General Information about the Osa Peninsula , Costa Rica Real Estate, osa peninsula properties, oceanfront property, costa rica, osa peninsula real estate

General Information about the Osa Peninsula , Costa Rica Real Estate, osa peninsula properties, oceanfront property, costa rica, osa peninsula real estate http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/realestateinfo.htm Osa Peninsula Real Estate Office, Listing Oceanfront Oceanview Properties on the Golfo Dulce beach, Rainforest Farms, Land, Lots Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:24:58 GMT Web Easy by Avanquest Publishing USA, Inc. General Information about the Osa Peninsula , Costa Rica Real Estate, osa peninsula properties, oceanfront property, costa rica, osa peninsula real estate http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/realestateinfo.htm http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/osa_new_4%20x%20oceannfront%20013p00.gif <![CDATA[<DIV>General Information</DIV>]]>

Buying and Owning Property in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, there are three basic types of land: titled private land, untitled private land and Maritime Zone land. For each type there is a different set of codes and rules that a buyer will have to contend with. Unlike some countries, non-citizens are able to own property in their own name and enjoy the same property rights as any Costa Rican citizen, making the entire process much easier.

Private Land (Titled)
With this type of property, there are always two documents involved, the legal document declaring ownership of the property (escritura) and the registered survey map (plano catastrado). While both documents are necessary, only the escritura serves as the actual proof of ownership. The plano functions as an information sheet, displaying the exact boundaries of the land, the size, the location and other useful information regarding the property.

Private Land (Untitled)
Although this category of land is a bit more complicated to buy and sell, it is often necessary because a large majority of land in Costa Rica falls under this category. This process, which is still entirely legal, has usually involved settlers or farmers homesteading on a piece of land for a certain amount of time until they became the legal owners of the land. As time went on, this type of property could have been transferred from person to person using private documentation, and a lawyer to document the transaction. If the property you are interested in falls under this category, make sure that the seller has all of the documentation to prove that his possession of the property is legitimate. Once you have purchased the property, it is a reasonably simple process to document the land in the national registry and turn your untitled private land into titled private land.

Maritime Zone Land: Of all of the types, Maritime Zone land is by far the most regulated. This type of land is defined as a 200 meter strip of land along the shore line, calculated from the average high tide. The first 50 meters of this land is called a public zone, leaving it off limits for development or ownership by a person or corporation. The next 150 meters can be claimed by a person or corporation, but only if they solicit the municipality for permission. The type of situation in which this comes into play is usually when a person buys or owns the land directly connected to the Maritime Zone. If this is the case, applying for permission with the municipality is a relatively simple process. In this process, you will first be given a right of occupation (permiso de uso), allowing you to build a small, temporary structure on the property and to make small improvements to the land. Later on, once the zoning of the land has been completed, you may be granted a concession, allowing you to build on the land in accordance with the zoning laws. Although these concessions are not permanent, they are automatically renewable every twenty years as long as the public zone (the first 50 meters of beach front) is respected, all taxes are paid and all development is in accordance with the previous zoning of the land.

The Law for Conservation of Wildlife No. 7317 Given the heavy regulations on Maritime Zone land, one might want to completely bypass that process and, in Costa Rica, there is only one way to do that. In 1992, The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) created The Law for Conservation of Wildlife No. 7317, which allows a private property owner to register their land as a “protected zone” but lets them maintain their ownership of the property and develop it in a low impact way. This law can be utilized on any piece of property containing some sort of wildlife or habitat but it is the most useful for Maritime Zone land. Instead of dealing with the municipality for occupation rights, you are then able to deal directly with MINAE, who employ a simpler, more efficient and somewhat less restrictive system for regulating these properties than the municipalities. Once a management plan (plano de manejo) has been drawn up to describe and document the land usage, the property will be declared a wildlife refuge or Refugio de Vida Silvestre. Your permission to build on this property will come in the form of a right of occupation, renewable every nine years with MINAE.

]]> http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/realestateinfo.htm Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:24:58 GMT ( GiulioRanalli for The Osa Peninsula Properties http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/realestateinfo.htm#1 <![CDATA[<DIV><FONT color="#ff8040"><STRONG> Some numbers Of The Osa Peninsula</STRONG> </FONT></DIV>]]>

The Osa peninsula, due to the fact that for long time the only possible access was by the sea, with irregular boats service from the far Nicoya Peninsula, maintained its pristine conditions despite the frantic gold rush of the 50 and 60 decades and subsequent agricultural development.

Only in the 80 decade, a more or less established road open the Osa Peninsula to regular land transportation, and until the first 90thies the wading of several river along the road from Chacarita, the cross intersection on the Interamericana Road, until Puerto Jimenez, the main “town” on the area, was normal, and during the rain season was common to have to wait for hours or days for the lowering of the level of the waters.

In the Osa peninsula the average level of rainfall is between 4 to 7 metres per years, so you can imagine how often people had to wait for to cross the rivers, situation that today is still common in the part of the road from Puerto Jimenez to Carate, the “door” of the Corcovado National Park.

Being the more far location in the country, from the central capital town, the arrival-departing hub of the international tourist routes, helped the Osa to preserve for all these years its natural jewels like the most extensive rainforest of the whole Central America, the most extensive mangrove swamp, the Sierpe-Terraba rivers with 32.325 hectares of surface , and the populations of endangered wildlife, extinct in most of the remaining country and Central American area.

Jaguars, American crocodile, Baird’s tapir, White-lipped peccary, and the Harpy eagle, still lives in the Osa Peninsula, some of them with healthy, populations like that of the Scarlet macaw, common even in the same streets of Puerto Jimenez, or the Jaguar, other that are only a remaining of the past like the Harpy eagle that re-appeared only few years ago after having been considered extinct.

All the species of monkey registered in the country, live here and the Squirrel monkeys, an endemic species, represent the only population of all central America.

Almost 400 species of birds live and nest in the Osa, ( the 5% of all the species in the world!), amongst the 750 different species of trees catalogued until today and counting, sharing all the environment that vary from the coastal lowland and marshes, to the dense rainforest covering the sides of hill and mountains, with 140 species of mammals, 117 of reptiles and amphibians, 60.000 species of insects.

So, is not a surprise that, hosting the highest natural diversity per unit area in the world, the National Geographic Magazine defined the Osa Peninsula as” the most biologically intense place on earth”, creating a kind of trademark that is impossible to emulate.

Obviously the abundance of wildlife is not a prerogative of the land of the Osa but a common characteristic shared with the warm, clean waters of the Golfo Dulce, the sole Fiord of the pacific coast of the whole Americas, and the Pacific Ocean that surround the Peninsula.

Whale sharks, Humpbacked whales, dolphins, sharks and the most impressive list of record game fish are common the whole year round, with moments of abundance that call sport fishermen from everywhere in the world, while the bests spots of the country for diving, the Caño Island and surroundings, are always overbooked.

The Osa Peninsula is part of the ACOSA Conservation Area, that cover the south pacific coast of Costa Rica, starting from Dominical, until the Panama border.

More than 2.100 species of plants have been registered in the Area, the 22% of the entire country, over a territory that, with 4.104 Km2, is only the 8,6% of the Country.

The actual population is around 120.000 ( 29,23 Persons per Km2 ), mainly involved in the agricultural and cattle breeding activities.

Tourism is grooving really fast and represent the second source of employement in the region.

The Guaymi indians still live in the reservations located in the centre of the Osa Peninsula, on the north-east border of the Corcovado Natinoal Park, and in other municipalities in the Area, with a total population of 2.700 persons, living on a territory of 23.063 hectares, the 3.1% of the total surface of the municipalities territories.

]]> http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/realestateinfo.htm Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:24:58 GMT ( GiulioRanalli for The Osa Peninsula Properties http://www.theosapeninsulaproperties.com/realestateinfo.htm#2 <![CDATA[<DIV> <DIV><A href="about:email info@theosapeninsulaproperties.com"><FONT color="#edb93f">info@theosapeninsulaproperties.com</FONT></A></DIV></DIV>]]> We can't show all the properties we represent, so, if you don't find that " perfect land", please, just contact us and let us know about your needs.

We will find what You Want!!