My Sister and BIL decided to retire to Costa Rica. They are seasoned world travelers and by no means gullible.
Despite that, they got conned out of $10,000 by some real estate agent there. They hired a lawyer but never got anything back.
Just be careful
A smart and patient relative of mine got ripped off for $100K in CR on a real estate deal.
A new development was going in, ocean views, etc. He did lots of digging, went down there a few times to look things over, met the developers, met his next-parcel neighbor (an American accountant) who had already built.
He had to put $50K down in reserve, then later $50K to finalize...then came 2008 and the financial collapse and everyone disappeared.
No recourse, nada, hasta la gringo.