Ruthie's Project IV

Part I :: Part II :: Part III :: Part IV :: Part V So we set up a viewing of the lot that we seem to be homing in on. It is located up in Lagunas which is one of the more developed areas of Dominical Costa Rica. Lagunas is a large ridge that runs parallel to the ocean. You get to it by driving from the coast towards San Isidro just 5 or so minutes, and then turning and going up in altitude along this ridge. There are numerous houses up there and quite a number of permanent residents there.

When we get to the property, Michael shows us around. It is, in a word, perfect. There is a lovely view of to the north with lots of white water. You can see up to Manuel Antonio that juts out into the Pacific like a dock out on the horizon.

Ruthie is excited and proceeds to start designing her house on the lot. Michael is excited because he is going to be able to bypass the whole speculation cycle and get the house into contract before he has even broken ground. Just one problem, the lot needs to be segregated from the main property. Well, this really isn't a problem, it just needed to be done. I have personally done quite a few deals where the lot wasn't yet registered, or as in this case, hadn't even been drawn yet.

I'm no expert in law but, it seems to me that legally speaking, 2 people can agree to anything. Now, in this case where the buyer can stand on a property and see what it is, and the seller is desirous of selling that property, there is a legal means whereby the two parties can achieve this objective. The buyer wants to tie up the seller so that they can't take another and perhaps better offer in the future, and the seller wants to know definitively that the that buyer isn't going anywhere. Such are numerous land purchase agreements in the Domincal Costa Rica area, especially since our land boom started here. It is interesting to note though that in a legal sense, the property does not exist yet. So the relationship is pretty much conceptual, although it is based upon existing dirt, or as we say, real estate.

Actually, it wasn't these concerns that caused the eventual unravelling of this seemingly perfect deal. Neither of the parties involved in this deal had any problem with the fact that the property didn't yet exist and the process was started with our well seasoned attorney here to contract to buy the soon-to-exist lot.

What did end up killing this deal was a concern that resulted from a recent law change. Actually, it may have been more of a decision on the part of Minae, the Costa Rican land use agency, to start applying the law, I'm not sure which. Again, I'm not an authority on law. But the new arrangement had to do with increasing the easements around an existing water source. Below the lot in question there is a creek, that in the past had been used as a water source. Since then, things have changed and for half of the year the creek doesn't even have water in it, but the law was still being applied to it. This hurt Michael in his objective to segregate his lot, although I understand that he now has it worked out and is going forward with his speculation plans. It also pushed Ruthie out of her comfort zone so she pulled out and went back to the drawing board.

Deals are fragile here, as I guess they are anywhere. But in the effort to make sure that everything is in order: the roads, the water systems, the electrical, the easements and so on, we frequently are called on to do a considerable amount of legwork into Costa Rica's registration system. In this case its too bad that things couldn't be worked out since there was a great synergy between the parties.

But Ruthie remained undaunted and off we went to look at more houses, and we found one.

Stay tuned...

Ruthie's Project III

The ongoing account of a 70+ year old woman as she buys land in Costa Rica, builds, and relocates.

Part I :: Part II :: Part III :: Part IV :: Part V
Well, the next day we are having lunch at what was to become Ruth’s favorite lunch place in Domincal, La Parcela. La Parcela sits out on the point of Punta Dominicalito, so you are nearly surrounded by wave sounds, but you are high enough above them to where they effect a perfect background to conversation, with is the way Ruth likes it since she is the gran maestra of conversation.

So there we sit, enjoying a lovely lunch of Tuna, slightly seared on a bed of pasta with some kinda seasoning that my palette finds most agreeable, but with not nearly enough wasabi for this heat seeking tongue of mine. They were all to happy to bring me an extra serving of the green fire to further enhance my dining pleasure. Ruth is saying that she feels that maybe finding a house isn’t going to work for her and that she is going to have to build, and that since that is the case, she would like for Michael, the recurring builder that we had run into the day before, to build it for her. She liked him, and his work.

So whats available in lots that allow for a house to be built and stays within the budget. No worries there. We’ve got a number of options that fit this criterion, more so now that we are liberated from the “already built” restriction… when in walks… guess who… Michael the builder.

"Serendipitous" is the way Ruthie put it.

Michael joined us and we got acquainted, which only served to further bond Ruthie to him. In the course of the conversation, and as Ruthie’s plight came into focus for Michael, he mentioned that he has a lot that he had intended to build on as a speculation for resale. It sounded like it was the right size, we knew the location to be perfect for Ruthie's needs, and it seemed as though the price that Michael had in mind was right in there where it needed to be for Ruthie.

One of the reasons that I wanted to write this account of Ruthie buying here is that, these sorts of seemingly chance happenings, are the way things work here. It helps having someone like Ruthie along since she is definitely "game". I think that her motto must be "lets go!". But really, it is simply a good way to live and get along in Costa Rica. Give it a try, expose yourself to the system and see what comes up.

In my former life as an art dealer, I used to love an ad that showed a guy from the back left side, standing holding a rain coat open with bare legs poking out below the bottom of the coat, standing in front of a piece of public art, a sculpture in a park, with the words "Expose yourself to art" in the caption. Well, in the same way, this is a good way of viewing a move to Costa Rica, starting with the real estate acquisition process. Expose yourself to it. Put yourself out there and see what happens.

Now, this story is, as I type, in progress. We have not totally resolved Ruthie’s land needs as of yet, but almost.

Stay tuned.