Total Transfer and Legal Costs to Purchase lot inside corporation

[roblyn]

Hi Russ, your forum is very educational and much appreciated.  Can you give me an accurate % of purchase price for both the buyer and the sellers costs (closing, legal, transfer etc) associated with purchasing the shares of an existing corporation with land inside already titled to that corporation.  The purchase price is $350,000.00, what would be the total costs involved for both the buyer and seller for this type of transaction.  Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[Russ]

The good news is you won't have any transfer taxes, this is one reason people put real property in a company name - it makes a good selling point. 

I am not sure what the lawyer charge, but I am guessing something similar to his or her normal fees, since the due diligence is almost the same.  The lawyer not only has to check into the property's records, but also the company's records.  You will want to look at this article for some things to watch out for when buying an existing Costa Rican corporation

This article Costa Rica land for sale transfer fees shows the fees involved in a normal transaction, so you would just discount the 3% transfer tax on the registered value, which will leave you paying the 1.25% or so of the lawyer's fees plus the stamps involved in transferring corporate shares.  You can probably calculate close to 1250 dollars for each $100,000 of property value in this type of transfer, depending on the lawyer.

[Ivo]

You can always go to attorney Roger Petersen's website to calculate your closing cost:

http://attorneypropertyservices.com/images/Closing%20Costs%20Table.htm

This website has a wealth of information on real estate as Roger is one of the best real estate attorneys in Costa Rica and wrote the famous book "The Legal Guide to Costa Rica".