Financing in Belize

Read this because it's important information: People always email me and ask about mortgages and bank financing here in Belize. Allow me to give you an overall one-word synopsis of how friendly the banks here are with investors and home buyers: The word is "crap." Here's why. Banks in Belize want you to have at least a whopping 40% of what you need to buy your dream condo or house "up front."

On top of that you have transfer costs, lawyer fees and bank loan fees to pay as well. You might as well say that if you want to buy a $400,000US condo you need $200,000US up front if you want to borrow from a Belizean Bank. 

But, the real kicker is our awful bank interest rates. Expect to pay at least 10%-12% interest if you borrow from a bank in Belize. What nonsense especially when you consider savings accounts here pay about 3%. Don't bother asking your U.S. bank if they will lend you money to buy in Belize...most of your U.S. bank's money is taxpayer dollars and they're not going to want it to leave the USA.

Instead of screwing around with our banks (unless you need to borrow a fairly small amount for a very short period of time) consider looking for properties with Owner Financing. These days we are seeing more sellers willing to finance at reasonable rates and with relatively low down payments. Two great examples:

http://belizerealestate.com/tdm.html
and
http://belizerealestate.com/gd1.html

Worth a look!