I have booked the air fares, house in Atenas, and got the trawick. I believe I heard in 1 of your vids, there is a CR Gov't site to fill out some questioner and I don't have that info on where to go.
Also, None of us have a smart phone (I still use a flip phone and so does the wife) so pictures of trawick is not able to be produced. I did however, download and print the cards, letter, and 1 of the policies for each of the 3 that are traveling.
Anyone know of a covid testing spot in CR, around Atenas, for the return trip? Wife and I both will have finished our vacines by the time we board.
Edit: Anyone know of a decent realtor in the Atenas/Grecia area. We have property we'd like to see while we're there.
Any suggestions?
-- Edited by Esquire on Friday 23rd of April 2021 09:48:49 PM
-- Edited by Esquire on Friday 23rd of April 2021 09:49:55 PM
-- Edited by Esquire on Friday 23rd of April 2021 09:50:27 PM
I have booked the air fares, house in Atenas, and got the trawick. I believe I heard in 1 of your vids, there is a CR Gov't site to fill out some questioner and I don't have that info on where to go.
Also, None of us have a smart phone (I still use a flip phone and so does the wife) so pictures of trawick is not able to be produced. I did however, download and print the cards, letter, and 1 of the policies for each of the 3 that are traveling.
Anyone know of a covid testing spot in CR, around Atenas, for the return trip? Wife and I both will have finished our vacines by the time we board.
Edit: Anyone know of a decent realtor in the Atenas/Grecia area. We have property we'd like to see while we're there.
Any suggestions?
Congrats Esquire on the plans for your 1st trip! Whooo Hooooo
As long as you have printed QR codes and Printed Policies then you should not have any problems when you go to check-in at the airport.
Go here: https://livingincostarica.activeboard.com/t67199059/requirements-to-enter-costa-rica-do-you-need-covid-travelers/
This topic on the forum will give you everything you need to enter into Costa Rica and the link to fill out the questioner you are asking about. Also, there is a pdf link there for testing sites as well.
As for a decent realtor, (those are hard to find). Be careful...many realtors and even GRINGO Realtors will try to take advantage of you. You will find much better deals by driving around, and calling the numbers, or asking around from all the MANY, MANY for sale (Se Vende) signs you will see when you arrive.
However, just know that TICOS will ask 2 or 3 times the value of the property, so don't be scared to make a very LOW offer on what they are asking. EVERYTHING is for sale in Costa Rica...so it is a Buyer's Market.
Hope that helps.
__________________
Life is short...so get out of the Rat Race and Enjoy Paradise in Costa Rica.
I did find the 1 vid you done that had complete instructions of how to fill out the form and where to go, altho I'd forgot about the 48 hr requirement until re-looking at it. Old-timers disease, I guess. Thank you again for all you do.
We're looking in the Atenas and/or Grecia area and it seems, now, that the place we booked the rental house for (Rock Verde in Atenas) 10 days, that wife is also a realtor. I'm an old US home builder/GC/B1 Contractor so I still have the mentality of calling realty "real estate vultures". As soon as we started digging a foundation, they've hover and circle around like a pack. lol
We did get away from the Lake area as we just didn't want to come out in the AM to find a croc in the pool. Wife would have a heart attack.
I found a very nice place near your area in Tinamaste, again I looked there from 1 of your vids, but it seems there's a lot more rainy days there than the central valley.
I believe I've seen every one of your vids, along with others, so I'm actively looking for "gringo pricing", expecially after all this "due diligence" for the last 6 months staying up late nights watching vids and hitting real estate sites.
We're really looking at 1 in particular, maybe 2, listed for the big bucks and then again only after the closing of the sale of my existing business in the States. Altho I found it on different sites with different listing prices so I'm bringing the lowest one with me and on these high end properties, it would seem that they've been on the market for a long, long, time. These 2 I found at least 6 months ago initially, so listing price is nowhere what I would offer. I have noticed that the cheaper properties are being sold now (100K to 200+K) but the high end seems to be sitting.
-- Edited by Esquire on Thursday 29th of April 2021 03:40:47 PM
I did find the 1 vid you done that had complete instructions of how to fill out the form and where to go, altho I'd forgot about the 48 hr requirement until re-looking at it. Old-timers disease, I guess. Thank you again for all you do.
We're looking in the Atenas and/or Grecia area and it seems, now, that the place we booked the rental house for (Rock Verde in Atenas) 10 days, that wife is also a realtor. I'm an old US home builder/GC/B1 Contractor so I still have the mentality of calling realty "real estate vultures". As soon as we started digging a foundation, they've hover and circle around like a pack. lol
We did get away from the Lake area as we just didn't want to come out in the AM to find a croc in the pool. Wife would have a heart attack.
I found a very nice place near your area in Tinamaste, again I looked there from 1 of your vids, but it seems there's a lot more rainy days there than the central valley.
I believe I've seen every one of your vids, along with others, so I'm actively looking for "gringo pricing", expecially after all this "due diligence" for the last 6 months staying up late nights watching vids and hitting real estate sites.
We're really looking at 1 in particular, maybe 2, listed for the big bucks and then again only after the closing of the sale of my existing business in the States. Altho I found it on different sites with different listing prices so I'm bringing the lowest one with me and on these high end properties, it would seem that they've been on the market for a long, long, time. These 2 I found at least 6 months ago initially, so listing price is nowhere what I would offer. I have noticed that the cheaper properties are being sold now (100K to 200+K) but the high end seems to be sitting.
-- Edited by Esquire on Thursday 29th of April 2021 03:40:47 PM
Yes...
Good to know you are being careful.
Yes, we have seen a LOT of BIG DROPS in prices and like you said, some of the more affordable places are selling. The house we were renting, the guy was in bad need of money and he wanted $150K but accepted $50K and he owner financed it for $5K a year for the next 10 years.
So...it is insane what you can find simply because COVID has hit the TICOS hard and they are in bad need of money. EVERYTHING was for sale before COVID and now it is DOUBLE EVERRYTHING. (if there is such a thing???). LOL
Enjoy
__________________
Life is short...so get out of the Rat Race and Enjoy Paradise in Costa Rica.
We got back. Spent our entire time in Atenas. Looked at real estate for 2 days of the 10 and as much as I wanted to, I didn't make a proposition on any.
Wife has fought me for 6 months about selling out here and moving to CR, even going as far as "you go down there and I'll stay here". When we got back, she said "OK, I'll go back down there now, send money!"
She has COPD. She had a Dr visit just before we left and her blood OX level was 92. She noticed she wasn't coffing as much down there, her nose cleared up, and she could exert herself more. I noticed the OX content in the air was off the charts. We tested her blood OX level the minute we got back into the house and her levels were 97, completely normal.
My luck, I got a case of Gout there last Fri night. I called the property managers of the house we rented to ask if the clinics in Atenas were open on Sat. She dropped everything, came over, picked me up, and took me to a pharmacy. There was a Dr. on call who spoke some english. I told him, the regular treatment I got in the States was a shot of solumedral. He looked at the foot, said "gout" and grabbed a needle. I asked if that was solumedral, he showed me the bottle with the name on it. Whole thing took less than 10 minutes. I went to pay for this Dr visit and shot and was told the amount in colones. I got to back to the car and said something to the effect of "That was cheap". The prop. manager said "about 12.00 US. Turned out, it was $11.80 best I could figure. Cheaper than my $15 dollar co-pay in the states with no further billing going to the ins. co.
After 10 days, we're planning on the move and making the plans now.
We got back. Spent our entire time in Atenas. Looked at real estate for 2 days of the 10 and as much as I wanted to, I didn't make a proposition on any.
Wife has fought me for 6 months about selling out here and moving to CR, even going as far as "you go down there and I'll stay here". When we got back, she said "OK, I'll go back down there now, send money!"
She has COPD. She had a Dr visit just before we left and her blood OX level was 92. She noticed she wasn't coffing as much down there, her nose cleared up, and she could exert herself more. I noticed the OX content in the air was off the charts. We tested her blood OX level the minute we got back into the house and her levels were 97, completely normal.
My luck, I got a case of Gout there last Fri night. I called the property managers of the house we rented to ask if the clinics in Atenas were open on Sat. She dropped everything, came over, picked me up, and took me to a pharmacy. There was a Dr. on call who spoke some english. I told him, the regular treatment I got in the States was a shot of solumedral. He looked at the foot, said "gout" and grabbed a needle. I asked if that was solumedral, he showed me the bottle with the name on it. Whole thing took less than 10 minutes. I went to pay for this Dr visit and shot and was told the amount in colones. I got to back to the car and said something to the effect of "That was cheap". The prop. manager said "about 12.00 US. Turned out, it was $11.80 best I could figure. Cheaper than my $15 dollar co-pay in the states with no further billing going to the ins. co.
After 10 days, we're planning on the move and making the plans now.
Wow...Esquire,
It sounds like Costa Rica is the place you and your wife needs to be!
It is good to hear you had a MOSTLY good time and now you're on the road to making solid long term plans to come to Costa Rica.
THANKS for sharing that great story!
__________________
Life is short...so get out of the Rat Race and Enjoy Paradise in Costa Rica.
We got off the plane, wife, her older sister, and myself. We were at the end of a long, long line for customs. We stood there for a couple of minutes and a guy came along, who didn't speak english and moved us to the front of the line. It seems the older (we're mostly 65) is respected in the culture.
Also, while we were out looking at property, we stopped at a little Tico owned and operated store to pick up some cokes/etc. My wife looked at a piece of yellow cake the owner had on the counter and said a couple of things about it. We walked out and the counter guy followed us with the piece of cake in hand, told the realtor in spanish, he wanted the wife to have it to try it. She said she has never seen that in the US, no matter where we were, CA or OK.
Realtor had the perfect analogy to CR. She said "think of the US 50 years ago, that's where Costa Rica is today".
We got off the plane, wife, her older sister, and myself. We were at the end of a long, long line for customs. We stood there for a couple of minutes and a guy came along, who didn't speak english and moved us to the front of the line. It seems the older (we're mostly 65) is respected in the culture.
Also, while we were out looking at property, we stopped at a little Tico owned and operated store to pick up some cokes/etc. My wife looked at a piece of yellow cake the owner had on the counter and said a couple of things about it. We walked out and the counter guy followed us with the piece of cake in hand, told the realtor in spanish, he wanted the wife to have it to try it. She said she has never seen that in the US, no matter where we were, CA or OK.
Realtor had the perfect analogy to CR. She said "think of the US 50 years ago, that's where Costa Rica is today".
That is so true...we have often said and I said it in our last video...Costa Rica is KINDA like "Little House on the Prarie". I'm sure you probably know about that popular TV series...
Costa Rica is very far behind.
AND YES>...in Costa Rica...the OLDER people get special treatment and often have their own line or get moved to the front of the line.
Glad you shared that.
Allen
__________________
Life is short...so get out of the Rat Race and Enjoy Paradise in Costa Rica.
We got off the plane, wife, her older sister, and myself. We were at the end of a long, long line for customs. We stood there for a couple of minutes and a guy came along, who didn't speak english and moved us to the front of the line. It seems the older (we're mostly 65) is respected in the culture.
Also, while we were out looking at property, we stopped at a little Tico owned and operated store to pick up some cokes/etc. My wife looked at a piece of yellow cake the owner had on the counter and said a couple of things about it. We walked out and the counter guy followed us with the piece of cake in hand, told the realtor in spanish, he wanted the wife to have it to try it. She said she has never seen that in the US, no matter where we were, CA or OK.
Realtor had the perfect analogy to CR. She said "think of the US 50 years ago, that's where Costa Rica is today".
That is so true...we have often said and I said it in our last video...Costa Rica is KINDA like "Little House on the Prarie". I'm sure you probably know about that popular TV series...
Costa Rica is very far behind.
AND YES>...in Costa Rica...the OLDER people get special treatment and often have their own line or get moved to the front of the line.
Glad you shared that.
Allen
Well, Maybe not "Little House" as that's a little too far back. No horse and buggys lol. But, maybe Mayberry. People are just as friendly - people say "hola" as your walking by, town is small (unless your in Escazu - more like LA there), Not many chain stores in Atenas but plenty of small Tico owned shops, and the feeling of safety that hasn't been present in the US for years and years.
