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Any information on moving to Costa Rica

Last activity 23 November 2020 by samramon

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Guest6904

hello, my name is Barry and my wife is Jamie.  I am retired Army and have been retired since 2011.  we are looking to slow down, relax, loose alot of the stress in our lives.  everything I have seen looks and sounds good, but need to do my due diligence.  Look forward to hearing from some of you.
Thank you

Cheryl

Hello BWusaxpat,

Have you been to Costa Rica before?

Do you have specific questions that you would like to ask for example about housing, cost of living or even about the health system?

Please feel free to ask us all your questions.  ;)

Cheers,

Cheryl
Expat.com team.

Lorena Ugalde

Hi, I have a place by the ocean here in Costa Rica that I want to sell in a good price .

TerrynViv

Hi Barry
If you are already retired I would suggest coming down for a few months and rent a house, Shop and eat locally. Base your travels from your rental and see different parts of the country. Climate varies greatly in very short distances.  This is what we did and it worked well for us.  Good luck in your endeavors.

samramon

My advice is decide what kind of area you want to live in : beach, mountains, city, small town, then pinpoint some areas that look good to you. It's hard to give you suggestions until we know more about what kind of lifestyle you want.
Beach is nice but also very humid. Mountains are cooler but can also be very humid. But the beach is ALWAYS humid except maybe in Northern Guanacaste.

Are you looking for a small town without a lot of night life? Or mostly quiet and nature? Or do you want to live in a Gringo Commmunity or Tico? Do you speak Spanish?

Once you can give some of this info then we can help you further.

You can read about residency here: https://outlierlegal.com/

The required National health insurance costs anywhere between $80-200 a  month or more?, depending on if you are a Pensionado or Rentista (see link above re residency). As to how good it is: It depends on where you live and who your doctors are that work in your area. I'm glad to have it in case of a heart attack or cancer or something. But for colds and smaller things I hate it, as it's a pain to use where I live: lines you have to wait in at 6-7am, another line to get your medicine, etc etc. So I use a private discount plan for about $18 a month which gets me $20 doctor visits and discounts on tests etc. But any legal resident HAS to pay the nat'l health plan called CAJA or EBAIS whether you use it or not.

Hope this helps.

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