An Interesting Take for Canadians Looking to Buy a Vacation Home in Paradise!

Changing lifestyles affect the decisions Canadians make on how and where they choose to live. Second homes are very popular for winter and vacation getaways. Good news; it is possible to finance a second property with owner-occupied (best) interest rates and rules.

A Primer on Getting a Mortgage for a Foreign Property

Understand that Canadian lenders will only provide you a mortgage if they can register their mortgage against a Canadian land title or deed in a Canadian (not foreign) land title system, using Canadian lawyers in order to enforce the contract in a Canadian court, if ever required. 

This rule holds true for lenders in other countries as well - they will only lend on properties within their legal jurisdiction.

So a Canadian lender mortgage on a foreign property is a non-starter.

Here are some options:

Option 1 - there are a number of Canadian banks operating in foreign countries, and a borrower typically must deal directly with the foreign bank office, not a Canadian branch.

For the USA, where language and rules are quite similar to Canada, this can be fairly straightforward.

In other countries, getting a mortgage locally can be time consuming, exhausting, and expensive

Ask us for a referral if you would like to try this option.

Option 2 - for many, refinancing your principle Canadian residence and using the equity to purchase your foreign home is by far the simplest finance solution.

Up to 80% of the value of your home can be refinanced, for example: if you have a home worth $500,000 and only hold a mortgage of $250,000 you can refinance to $400,000, payoff the $250,000 mortgage and use the other $150,000 to buy a vacation home.

The interest rate will be lower because you remortgaged your permanent residence and have no mortgage owing on the vacation home.

Makes it simpler and faster to buy in the foreign location.

There are no restrictions on the use of the vacation home, such as if used for a rental

A Visit to the Veterinary Store

Always an adventure!  Every week we visit our favorite Veterinary Store in Liberia on our way home to the mountain farm.  These are not  the veterinary clinics you would think of in Canada or the US rather they are like the old general stores of the past.  Yes, there is usually a veterinarian on staff to look after small animals and recommend treatments for large animals.  But the store itself is a conglomerate of animal feed supplies, horse tack, boots, hats, hardware supplies, baby chickens, animal medicines and just about anything to do with gardening.  Quite a mix.  Always lots of fun, crowded with customers and busy as a bee hive!   Don Victor (in the middle picture above) is the owner of this operation and always a pleasure to work with.  A typical nice Tico eager to please and help out.   All merchandise is behind the counter so you need to walk up to the till and list out what you want.  The clerks then yell out to the staff your order.  You go the caja and pay the bill then on to the next counter where your order is filled.   A little confusing but always amusing:-)  When in Liberia take in some of the local atmosphere and head for the Super Veterinary store just south of the main town square and church.  See you there on Fridays!!!  

Fortuna Cabalgata

Great time this weekend at the town of Fortuna about 15 kilometers or 10 miles from our farm.  The little town was bursting with beautiful dancing horses and a ton of just strong patient Costa Rican creole horses like our Chalana and Prieto.  Beautiful ride through the hills with some great views of Miravalles Volcano.  Lots of good food and cold cerveza made a for a great day.  Back to the house by 9 PM after a few sarpes (Costa Rican for last round - one of the big lies everybody laughs about here in CR).  If you ever have an opportunity you should take in one of these  fun events.

Save the Americans and Canadians!

The Costa Rica Tourism Association (ICT) just released a great video - Save the Americans and Canadians  The wild and wacky animals of Costa Rica tell you why you should visit paradise:-) How could they be wrong - they live here year round?

Playa Hermosa - Baby turtle returning home to the sea - December 14, 2014!

Recently for the first time in many years a leatherback turtle returned to Playa Hermosa and laid her eggs on the beach.  This is a video of one of her babies returning to the sea!  Below is an amazing video taken by one of our friends who was fortunate enough to be on the beach and see this wonder of nature.  All the babies that hatched that day had a safe journey as everyone on the beach provided them with a human barracade.

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Costa Rica Discovered - Great New Video!

Click on the photo below to see a great new video of life in Costa Rica!  Discover why you might want to consider living in paradise!

Leatherback Turtle on Playa Hermosa!

Wow for the first time in a long time a leatherback turtle paid a visit to Playa Hermosa. She came up on the beach and laid her eggs much to the delight of all the visitors and locals on the beach. Normally these turtles are found further south on Playa Grande and other beaches but this one decided Playa Hermosa was for her. After she laid her eggs she went back out to sea. The eggs have been collected and are being safely hatched in a secure location. Here are a few leatherback facts:

1. Leatherbacks are the largest sea turtle.
The leatherback sea turtle is the largest living reptile and the largest sea turtle. They can grow to over 6 feet in length and weigh up to 2,000 pounds. Leatherbacks are also unique among sea turtles in that instead of a hard carapace, their shell bones are covered by a leather-like, oily "skin."

2. Leatherbacks are the deepest-diving turtle.
Leatherbacks could swim alongside some of the deepest-diving whales - they are capable of diving at least 3,900 feet. Their deep dives help them search for prey, avoid predators and escape from the heat when they are in warm waters. A 2010 study found that these turtles may regulate their buoyancy during a deep dive by varying the amount of air they inhale at the surface.

3. Leatherbacks are world travelers.
Leatherbacks are the most wide-ranging sea turtle. They also have the widest range, because they have a counter-current heat exchange system and lots of oil within their body that allows them to keep their core body temperature higher than the surrounding sea water - therefore, they can tolerate areas with colder water temperatures. These turtles are found as far north as Newfoundland, Canada, and as far south as South America. They are generally thought of as a pelagic species, but may also be found in waters closer to shore.

4. Leatherbacks feed on jellyfish and other soft-bodied creatures.
It seems amazing that these enormous animals can live on what they eat. Leatherbacks feed primarily on soft-bodied animals like jellyfish andsalps. They do not have teeth, but have sharp cusps in their mouths that help grasp their pray, and spines in their throat and esophagus to make sure prey can get in their throat, but not out. These turtles are important to marine food webs as they may help keep overabundant jellyfish populations in check. Because of their diet, leatherback sea turtles may be threatened by marine debris like plastic bags and balloons, which they may mistake for prey.

5. Leatherbacks are endangered.
Leatherbacks are listed on the Endangered Species Act as endangered, and as "critically endangered" on the IUCN Red List. The Atlantic Ocean population appears to be more stable than the Pacific Ocean population. Threats to leatherback turtles include entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris, ingestion of marine debris, egg harvesting, and ship strikes. You can help by disposing of litter responsibly, reducing use of plastics, never releasing balloons, watching out for turtles when boating, and by supporting turtle research, rescue and rehabilitation organizations.