The Challenge of the Century XXI

We talk in another article about the many new realtor operating in Costa Rica, and particularly the too many that are filling the streets of Puerto Jimenez.

It would be not a problem if everybody would follow an ethical code, working and leaving the other working without interfering in the job of the other, but the reality is different, due to the fact that safe real estates in the Osa Peninsula are few, and difficult to find, for somebody is simpler to use someone’s else listing or create fake properties to lure people that are doing internet research.

Others take real properties that are not for sale and create incredible pages offering them in block or lots, and I can’t imagine what would happen if somebody would really buy one of them. I imagine that these ones are another kind of lure too, but you have to see the face of the land’s owners when they see their property for sale in a web page!!

Other ” realtor ” when they see that one buyer that, as it is usual and perfectly normal, after having collected information about some properties from different agents, decide to buy that nice property that is in another agent listing, they start inventing a lot of lies about inexistent hostile situation with neighbours, absence of building permission and concessions, the existence of an Indian cemetery underground, presence of radon fumes, UFO Landing Site……….

You can bet that before to spend some hundreds of thousand dollars everybody would be sure that is not buying the land next door to Freddy Kruger, and how can you demonstrate that that is not your future neighbour??

In some other situation desperate peoples that came here, in the Eldorado of the Real Estate business, with the idea that they could find and sell almost all the properties of the Peninsula, in a little while, after having bothered all the land owners with funny request of commissions and exclusivity deals, and after having spent until the last cent they owned, after having debts in all the restaurants and grocery stores of the town, and having to watch the cruel face of the defeat in its very cold eyes, they try the last trick possible int his business: sell something, undercut, take the money and run.

And this is exactly what happened a couple of months ago, the woman in charge of the office of one of the most worldwide well known real estate company, one that is making history in this Century, after having spent some months here around, living like Imelda Marcos, and having spent a lot of words trying to slander other local Agents, and all her money buying almost all the kind of booze available on the local market, deeply broken, she tricked an USA guy that want to buy one small beachfront property, she persuaded him to send to the company bank account something like 30,000 bucks, and she took the next flight for who know where.

You know, for me, this kind of things are a problem because produce an image of the local Real Estate Business that is not exactly the best I could imagine for a Marketing Brochure destined to the international market, but, on the other hand, is a juicy news that if one would be a little bad minded, could use for to return all the bad image that they tried to throw over the other local agents, with a lot of interest, if one would be a little gossiper, but for me the worst of all this story is that Imelda runs away before paying the bills for all the fine Italian wine and delicate food the she had at my restaurant!!

If somebody can tell me where she is I will offer to him ( or her ) a great dinner for two with the best Italian wine we have!!

I know that is not easy to find her, but this his my challenge for the Century XXI.