I am going back through my early posts and updating some of the tags and looking for errors. I’m not sure what I had in mind with this one. I think that it must have been a cut & paste from some other article that I found. There is some useful information here, but it has some expressions and concerns that are definitely not mine.”
“Research the Property Information. Request your attorney to conduct a title search at the Registro Publico (Public Registry) about the property you want to buy.
By law all properties must be registered in Registro Publico. Most properties have a title registration number called the ‘Folio Real.’ Once you have this number you can search the database. The Registro Publico’s Report, called the ‘Informe Registral,’ contains information such as the name of the title holder, boundary lines, tax appraisal, liens, mortgages, recorded easements, and other records that could affect the title.
Costa Rica follows ‘first in time, first in right’ rule. Additions to a property title are prioritized according to the date they were recorded. So make sure your attorney searches your title back to the beginning. You’re laying out a lot of hard earned money for this property, God forbid you should wake one morning to find some smiling fool standing on your porch, waving a long-lost mortgage-from-hell under your chin, announcing that you have until four o’clock to pack your traps and be on the train back to Anaheim.”