About Us

You are looking at the page that tells about the us, the people at Dominical Dot Biz Select Costa Rica Real Estate. For the story of how Dominical.biz came to be, and my story in moving here with my family, please click here.

As for the real estate thing, well actually it has been a long time in developing. After living here in the San Isidro/Dominical area for a number of years, and helping a number of people to find their property, we have a pretty good working knowledge of the business. We have a good working relationship with both developers, and Tico land owners. So, you'll find some great listings here. But, the reason this information is on the "About Us" page has to do with our mission statement. Here it is -

"To find you your property"

Some might say that the mission statement of any realtor would be -

To make the commission

and I'll grant you, those commissions are sweet. But, the business is about finding you your property. We have been known to walk a client to a competitor when it became clear that we didn't have what they were looking for. You won't be shown what you can't afford. You will be shown what you are looking for.

I have been the manager of a well known local real estate agency, but I had left the managing of the office to free up time for me to pursue the business in what I call a highly personalized approach to real estate in Costa Rica. I love to sit in our initial consultation and try and figure out what you, the prospective land buyer, are looking for, and then to match that with what is currently on the market. Highly personalized. You'll get my undivided attention while we are together, and we'll go until we find it.

If you don't see what you are looking for in the listings on the site, please drop me a line and let me know what it is you are looking for. Be detailed. There is always a lot more than what you find on the various websites.

I look forward to working with you!

Ben Vaughn

Referrals:

Dolly & Tim:

This one is in response to a request by Scott Oliver of welovecostarica.com for referrals of good real estate agents in Costa Rica. Dolly responded with the below.

Dear Scott, We recently bought property in the southern pacific zone of Uvita. Surely one of the most beautiful areas for the cosumate beach bum like myself. Our realtor was outstanding, helpful, honest and very hard working. He took time to show us a variety of investments, including buildable lots, new home construction, and vacation rentals, many of which require serious hiking abilites. In the end, we bought 6 acres of prime ocean view bluff above Uvita. We can't wait to start the construction process, and begin life in paradise. Our realtor / broker was , Ben Vaughn. Originally he worked with Horizon Properties in Dominical, but recently, Ben went out on his own after receiving many word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers like me. Ben's email is ; ben.vaughn@gmail.com, and his real estate office is now outside the town of Uvita. I believe he trying to concentrate on the southern pacific coast, but Ben has been living in CR for many years, and he is familiar with many areas of this beautiful country. I hope you will include Ben in your VIP list of quality realtors in CR. As a very (very) nervous american investor, Ben put my mind at ease, and took much of the stress out of the international process. He guided us through the "corporation" process, and followed through with the developer on the project. He returns emails promptly and always offers good, sound advice. I hope to have a long (professional) and personal friendship with Ben, and I am sure your other VIP members will find him to be knowledgeable, fair, hard working, honest and loyal. Yours truly, Dolores ( Dolly) Rhinesmith Beachbum for life

Robert

Dear Ben,
I have to tell you, I am very impressed with all the work and assistance you are providing. Honestly, most realtors here simply get the contract signed and tell their clients that everything is cool and you never see nor hear from them. They defer any issues, questions or problems to the title company or attorney and make multiple representations without actually being informed, resulting in them becoming “misrepresentations”. These, many times, become major problems for which they take no responsibility. I always thought I would make a much better real estate agent for these reasons. I feel very fortunate to have you in my corner. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your offering to inspect the property and take photos. I cannot wait to see what has been done. I was thinking last nite that, without your assistance, I don’t think I could locate my own lot!
R. Santa Lucia
Florida, USA

Kurt

Dear Ben,
Thanks again for all the time you took with me. I appreciated your laid-back approach and had a complete sense of honesty and integrity.
K. Parker
Colorado, USA

The Harrises

Wow! Thanks Ben, you are always giving us a hand and we really do appreciate it. See you soon,

David & Liz

Gabe & Francis

Thanks so much for your willingness to help out with all our errands and loose ends. Not only would we NOT be C.R. landowners if we had not run into that day, but we would be far behind in our knowledge and savviness of what all needs to be done.

The below is a request by a prospect who found me on the web

I asked Mr Vaughn for references and he provided me with your email address.
I would appreciate your comments on Mr Vaughn, and on any other aspect of the process of evaluating and purchasing property in Costa Rica.

The Goulds

Hello again, Ed....First, you are most welcome to contact me by telephone at *** *** ****...this evening or weekday evenings...except Tuesday. Meanwhile, here are a few comments for your consideration.

I won't go on much more about Ben (he can only take so much good news about himself)....but to summarize our experience, I sometimes doubt we would have made our purchase if we hadn't met Ben...We are pretty conservative folks but he made us feel very confident we were doing the right thing...15 months later we have NO regrets. Ben is the kind of guy who does what he says he will do and he will surprise you by doing more than you'd asked for simply because "it" needed to be done. That's good service. You may trust Ben implicitly.

If you have not done so already, I recommend you read Ben's Blog...He has provided a wealth of valuable and accurate information to people like you an us. Ben has a good grasp on what is happening in the South Coast area and has written plenty on the topic of buying property in Costa Rica. What I have read on Ben's blog seems to hold true with our experiences.

Ben Vaughn is truly an honest and credible man. He is everything you would want in an Agent, a colleague and a friend....Ben is the strongest link in the chain that is "purchasing property in Costa Rica." We found Ben by luck but we knew instantly, he was the man we would buy from, if we were to do that - which as you know, we did. Ross & Gayle Gould

The Cadzows

We can not say enough about Ben. He has been a true find! He is as honest and low pressure sale, as one can get. He knows the area and the market as well as anyone. I have never heard an unkind word said about him. He has always been professional and diligent in his representations for us. We have used him for several transactions and all have gone without a problem.
J & B Cadzow

Ruthie

Dear Ed,
When I decided to move to Costa Rica in 2006 I came across Ben's website on the internet, contacted him, and have been grateful ever since for that serendipitous stroke of good fortune. He proved to be the best possible professional choice I could have made and in the process of helping me became a very dear friend. I recommend him to you without reservations of any kind.
Buying property in Costa Rica is not a simple procedure and realtors do not have to be licensed, so you definitely want someone with Ben's knowledge, skill and integrity to handle your affairs. He will be straight with you every step of the way and he will stick with you every step of the way. From A to Z this is no easy task, at least it wasn't with me! Ruthie