BUYING IN NICARAGUA
Property ownership in Nicaragua is fee simple/freehold, with a title issued and registered in your name. It is strongly recommended that you enlist the help of a reputable local attorney. The real estate purchase process is essentially a two-tier process involving three parties: the buyer, the seller, and the notary.
Once you have agreed upon a purchase price with the seller, the notary will prepare a promesa de venta (promise to sell). This is a three-party agreement, signed by the buyer, seller, and notary. Once again, a testimonio is prepared. This is taken to the property registry and an appraisal of the property is done.
An appraisal certificate is issued and submitted to the IRS, along with testimonio. Once the transfer taxes have been paid the testimonio is recorded in the public registry office at the local municipal.
To buy property in Nicaragua there are basically seven steps to follow:1. Be prepared to walk away.
2. Find the proper lawyer that you understand and who has a good reputation.
3. Use an escrow account
4. Obtain the Escritura (Deed) and Plano (Property Map)
5. Obtain the Historia Registral (Property History), Solvenica Municipal (Property taxes paid), Libertad de Gravamen (Property Liens)
6. Have the topographer check the property boundaries
7. Obtain title insurance
The burden of obtaining items 4 and 5 should be placed on the seller and the documents must be recent within 30 days. Once the seven steps have been completed and all the money is in the escrow account then a certified check can be written for the full amount. This is given to the seller at the exact same time the Escritura is signed over to the buyer.
This keeps the buyer in control of the entire process. A trusted agent with Power (Power of Attorney) may be used to sign in your absence. Once you have bought your new home, you want to make sure you can spend as much time in your new home.
The easiest way to begin your visa and residency requirements is to simply enter Nicaragua on a plain tourist visa (you get a 90 day tourist visa upon entering Nicaragua unless you are from one of a few restricted countries) and deal with getting a longer stay visa once you are in the country. There are two types of residency visas. When obtained they grant you officialdom in the form of your very own cedula (residency card). There is a permanent residence visa and the investor’s residence visa.
They are nearly identical, with the exception of one additional requirement for investors, and both require a number of authorized and translated documents. Once in Nicaragua, begin the process by going to the immigration building and requesting a form for the appropriate resident visa.
INVESTING IN NICARAGUA
Nicaragua offers far more than just an opportunity to get in on an emerging real estate market. If you are simply in the market for a place to relax and spend a few months a year in a quiet, safe, affordable retreat, Nicaragua is hard to beat.
The last 10 years has yielded changes in government policies toward foreign investments and overall economic growth. The Central American Free Trade Agreement, with the United States is one such policy allowing trade between both countries, while at the same time, enticing vanguard industries to invest.
As foreign companies invest and relocate divisions of their corporations to Nicaragua, the Domestic Product rises, ensuring growth and stability. The country’s retiree incentive program is much like Costa Rica’s was in the 1980’s, attracting thousands of expatriates. To be eligible, you need only be over 45 and have a monthly income of at least $400. The benefits come mostly in the form of tax incentives.
As a foreign retiree you pay no taxes on any out of the country earnings, can bring into Nicaragua up to $10,000 of household goods for your own home, duty-free, can import one automobile for personal or general use duty and tariff free, and sell it after five years, tax free and can import one additional vehicle every five years under the same duty exemptions.
Nicaragua is blessed with so much natural wealth and remains a prime and prized location for tourism, retirement and investment.
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