While it may be advantageous to retain a lawyer from the outset to provide advice in the search process, legal assistance is not absolutely required in the process until a property of interest is identified. At that that, it will be necessary for you to have legal assistance to complete the due diligence on properties being considered. Costa Rica has a large community of attorneys, and a great many of them include real estate transactions within their professional services.

There are many complaints by newly arrived expatriates about the time that things take to complete in the legal realm, and certainly, it is advantageous to base your decision on legal representation on interviews and possibly on recommendations from people that you trust in order to contract a lawyer with whom you are completely comfortable. Most speak English. However, even good lawyers are a bit hamstrung by the bureaucratic delays and procedural requirements for the various steps required in completing a real estate purchase or sale, so good-humored patience is recommended.