Let me tell the story of how we came to own a little slice of paradise in Langosta, Tamarindo, Costa Rica.
It was a Saturday in December, 2024. We were casually walking through town, stopping and shopping, grabbing a bite to eat, then had an ice cream to finish off lunch. Right in the middle of town, we happened across the Coldwell Banker office. The window posted some of their for sale properties, and we looked them over and hadn't noticed anyone inside, until she tapped on the window and motioned us in.
That's when we met Katy Benveniste. An ex-pat from Hawaii. She talked about living and working in Costa Rica for the last 4 years. She talked about what she and her husband Larry, also with Coldwell Banker, have learned about living in Costa Rica, and the ins and outs of owning property, banking, paying for utilities, paying taxes, accessing healthcare, and all of the things that one would consider daunting and overwhelming, especially if you don't speak Spanish! To hear her describe it, it actually sounded DOABLE!
We spent the rest of the afternoon with Katy showing us properties. The next morning she called, excited because something had just been listed within the hour, in a gated community that never has property for sale! This particular property rents as an AirBnB when the owners, also Americans, arent there, and it had just been rented to AirBnB customers for the next 5 days. Katy was able negotiate showing it while the renters were out for the day. We loved it and made an offer on the spot!
We had to leave CR a few days later, and Katy was able to introduced us, long distance, to a legal team to help with the purchase, a management company to help set us up to also use the property as an AirBnB when we arent there, and helped us in advanced of our return to CR with banking needs.
We came back to Tamarindo in February, 2025, to close on the property, and Katy spent several days with us, accompanying us to the bank to set up our accounts, to the property management company for introductions, to the attorneys offices for legal counsel and to help set up an LLC for our AirBnB business, and even took us to lunch!
We would never have considered buying in Costa Rica without Katy. She made the impossible possible. We can't thank her enough for showing us paradise.
Thank you, Katy.
Thank you, Coldwell Banker.
Thank you, Langosta and Tamarindo!
PURA VIDA!
