The New American Dream: ‘How I Bought a Home Abroad’

Buying a home here may be the American dream, but buying property abroad seems more like the realm of fantasy. And yet setting down roots in a foreign country is not as unusual as you might think: More than 6 million United States citizens are currently living outside our borders, according to the aptly titled Association of Americans Resident Overseas. If you’d like to join them, tune in to the insider advice of these three Americans who bought abroad.

‘It started out as a vacation’

Nona Jones Martinez, Cahuita Limon Talamanca, Costa Rica

Purchased a three-bedroom house in 2011 for less than $200,000

How she got there: A former New Yorker, Jones Martinez fell in love with Costa Rica while vacationing there—so after her wedding, she persuaded her husband, Jorge, to move there permanently.

“While we were first getting established, we house-sat for three years for a couple who owned property,” says Jones. “We were delighted when they announced they were returning to their native Canada, and looking to sell.” The Martinezes were able to buy one of the properties that they’d worked to maintain: a bright yellow bungalow on nearly an acre of lush land.

The challenges: “We worried about securing a mortgage, because foreigners have to jump through hoops to get loans from Costa Rican banks,” says Jones Martinez. “You need official residency and guaranteed income from stable jobs. We filled out lots of paperwork so we could prove we had steady income from the real estate management and tour companies we run.”

Her advice: “In the end, we wound up not needing a mortgage because we were able to settle on a price we could afford in full,” says Jones Martinez. This can make all the difference when buying property in countries where you may not qualify for local bank loans, says Kathleen Peddicord, who publishes the website Live and Invest Overseas and who has been buying property abroad for 30 years. “Since the recession in 2008, it’s been hard to get loans in the U.S. to buy property overseas,” Petticord reports. “If you can’t, you need to ask for a purchase price that works for you.”

Other tips? “Since real estate agents don’t have to be licensed to sell real estate here, find a real estate lawyer who is reputable and experienced to help you work with them,” Jones Martinez says. Such attorneys generally command 1.5% of the total purchase price, according to the Association of Residents of Costa Rica.