Tom and Marcia

This advice will cost you nothing, but be worth ten times as much. I don't know how old you are. Regardless of your age, use any "found money" to pay off your debts. Once your debts are paid off, stay out of debt. Debt free life simplifies everything. Talk to one or two reputable investment advisers. Discuss your idea of income property and get their opinions. Carefully evaluate risks of any investment. Chasing high returns can lead to high loses. Think long term. An easy tool to use is any online mortgage calculator. Enter the amount of money you have to invest, select the interest rate you can get, and select the number of years. The "payment" will be an indication of how much you can take out every month until the investment is gone. T

The whole issue of a border wall is just hot air. But, I read one comment that nobody else is talking about. If there were a border wall, would U.S. citizens be denied access to the Rio Grande? No one has asked Trump about that. T

If you are only looking for a few months, try vacation rentals by owner vrbo.com. You will find it hard to find a place without being here. The best way is word of mouth. Look for a cabina or BnB for short term. The majority of rentals are for 3 year leases, although you can get out of them very easily. Why do you need hot water? It's not as important as you might think. Electric shower heads provide unlimited hot showers and rest doesn't matter. T

Do you know that Guanacaste is suffering from extreme drought and water shortages? This can greatly impact quality of life and property values. I'm just trying to help. Please come, enjoy yourself, and rent. You won't miss any great buys. T

You may be one of the lucky few, but most people regret buying property here. There is no good reason to buy. Rental values are way out of line with sales prices and selling is difficult. BTW. Anyone can call him/herself a real estate agent. There are no standards or licenses. T

The U.S. is not so easy to visit. Ask any Tico. My take would be to keep the citizenship to have the passport. It's only a piece of paper and doesn't change where your heart is. T

I agree with Eleanorcr about expats. I also live in an expat free area and prefer it. That doesn't mean that you can't meet some good people and get some good information. But, try to make your own opinions about everything and make Tico friends. It takes very little effort to make friends with Ticos. Keep in mind that a large percentage of people who move here leave within a year. So in a large group of expats you can expect to hear a lot about how horrible Costa Rica and the people are. Try to take that with a grain of salt and listen to those with a more positive attitude. The longer a person has been here, the more balanced their views may be. Personally, I hate the term "expat" because it brings to mind living apart, rather than in the culture. I hope your move is a successful one. T no soy expat sino residente.

Explain to me why the so called "perpetual tourist" only contributes a minuscule amount to the economy. They probably have to eat and sleep. Are you saying they don't pay for that? Buy clothes, go to the movies, eat out, all the things normal residences do. BTW I live in Costa Rica, and have for the past 11 years. Gringo, including legal residents always overestimate how important they are. BTW, residents pay into the CAJA. T

Many, many people discover that the laws aren't in line with what they want to do. Then they ask how to get around them and what happens if caught. The only correct answer is to know all of the laws and then conform to them. You can't get in any trouble that way. All it takes is one angry or concerned neighbor to make a phone call because they think your children are not going to school or one of you is working. You also need to consider if their education will allow them to get into schools in other countries. Some people live as tourists, but the larger your family is,the harder it will be and the consequences affect more people. T

What I'm leaning towards is Vinculo app ?? Unless your wife is a Costa Rican citizen, your choices are rentista, invernista, or pensionado. Your posts seem to indicate that you are too young to be retired. So unless you have some kind of guaranteed income for life of at least $1000/month, you will have to have $60,000 to deposit in a Costa Rican bank to become a rentista. If you don't apply for residency, life as a PT has its own difficulties and is not encouraged on this forum. Having school age children would be further complicated by living as a tourist. You need to understand the residency types and requirements. They can be found on the ARCR main site, this forum, and other sites. The CR immigration site also has everything (in Spanish). Please get a clear understanding of what you need to do before making any big move. T

You need to be a permanent resident to work legally. Initial residency is temporary. After 3 years as a temporary resident you can become a permanent resident. Wages are very low. Unless you have a special skill that some multinational company needs and they arrange a work permit for you, just forget it. You could work illegally, but of course anyone can do anything illegal that they want. There would be a real risk of deportation. If you can generate an income outside of Costa Rica, you will not be taxed on it here. T

You and your wife will not be able to work legally unless you can do it online.When you become permanent residents, that restriction ends. T

Those tickets work like any other lottery ticket. Somebody wins, but you're more likely to be bitten by a shark in San Jose. T

Eleanor, There is a mall exit inbound from the pista. There is still construction going on in the vicinity of the exit. I don't know how well it will work in the future. I don't know about the outbound exit situation. I was just going to kill some time. I'm not a big mall fan. When we are in the states a mall is a convenient one-stop shopping location. T

I was just out driving around yesterday and decided to check it out. That was a mistake. The line to the parking lot started just past Walmart. I went into Alajuela and the line from the other direction was backed up to the gas station at the traffic lights. It was Sunday. I'm sure that it will be easier to visit closer to Christmas. I didn't get in either line, so I can't rate the mall experience. T