Frequently Asked Questions

Initially a "mother farm" known as a Finca, is purchased for development and subdivision.  Once the infrastructure is completed and the agencies responsible for the approval of these improvements have signed off on the work, the municipality will then allow segregation of the individual lots.
The properties are then registered with the Costa Rican Land Registry. Each lot is recorded at that time directly to the name of the owner purchaser.  Each lot has its own registry number. Ownership of each property is through registration to a corporation, which is registered in the Costa Rican Mercantile Registry. All titles of ownership to the land and registry information for the corporation are available from the appropriate registry office.  Each development is held as a separate corporation that is debt free.  As each parcel is sold off, it is literally purchased from that corporation.

Title insurance is available, as is gap insurance to cover the time the parcel is purchased until the segregation is complete and formal registration to the new owner is finished.  Most owners do not bother with this insurance since the process is just a matter of waiting for completion, usually no more than a year or two.  Many phases have already been signed off on and title is immediately available to the purchaser.

First let me say the developer owns much more land than will ever be developed.  The company owns land in the Osa Peninsula, land in maritime concession zones as well as a significant amount of primary forest.  This land will be preserved and protected.  In each phase of development a potion of the property is left as green space leaving corridors for animals to travel through.  Rivers passing through the property are now protected by means of a buffer space on both sides of the river, though in some earlier phases this was not required.   

The developer we represent does all work complete with great respect for the environment, using sustainable wood products. All of their developments are on prior pasture land and we never clear primary forest. They maintain natural buffer zones and protected areas within the developments, in excess of what is required by law. They also give a percentage of all sales toward environmental protection.

All of the properties within our developments are fully serviced by public roads, with water and electric hook-ups at the property lines of each lot.  In Costa Rican developments, Roads must meet municipal standards which currently require 7 meters width.  Cement culverts and catch basins are also required.  Electrical lines are installed by the developer based on the engineering requirements of ICE, the public utility for electric in Costa Rica.  ICE also provides telephone and DSL for Internet.  We install the water system within each phase.  Water must meet municipal standards as well and are monitored by AYA, the public utility for water.  Our water is from artesian springs and of very high quality. 

Some phases are sold "pre-developed" and the completion of the installation of the infrastructure is still in process.  The public utilities must sign off on installation before the municipality will grant the final urbanization plan and allow individual segregation of lots.  This takes time and patience is required.  When you purchase land that is not yet fully titled, you still have complete ownership and occupancy rights to that parcel.  Some phases have taken longer than others to get signed off on, which can be frustrating to both the owner and developer.  Once final segregation is approved, individual titles are issued to the segregated parcels and registered in the Folio Real system in San Jose, the online property registry.