How to Buy Property in Costa Rica as a Foreigner: The Actual Step-by-Step

I paid 3.6% in closing costs on my first purchase in Atenas back in 2014. My neighbor bought a "beachfront" lot in Guanacaste the same year without reading the fine print. He then paid a lawyer six figures to untangle a concession mess that, last I checked, still isn't resolved. Same country. Same year. Wildly different outcomes. The difference came down to about 30 hours of due diligence.

Here's what those 30 hours actually look like.

Can foreigners really own property here?

Yes. Full fee-simple title. The Costa Rican Constitution gives foreigners the same ownership rights as nationals for titled land registered in the Registro Nacional. No residency required. No spouse, no local partner. You can buy in your own name on a tourist visa the day your plane lands.

The one exception is beachfront. I'll get to that.

What does "making an offer" actually mean here?

Not much, until it's in writing and money moves. A verbal offer is worth nothing in Costa Rica. The real starting point is a Letter of Intent (carta de intención) or an Option to Purchase contract, signed by both sides. It locks the price and sets the due diligence window, usually 30 to 45 days.

Standard earnest money is 10% of the price. It goes into escrow. Not to the seller. Not to the agent. Escrow. Skip that and you have no protection at all.

Escrow here is a real legal mechanism, and the fees run 0.25% to 1% of the transaction. Worth every colón. The escrow agent holds your deposit, then later the full purchase funds, until the notary registers the deed and every condition is met.

Who is the notary, and why do they run everything?

In Costa Rica the notario público is also a licensed attorney. That isn't a quirk. It's how the system works. Every property transfer has to be drafted, executed, and registered by a notary-attorney. There's no title company doing this. The notary is the transaction.

So when people ask whether they need a lawyer, the honest answer is that you literally can't close without one, because the notary is the lawyer. The better question: should you hire your own separate attorney to review things before the notary drafts the deed? I always say yes. Especially on rural land, farm properties, or anything near the coast.

What does due diligence at the Registro Nacional actually involve?

The Registro Nacional (registronacional.go.cr) is the public property registry. Every titled property has a folio real, a registry number. Your attorney pulls an informe registral against it. This isn't title insurance. It's a government database printout. It shows who owns the property, what liens exist, whether there are mortgages, annotations, or court-ordered seizures sitting on the title.

Run this check. Every time. I've seen properties listed for sale with active mortgages the seller "forgot." The registry won't complete a transfer until registered debts clear, but you want to know that before your 10% goes down, not on closing day.

Beyond the registry report, your due diligence should cover:

• Municipal tax clearance. Unpaid impuesto de bienes inmuebles (property tax, currently 0.25% of registered value a year) follows the property, not the seller. Confirm a zero balance at the municipalidad before you close.
• Plano catastrado. The official cadastral survey on file with the Catastro Nacional. It confirms the legal boundaries match what you think you're buying.
• Zoning. Check with the local municipality's Departamento de Urbanismo. Agricultural zones, conservation easements, and INVU restrictions surprise people constantly. That Tarcoles jungle "building lot" might be zoned PE, Parque Ecológico. Which means you don't build.
• Utilities and access. Roads often aren't legally deeded public roads. Verify water rights (an ASADAS concession or AyA service) and whether the access road has a recorded easement.

Two to four weeks is normal for this phase if your attorney moves.

What about corporations versus personal name?

Half the titled property in Costa Rica sits inside S.A.s (Sociedad Anónima) or S.R.L.s, shell companies holding a single asset. This was the default for decades, and it still buys you something real: liability separation, easier remote management through a power of attorney, and inheritance that becomes a share transfer instead of probate in a foreign court.

But maintaining one properly costs about $1,150 a year. Shareholders' registry filings, the annual corporate tax (impuesto de personas jurídicas), beneficial-ownership disclosures to the BCCR under FATCA-aligned transparency rules. Skip the filings and you get a dissolved entity and a legal headache.

Here's what nobody tells you upfront. If you're applying for investor residency under Law 9996, immigration has been requiring the property to be in your personal name. Corporate ownership disqualifies the investment from counting toward the $150,000 minimum. So if residency is anywhere on your map, talk to your attorney before you structure a thing.

Personal name is simpler and cheaper. The tradeoff: your name and the purchase price are publicly searchable in the Registro Nacional. Anyone, anywhere, for free, can see what you paid.

What are the real closing costs?

Buyer closing costs land between 4.5% and 6.5% of the price. The mandatory floor:

• Transfer tax (Impuesto de Traspaso): 1.5% of purchase price or registered value, whichever is higher.
• Documentary stamps and registry fees: roughly 0.5% to 0.8%.
• Notary/legal fees: usually 1.5% to 2.5%, depending on complexity.

Add escrow (0.25% to 1%) and you're at 3.75% to 5.8% before any negotiated extras. That old 3.5% figure floating around blog posts is understated. Budget 5% and be happy if it comes in under.

One more. If construction value tops roughly 148 million colones (Hacienda adjusts the threshold yearly), you owe the Impuesto Solidario, a luxury construction tax of 0.25% to 0.55% a year. That's an annual obligation, not a closing item, but know it before you fall for a big build.

What is the maritime zone trap?

This is the one that ruins people. Law 6043, the Ley sobre la Zona Marítimo-Terrestre from 1977, makes the first 200 meters from the average high-tide line into the Zona Marítimo Terrestre. All of it belongs to the state.

The first 50 meters is public. Nobody owns it. You can't buy it. End of story.

The next 150 meters is the restricted zone. Private use happens only through a concession, a government permit, usually 5 to 20 years, run by the municipality with ICT oversight (Instituto Costarricense de Turismo). Concessions are not titled property. Not fee-simple. They don't sit in the Registro Nacional the way a deed does.

And here's the wall foreigners hit. You can't hold majority ownership in a coastal concession unless you've lived in Costa Rica at least five years as a legal resident. A corporation holding a concession has to be at least 51% Costa Rican-owned. So non-resident foreigners buying into concession property usually end up with a minority stake structured through a local partner or attorney. When that relationship sours, and it does, your recourse gets ugly.

None of this means beachfront is off-limits. It means you need to know what you're buying. "Beachfront" can mean fee-simple titled land near the ocean, or it can mean a concession. Two completely different things. Ask which one before the tour, not after.

Browse available sale listings across all provinces to see what's on the market right now, coastal and inland.

How long does the whole process take?

From signed offer to registered deed: 60 to 90 days is realistic for a clean deal. The closing itself can happen in 30 to 45 days if due diligence is straightforward. Then the deed joins the queue at the Registro Nacional, and registration can take another 30 to 45 days after signing. You legally own the property from the moment you sign the deed, before it registers. But banks and lenders want to see the registered title.

If you're buying in Guanacaste, Escazú, or anywhere with high volume, properties in those provinces tend to move quicker because the local notaries do this all day. A rural Limón or Osa transaction can drag.

One thing I wish someone had told me in 2014

The notary represents the transaction, not you. Their legal duty is to the deal, to draft it right and register it. They are not your advocate. They are not reviewing the contract with your interests first. If you want someone doing that, hire a separate independent attorney to read the purchase agreement before anything gets signed. Costs $500 to $1,500 depending on the deal. Cheap insurance.

Also. Don't wire money internationally until you've confirmed the escrow account details by phone or in person. Wire fraud targeting Costa Rica real estate is real and active. Verify the account number through a channel that isn't email.

The process here is genuinely friendlier to foreigners than people expect. The legal system works, the registry is public and searchable, and the courts do enforce property rights. But friendly isn't risk-free. Do the due diligence. Hire good counsel. And if anyone swears the beachfront lot is fully titled, go verify it in the Registro Nacional before you believe a word of it.