M-N-O
M
Maintenance – Reparations made on a property and its interior to make up for wear and tear. Mantenimiento
Maintenance fee – The amount charged to an owner of a property to pay for maintenance. Cuota de mantenimiento
Management fee – The charge of a professional property management company to take care of a property while the owner is away. Management can include rental management, where the professional takes care of everything associated with renting a vacation property. It can also include a fee for taking care of utility bills, property taxes and maintenance of a property of which the owner if absent. Cargo administrativo
Master plan – Maps, plans and written explanation of the overall concept for a development. Plan maestro
Minimum lot area – The minimum size a building lot can be. Tamaño mínimo de un lote
Mortgage – A financial instrument that creates a lien against a property that a person wants to buy but doesn’t have all the money to complete the process. Hipoteca
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) – An association of real estate brokers that agree to disclose information of the properties they list to a communal pool. This opens up a wider potential for a broker to find a buyer and a buyer to find a suitable property. The listing broker and the selling broker (the one who has the contact with the buyer) share the commission.
N
NAR – National Association of Realtors (U.S.)
Notary Public – In Costa Rica, this is a lawyer who has obtained the special right to register acts in public registries. This includes registering the deed of the property a person has bought, transferring the title into the new owner’s name. Here, all notaries are attorneys but not all attorneys are notaries. Notario público
O
Offer – An expression of will to purchase a property at a specified price. The seller then decides whether to accept the offer or wait for a higher one. Oferta
Open listing – The opposite of an exclusive listing and is the most widely practiced way of selling a property through a broker in Costa Rica. The first broker to sell gets all the commission and the other brokers receive nothing for their listing.
Option – The right to lease or buy a property on specific terms and within a specified period of time. If the option hasn’t been exercised within the specified time period the owner has the right to alter the terms of sale. Opción