Dead X 2

ISSUE #641: Jan. 18-14, 2017

2017-01-16

Brian Timmons, Newsletter Author
Brian Timmons

Dear friends,

When I started Residencias Los Jardines, I started writing a weekly newsletter -determined to tell all the good, bad, and the ugly. I knew some readers would be interested in the construction process. I expected others might be interested in the lifestyle of two people who had decided to live outside the box. For others, the adventures of Lita, the parrot and the cat took on an entertainment saga all its own.

Residencias Los Jardines is finished. We periodically have re-sales and rental availability. Some readers may be interested in this information.

Brian Timmons
Developer / Property manager
Residencias Los Jardines

Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

Featured
rentals & sales

Paradisus Condos / Rohrmoser
FOR SALE / RENT
Visit our website

Paradisus Condos - click to visit

Each of the units consists of two bedrooms / two bathrooms, and a large living/dining/kitchen area. The floor plan of each of these units has eliminated the optional "den / office" divider. The result is a larger area offering more flexible furniture arrangements while still maintaining the option of including an office area. At 105m2 plus two parking spots each and storage locker, they offer a great opportunity for someone seeking views, security, central location, and first class, all round living...

PRICE REDUCTION
Semi furnished unit: For sale: $235,000
Fully furnished unit: For sale: $245,000
Floor 12 -west view

FOR RENT
13th Fl / East view
furnished​
beginning Jan. 25
$1,400

Market activity
sales & rentals

Sales: Los Jardines: Units #106A, #114, #123 and #125

Rentals: Paradisus: For Rent: 13th Fl / East view / furnished​ / beginning Jan. 25 / $1,400
Los Jardines: Units #106C and #123 are available for rent.

Residencias Los Jardines
property management, rentals & re-sales

FOR SALE
Unit #106A: $ 165,000 / See Unit
Unit #114: $ 199,000 / See Unit
Unit #123: $ 199,500 / See Unit
Unit #125: $ 135,000 / See Unit

FOR RENT
Unit #106C: $ 1,150 mo. / Immediately / See Unit
Unit #123: $ 1,450 mo. / Immediately / See Unit

For sale

UNIT #106A
FOR SALE
$165,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1250
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Apartment
Furnished: Yes

This is a fully furnished 2-bedroom unit situated in a 2-story building, which has two units on the ground floor and two units on the 2nd. floor. Each unit is the same size (1,250sf) divided into 800 sf of interior space and 450 sf of covered front and back terraces. Units 106A and B are on the ground floor; Units 106 C and D are on the 2nd. Floor. The solid masonry demising wall (common wall) as well as the 5" concrete slab prevent sound transference.

UNIT #114
FOR SALE
$199,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 2 bedroom/2bathroom,1,290 sf single floor end unit home includes a 150 sf front terrace plus parking for one car. This house is fully air conditioned and has recently been professionally decorated by international decorator Alcides Graffe and has undergone a complete renovation—new modern furniture, finishings, window coverings, and art work by Carlos Gambino. It is arguably the nicest furnished unit at Residencias Los Jardines and only steps from the pool

UNIT #123
FOR SALE
$199,500

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1516
Total area (Sq M): 140
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2.5
Floor(s): 2 story
Type: Detached
Furnished: Yes

This two story, detached 1,423 sf home + parking for one car has two bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and a 2nd floor covered terrace.
The open railed wrought iron cement stair case leads to the 2nd level where the master bedroom with en-suite master bathroom as well as 2nd bedroom and en-suite bathroom are located. Also accessed from the 2nd floor hallway is the covered terrace.
This is a very nicely furnished home with a good floor plan for those wanting two floors.

UNIT #125
FOR SALE
$135,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 662
Total area (Sq M): 61
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Floor(s): 2 floor
Type: Semi-Detached
Furnished: Yes

This 662 sf, + parking for one car and 33sf locker is a one bedroom home on the 2nd floor overlooking the large pool. It is ideal for a single person or couple—or investment property.

For rent

UNIT #106C
FOR RENT
$1,150 mo. / Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1250
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 2
Type: 4-plex
Furnished: Yes

This is a fully furnished 2-bedroom unit situated in a 2-story building, which has two units on the ground floor and two units on the 2nd. floor. Each unit is the same size (1,250sf) divided into 800 sf of interior space and 450 sf of covered front and back terraces. Units 106A and B are on the ground floor; Units 106 C and D are on the 2nd. Floor. The solid masonry demising wall (common wall) as well as the 5” concrete slab prevent sound transference.

UNIT #123
FOR RENT
$1,450 mo. / Immediately

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1516
Total area (Sq M): 140
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2.5
Floor(s): 2 story
Type: Detached
Furnished: Yes

This two story, detached 1,423 sf home + parking for one car has two bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and a 2nd floor covered terrace.

The open railed wrought iron cement stair case leads to the 2nd level where the master bedroom with en-suite master bathroom as well as 2nd bedroom and en-suite bathroom are located. Also accessed from the 2nd floor hallway is the covered terrace.

This is a very nicely furnished home with a good floor plan for those wanting two floors.

Our Lives

Weather: Windy, windy, windy, and cold (for us) --we continue to receive an almost daily dusting of volcanic ash.

Dead #1: The RE market is DEAD... no calls, not even from time wasters... for 6 weeks. Yes, we had Dec. there but nothing has happened since. Those people thinking we would see a raft of political refugees from the US are having to re-think their thinking. I am not surprised... most people talk / few people actually do anything.

Dead #2: Unfortunately, the wife of one of our owners passed. She had been sick for some time so this was not unexpected... but always sad...

Illness: a close friend had to return early to N. Am. due to illness. He's scheduled for surgery in a week or so. While illness can happen at any age... it more often happens to us older ones... If I am found cold and stiff in the hammock one day, I will have gone out like I wanted... don't cry... have a party and move me to an urn.

This was a bad week: Wednesday I woke up to the following:

  1. Water had not worked the night before nor all night long....they got it back on in the morning.
  2. A water pipe had exploded in a wall cavity of a unit I manage. - one of the mtnc people was off / the other was no where to be found -and I couldn't remember where the shutoff valve was.
  3. The Internet was not working.
  4. The electric gate was not working.
  5. The wife of one of our owners passed the night before.

...

This was followed later in the morning by a domestic dispute bringing police for resolution.

AND there were plenty more unpleasant issues but I won't go on...

News Items of the Week

Comments

1. Air Canada delay: wow... by PR... one would have thought they could have correct the discrepancy faster than this... another reason to fly WestJet... a great Cdn. airline...

2. Corporate Tax: will they get it right this time????? who knows... probably... we will have to wait for the final version... which is where they screwed up last time...

(1) Air Canada passengers delayed for 32 hours in Costa Rica, including nine on runway

Canada’s CBC News reported today that an Air Canada flight had been delayed for 32 hours at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaría International Airport – not because of inclement weather or volcanic ash, but because of an administrative error.

The 273 passengers on the flight from San José to Toronto boarded the plane at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8, then sat on the runway until 7:15 p.m. except for a 1.5-hour break during which they deplaned and purchased food, passengers told CBC News.

The reason for the delay was that the passenger head count did not match computer records, CBC reported.

At 7:15 p.m., the flight was officially cancelled and passengers were given hotel and food vouchers. However, according to Toronto-based news site City News, the nightmare did not end there; passengers returned to the airport the following day, Monday, Jan. 9, to find themselves subject to a chaotic check-in process, according to the site.

Twitter user @PMachadoLaw posted photos of the makeup flight scene before the harried travelers finally took off, 2.5 hours late.

(2) Corporate tax now faces a possible court hurdle
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A proposed tax on corporations is being referred to the Sala IV constitutional court after the measure passed on first reading 40-10 Monday. The action by lawmakers from the Partido Liberación Nacional is likely to delay final passage of the measure.

However, the Sala IV usually acts quickly in such cases to decide if the question will be heard at all. The Corte Suprema de Justicia generally acts favorably on tax matters.

For example, when magistrates declared a very similar tax unconstitutional in January 2015, they also ordered that those who owe the tax should pay it anyway. The earlier tax won approval in 2011, but the legislative staff had failed to advertise the final draft in the correct, legal way.

The exact draft of what was passed Monday is not available, although lawmakers had rejected 120 amendments before they broke for Christmas vacation.

Some in the legislature opposed the measure, and the full body voted to bring the bill out of committee for action under a system to quickly approve it. The bill is designed to collect 47 billion colons or about $85.5 million from residents to pay for more police. Some 90 percent of the money collected would go to the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, and Gustavo Mata, the minister, has promised to hire 1,000 new Fuerza Pública officers.

Just 5 percent goes to the Judicial Investigating Organization, and a similar amount goes to the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz for use of its agency that handles the prisons.

The bill assesses a sliding scale on corporations based on their incomes. An inactive corporation or an active corporation with no income would pay 15 percent of a base salary.

The base salary is the monthly salary of a specific job title in the judicial that is used as an index. In 2016 the monthly amount was 424,400 colons or about $771.27. That salary has risen slightly this year, although the exact figure was not available early today.

That means those with inactive corporations or active corporations with no income would pay about 64,000 colons or about $116.

Corporations with income up to 50.9 million colons or $92,545 would pay 25 percent of the base salary or $193. Companies with gross income between 50.9 million and 118.7 million colons or $216,000 would pay 30 percent of the base salary.

Firms with more gross income would pay 50 percent or $386. The gross income amounts are indexed, too, and increase slightly each year.

The sliding scale is an innovation because the original tax assessed a flat charge on active corporations.

The bill is subject to change when it is debated in the full legislature. Amounts of the tax in future years would increase as the judicial salary increases.

Libertario Otto Guevara Guth opposed the bill, and it is he who is leading the court appeal.

The bill says that none of the agencies receiving the money can use it for overtime, travel or similar expenses. However, the money would free other moneys from the budget to do that.

The bill, No. 19.818, is important to expats because many have their cars and homes in inactive corporations to protect other assets.

Without the threat of a court appeal, lawmakers could pass the bill for the second and final time as soon as Wednesday. The bill covers sociedades anónimas or S.As, those with responsabilidad limitada or S.R.Ls. and also foreign firms with offices here. Still uncertain is if the tax also is levied on mercantile societies. The previous bill did not.

FOR RENTAL OR SALES INFORMATION
ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, CONTACT:

Brian C. Timmons
Property Manager RLJ and Newsletter Author

Costa Rica:
Cell: (+ 506) 8305-3965
Land line: (+506) 2282-4142 Ext. 101

Canada:
VOIP: (+416) 461-2203

Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

 
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