Real Estate fraud is becoming a major problem in Costa Rica
Yesterday I had a meeting with an account who was involved in a huge development project on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Anyway, to make a long story short, he asked me if I knew the guy who he had meant in Costa Rica. I shook my head, and my account proceeds to go to this guy’s website. The website was professionally done, looked legit etc etc.
Then my account took me to a another website where it showed this guy had twice been indicted on fraudulently securities in the US, and he was NOW selling real estate investment securities on his Costa Rica website.
When my account asked me if there was anything I could do about it? I responded, "Not Really!"
It is well-known that Costa Rica has attracted an increasing numbers of investors and people who want to retire and/or buy a vacation home/condo over the last few years. However, this has also sparked the increase in real estate and investment scams. It is said, that as many as 30% of all real estate deals may have some type of fraudulent dealings with them.
Most who do get scammed end up leaving with a very bad taste of Costa Rica. Or they think US legal system, hire an attorney, thinking of civil lawsuit and, get their money back. The next thing they know, its two years and thousands of dollars later and are in the same boat they started with.
Before one thinks about investing and/or buying one must realize two critical fundamentals of buying real estate in Costa Rica:
- Costa Rica Law is a complexity of the Rican legal system, which is based on Napoleonic law. In other words, unless blood is drawn, “No (physical) Harm, No Foul. ” So fleecing someone out of money is not that big of a deal as it would be with someone who empties a 9mm clip into some poor soul. So if you get burned, do not expect an army of DAs and Law Enforcement to arrest the person. Going through the courts in a civil matter cost time and money.
- There are NO governing laws for real estate agents as the US has, where one has to take a test to become a realtor, agent or broker. In Costa Rica, anyone can become one and you do not have to be a resident or citizen. No permits, schooling or business license required. And because of this, agents are a dime a dozen and all they need is property, regardless of who owns it.
Getting back – you fell in love with the country, found the perfect spot to build or buy your dream home, now, how can I protect myself? Well believe it or not, there are some simple steps.
Property Itself: Make sure the property does not look abandoned or not taken care of. These properties would be "attractive" for fraud as the owners are not checking their property situation.
Residency Citizenship Cards can help give creditability to the person you are dealing with.
Residency Card: You found an agent who looks to be not a Costa Rican and want to put a proposal on that dream home, asked the agent for their residency and/or citizenship card. Both will tell you how long the person has been living in Costa Rica. You may even ask for their Passport. If they have no card that means every 90 days they have to leave the country and then come back in after 72 hours. A Residency Card will pretty much tell you that person is here to stay in CR. The longer the residency, the more creditably that person has. If the person balks at showing his or her card, time to walk out the door.
Internet Search: Go to Google and type in the persons and business name; see if any claims have come up on them.
Get a Real Estate Attorney: Costa Rica has some great attorneys that understand the system. The US Embassy in San Jose has a list of bilingual attorneys and you can go to our Costa Rica attorney directory. A good attorney will do the due diligence to make sure the property has a clean title with no liens attached. A property with a very long clean history means they have belonging to the same person for decades. Properties were the titles have changed many times in the last few years are ones that raise red flags.
Use Caution: If the property is located in zones with high appreciation values be careful. Real estate in high dollars areas like in the Central Valley areas of Escazú and Santa Ana, to North Pacific coastal areas (Guanacaste like Tamarindo) and to Mid Pacific Coast, like Jaco are the perfect places for a conman to hype their victim on, how much money they can make on this "awesome" condo project that will start construction two years from now.
When all said and done, if you take your time, don't rush things, do your homework, you will be able to have your dream home and/or make money on your real estate investment.
For more info see: Investing in Costa Rica, Costa Rica Squatters, Buying Property in Costa Rica
EDITORS NOTE: The below "ongoing" comments that started in April, 2010, are mostly associated with the controversy of Hacienda Matapalo development project, which is located near Matapalo Beach between Puerto Quepos and Dominical.
When researching everything you have to wonder if the partners of HM were scammed themselves by Centam LTD who tried to file Bankruptcy to waive the UTA debt. Who actually got the funding and how much did they actually get of it??? Good question. Seems like the Centam guys had been around the block with all their bankruptcy cases and various LLC's… A lot of planning did go into HM and in a way wish someone would step up and take over development as it would have been a beautiful development.
Just saying…
Tony, you must be XX's "special" brother. Dude you are not smarter than a fifth grader by a long shot. XX, still waiting on that March newsletter and the "big announcement".
What egomaniac Matluck, stoner Albury, Starkey the Storyteller and especially bottom feeder Sklar knew about development at this level would fit on the back of a postage stamp. The "surprising turn of events" was the self discovery of that by these bubble market realtors. It's tragically funny that someone could attempt to justify travel expenses and lunch using funds intended for a real estate transaction. More tragic than funny. What's worse is that these guys can still sell real estate in the US.
First casualty of war being the truth, I am certain that there are people with first hand knowledge that the HM brass manipulated investors. Seay, and the others merely executed the command. Those who did not peddle the swerve or challenged the viability were dismissed.
Maybe UTA will reboot the project but the market is soft in CR now. HM was overpriced to begin with. Matluck always liked to compare HM to Los Suenos while he forced the appreciation past the point of no return. A delusional and pathological liar.
This blog should be a primer for future investors.
I've had just about enough of this character assasination. Ok, so the project didn't work out and all the money is gone, so what? If a bank like JP Morgan Chase had come along and funded for another $20 million it would have gone vertical. They didn't, so face facts HM is going to end up being a snake hole. It hurts me just as much as it hurts you. But to say people should contact the FBI, that is just wrong on so many levels. Take your losses like men. Next time maybe it will work out better. For now, we are all screwed. More you, than me. And as far as Marcy Seay goes, stop bugging her at her new job. She doesn't have a clue what went down. Just sign up and buy more pre-development Costa Rican property from her. Eventually something might get built somewhere. Even if it's just her new house courtesy of your commission dollars.
I drove by the project the other day and did not see any caretaker. They put a lot of work (roads) into HM, but it is already getting the look of being abandoned. I didn't drive in, but it looks like the views from the 2nd and 3rd terrace would have been amazing. Ed S. might find this humorous, but I think it is just sad. What a waste !!!
B, I think you're full of it..,,who ever you are and I can care less who you are. You are artfull at stiring the pot, and getting the principles to respond (if it truely are the priniciples and not some cast of bloggers playing games)…oh, and then there's a comment from the administrator themselves??????????what's that all about?,,,I agree with that earlier writer about this being a true circus!!
Ok, so HM is broke, insolvent, done, finished, finito…what about the land? what about the UTA capital lien and what their going to do to recooperate their money?…just walk on in and have someone cut them a check?,,,,or could this possibly play out another way????
LOL, Ed S. You left out hookers.
There is no way HM was spending $50,000 a month on google ad words. YOUR money was carefully handled and protected. Every budget constraint possible was used to ensure project completion. Promises that were made were promises kept. Most of the employees worked for little if any pay. One of the leading accounting firms in North America kept careful track of the books. Even things like travel expenses, lunches and petty cash were handled with an absolute respect for those who provided the funds (YOU). In a surprising turn of events, everything went to hell and all the money was gone. Still scratching my head to figure out what happened. Sorry folks, nothing to see here, move along. Your complaints with the FBI, FTC, and even ABC won't get you much of anywhere.
To Admin.
Thank you for that information. They claimed they were spending $50,000.00 per month on Google. Do you know why Google is keeping the site etc up? They are suppose to owe Google a lot of money.
Google does not (nor any other search engine like Yahoo/Bing) provide the hosting and/or domain registration for HM, for if they did, once a hosting and/or domain bill is NOT paid the site would come down until that bill is paid.
According to whois.com, the domain, haciendamatapalo.com is registered with godaddy.com and the hosting company is theplanet.com with is a redirect to softlayer.com. In other words, all they have to do is pay their bill for the hosting/domain which may only be around $100/year. The expiration date is March 7th, 2013. If they do not pay their bill by March of next year, the site will come down.
I also find it hard to believe that HM owns any money to Google.
Adwords are ALWAYS paid up front or deposit money. GOOGLE does not give credit. Once that money is used up, the ads no longer appear until such time more money is re-deposited into your Google Adwords account. If HM claims they were spending $50,000/month in Adwords, they would have had to FIRST deposit each month $50,000 into their Adwords account.
Even someone like American business magnate and real estate developer Donald Trump does not spend nowhere close to that type of money.
Marcy Seay is a wonderous sales person, especially when it comes to property in Costa Rica that is "pre-development". I am not saying that is a bad thing, I am just saying that if you spoke with her over the past few years like many did, you would think HM had already gone vertical. The building of the complex was a virtual certainty. She would brag about the commercial center as if it was the Las Vegas strip. Marcy is a great gal, but I blame David, Ed and the rest for putting all the wrong words in her mouth. Now the carnage …
Who is the HM caretaker at ground zero? It reminds me of the ABC series LOST. Remember when they had the pod under the ground where there person watching the island had to hit the button every 60 minutes. I wonder if the HM "caretaker" has to do something simular.
Marcy is selling Costa Rican property for someone else? You have to be kidding me. After what she told all the landowners. My God … is there no shame?
Marcy Seay is now working for Meyer Godur and Rubin Sklar selling property in Uvita, Costa Rica. Word has it she has recruited some of the old staff to help. I guess third times a charm.
You have a caretaker enjoying 665 acres of property. Call the FBI, they can follow where the money went. They raped the company and lived very well. Cars, vacations, etc. all at the investors expense. Anyone remember their trip to China looking for cheap building supplies. Why build anything when people were handing over to them thousands of dollars. FBI 305-944-9101 file a complaint. David Matluck / Hacienda Matapalo. They can find the money, if there is any left. If they get away with this it is because you all did nothing but blog. You would think with all the bad chatter they would want to prove their intentions….but they don't. M.Starkey comment on the http://www.costaricanewssite.com article was…. An ex employee wrote that and is trying to blackmail us. Nice try Starkey. Consider yourself lucky if that's all they are doing.
Millions were spent on Google ad words. If you want "your" money back, maybe you should contact Google. That's where a lot of it went. Google it guys !!!
FYI David –
I hope you are NOT implying that HM spend millions in Google Adwords. If so, they would be in the ad spending league of HUGE business like Apple, Microsoft, GoDaddy and Dell.
BMW and Walt Disney for instance, spent less than $500,000/year on Google ads
According to AdAge’s document, only 47 of the brands companies listed spent over $1m (example: Expedia ($5.85m) Amazon ($5.85m) and eBay ($4.25m)), whereas ONLY 357 spent somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000. HM was not listed and was not listed for the previous 4 years.
Again according to Adage, ONLY around 1400 companies spend between 10,000-$100,000 per year for the last 5 years.
To spend ONLY $1 million, that would mean HM spent at least $200,000 per year for the last 5 years or since 2007 (according to whois.com) when the website was published. And according to Google the average Adword’s user spends around $150/month or $1800/year.
I know for a fact that HM's adwords budget was roughly $50k per month every month for 4 years. And BTW, they never had a chance.
A bunch of arrogant self righteous know it alls who knew ablsolutely nothing. That's where all teh money went – marketing.
You all lost your money get over it. This project will never be built.
This is the craziest blog i have ever read. You have the people who have committed the sin, admitting they committed the sin. You have "landowners" who have been allegedly screwed out of millions, defending those who have their money. You have Marcy S. tattle tailing on Dave and Dave tattle telling on Ed … This thing is nuts ?!??!!! Does anyone have the real scoop as to the current status (if you drove by the property today) of Hacienda Mantipello?
You can't get your money back. It's all spent on piss and dribble. Nothing to see hear … move along.
One of the lawyers who represented the investors in the failed Jaco Wyndham Jade project has been made aware of the Hacienda Matapalo situation. Please call him with inquiries about a joint legal action to get our money back. His name is Matthew Sarelson in Florida and his number is 305-379-0305.
You are my aspiration, I have few blogs and infrequently run out from post :). “Never mistake motion for action.” by Ernest Hemingway.
The way my name is being batted around makes me feel like a pinata at a 7 year olds birthday party. I was not the one promising the world. Your friend and mine M.S. was the one doing the "dirty work". She would say whatever it took to close. Sorry it ended so poorly for all. Let the snakes and lizards enjoy the property in their own natural habitat. It was their's to begin with. We were only borrowing her. Hacienda Matapalo RIP my fair lady …
The hate on this board is hard to fathom. I think some of the HM cheerleaders are indeed David, Ed and Mz. Seay. The real question is was HM a scam from day one? I am sure the people that bought property hoped for a better experience than this. Sad …
Rumor has it Marcy = Mr. Smith. The principles are going to start turning on each other. Prepare for massive finger pointing. Not that Marcy is to blame. She just spread the word as given by Mr. Big
http://www.costaricanewssite.com/7344/hacienda-matapalo-another-smoke-mirrors-development-project-bites-the-dust/
To Admin.
Thank you. This is the only outlet for anyone who has been effected by the fallout created by the Partners of HM. More and more people are only just becoming aware of this blog.
Soon all 200 and some investors will know that they have been doing everything they can to keep investors in the dark. AND WE KNOW WHAT KIND OF THINGS LIVE IN DARKNESS.
At least the others ran. Mike Starkey continues to field calls and gives false statements. He told me three months ago lots were going to start closing and a big announcement was going to take place. Has anyone closed? Anyone get a personal invitation to the big announcement?
I have never in my life come across such a useless blog with so little to offer its readers. The only people that seem to have anything to say are either those that find pleasure in the potential demise of HM who really have no access to info or those few homeowners that are reserving comments for a more credible venue and audience …what a bunch of f—heads!
To Mr Smith, It is very clear you do not understand what a Blog is. A Blog is not a newspaper, nor do they want to be. Blogs are design for personal views, comments, opinions and information.
Although not a must, most good quality blogs allows visitors/users to read and leave comments and even send/post messages to others that are interactive within the particular Blog post.
You may find this particular Blog post useless, but with close to 200 comments, no doubt others do not. As far as we know this is the ONLY Blog post that allows comments that centers around the controversy of Hacienda Matapalo development project.
With said, this post HAS become very valuable to the people that were/are involved with HM. If anything …. and probably most important …. it allows people to vent …
In other words, it offers a lot to the reader.
Has anyone else heard from Marcy? I have heard strong rumors that the property is now in the hands of the New Jersey investment group and that development could move forward. Just a rumor though. "Seay" what you want, but maybe it isn't over yet.
They do this "thing" where they tell you yes, HM is in bad shape, but if you just hang in there, then there is hope that things could get better. If the project was in good shape, they would just tell everyone. It's a freaking fiasco is what it is. The people that invested just wanted to have a nice place to go for the Winter. They didn't ask for all this drama and BS.
Why is someone negative for thinking that this project is probably a bust?
Deb your not screwed. Yes Ed,David ,and Brian are all gone but there is good news. I will give you a number and name that can explain what is going on and the latest updates. You can reach me at robhere@verizon.net. Only those that are invested in HM. I don't need to hear from all the negative people out there who have never purchased or visited HM.
It is odd how Marcy, Ed and David don't come up on this blog and explain themselves. We don't need all the hints and innuendos. We just need the truth. Are we screwed? If we are screwed, we need to know so we can accept the money as being gone. If we are not screwed, then maybe there is hope. I don't know what to think anymore. Kind of sad that such a wonderful idea turned into such a cluster-F.
What do you think David, Ed and the SoothSeayer will be up to next? A friend of mine told me they are going to create a gated community called Hacienda Moontapalo. You guessed it, located near the landing site of Apollo 11 directly on the surface of the Moon, Sorry, no beach access for this one. 3-D renditions to follow shortly. Deposits to be taken first quarter 2013. Hell of a view up there.
Seay what you want … It's over … Bad investment decisions do not equal fraud … Nothing to see hear folks, move on please =)
It is done if you all roll over and die. Stop being so stupid investors. Do something/ damand something. Some of you are in from the start some are new . DO SOMETHING. Speak with other investors. There are people that know things,
Still no announcements. Still the same old story. NOTHING /NADA HUM!
This thing has run its course. Obviously, there will be no further updates from HM management. Turn out the lights, the parties over … Dandy Don …
We are trying to expose scammers in Costa Rica and found a legal loophole to print articles about them. If you are interested in us printing your story please email Dan at info@costaricascams.com
The only one retiring on HM land is going to be the snakes and lizards. Put a fork in this HM drama and realize that so many real estate projects have gone bust, what would make this one any different. Hope gone … Money gone … Dreams gone …
Hi, I'm another owner wondering what the status of my investment is. Anybody have any updates? This place was going to be our retirement home.
Maria. I am interested in speaking to you about this. How can I best reach you?
I got a call from Edward late last week and he told me that a big announcement is coming and financing has tentatively been arranged. Has anyone been to the project lately to see first hand if work is being done? Fingers crossed.
It's strange how the 300 investors are so silent. It's as if they don't even care that their money is allegedly gone. Maybe they had so much green, the loss isn't a huge problem for them. Maybe it's just looked at as a tax write off …. Sigh ….
The Twitter feed for Ed is down as well.
Bottom feeder Ed Sklar has removed ALL references to Hacienda Matapalo in his Linked In profile. Hey XX we are waiting for that March newsletter. Tick tock.
I think you "investors" are finally getting the message. It's all dried up. Just thank your lucky stars you didn't pay for your "properties" in full. None of you did that, now did you?
You guys are asking the federal authorities to do the due diligence that you yourselves should have done. If someone puts up a web site with a bunch of 3 dimensional drawings of a happy village, yet the land is nothing more than cow pasture, something should go off in your heads that this could be dangerous. Seay what you want, but it's over.
You guys are crazy thinking the FBI is going to get involved in a failed real estate project. Real Estate projects have failed everywhere. Just let David and Ed go about there merry way on to their next venture. One of these days they will get things right and an investor will actually get what they are promised. Just not this time.
There is nothing to see here. Move along. Money spent, hope gone.
@B Please check your link as it is broken. Just speculating, but I believe UTA still must foreclose and that is a process. From there it's even a larger process to decide a future for the asset.
@Admin or anyone who knows. Is there a web site in CR that tracks foreclosure activity?
The La Gaceta – Government Newspaper lists government notices like, foreclosures, liens, and auctions of property – http://www.ticotimes.com/detail/link-6197.html
admin, that was not a criticism, we appreciate that. Thank you. You have given people a platform to aire their thoughts and feelings. It has become a chat. Hope more people become enlightened through your blog and take action. Action speaks louder than words.
The first comment about HM was one year ago. How much longer are you going to blog.
We normally only keep Blog comments open for about a year. And our Blog was only about Warning people about CR Real Estate fraud. However, the comments targeting HM have been ongoing and has become a chat … and we keep it open for that reason. Obviously this Blog has allow HM investors to express their feelings and facts, which is a good thing since no one else has done it.
Think logically. When HM lost the property to UTA Capital they were not forthcoming with that information. The information was released because the Motion to Dismiss is public record. If UTA Capital was forthcoming they would have contacted the investors to inform them of the take over and about future plans for HM. Neither side said anything. UTA Capital is mute and HM is desprite, they will tell you anything. They are counting on you doing nothing. Time was up last year. http://www.miami@ic.fbi.gov Add yourself to the list. case: David Matluck/HaciendaMatapalo
Nothing will get done. These projects go bust every day. You invested money, they allegedly lost the money, now move on.