We traveled by boat from dangriga to thatch caye, seems like it took about 20 min. I didn't mind it at all. Want me to go stay and check it out for you? Lol
Hi Jeb - a good friend of mine lives on Ambergris Caye and works in real estate development. She may be able to help you out with more information. I love it there, but haven't invested myself due to the financing requirements. I'd be glad to connect you two if you're interested!
Emily that would be amazing if I could talk to your friend or text or email etc. Please DM me or I can DM you, whatever you prefer.
Hi Jeb - a good friend of mine lives on Ambergris Caye and works in real estate development. She may be able to help you out with more information. I love it there, but haven't invested myself due to the financing requirements. I'd be glad to connect you two if you're interested!
Emily that would be amazing if I could talk to your friend or text or email etc. Please DM me or I can DM you, whatever you prefer.
I DM'ed you! I run an event called the New Orleans Investment Conference and we've had several exhibitors with Ambergris opportunities. Numbers look good but I agree you need to really research occupancy rates, what part of the island, etc. And as I said the financing is not great so you end up with a lot of money down. But, it's a beautiful place and could help subsidize your own trips there if you like it too!
Jeb Brilliant my family is from Belize. We have property in Placencia and up in Cayo.
Actually have land in Cayo for sale as well.
Happy to connect and answer questions (I’m no expert in Belize RE). Send me a PM
$250,000 in Belize or Vegas. Vegas 90% occupancy....its a given.
Vegas in USA. Belize isnt.
I don't disagree but... What kind of A+ 4+ star property can you buy in Vegas for $250k?
Trump, MGM, Palms......city center moderately higher.
Jacque, I feel like a total newb, I had NO idea you could buy into those. I'm curious what they go for and what they're like. Do you have any experience with them?
@Jeb Brilliant I think Belize is a great potential investment location...cheap, English speaking, great weather, direct flights from cities like Atlanta. However, when I was there folks were grumbling about potential political unrest in that Guatamala has been trying to “annex” or take over Belize for years...not sure jow accurate that is, but you may want to look into the stability of the government too before investing.
I think Placencia is a better investment than the cayes because there is a good flow of both local and foreign tourists there whereas the cayes felt 100% dependent on foreign tourism and were pretty dead when we went in Oct.
Disclosure: I'm not an advertiser nor a promoter of any products. Just contributing to the thread.
As I was watching a podcast related to coffee farms in Panama and Central America, I got to the website of the Real Estate Guys. (you can google it easily). If you click on the events link, there are some events they have with travels to Belize for various investing opportunities. Could be a good starting points for anyone looking at diversifying their investment portfolios. It seems quite interesting .
I have a similar understanding of it. My wife and I are planning more kids in the near future, otherwise we would have been back. Southwest flies to Belize City city out of Houston now.
Zika wasn't the cause of microcephaly. Don't be afraid to go.
I've been many times and my family has owned a few places down there. We bought before the downturn and held on. It's come back quite a bit, especially since Southwest is flying there. We own a villa in Hopkins Bay Resort.
Belize is a British protectorate, follows British common law, English is the official language, and their currency is pegged to the dollar. It's a good place to invest, BUT you have to have a local attorney handle your transaction and people you TRUST on the ground.
@Jeb Brilliant I think Belize is a great potential investment location...cheap, English speaking, great weather, direct flights from cities like Atlanta. However, when I was there folks were grumbling about potential political unrest in that Guatamala has been trying to “annex” or take over Belize for years...not sure jow accurate that is, but you may want to look into the stability of the government too before investing.
I think Placencia is a better investment than the cayes because there is a good flow of both local and foreign tourists there whereas the cayes felt 100% dependent on foreign tourism and were pretty dead when we went in Oct.
Erika out of curiosity how long ago did you go and were you on Ambergris Caye? I’m really trying hard to get a feeling of how busy it was but if it was a few years ago or a different area of the country that will make a difference.
Disclosure: I'm not an advertiser nor a promoter of any products. Just contributing to the thread.
As I was watching a podcast related to coffee farms in Panama and Central America, I got to the website of the Real Estate Guys. (you can google it easily). If you click on the events link, there are some events they have with travels to Belize for various investing opportunities. Could be a good starting points for anyone looking at diversifying their investment portfolios. It seems quite interesting .
Thanks for the suggestion Henri, I’ve been all over their site and what they offer is pretty good. I’ll probably take one of the tours sooner then later.
Caribbean Beach Cabanas in Placencia is doing so good, the owners from Ohio bought more property in Ambergris Caye. They do a nice blog post as well, talking all about the amenities and greatness of Belize. Laura and Dave Diffendal. I'm not even looking to live there full time, or make Belize my primary income. I'd love to live there part time in retirement, and AirBnB the property out to cover some of the costs. Not an aggressive plan.
I have visited in September. Weather was beautiful but it was also during the start of the hurricane season. This should be something to consider if investing on the kayes.
Also, my nervousness about the investment is that you are relying on foreign tourism to fill your investment. If there is an economic downturn, what options do you have to keep it full or at least break even? I would suspect that locals aren't going to be able to afford the rent in your place if you wanted to turn it from STR to long-term rental.
We stayed on Ambergris in lovely hotel/hostel owned by a British couple. Wonderful place. We are there at the end of tourist season and no one was around. It was $75/night (probably closer to $125 now) but we were the only ones renting (out of 3 total units). And it seemed like there were many other options.
I'm certainly not trying to discourage you, I'm setting up my thought process a bit. This is like investing in classic cars. No matter what you are speculating (in my opinion - feel free to disagree) so buy the car (real estate) that you want to drive and hope it goes up in value. If it goes up in value, you win. If it doesn't you have a car that you loved driving.
As far as the RE in Belize, buy one that you'd be happy to own (if it only turned out 1/2 as good as you hoped) and enjoy it. If you wouldn't want to have it as YOUR vacation rental, maybe you should reconsider. In the end, I feel like this is purely speculation. I loved the idea of living there during the tourist season (similar to the Brits) and renting out a room or two and enjoying the place as if you were in vacation. You can shutter the doors and return home in the slow season. Or you can find a manager and just AirBnB it for now and then manage it yourself once you retire. I know I completely changed subjects on you here but I think this option should be up for consideration. Or at least looking for something with 3-4 rooms that can be rented as a mini-hotel rather than a one room villa.
Lastly, another amazing option in Belize is an ecotourism hotel or STR in western Belize near all the ruins. Hurricanes are less of an issue and you could probably run some sort of tour company out of your place too and do day trips to Tikal in Guatemala (assuming political issues are settled). I know this is a way different option than your original post but it feels like an alternative to what every other RE investor is gravitated to in Belize.
$250,000 in Belize or Vegas. Vegas 90% occupancy....its a given.
Vegas in USA. Belize isnt.
I'm pretty sure Belize isn't 118F for 4 months? April in Vegas is already too hot for me :/
I KNOW las Vegas isnt 118F for four months. Trump calls this this fake .
Vegas vs. Belize condo-tel. Vegas wins hands down. The one person who give an account of an actual Belize buy wasnt too happy, is just ignored. While his accont sounds a lot more like reality than what the promoters promote.
What does "Trump calls this this fake" mean? Were you being sarcastic?
I visit LV at least once every year. I know what the weather is during every month since I go outside a lot. That said, I always have a ton of fun there and am starting to love the city.
I have visited in September. Weather was beautiful but it was also during the start of the hurricane season. This should be something to consider if investing on the kayes.
Also, my nervousness about the investment is that you are relying on foreign tourism to fill your investment. If there is an economic downturn, what options do you have to keep it full or at least break even? I would suspect that locals aren't going to be able to afford the rent in your place if you wanted to turn it from STR to long-term rental.
We stayed on Ambergris in lovely hotel/hostel owned by a British couple. Wonderful place. We are there at the end of tourist season and no one was around. It was $75/night (probably closer to $125 now) but we were the only ones renting (out of 3 total units). And it seemed like there were many other options.
I'm certainly not trying to discourage you, I'm setting up my thought process a bit. This is like investing in classic cars. No matter what you are speculating (in my opinion - feel free to disagree) so buy the car (real estate) that you want to drive and hope it goes up in value. If it goes up in value, you win. If it doesn't you have a car that you loved driving.
As far as the RE in Belize, buy one that you'd be happy to own (if it only turned out 1/2 as good as you hoped) and enjoy it. If you wouldn't want to have it as YOUR vacation rental, maybe you should reconsider. In the end, I feel like this is purely speculation. I loved the idea of living there during the tourist season (similar to the Brits) and renting out a room or two and enjoying the place as if you were in vacation. You can shutter the doors and return home in the slow season. Or you can find a manager and just AirBnB it for now and then manage it yourself once you retire. I know I completely changed subjects on you here but I think this option should be up for consideration. Or at least looking for something with 3-4 rooms that can be rented as a mini-hotel rather than a one room villa.
Lastly, another amazing option in Belize is an ecotourism hotel or STR in western Belize near all the ruins. Hurricanes are less of an issue and you could probably run some sort of tour company out of your place too and do day trips to Tikal in Guatemala (assuming political issues are settled). I know this is a way different option than your original post but it feels like an alternative to what every other RE investor is gravitated to in Belize.
Good luck!!!!
I agree. The reason the real estate guys and others promote these investments in Belize is because they don't care if they make money or not. They have plenty of other Investments that actually do. You should buy there with intent of having fun and not making a profit if you want to be realistic.
Belize has no easy development financing, as the banking here is incredibly complicated and inefficient! Dev financing is best done privately. This being said, the ROI's here are great, that is for those carefully targeted projects and by those that understand this market by living in it as we do. If someone would like to discuss some income options, please reach out?
hey jeb. I invested in ambergis caye a few years ago but in land. I’m base d out of long beach as well. Message me if are interested in connecting to share notes
Caye caulker rocks. I'm heading there with the family in November and I can't wait. My sister bought some land there a few years ago, but hasn't gotten construction going there yet because they still need to hook up power. Its awesome to be able to get waterfront land at a great price. Belize is awesome
hey jeb. I invested in ambergis caye a few years ago but in land. I’m base d out of long beach as well. Message me if are interested in connecting to share notes
Hi Richard, I’d love to connect. I’m hosting a meet up this Wednesday at Taco Surf on Los Al Blvd. at 7pm. I’ll also DM you and maybe we can chat prior to that.
Belize has no easy development financing, as the banking here is incredibly complicated and inefficient! Dev financing is best done privately. This being said, the ROI's here are great, that is for those carefully targeted projects and by those that understand this market by living in it as we do. If someone would like to discuss some income options, please reach out?
Hi Michael I’d love to chat on the phone and find out more about what’s going on in Belize. DM me and let’s connect.
Belize is truly amazing and incredibly rich with opportunities, as well as pirates, rum, and mind bending hidden political potholes - one must tread carefully! I have learned to navigate through most of the issues through trial and error with a complete business structure setup and functioning! The hard part is raising investment capitol here, the banks are either currently involved in some sort of unfavourable behaviour or have been caught in doing so and are so strapped with sanctions or cumbersome rules that they cannot easily move forward as one would be accustomed to within the US development banking structure.
Private investment capitol is the only real efficient method to get anything done here...
We are currently looking to raise capitol for a few different projects from small to large, if someone is interested in real profit based development endeavours - look me up happy to discuss and collaborate!