How long to sell a home in Costa Rica is a real estate FAQ or a frequently asked question in Costa Rica real estate. The short answer on this FAQ is – That depends on you, the owner! Supply and demand conditions determine the price to ask for a property, not the wishes of the seller.
A motivated seller will want the property to sell really fast and will listen to professional advice. For lack of motivation, properties in Costa Rica take more than 6 months to sell. I have seen homes on the market for 7 years.
When I list a property for sale, the first question I ask homeowners is how fast they want to sell. An overpriced property takes forever to sell.
Why overpricing?
The reason for a high sales price does not have anything to do with the market value of a home, only their wishes. A few reasons for overpricing are:
- I need to buy another house that is going to cost me an X amount.
- This is my nest egg and I need to retire with this money.
- I have 4 children and they all need a new condo from the proceeds.
No rush
It is quite customary that sellers take very long to sell a property in Costa Rica because they are not in a rush. They prefer a high price and take their time to sell. They usually end up lowering their price little by little. So by the time the property sells, years have gone by. Time and money are wasted.
Property tax
Property tax is cheap in Costa Rica, with only 0.25% of the registered value in the municipality. Therefore, property owners often do not care how long to sell.
How to?
So how can you, as a seller be sure it doesn’t take forever to sell your property?
Call as many agents as you can for a listing appointment. Ask the agents to suggest a listing price. Don’t tell them at what asking price you would prefer to list your property.
Listen to those agents. If they’re professional agents, they will know what the home should sell for. Also, ask them how long to sell the property.
Other reasons
There are other reasons it takes forever to sell a property in Costa Rica:
1. Bad curb appeal
2. The need for TLC
3. Title problems
4. Horrible listing photos
5. Bad smells
Lease-Option
Although rent to buy or a lease-buy option is not very customary, this might be a possibility to sell your house quicker, if you need to move to another country soon. The reason that you don’t see this form of moving on often is that those looking for a rent to buy, usually don’t have a large earnest money amount to put down.
This is a collection of Costa Rica real estate FAQ – frequently asked questions that I have put together to help you in buying or selling a home. Do you have any other questions that are not listed in our FAQ blog?
