Buying Land Dominical Costa Rica - Checklist

Buying the right piece of land is not a simple task in our beautiful Southern Pazific Zone. Its actually excactly because of all that beauty that people dont use the comon sence they would use at home when purchasing such an importain asset in their lives. Usually it goes somewhere along that line: Sales Guy: "Look at that amazing view/waterfall" Customer: "Wow Great and so cheap I ll take it". Very often people dont bother to look into the main site features or ask the main questions about access, infrastructure and their proximity to the site, how challenging is the location, restricted areas, pre site work, … Below is only a general overview of the many points you have to take into consideration.

Access

The most desirable lots in terms of view are usually on top of hills here in our area. That means driving up that hill every day and it also means maintaining the road which can be quite expensive and challenging to do in our wet climate. Very important to not only look at the road itself but also at closeby rivers, steep sections and potential landslide areas.

Water

How far away is the water from the potential building site? Water from the municipality is usually not an option so its very important to look at the water source and the quality and amount of water especially in the dry season. Who mentains the water system?

Electricity

How far away is the last electric post from ICE? We can help if you are interrested in a off the grid package for your home which might be a good idea taking into consideration the high prices for electric in this country. 

Challenging locations

In our zone pretty much all the building lots are challenging to start with. The soil in the southern zone and in most other parts of the country is a mixture of clay and sand. Some of it is even expansive which means it will expand when wet. We are in the Tropics so we have to deal with lots of rain in the wet season which transforms that clay into pudding. After making a soil study with a reliable company we can determine the right foundation for the site. Also inportaint is to look into the overall steepness of the area and lot and also if retaining walls will be nececarry or not.

Environmental Restrictions

Depending on the site we might need certain prerequisites like a Setena Aporval a approval of Minae or