Santa Teresa and its surroundings have gained quite a lot of momentum in the real estate market recently. The growth of the Santa Teresa Real estate market is largely due to a steady stream of tourists and nationals seeking investment in an area known for its growing popularity and further potential. Coming up with a comprehensive plan before you decide to sell is key in realizing your goals for the sale of your property. Before starting the process of selling properties in Santa Teresa, we’ve outlined some preliminary steps that are important to take in order to guarantee a smooth sale.

Why sell in Santa Teresa?

Objective Factors

It’s best to first consider why you want to sell your property. As an owner, it is good to analyze your post-sale needs as this will help you understand what you expect to obtain from selling your property. Some possible reasons may be:

Improvement in quality of life
Relocation of residence
Further investment
Payment of urgent debt
Other miscellaneous reasons

Further, taking into account the history of the property will give you additional insight in your financial needs when selling the property. Some examples:

Was the property inherited or was it a family home?
What investments into improving the property have been done?
Were expenses incurred for repairs?

These insights are key to know what you as an owner expect from the sale, including the initial asking price and potential for negotiation and the estimated timeframe for placing the property on the market.

In a second phase, it is crucial to contact a real estate consultant to help you not only analyze a fair price according to the market, but also sketch out profiles of potential buyers who may be interested in your property.

Many variables must be included in this equation, such as location, availability, mortgage studies, inventories, m2 values for the area, municipal taxes, and many other factors specific to individual areas of a particular market. Prices are given in ranges and are estimates, because at this early stage no prospective buyers have been approached and market sentiment cannot be reliably established.

Subjective Factors

The owner must also keep a variety of so-called ‘subjective’ factors in mind in order to be able to place the property at the right point in the market. They are ‘subjective’ because they seek to establish an “emotional panorama” of potential interested buyers and create a well-defined and suitable strategy for marketing your property. Questions that will help in the development of an effective marketing strategy include:

Where can I place my property in the market to increase chances of success?
Why would a buyer invest in my property?
What makes my property stand out from other options in the market?
What benefits does my property have for a potential buyer?

Our real estate agents in Santa Teresa are ready to provide you with professional assistance in this complex and critical process. Furthermore, our digital tools and platforms will help in positioning your property as the best option, having a wider reach, and creating a filtering process in which interested potential buyers are studied beforehand for maximum success.

Final Steps for Pre-sale

Before putting the property on the market, the seller and agent must gather information that determines its real value, capabilities, and sale potential. Having this information handy before listing the property will not only help to create a profile of potential interested buyers, further ensuring the property is positioned properly in the broader market. It will also facilitate the actual sale of a property once a potential buyer is found.

Presale essentials include:

Cadastre Plan: This graphically represents the area and boundaries of the property, allowing verification of property data and confirming important information such as the presence of easements. This document must be in good condition and legible. In case you do not have it or if it is in bad condition, you can get a new one here. You must choose the type of product you need – the cadastre-scale plans (real size), or if you need cadastre- certifications (letter size). To enter the above link you must have previously registered in RNP Digital.
Liens and annotations: Encumbrances are charges on the real estate for the payment of a debt. Title annotations are provisional and are subject to the outcome of ongoing litigation. This is important information for all parties involved in the sale process and is obtained through a registry study.
Land use: The best thing here is to have the certificates of use, since they define the limits and potential of the property. Examples of land use certificate types are commercial, mixed, residential, and agricultural, and this document must be requested at the municipality of the canton where the property is located.
Construction plans and permits: This provides information on the structure of the constructed building, including electrical wiring, piping, and septic tanks, among others.
Appraisals: Having updated and reputable appraisals is critical as they may become invalid over time, as depreciation or appreciation of a property is done annually on an official level.

All the information obtained from the instruments above helps to determine the real value of the property. Important to note is that listing property for Costa Rican nationals is not that same as for foreigners, and variables can change for those interested in investment or for those looking for homes, for example.

Clear communication with the advisor is essential to avoid conflicts in the buying and selling process.

Types of properties

The terms of sale will depend on the type of property you have. The main types are:

Farmland: These are independent, undeveloped, and legally registered plots of land. Depending on their location and characteristics, they can have different uses.
Residential: these are properties with construction plans and are legally registered for residential use.
Productive farms: This type has much in common with normal farmland, but land in this category is dedicated exclusively to the production of crops. They have specific regulations as they must ensure the responsible use of the land and environmental sustainability.
Recreational Quintas: These properties can have various uses, but the main characteristic is that they have spacious green areas and a building or home that is generally used recreationally and not regularly.
Commercial property: This is any type of property that is used for commercial profit, whether an office complex, commercial premises, restaurants or any other types of service.
Industrial property: This is land zoned for industrial and business projects.

Knowing this information prior positioning the property in the market will give you an advantage at the moment of selling properties in Santa Teresa, since interested buyers will have a broader knowledge of the potential and capacity of the purchase.

If you have specific doubts about where to obtain the information or about any subject related to the sale of your property, do not hesitate to contact our NATIVU advisors.

Contact our Nativu Advisors