“Belize: buy before the Europeans!” is the headline on the International Living December 2007 Magazine.
By late 2008 it will be possible to fly direct to Belize City from Europe. This is big news for Belize and its real estate market. The Europeans, armed with their strong currencies, will start to arrive to this English speaking country in numbers. They will no longer have to transit through the US.
They will come for the classic Caribbean experience, the world class diving, the jungles and rainforests, the Mayan ruins, the waterfalls and rivers. And the real estate dollars will follow close behind.
We have seen the effect of new flight routes on real estate markets before. Dubbed the “Ryanair effect” (Ryaniar is a major European low cost airline). Wherever Ryanair has started flying, the Irish and the Brits have followed and real estate markets have flourished.
There are also rumors that direct flights from Canada will also start.
Timing is everything in real estate and right now could be the perfect time to take a closer look at this stunning country - while property prices are still well below regional benchmarks.
The U.S. National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is over 1.2 million strong in membership. When an association that size opens a strategic relationship with another organization, it’s worthy of note. NAR did just that when they announced in November 2007 that they were initiating a joint reciprocal relationship with the Belize National Association of Realtors® in recognition of the growth of the Belize real estate industry.
NAR is recognizing the growth of the real estate market in Belize, and there are a number of reasons for it:
English as a native language – Belize has adopted English as their native language. The country is a former British Colony known as British Honduras.
Foreign citizen tax breaks – retirees in Belize can apply for special status that provides tax breaks on retirement income and import of household items and furnishings. This bodes well for investment in Belize real estate.
An expanding economy – the gross domestic product of Belize has grown for the last 30 or so years, with agriculture, services and manufacturing at the core.
As one can readily see, Belize is poised for more growth if the baby boomer generation recognizes the quality of life available for retirees. And it’s not crowded either! Belize has the lowest population density in the Central American Region, and one of the lowest in the world. There’s room for you in Belize.
Belize is a parliamentarydemocracy and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The government is divided into 6 districts and 31 constituencies. Belize is located between two rivers, and the Belize River flows through the middle of the country. With a Caribbean coastline, the Belize Barrier Reef and the Maya Mountains, there is certainly a diversity of terrain and outdoor recreation. A large area of savannas and wetlands provides a great biodiversity, both marine and terrestrial. With the longest living barrier reef in the western hemisphere, Belize attracts divers from all around the world.
Sugar, bananas and citrus production comprise the largest segment of the agricultural activities. Recent discoveries of petroleum deposits bring exciting new possibilities to the manufacturing and mining segments of the economy. The government is spending millions to better the standard of living of their poorer residents. The Belize real estate market is gaining steam.
An interesting facet of Belize is the cultural and ethnic diversity. There is almost no friction between the harmoniously blended cultures and races. Belize has Mennonites, Chinese, Mayan, Spanish, Lebanese, East Indian and other ethnicities. They all get along, and there is great religious tolerance. There are Christians and Roman Catholics. Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism exist with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
It is readily apparent that the government, culture, economy and geography all combine to make Belize a highly desirable place to live. With the boomer generation searching for interesting retirement locales that are economically advantageous, Belize is positioned for significant growth. Make it your next vacation spot and you just might find the perfect Belize real estate for your retirement!
Frontier Airlines, a major low-fare carrier, is reportedly considering a seasonal service from Denver to Belize City. Frontier Airlines currently flies to San Jose, Costa Rica, and to several cities in Mexico, and is looking to further expand internationally. Frontier operates a hub and spoke route system, with more than 90% of flights originating or arriving at its Denver hub. More competition may also help to drive down prices charged by existing carriers.
RSS is a “news feed” that allows you to see when websites have added new content. You get the latest posts, headlines, news, listings sent to you automatically as soon as they are published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. It’s a great way to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in.
How do I get set up using RSS feeds?
To get started you will need a news reader, feed reader or news aggregator - a piece of software that checks the feeds and lets you read any new articles that have been added. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, others are downloadable applications.
Two popular Windows based feed readers are Feedreader and Newsgator. There are also a number of web-based feed readers available including Google Reader, Bloglines or My Yahoo. Some browsers, including latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari, automatically check for feeds for you when you visit a website, and display an icon (like the one on this page) when they find one. This can make subscribing to feeds much easier. You can also choose to receive your RSS feeds via email.
Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites such as this one that syndicate their content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Then just click on the orange RSS icon to set up the feed.
Belize offers some of the most affordable Caribbean real estate in the region including numerous private islands and cayes. In this video, we feature a remarkable island at a remarkable price.
We’re fascinated by the real estate opportunities here too.
And we’re starting to get bitten by this blogging bug as well.
So put together Belize, real estate and blogging and, well, let’s just say it’s a good day.
Anyway, that is why we’re very happy with WikiHow’s “How to Buy a Private Island“. They give great advice on a whole range of areas and right at the bottom there’s a link for us.
It’s certainly well worth checking out their words of wisdom. How about this:
“You’re not just buying and island you’re buying its surroundings. There should be a village nearby where you can get supplies and an airport close at hand, for instance. In other words, what makes an island feasible is the infrastructure available to it.”
Wise words. You can check out island in Belize on our website here.
It was set up to serve photographers not real estate investors but there can be few better ways to look around a country before you even get there.
Flickr is a photo sharing website and it’s popularity is now so wide that you can find pictures of just about everything and everywhere.Luckily for anyone serious about investing in
Belize, there’s a pool of photos from across the country, totalling over 1,800 in all. You can see them here.
Readers of USA Today’s website could be forgiven for indulging in a little day dreaming when they read this feature.
Entitled Most Expensive Beachfront Homes in the USA, the prices of the properties it profiles start at just over $30m - rising to a massive $125m for Donald Trump’s ocean view pad.
Now, we reckon that Donald’s investment was worth every cent to him and we hope he managed to find time in his busy schedule to take a stroll on the beach.But there is a way to enjoy millionaire-style beach living without shelling out Trump change.
The trick is, you have to look a little further afield.
How about this lot on Ambergris Bay, Belize for only $100,000.Would you like to wake up to this view below?
Or, how about this, 14 acres on TurneffeIslandsfor $349,000?
Get in early and if you’re investment proves a good one, maybe you can sell to Mr Trump a little later.
According to Amberlamb “These seven reasons are unarguable and in our opinion they are the only reasons you need to consider! “
1) Stability
The economy in Belize is stable, the Belizean currency is linked to the American dollar, the political climate is stable, Belize is a democracy, the legal system is based on the British legal framework and what’s more, Belize is still an independent member of the British Commonwealth.
What all this adds up to is the fact that the nation need not be considered an emerging or even cutting edge market - rather it is a stable, democratic country which has a balanced economy and is a nation in which one can have faith.
2) Tax Friendly
The offshore financial services industry in Belize is relatively highly regarded and well regulated; it is also quite advanced and supported by the government. In addition to this fact, the taxation framework in Belize is conducive to encouraging international business and investment into the nation because there are no capital gains or inheritance taxes.
3) Popularity
The fact that a number of American celebrities have homes in Belize and that the nation was chosen for the filming of ‘Temptation Island’ has increased awareness of the appeal of the nation in America and beyond.
Naturally this means that increasing numbers of people are looking at holidaying in Belize or buying a holiday or retirement home there….thus opening up a property investor’s target client base.
4) Massive Tourism Interest
Belize has the strongest tourism industry in the region and since 1998 Belize has seen tourism numbers rise every single year. The nation is acutely aware of its reliance on the tourism industry and therefore does and will continue to do everything it can to facilitate business growth. Clearly this factor also increases an investor’s potential client base and it also means that for the long term property in Belize is of interest to investors.
5) Location & Language
Belize is highly accessible from North America and now from Western Europe as well. The language mainly spoken in Belize and always used in business is English which makes it a country easily identifiable with for British, American and Canadian buyers.
6) Natural Beauty
Belize has the second largest and most fascinating and beautiful barrier reef in the world. The diving in Belize is considered among the best in the world, ecologically speaking the nation has a diverse abundance of rare and striking flora and fauna, and in spite of its beauty and the fact that it is underdeveloped compared to many other destinations in the Caribbean it’s real estate is incredibly competitively priced.
7) Real Estate Availability
Property in Belize specifically for investment purposes is sufficiently in abundance to offer an investor choice – you can choose from properties in the most popular Cayes that rent year round and for top dollar for example if you’re looking for an income from your investment…alternatively there are developments where you can buy in off plan or in bulk and benefit from capital growth upon resale.
In conclusion, Belize has a fascinating real estate market, it is a stunning nation full of potential and as a result it is certainly one worthy of at least closer inspection if not an investment commitment to the residential property market. Read the original article here.
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belize, Belize country information, belize island, Belize News, belize property, belize real estate, Caribbean property, flights
Frontier Airlines, a major low-fare carrier, is reportedly considering a seasonal service from Denver to Belize City. Frontier Airlines currently flies to San Jose, Costa Rica, and to several cities in Mexico, and is looking to further expand internationally. Frontier operates a hub and spoke route system, with more than 90% of flights originating or arriving at its Denver hub. More competition may also help to drive down prices charged by existing carriers.
We’re pretty passionate about Belize.
