CdnMorganGal

Seeking professional help with filing tax returns to Revenue Canada that need to go back many years. Pls email me at CostaRicaBound@hotmail.com Thank you.

We used http://www.EmeraldForestProperties.com

What I object to is one year paying $50/month, then the next year it was jacked up to $240/month. Then there are a bunch of other and new taxes - Who can budget for such increases? If we were to do it over, we'd be checking out other countries.

We are extremely pleased with our thermosiphon solar hot water system from Enertiva http://www.enertiva.com . We previously used on-demand tankless water heating units but the poor quality of electricity in our area kept burning them out. Our payback for the solar system was 2 years. Best investment we ever made. The main 'problem' we have is we have to check the water temp before showering - oftentimes it will almost reach boiling point and we won't be able to get the shower to a cool enough temperature - so we have to let the hot water run a while to bring the water temp in the tank down. And it does have a back-up electrical system - which we rarely need to use but has come in handy when we haven't had any sun for a couple of weeks.

Our solar hot water system cost us $1300 installed, no problems to date (1.5yrs) and will have paid for itself within 2 years.

Just an FYI - the previous 2 days I couldnt get the forums to load AT ALL - I just assumed the website was down for some reason. This evening its working as well as usual. . .

The 15% isn't right - the institution will withhold a percentage based on the amount withdrawn. The %ages are laddered - the more you withdraw, the higher the tax rate. If you withdraw more than 15k, 30% is withheld. And remember, the collapsed RRSP amounts are considered part of your income for that year - depending on amounts of other income you have, you could end up paying an even higher tax rate. I'm looking into eventually only withdrawing 10-20k/year and paying minimal, if any taxes.

We bought a wonderful house with 15ac just oustide of La Suiza. There's a fair bit of coffee growing in our area but my husband and I decided to go a different route. To offset our living expenses we are/will be growing our own cows, pigs and chickens and are putting in an extensive fruit and vegetable garden. Building materials have dropped a bit in price compared to last year, due to slowing demand, so the livestock housing will be constructed over the next few months. We're up in the mountains and we don't really have any problems with biting flying insects, although we do occasionally burn a mosquito coil when watching movies on our computer outside. The streets have fewer people due to the slower economy and hotel rates in the tourist areas are a bit cheaper now. We're having an easier time finding labor for small jobs. Some local properties are still outrageously priced, but a few have recently sold, so I think prices may have come down a bit or maybe the right buyer found what he/she wanted. I hope some of this has helped - Desiree

Does WHERE you come from affect how much 'selling' you might have to do? It was an easy decision for my husband and I - we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives having winters with -40, and the warmer areas in Canada are too expensive and crowded. Coming from Nevada you already have much nicer weather, so the selling job might be harder...

Hi, I'm from NW Ontario. We just bought from EFP, I had been researching for months Costa Rica houses, land, ranches, property, etc (used every search term I could think of). At first we were thinking of just buying land, then building but later realized we'd be better off with a finished house. ELP happened to list the perfect place for us - we got more land than we would have settled with, and we paid WAY less than our 'top figure', and the house is nicer than anything I ever thought we could afford. I'm not saying ELP is the only good one out there, but my hours of research paid off and they happened to be the realtors.