@edwinemora I have appreciated your honesty over the time I have been here researching CR as a retirement destination. I have been to Mexico 16 or 17 times and have never had anything stolen from me. Day 2 in Nosara my phone and $120 was stolen. Two or three more incidents of close calls on the beach with locals hovering around our towels and beach bag or coming right up and looking in.
That's OK, I still loved the weather and warm ocean so I kept doing my research. The new residency rule was very attractive, especially for bringing a couple of cars down duty and tax free. But it seems the govt is playing games with this. This year they revised the Caja contribution formula for new residents. For those who don't know the Caja is a 2 part public healthcare - public retirement program for Ticos. If you make $3000 usd or more per month you will be paying 19%! $3000 is not a lot of money so imagine paying $600 per month basically as a fee to live in CR. I understand it's their country and you're paying for the right to live there but this is bordering on theft. You are coming in to fund the locals healthcare and retirement.
Owning a vehicle was another eye opener. Just the annual registration would be thousands of dollars plus annual inspection. With a $70,000 pension my Caja would be about $1100 per month! Keeping my 4Runner on the road with insurance, Annual Marchamo and ritieve would have been equivalent to a car payment each month.
Theft from houses is another major issue. a woman I was speaking with from San Francisco has a winter home south of Tamarindo. She said she could watch on her video surveillance as locals would completely empty her house when she went back to the US. As she installed better locks, security system and an 8 foot high wall/fence they finally left her alone and started stealing from other easier targets. Some of the vacation homes I saw near Montezuma looked like a federal prison with razor wire surrounding the property.
At the end of the day CR is way more expensive than I imagined. Unless something changes with this formula I will stick to Jan-Feb and March in CR renting one or two places. I love 30+ degree weather and very warm ocean temps. Mexico is far cheaper as a base of operations if you are a Permanent resident.
As some have stated here, Costa Rica is not Shangri-La full of innocent peace loving locals. Do your research, there are a lot of hidden surprises. Like I said I would still love to spend the hot/dry 3 months in CR every winter and I have a 2 week trip booked again this winter with my kids. I just can't see it being worth my while calling CR my home in retirement. It seems to be a much better place to visit.
