mentioned. A seller who is one of four heirs. A corporation whose books were never properly kept.

Who we work with

Most of our clients are buyers from the United States and Canada acquiring residential or investment property on the Pacific coast — Tamarindo, Flamingo, Nosara, Santa Teresa — and in the Central Valley. Many have visited the country a handful of times and are about to wire a substantial sum to a jurisdiction they do not know.

Our job is to make sure that when the money moves, the title moves with it.

Munduss Legal — José David Garro Castro, Attorney at Law and Notary Public. Offices in Escazú, San José and Tamarindo, Guanacaste. Request a consultation.