No doubt if you have lived or traveled in Costa Rica you have noticed many small corner stores known pulperías, pulpes or abastecedores. Unfortunately many of these neighborhood general stores have vanished because of the preponderance of larger chain stores in Costa Rica. To counteract the loss of business the pulperos (proprietors of these stores) are trying to provide more personalized service by treating their clients like “kings.”

The first pulperías appeared in the mid-1600s. They were a type of general store where people could buy: candles, charcoal, medicines, and cloth and other basic commidities. Pulperías were also a gathering places where residents of the neighborhood kept up with local news and happenings. This hasn’t really changed over the year since these establishments are still the best place to keep up with neighborhood gossip.

There are basically three types of pulperías: those that have a counter, those with a window and those which are self-service where the client can choose merchandise. Speaking of merchandise, many pulperias still offer credit to their clients who pay their bills on time. The pulperos keep a list of what they sell on credit and then charge their customers at the end of the month or on pay day. Most good clients have a monthly credit limit to avoid running up a large bill.

If you are living in Costa Rica and find that you have accumulated a lot of junk, have to move back to the States temporarily, remodeling your home or simply want to reduce the clutter there is now a solution. There are now several firms that offer different self-storage lockers for your belongings. By the way, minbodegas is the name for storage lockers in Costa Rica.

The first thing you have to do is visit one of these facilities and decide what size locker you need. The company, Minibodegas del este, has a web page with a calculator to help you figure out how much space actually will actually be required for your belongings. Dimensions range from the size of a small closet to a space big enough to store all of your furniture or even a boat or car.

These facilities rent by the month and the size of the unit determines how much you will pay. Prices range from$50 to several hundred dollars per month. However, there are some restrictions. You cannot store firearms, drugs, flammable products or perishable items like foods in a regular locker. Regarding the latter, they do offer refrigerated units.

If you decide to rent a self-storage locker it is recommended that you check your items once a month if possible to make sure they are in good condition. Most companies offer a temperature controlled unit if necessary. You should also store everything in boxes and cover your furniture to protect your articles.

You can feel safe storing your items at one of these facilities because all of them have 24-hour security and are monitored by closed circuit TV.

I have a good friend by the name of Eddie. He has lived in Costa Rica and survived despite being about eight years away from retirement age. How does he do it? By investing intelligently in the stock market. He is on line reading at least six to eight hours per day studying the market. He doesn’t make millions but enough to have a good lifestyle abroad. On the other hand, lazy investors just turn their money over to their brokers and have them do the investing. Most of these lazy thinks are too busy or just don’t have the energy to study the stock market trends. They end up being the ones who lose money in the market. The same thing happens to the same type of errors when they make real estate investments without doing their homework.

It turns out that many people who decide to retire abroad make poor choices because they choose the easy road instead of really investigating. Here is how it works. Instead of doing extensive research the lazy thinkers get on the Internet and come across one of the high profile sites where they are offered every imaginable service. There is one organization in particular that on the surface looks great to these lazy thinkers. Said company offers daily newsletters with scores of real estate bargains in paradisical destinations. They also conduct large retirement seminars where they guide the attendees to their bargain real estate projects in select countries. Furthermore, they publish magazines with slanted statistics ranking the places where they have vested interests with high ratings. In addition, they bill some of their Central and South American retirement destinations as the ‘new” Costa Rica. The latter together with some parts of Mexico have always been the leaders in retirement south of the border. Costa Rica’s success as a retirement haven can be imitated but never equaled.

Organizations like the one above seem really enticing on the surface to the naïve and lazy thinking retirees who find it easier to be led like blind sheep rather than taking the time to do the proper research. The result is usually a bad choice.

To avoid falling into this trap:

(1) Do your research
(2) Read between lines when being bombarded with propaganda
(3) Be careful of the large conventions and the manipulative techniques that are used to separate you from your money.
(4) Be careful if only a couple of real estate projects are being promoted in the countries theses organizations are hyping. You can be sure they are receiving a juicy commission from the real estate companies with whom they work.
(5) Don’t be naïve. It can end up costing you a lot of money and valuable retirement time trying to rectify your mistake as the result of moving to the wrong country. Your retirement dreams may even be spoiled as a result.

Baby Boomer retirees and other foreigners should be aware that there are two loopholes often exploited in property transactions to avoid different taxes in Costa Rica. One is legal but might someday be risky. The other is pretty much illegal. The legal one is a method of property transfer in which you are not actually buying a property, but rather the shares of a corporation that owns a property. By transferring the shares rather than the property itself, you avoid the 1.5% property transfer tax, since that tax does not apply to the transfer of shares.

This loophole is legitimate, though risky on a due diligence level, since buying a sociedad anónima (or S.A., as corporations are known in Spanish) means you’re buying not only the company’s assets but also its debts. We’ll get into this more in the chapter on due diligence. The other problem is that since the loophole is legitimate, developers have gone too far in taking advantage of it. Imagine a 160-unit condominium project in which each condo is registered under a different S.A. and you can see it’s gotten a little absurd. Still, if developers don’t do it, they’re at a price disadvantage to their competitors, to the tune of thousands of dollars. Inevitably, the situation is drawing the government’s attention, and there are signs that regulators might start going after such abuse under a legal principle known as the “principle of economic reality.” So while for a variety of reasons it’s a good idea to own your property through an S.A., acquiring it through an S.A. with the end of dodging taxes might become legally risky in the coming years.

The second loophole that Baby Boomer retirees should know about has been exploited in years past could really get someone in trouble – it’s less like a loophole and more like fraud. It involves you and the seller colluding to register the property with a value lower than its sale price. The annual 0.25% property tax is levied based on this record, so a $1 million property reported by you and the seller to be worth $100,000 would provide you with a significant savings over the years.

This is a bad idea for three reasons. First of all, it’s tax fraud, and while it’s true that the wheels of justice turn very slowly in Costa Rica, they do turn, and would put you in a very awkward position should they come upon you skirting the law. The second reason is that compensation paid for the expropriation of property is, in theory, based on the value in the National Registry. So, for example, if you under-registered a piece of property you bought next to a national park, and one day the government decided it wanted to expand the park by expropriating your property, it would pay you the $50,000 you reported the property’s value to be, not the $500,000 you paid for it. It’s a remote possibility, but something to keep in mind. Third, should there be a dispute between you and the seller after the transaction is complete, the figure in the National Registry is the amount you legally paid and the only number you have claim too, regardless of what went on under the table.

Finally, and on a slightly more prosaic note, remember that without taxes, you don’t get services. While tax dodging can save you a lot of money, in the long run it contributes a whole slew of problems, from bad roads to higher crime to poor administration. You as a foreigner are bringing investment to this country, but you’re also bringing rapid change that causes growing pains. More tax revenue isn’t the only solution to these problems, but it’s a good start.

The general definition of street smart is someone who is intelligent, has good common sense, knows how to handle bad situations, possesses shrewd awareness of how to survive or succeed in any situation, and has the skills necessary to function where they live especially as a result of living or working in a difficult environment.

On my monthly relocation/retirement tours my clients often ask me, “Chris, what is you forte? I respond by saying that I am not a lawyer, economist nor do I have an MBA in business, but what I bring to the table can help anyone who wants to move to Costa Rica. First, I have lived Latin America for more that half of my life. I have advanced degrees in Latin American Studies and the Spanish language and have authored over ten books on living in Latin America including three bestsellers about Costa Rica. However, what I feel that I really have to offer is my understanding of the inner workings of the country, my common sense and general street smarts.

Experience is everything and I have plenty of it. I really know the country and its people. I have been confronted every imaginable situation during the time I have lived here and been a survivor. As I tell my clients, “Costa Rica isn’t for everyone. There are challenges everyday. However, if you feel at home here, you’ll never want to leave.”

Over the years I have met Costa Ricans from all walks of life and have a valuable network of connections all the way up to former presidents of the country. The people I know can get almost any thing done and resolve most problems.

As a result of my contacts I have thrived here and become very successful. In my books and on my award-winning tours (Latin America-Asia Travel Award for the most outstanding tour) I share my survival tips and secrets and network of contacts with those seeking to move here. In fact, I am often hired as a consultant by foreigners who already live here who are seeking expert advice.