USD mortgages for U.S. and Canadian buyers, serviced in the States: the three rate options, 75% LTV, what the fees come to on a real purchase, and what to ask first.
For most of the last two decades, the hardest part of buying a home in Costa Rica was not finding one. It was paying for it. Foreign buyers have largely been cash buyers here, because local mortgages are built for residents with local income, and the alternative was usually seller financing on short terms.
That is what has changed. There is now mortgage financing for U.S. and Canadian citizens buying residential property in Costa Rica — funded in U.S. dollars and serviced in the United States, so the loan behaves like a mortgage you already understand rather than one you have to learn from scratch in a second language.
What the programme offers
- Loans in U.S. dollars — no currency mismatch between what you earn and what you owe.
- 30-year amortisations, for a monthly payment that spreads rather than balloons.
- No life insurance requirement, which local lenders commonly attach and which adds to the monthly cost.
- No pre-payment penalties — overpay or clear it early without a fee for doing so.
Serviced in the United States matters more than it sounds. It means payments, statements and any questions run through a U.S. servicer on familiar terms, instead of requiring a Costa Rican bank account and a trip to a branch.
The three rate options
| Programme | How the rate behaves | After the fixed period |
|---|---|---|
| 30-year fixed | Fixed for the full term | Nothing changes — same rate to the end |
| 5/6 adjustable | Fixed for the first 5 years | Adjusts every 6 months |
| 7/6 adjustable | Fixed for the first 7 years | Adjusts every 6 months |
With either adjustable option the payment can go up as well as down once the fixed period ends. Before choosing one, ask the lender which index the rate tracks, what the margin above it is, and what the caps are — per adjustment and over the life of the loan. Those three numbers decide your worst case, and they are the ones worth writing down.
How much you can borrow
Up to 75% loan-to-value, on purchases and on cash-out refinances. In practice that means at least 25% of the price from your own funds, and that the valuation the lender's appraisal arrives at — not the agreed price — is what the 75% is calculated against.
The cash-out refinance side is easy to overlook: if you already own here outright, this is a route to releasing equity from a property you bought with cash, which until recently was difficult to do at all.
What it costs
The lender's own fees are published and fixed in structure:
- Origination fee: 2.5% of the loan amount.
- Underwriting fee: $1,895.
- Third-party costs: appraisal, legal and government charges, which vary by property and transaction.
Put against real numbers, the lender fees work out like this:
| $400,000 purchase | $750,000 purchase | |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum loan at 75% LTV | $300,000 | $562,500 |
| From your own funds | $100,000 | $187,500 |
| Origination fee (2.5%) | $7,500 | $14,063 |
| Underwriting fee | $1,895 | $1,895 |
| Lender fees total | $9,395 | $15,958 |
Third-party costs sit on top of those figures, as do the Costa Rican transfer taxes and stamps that apply to any purchase here, financed or not. Ask for a written estimate covering all of it before you commit to anything — the lender fees are the predictable part, and the rest is what tends to surprise people at closing.
Questions worth asking before you apply
A mortgage on a foreign property has a few failure points that do not exist at home. These are the ones worth raising in the first conversation, before an appraisal fee has been spent:
- Does this property type qualify? Houses on ordinary registered title are the straightforward case. Condominium units, farms and raw land may be treated differently.
- What about concession property? Land inside the maritime zone is held on municipal concession rather than freehold title, and lenders treat that quite differently from titled land. If you are looking at beachfront, establish this early — we cover how the zone works in our guide to buying in Tivives.
- Is the title clean and current? Registry position, boundaries matching the survey plan, and municipal taxes up to date. The lender will check; it is cheaper to know first.
- What is the timeline? Appraisal, underwriting and closing all take time, and the purchase agreement needs deadlines that match it rather than a cash buyer's calendar.
- How does the money actually arrive? Which brings us to the next part.
How financing fits the Costa Rican closing
A mortgage does not replace the rest of the process — it sits inside it. Your deposit and the balance still move through a regulated escrow account, your attorney still runs due diligence at the National Registry, and the transfer deed is still executed before a Costa Rican notary. The loan simply means part of the balance arrives from a lender rather than from you.
That makes the escrow arrangement more important rather than less, because there are now three parties whose timing has to line up. Our guide to escrow in Costa Rica covers how to check a provider is properly registered and what the release conditions should say.
Who to talk to
Tropical Realty Costa Rica works alongside Volo Loans for financing and TLA Escrow Services for the holding and disbursement of funds. We are the brokerage, not the lender — approval, rate and final terms are the lender's decision, made on your circumstances and on the property.
If you want to know what this would look like on a specific purchase, tell us what you are considering and we will put you in front of the right people with the right questions already asked. If you are earlier than that, start with the areas or browse what is available and work backwards from a real number.
Programme details, fees and terms above are those published by the lender at the time of writing and are indicative only: they are subject to change, to underwriting, and to the lender's valuation of the property. No interest rate is quoted here because rates move. This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice — confirm the current terms with the lender and your own advisers before committing.
