Costa Rica foreclosures are the best way to buy Costa Rica real estate at the lowest prices possible. You can buy Costa Rica foreclosures at 50% to 70% of market value or less. Buying foreclosure properties always makes for an excellent investment with an immediate profit on the books no matter where you are in the world, and Cost Rica foreclosures are no different. Weather you're looking for an investment property or a new home, buying Costa Rica foreclosures provides the highest ROI your money can buy in real estate.
There are no restrictions on foreigners buying property in Costa Rica, and the process of buying Costa Rica foreclosures is the same for foreigners as it is for Costa Rican nationals. Residents and citizens have no extra privileges when it comes to buying real estate in Costa Rica and buying foreclosures is exactly the same.
Costa Rica Foreclosure Listings
All Costa Rica foreclosures are sold at pubic auction, and it is the law that all foreclosure auctions must be announced in La Gaceta, a government publication. Unfortunately the Costa Rica foreclosure listings in La Gaceta are extremely difficult to read, are mixed in with automobile foreclosure listings, not sorted in any particular order, and are only published two days in a row. You can visit the La Gaceta website at http://www.boletinjudicial.go.cr/pub/index.html and click on "Remates" (Spanish for Forclosures) if you aren’t taken there automatically. Immediately you will see how inconvenient it would be to read through these official announcements three times a week in order not to miss anything.
Buying a Costa Rica Foreclosure
Buying a foreclosure property in Costa Rica, in fact buying a property anywhere, requires a bit of research and background information in order to analyze the investment potential, value, ROI, and security. Here on Costa-Rica-Foreclosures.com we've put together some information which can help you through the process.
Bank Foreclosures
Bank foreclosures are the easiest kind to research. In the Costa Rica Foreclosure Listings you will be able to see if the foreclosure comes from a bank loan, lending institution or and independent deal. If it comes from a bank or lending institution, you can be sure that there was extensive research done on the property before the mortgage was finalized, and you should be able to get the assessment report and supporting documentation from the bank. Depending on when the assessment was done, and how much time has passed, you may then consider further researching the property .
The Almighty “Perito”
Your primary concern will be to assess the property value, but furthermore you may want to know its ability to be rented, sold, or transformed depending on your future plans. In addition you will need to research the title documents and any encumbrances related to the property. All of this can be done by a "perito" who you can hire for a small fee.
In Costa Rica, the “perito” acts as an independent property assessor, and can be hired to assess the value of the physical property, the details of the title documents, and also to check the geographical plans for accuracy. The best approach is to have the perito go with you to visit the property. They will have a look at the location and then quote you a price for a certified evaluation. If you agree to their price, the perito will then obtain the title documents from the public registry , and finally give you a document certifying the declared value.
If the property includes a house or other construction, the perito will take the land value per square meter, and the construction size (in square meters) less the depreciation from the College of Engineers and Architects schedule based on the type of construction and age, and then add to it their own knowledge and experience of the area and location of the property to determine the current value.
If you or the perito have any doubts about the geographical plans of the land, which are registered at the Public Registry, you can also choose to hire a topographer to check them against the actual property, and again against the description of the location in the Title document. This may not be necessary, especially as most properties mortgaged by established lending institutions are well and properly documented.
Title Documents and Geographical Plans
The Title documents and property plans are available at the National Registry. Anyone can physically go to the registry building in San Jose and order copies of either of these documents, however they are also now available online. Please note that before making a purchase it is important that you have these documents interpreted by a professional. Although they are a bit difficult to read as a layman, in the process of researching and analyzing a foreclosure property, they can be informative and helpful.
You can visit the National Registry home page here: http://www.registronacional.go.cr
To search the folio real for the title documents using the matricula number (provided in the Costa Rica Foreclosure Listings) go here: http://www.registronacional.go.cr/Consultas/informeRegistralParams.jsp
To search the Catastro Nacional using the Plano Catastro number (found in the title documents) go here: http://www.registronacional.go.cr/rn_catastro/catastro_consultasplano.jsp
Be somewhat cautious when interpreting these documents yourself as they do contain many legal terms and references which should ultimately be analyzed by a professional “perito" for placing a bid at auction.
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