American-European Real Estate Group wishes you all Prosperous 2010

#001 January, 2010

The American-European Real Estate Group wishes you all a Prosperous 2010

It is my sincerest pleasure, as President of The American-European Real Estate Group (AE), to introduce you to our newest baby, the AE newsletter. To start off a new and positive year, we have decided to launch our first newsletter, full of positive happenings.

As you all know, the American�European Real Estate Group is the oldest group of realtors that covers Costa Rica from coast to coast with expert real estate agents in many locations. The great news is that we have expanded our membership to a total of 14 offices (in different locations) with 39 agents and 1013 listings as of today. As you can see, we�re working hard to make your search for the right property easier every day.
I welcome the following Real Estate offices to our group:

Full Partner

Coldwell Banker Vesta Group Dominical, covering Dominical and surrounding areas

Affiliate partners

Costa Rica Commercial S.A., they will be marketing commercial real estate throughout Costa Rica but their main focus will be the Central Valley.
Hidden Coast Realty, with offices in Tamarindo and Puerto Coyote covering beach front and ocean view properties in growing areas such as Tamarindo, Playa Grande, Avellanas, Hacienda Pinilla, Playa Negra, Punta Pargos, Junquillal, Marbella, Brasilito, Playa Conchal, Flamingo, Potrero, Coyote, Bejuco, Carrillo, San Miguel, Costa de Oro and Camaronal.
MP Realty in Samara offers a large variety of any kind of property between Camaronal beach and Ostional beach areas, including Carrillo beach, Samara beach, Buena Vista beach, Barrigona beach, Garza beach and Guiones beach.
Coldwell Banker Vesta Group Perez Zeledon, covering Perez Zeledon, San Isidro del General and much of the Southern Zone.
Coldwell Banker Vesta Group Jaco, covering Jaco Beach and the surrounding beaches.
Golden Key Realty, covering the Heredia areas.

Most of you will have also noticed that our marketing people have made great changes to our website and are still working on it every day to make it more interesting. I hope you will enjoy our first newsletter with all this great news, and that it will reacquaint some of you to us. Happy New Year.

Ivo Henfling

Also iIn this Issue:

Valuable information

How we help you finding your dream home

American-European Brokers go out of our way to find your dream home in Costa Rica . Every listing ,on our website of Costa Rica Real Estate, has been seen by the Broker usually many times and we know the location and the particular advantages and disadvantages of where the home is .

The legal situation has also been checked and any anomalies sorted out with a lawyer and the owner before we show you.

American-European Real Estate Group make your purchase straight forward and worry free a (read more...)

Should you rent before you buy?

This is a question I�m asked quite often. I�ve also noted that those people who have owned their own home for a long time have a harder time adjusting to the idea of renting. Some hate the idea of living in something that�s not their own- it would be like putting on something that doesn�t fit.

Others hate the idea because the thought of putting hard- earned money into someone else�s pocket is akin to throwing away the money.

The reality is that renting can be, in many cases, a useful tool in your search for your dream home. (read more...)

The Complete Guide to Property Taxes and the New Luxury Home Tax in Costa Rica

Confused about the new Luxury tax?
Who and What is included?
We have GOT all the answers for you!

We have GOT all the answers for you! Another free service of American-European Real Estate Group Costa Rica Real Estate

Those who have more than 300 m2 construction should get an appraisal

We have been interviewing many people willing to do your appraisal for a fee. Fees run all over the map. I have found 5 companies that do appraisals for banks and other institutions, who have years of experience and will take responsibility if the government does not accept their appraisal. They will charge depending on the location of your property and the size of your property. Send me an email with the size of your house (more or less), size of your property and in whose name it is. I will forward you the contact info on the right appraiser in your area. You can count on the following fees that were agreed on with all the appraisers:

Up to 250 m2.�127.000
From 251 to 350 m2.�157.000
From 351 to 450 m2.�187.000
From 451 to 550 m2.�207.000
From 551 to 650 m2.�237.000
From 651 and more.�282.000

The appraisers included in this the cost of pulling a study of your property in the National Register and pulling a survey, so you don�t have to worry about this.
Also, they will calculate the common areas if you live in a gated community or condominium.

Properties with construction of a lower value than �100,000,000 (about $175,000) are exempt of paying the fee of 0.25% over your appraised value. There is no obligation to file if you're under that value. If your property is borderline, we recommend filing. You have to file before the 1st of January 2010. If you don�t file and they catch you, you will be charged 10 times the tax you should have paid and if you file the wrong values, they will charge you 5 times the tax.

As you can see, we have tried to make this as easy as possible for you and we are not charging you for this, we just wanted you to receive the usual after-sale service that you are used to as a American-European Real Estate Group client.

If you are interested in the appraisal, send me us email with your name, the name of ownership (in case of an S.A.) and ID number, the approximate size of construction and more or less size of your property and we will get back to you with the name and contact info of who you can contact to get your appraisal done.

Just copy/paste the following info and send email to ivo@american-european.net

ID number
Full name
Phones
Email address
address

Real stories... from real people

"Although we looked at among many webpages � we did not actually contact an agent until we had already moved to Costa Rica.

We actually did not contact any agent from any company until we could be here to look at properties in person. We first encountered Brooke Bishop, our GoDutch agent when asking to see a property she had listed in Grecia. We subsequently viewed MANY lots and homes with Brooke in Grecia, Sarchi and Naranjo. Ultimately, after many months of hard work on her part and ours, we bought a property in Lourdes de Cirri de Naranjo through GoDutch and Brooke.

The purchase process was fairly smooth. We used our own attorney here in Costa Rica, and Brooke was very helpful to him during the �due diligence� process. The actually closing was a breeze.

Brooke is the absolute best! She is knowledgeable, reliable and dogged in her quest to find a property that is exactly what you�re looking for.

We especially like Brooke because she is honest and forthright; she doesn�t pull any punches when evaluating a property or advising buyers on the pros and cons of properties.

I can only assume she is the same way with sellers as well. We can�t say enough good things about Brooke and her service. She is a gem; GoDutch is very lucky to have her! Brooke is great at what she does, and she will only get better as she continues to learn her craft".

Dick Davis and Monica Tobin

"Jimmy couldn't have been a better guide or nicer person to deal with through out the whole process. He stayed in touch in a timely fashion when we had questions and if he didn't know the answer, he made sure to find it and to alleviate any anxieties we may have had during the whole proceedings.

Your operation is top flight and I have already suggested your services to several people that I have met during my research of Costa Rica as well as to personal friends that I have here at home that have begun to feed off of my enthusiasm when speaking of my experience in Costa Rica.

Not only was Jimmy totally professional, but he recommended a great law firm to work with (Facio Abogados) that completed our transaction without any issues. Jose Arce was a pleasure to deal with and he not only helped us close the deal, he helped establish our corporation (Whales Tail Horizons, Inc.) that we will be dealing through from now on".

Pura Vida, Vernon

"Pacific Coast Realty is an excellent property management company that I highly recommend.

I have used them for 9 years."

Steve Dorn