Should Your Lawyer Decide If You Make the Loan? Ask the Right Expert

Over the years I’ve watched good lenders talk themselves out of good loans. Not because the deal was bad, but because they asked the wrong person.

Lea este artículo en español: Pregunte al experto correcto antes de prestar

The easiest answer for a lawyer is “no”

Ask a lawyer “Should I do this loan?” and the safest answer for them is no. If they say no, nothing can go wrong for them, and they still get paid for their time. If they say yes and something goes wrong, their name is on the line. If they work for a big firm, the firm’s name is on the line too. So no is the answer that protects them.

That isn’t a criticism. A lawyer’s job is to keep you out of legal trouble, not to tell you whether a loan is a good investment. The same goes for your accountant, and even your best friend. They care about you, but the numbers behind a Costa Rica property loan are not their field.

Keep every expert in their lane

Smart owners use experts, but they keep each one to what they know. The costly mistake is treating a specialist in one area as the guide for everything.

• A lending lawyer checks the title, the mortgage deed and the registration.
• An accountant looks after your taxes.
• An immigration lawyer handles residency. You wouldn’t want a criminal lawyer doing your residency, or giving you advice on a financial business. For residency, see CRIE’s residency lawyers.
• The question “Is this a good loan?” belongs to people who work with lending, property values and borrowers every day.

Who should help you decide on a loan

That’s GAP’s job. Before a lender ever sees a file, GAP checks the property, the title, any existing debts, the value and the borrower’s plan to repay. The lawyers we work with understand lending, borrowing and real estate transactions inside out.

Every loan is secured by a first-degree mortgage registered in the National Registry, usually around 30% of the property’s value and never more than 50%. The property is worth far more than the loan, so your loan has a real guarantee: the property. Read what happens if a borrower doesn’t pay and what GAP checks before you lend.

Your own lawyer is always welcome, and we’ll send them the documents directly. Just ask them the question they’re trained to answer: “Are the documents and the mortgage in order?” Don’t ask them “Should I do this loan?”

The same goes for borrowers

If you’re borrowing against your property, ask lending professionals about the loan, and your lawyer about the paperwork. See GAP Equity Loans to request a loan.

The bottom line

Ask the right expert the right question. For the legal side, ask a lawyer who does lending. For residency, ask an immigration lawyer. And for whether a loan makes sense, ask people who look at loans every day.

WhatsApp us now at +506 4001 6413. We value your call. gapinvestments.com

Article by Glenn Tellier (Founder of CRIE and Grupo Gap)