Caribbean Investment in Residential or Commercial Property

[Michael Rashfal]

Hi Everyone, For anybody who has experience investing in the Caribbean, due to the recent hurricanes that have hit the area, is now a good time to invest in places like San Juan or Saint Martin (either residential or commercial)? Or, due to government obstacles and/or population outflow, should we just stay away?

[Jon Holdman]

Originally posted by @Bill R.:

Originally posted by @Jon Holdman:

I'm curious about this, too.  And looked at the same locations you mention.  The breakdown of law and order with armed gangs roaming the streets in St. Maarten leaves me very concerned about investing there.  OTOH, Puerto Rico was much calmer, even with the ongoing problems they still face.  But there have been large outflows of residents from PR, and the predictions are they won't return.

Count me in the curious class as well.  It's an interesting set of circumstances.  I can't recall off the top of my head where you've had this massive event AND the residents can immigrate without much friction to somewhere like the US.  

 Katrina was something like this.  Lots of folks left New Orleans for Houston, Baton Rouge, Mobile and other locations.  According to the Wikipedia article, the population of Louisiana declined by over 200,000 after Katrina.  PR is already down (by 2016 estimates) from 3.8 million at its 2000 peak to 3.4 now.  According to a NYTimes article dated Nov 17, 168,000 people have left since the hurricane.  I've spent some time looking at residential investments in PR over the last few years.  But this population decline means less demand, so I'm not sure this is a good place to invest.