I had been looking at Costa Rican real estate for quite a while when I met Saul. He was introduced to me by a realtor who deals primarily in the Central Valley, because I had decided to look closer to the Pacific, in Saul’s home territory. Saul made a nice first impression: on-time, clean, articulate, and prepared with a long list of possibles that fit the criteria we had discussed. He truly knows the area inside and out. We drove many, many miles, and looked at a wide variety of places. He has many contacts and friendships in the area. During our driving, Saul educated me on each location we visited and shared quite a bit of wisdom on the ins and outs of an expat (me) buying and living in Costa Rica and the differences an expat faces in terms of etiquette, customs, and laws. After I returned to my hotel, I found he had emailed a list to me each property we visited, in the order we visited, so that I could easily reference my own notes and pictures.
I bought a rental beach house in Dominical through Saul on that trip, after he and I spent three days driving around looking at properties, and I am buying another rental house in the hills through Saul now. And this is because, after I bought the first place, I discovered where Saul really shines. He (and his excellent assistant Kim) helped me with the property management, translation, getting the attorney to move, home repairs, and any number of other issues where many realtors would not have stepped in to help. Kim even got involved with my beach houseproperty manager, whom I thought I had offended somehow, as a result of my very deficient Spanish. And Saul has even taken the lead in coordinating contractor meetings and insurance inspections for my benefit. This will be the ninth house I have bought in my life, and he is the best realtor with whom I’ve dealt in my life.