Costa Rica Expertise LLC

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

There is very little regulation on real estate transactions in Costa Rica: No real estate disclosure act or similar rules exist. No licensing is required for real estate agencies or brokers.

There are two real estate broker associations in Costa Rica, but the organizations have limited power. The Web site for one association has no code of ethics or standards of practice listed.

This all means that real estate operators can use a lot of techniques that may be at least questionable if not unethical or dishonest.

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By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Twenty-four hours a day people are exposed to an array of electromagnetic fields. Inside the home TVs, stereos, VCRs, computers, almost everything electric, most machines and lights bathe everyone with waves, and the list goes on and on.

Outside radar, communication dishes, TV transmitters, cellular phones, high-tension power lines and even the electromagnetic fields generated by vehicles create additional waves.

Unless one lives in some remote corner of the planet, there is no escape. Simply put, growing exposure to electromagnetic energy fields is a concern, and some see it as a serious threat to health.

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Another Gringo gets a property surprise

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Why take the long way around when you can get three witnesses to say a driveway is a public road, and voilà, like magic, it becomes public.

Then bulldozers do a great job of tearing down private entranceways.

This is what happened a week ago to one U.S. citizen from Chicago. Four years ago the man fell in love with Costa Rica, as many foreigners do, and bought a farm in Cartago. The title to the property was squeaky clean and had no annotation of easements or any other restrictions.

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