Why Won't Reef Village Developer Hand Over Titles to Owners?

(Long post but worth a read, all the way to the profane end!):

Reef Village is a development which has taken its share of flak over the years. But, the units are nice and airy, the finishing work is adequate, it's in a great location and the prices appeal to a wide range of buyers. So, what has gone wrong there? Why does it have the appearance of a failed development when in reality people who own and live there are very happy?

Much of the angst has to be directed at the developers. There are a lot of homeowners who have paid in fully for their units but have not received title. I know a really nice couple who own a villa there. They have been promised their title now for well over 6 months and it has yet to be handed over. THE DEVELOPER HAS THE TITLES but for some reason he is holding on to them and making excuses as to why he wont part with them.

To the best of my knowledge he's not trying to borrow money using the titles as security...that would actually be a criminal offense. It looks like he is hanging on to them for reasons of leverage but I can't put my finger on why he would do this.

I call upon the developers to issue the titles to those owners who have paid for their units. There is no reason for this nonsense. If I was a homeowner at Reef Village I would be making this a criminal issue, not a civil one. In Belize once you pay for a property you have to be issued title because that's what it says on the contract. Withholding title is a form of theft and fraud. It is time for the developers to say "Thank-you" to their buyers for their trust in investing there and not "Fuck You" by withholding titles.

Ambergris Caye....it's almost perfect - but not quite.

Is it perfect here on Ambergris Caye? It's close but we do have our problems and I don't want to sugarcoat them just because this is a real estate themed page. Everyone knows about the crystal-clear waters, the incredible marine life, white sandy beaches and the warm friendly people but we do have our problems. Tourists and potential buyers know about them and feel them acutely at times. Here's what I want to see get fixed in the next 3 years:

1. Drug dealers in town and around tourist spots such as bars. Get rid of them, we don't need them giving our tourist guests harassment at all hours of the day. Drugs are ILLEGAL in Belize but if a tourist wants to score some pot perhaps he or she should go and look for it rather than be confronted by it every step they take. Drug dealers  and drugs pretty much account for 90% of the crimes committed on the island. I'd love to see them eliminated altogether, it isn't going to happen but let's at least keep them away from our valued tourist guests.

2. Our roads: The government, both local and national, need to pave our arterial roads without delay. These roads are an embarrassment to tourists and residents alike. Heck, the Romans built roads in Europe which are still there more than 2000 years later. By "Arterial Roads' I mean the road from the bridge to Las Terrazas, the road through San Pablo to the end of DFC and the road which runs past Pedro's through to the gas station. Once these are done then 99% of the population of Ambergris Caye will be no further than a few hundred feet from a paved road which will certainly make for pleasant journeys for our residents and tourists alike.

3. Our beaches continue to be trash strewn in places on the island. It doesn't look good. Private landowners need to keep the beach in front of their property clean otherwise they should be billed for the Town Council to do it.

That's it! For now.

Great Free Service on Ambergris Caye! We'll make sure your property tax bill gets paid!

Now for the good news about paying your Ambergris Caye property taxes. As some of you may know from experience you mail your check to the San Pedro Town Council along with your property tax statement. And then.....nothing happens.
The check is or isn't cashed but no acknowledgement or receipt is forthcoming from the Town Council. We have seen this time and time again.

If you don't live on island, next time you want to pay just email us at info@pelicanproperties.com. We'll get it done for you. Scan and email a copy of your title or your last tax statement (so we know it's your property!). We will get the latest tax statement from the Town Council and scan/email it to you. 

Now you just mail us a bank draft (cashier's check) made out to "San Pedro Town Council" and not only will we ensure the bill gets paid but we will also email you the receipt along with a NEW tax statement confirming the payment.

Our fee for this service is ZERO. No catches, no gimmicks. It's 100% gratis. 

Paying Your San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Property Taxes

About time I wrote something...today it's some sage advice on paying your property taxes here in San Pedro. This is a long post, bear with me:

1. Go to the Property Tax desk.
2. Ask for your computerized tax statement EVEN IF YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO PAY.
3. If 'The System Is Down" and they can't print out a statement then find out when it'll be working again and WALK OUT.
4. If the

property tax person prints you out an up to date statement (ie. the system is working) take it to the Cashier and pay your tax bill.
5. VERY IMPORTANT: Take the receipt back to the Property Tax desk and have the tax person input the amount paid into the system and print you out an updated statement showing a zero balance.

Here's why all of this is so vital: Over the past few years the Property Tax system has been subject to frequent outages. Paying your tax bill and getting a hand written receipt is no guarantee that the Town Council will later input it into the system. At a later date you might end up paying twice over simply because it's easy to forget you paid in the first place. Or, you might sell the property and the closing agent gets a statement from the Town Council claiming you owe taxes even though you've paid.

If you're living abroad it's even harder because now you have to send in your check and hope the San Pedro Town Council credit your account. We have seen lots of the time they fail to do so.

More on this subject tomorrow. I will have good news for you.

Really Great Deal For Small Business on Ambergris Caye

Here's a FANTASTIC deal. "Ladybug Plant Nursery" has been drastically reduced in price...from $125,000US to an incredible $45,000US. The business makes a modest profit. There's room for more profits for someone with a real love of plants and a dedication to working hard.

http://www.belizerealestate.com/lbu.html for details!

Grand Caribe Moon Stuff

A glorious moony evening at Grand Caribe, Sunday 30th September. 

Getting a Great Return on Investment on Ambergris Caye...how it can be done, The Answer At Last!

OK, you’ve been very patient. Here’s how you can make a great short-term return on investment which is ALMOST 100% guaranteed to work: Buy a piece of land at THE RIGHT PRICE. Built a small and totally charming house on it and sell the package for a nice profit. Sounds too easy? It isn't but it's also not that hard and it's within the reach of any serious small real estate investor. Read on!

1. Everyone knows that real estate is all about Location, Location and yet more Location. Ambergris Caye is a pretty good geographical location but some parts of our island are better than others. Pick a great residential location on the island as this plan is residential in nature. In this case I will select the Tres Cocos area of the island, generally reckoned to be one of the finest residential subdivisions on Isla Bonita. (There are other great residential areas too…Holiday Lands, San Pablo Canals, Boca Ciega). All have great locations, they’re all close enough to town for easy access but all peaceful areas too…do not make the mistake of buying cheap land too far from town).

2. Again, we’re using Tres Cocos for this example. Look for a building parcel which is being offered at a great price. By “great price” I mean $55,000US or less. It doesn’t have to be beachfront (well, it can’t be at that price!) but it DOES have to be visible to passing traffic and would ideally be located on the main road which passes through Tres Cocos.

3. Found the property? Buy it! Pay cash, get the title in your name.

4. While all of this has been going on you’ve also worked on some great plans for a small and very charming and simple little island house. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 850 square feet under roof, nice little covered veranda of about 120 square feet. There are one or two great guys on Ambergris Caye who can draw superb plans at very reasonable rates. Expect to pay no more than $3000US for a full set of great building plans along with planning permission from the Ambergris Caye Planning Committee assured.

5. Find a great contractor. We know a few, it won’t be hard for you to find them. They’ll build your house for about $70US per square foot. included in that figure is the caveat that you’ll be buying most of the finishing materials yourself in order to get good discounts from suppliers. To get this rate you have to avoid expensive luxury finishing materials for the kitchen and bathrooms. Instead of granite and marble, for example, you’ll be using something like hand painted Mexican Talavera tiles and basins for the bathrooms. It’s really beautiful stuff but also quite inexpensive in price.

6. This part is very important. The exterior of the house must be utterly charming with tons of “curb appeal” when it’s finished. I would suggest a Mexican style exterior, arches, curves, a rough stucco concrete finish and a colourful, bright paint finish. You want people driving by to stop and take notice.

7. So, let’s add this all up. You bought the land for $55,000US or less. Built the house for $70,000US including plans. That’s an investment of $125,000US. Sell it for $199,000US or thereabouts. Even after paying a real estate commission and covering some unforeseen costs you still get a return on investment of about 40%.  How many homes are there in Tres Cocos for sale for under $250,000US? And, if there are any, how many are actually worth the money? Your house would sell like the proverbial hot cake because it would be utterly charming, right?

8. There’s actually a way you could greatly increase your percentage return on investment if you can qualify for a bank loan. Buy the land for cash, borrow the money from a local bank for the construction. If you can get the house built and sold within 18 months here’s how the profit would stack up. You’ve paid $55,000US for the land, $3000US for the loan setup fees and about $11,000US in interest assuming you use the whole 18 months before selling. That’s an investment of $69,000US for a profit of $45,000US, about 66%.

9. Now some of you are going to ask me “If this is such a sure thing, how come you’re not doing it yourself.” Two answers to that question: (a) I’m already pretty busy and (b) I’m thinking about it.

10. So, what can possibly go wrong here? Well, we are in the Hurricane Zone……..an obvious calculation that everyone investing in the Caribbean takes. Hurricanes have visited before, it could happen again, one day it probably will. But, chances are good that you’ll avoid disaster during the relatively short period of this little investment project. And, if you do suffer a storm related setback the chances are good that it’ll just cause a delay rather than end the project.

Email me at info@pelicanproperties.com if you have any questions!

Getting a Great Return on Investment on Ambergris Caye...how it can be done, Part 3.

OK, I am going to reveal the answer. Tomorrow.

In the meantime, for those of you who might be thinking "Buy land, build and sell condos"...that's not the answer and for two reasons:
1. Anyone who follows developers and developments on Ambergris Caye knows there have been quite a few failures. Either the developer has retreated broke and destitute or he got rich because he ran off with the condo buyers funds and left everyone else in deep poop. 

2. Being an honest condo developer is beyond the financial means of most folk and my plan for real estate investment success is something within the reach of almost anyone who is considering purchasing property on Ambergris Caye.

My plan involves making honest profits without hurting anyone. Stand by ...all will be revealed tomorrow. A clue...it will require a little effort by the investor to make it work. One other clue: The reason it's not a 100% guaranteed money making idea (although it's close) is that things can happen that are completely outside our control.

Getting a Great Return on Investment on Ambergris Caye...how it can be done, Part 2.

Part 2: Is there such a thing anymore as real estate on Ambergris Caye which one could buy and reasonably turn a good profit on in, say, 1 - 2 years? By "Good Profit" I mean a 40% or more return on the total investment.

To keep you in suspenders for another day or so...I can tell you that opening up or buying a business is a possible option for a great return on investment. But, it's not GUARANTE

ED to work under almost any circumstances and it's not the answer to yesterday's question.

Business acquisition or start up on Ambergris Caye is a good way to possibly make great money and many people have succeeded. But we have seen many such ventures fail for one reason or another. So, disregard that as the answer to the original question.

More later.....

Getting a Great Return on Investment on Ambergris Caye...how it can be done, Part 1.

Is there such a thing anymore as real estate on Ambergris Caye which one could buy and reasonably turn a good profit on in, say, 1 - 2 years? By "Good Profit" I mean a 40% or more return on the total investment.

Believe it or not there is a way. I can tell you it does not involve buying cheap and selling high after a year or two. Those days are over. There's more to it than that. All I will tell you this evening is that I know how it can be done and that if it's done right success is a near certainty.

I will have the answer for you over the next couple of days.

Hummingbirds at Grand Caribe on Ambergris Caye

They drink the sugar water from our feeder in about 3 days flat. It was about time we videoed them.

There is some really cool wildlife on Ambergris Caye, we'll try and showcase some of it in the coming weeks.

Avoiding Other People's Mistakes on Ambergris Caye

Last week I received an email from a condo owner at Brahma Blue on the West side of Ambergris Caye. She wanted me to value and list her unit. I thought about it.
Access is by boat only.
Swimming in the "sea" there is an adventure as it's really "lagoon" waters and thus full of biting sea-insect type critters.
The development is only half completed (there were two buildings proposed, only one was

built).
The development is largely in bank receivership. Actually this last bit is OK. Our experience is that when a bank in Belize has to take over the developers train wreck they generally do a fantastic job keeping the grounds and buildings in fine shape while they try to figure out ways of selling off the remaining units.

Can you guess why I didn't list it?

I have a ton of sympathy for people who were utterly duped by these West lagoon side developers - Brahma Blue is not the only one - but I believe firmly the chain of suffering should end right there and not be passed on to the next unsuspecting investor.

Our island has a lot of really great developments well worth looking at...Brahma Blue and the other stuff on the West Side isn't any of them.

Super 2 bedroom condominium home on Ambergris Caye!

Living and Dining area of this great 2 bedroom 2 bathroom unit at Ambergris Lake Villas

Click on the photo or link above to go to our web page listing of this super 2 bedroom 2 bathroom unit at Ambergris Lake Villas. Owner is highly motivated and you should definitely consider making any reasonable offer.

More San Pedro Bird life! Ibis on Ambergris Caye

We're getting our traditional high September tides on Ambergris Caye and the birds are taking advantage. Some ibis having a very good time exploring our temporary wetlands.

Ambergris Caye...Commute Home, 14th September 2012, a Friday.

Preening and munching dinner, 2 different electrical posts, 2 different Ospreys.

Grand Caribe, Ambergris Caye, Night Photos

Michaela at Grand Caribe has been wanting to get a professional photographer in to take high quality photos of Grand Caribe especially at night. Well, tonight he came, he has an incredible reputation for taking absolutely stunning photos of the great resorts of the world. I can't wait to see them. Michaela is going to be in photo bliss when he's all done.

In the meantime your humble corespondent got his tripod and camera and took a few snaps. For now, this is all you get.

Click on them to view them properly, they're pretty big.

Playa Del Carmen All Inclusive Wedding Anniversary

So we're staying at an all-inclusive resort, "The Riviera Princess."

As my wife and I are here because it's her Wedding Anniversary I granted her request to see the live show on our first night here. She begged me by twisting my earlobe very hard. I found out it was a  dancing show which would include my least favorite style of music, namely Salsa. (For those of you who would argue that "Rap" should take that dubious honor remember, we're talking about "music.")

As you can imagine I was dreading the whole thing.  A dancing "shake your booty" competition featuring fat and not so fat male tourists. A dance troupe consisting of 6 professional male dancers and only 4 professional females. Presentation of baseball caps to bingo competition winners followed by said winners doing the "We Are The Champions" wave to Queen's classic song under severe prodding from the Mexican M.C. What an awful offering this would be!

It was all quite good and I enjoyed it enormously. They were repeating the same show tonight but my wife didn't want to go......

My wife was born on Ambergris Caye but for some reason.....

.....she wants a holiday abroad. So, we're off for a few days to Playa Del Carmen. Gonna lock ourselves into an all-inclusive laze-fest. 

I'll be answering email, naturally. Have to take care of my faithful clients!

Putting Belize In Perspective - The Superbond

A Study in Belize Sovereign Debt… Superbond.

As of march 2011, Belize’ s total national debt (both external and domestic) was US $1.016 billion, an amount equivalent to approximately 75.3% of GDP.

The face value of the Superbond (the total public external commercial debt of Belize) is roughly half that amount, or $544 million USD. This was issued by the country of Belize on international markets in 2007, and would bear interest-only for 12 years, with maturity in 2029. The coupon on the country’s so-called Superbond went to 8.5 percent this year from 6 percent, as part of the bond structuring. The current price of Belize’s dollar bonds due in 2029, was 34.83 cents as of August 20, 2012.

That gives a current bond value of approx. $350 million US.

To put matters in perspective, the government of Greece has taken $305 billion (with a “B”) of bailout loans from the European Union and IMF since May 2010. This is in addition to the negotiated debt write-off of additional billions.

In contrast, Belize has no burden of poverty.

While neighboring Guatemala has a population of 14,750,000 (2011), the population of Belize is only 356,600 (2011). Guatemala’s population is 41x greater than that of Belize, in a land area only 4.7 times larger. (Population density of 351 per sq. mile

versus 40 per sq. mile). Belize has the 4th lowest population density in the western hemisphere (behind Canada, Guyana, and Bolivia).

Belize is a net exporter of citrus, bananas, sugar cane, and other fruits and vegetables.

Belize is a net exporter of shrimp, tilapia, cobia and other fishes.

Belize is a net exporter of petroleum…one of only 27 countries in the world, among oil-trading nations.

Belize exports 5.5 times its domestic consumption of petroleum.

46% of Belize is National Park and Marine Reserve, one of the highest percentages, if not the highest, anywhere in the world.

The 256-acre island of Caye Chapel in Belize, recently sold to the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Qatar (SWFoQ) for an amount at or above $42 million US. The island will be developed as a flagship Four Seasons Resort - the first branded flagship resort in all of Belize. The total development cost is projected to be $180-200 million US. Equal to more than half the current bond value of the Superbond.

That helps to put matters into perspective.

This is the same group (SWFoQ) that last year purchased Harrod’s department store in London, US for £1.5 billion ($2.376 billion US). You read that right….Harrods department store, taking up one full city block in Knightsbridge, sold for 7 x more than the current value of the Superbond, and almost 1.5x the total national debt of belize. That helps to put matters into perspective. (They also made a failed bid to purchase Manchester United football team for the same amount…£1.5 billion.)

The country of Belize has a total marketing and advertising budget of $6 million US. This includes the combined efforts of the Belize Tourism Board ( BTB), the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA), and the Belize Hotel Association (BHA), and other sources. (By comparison, the Dominican Republic has an annual marketing budget of $71 million US.) In January 2012, the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain unveiled a new website that cost $18 million to develop. 3x the total marketing budget of Belize…and 1/10 of the current bond value of the sovereign

debt.

That helps to put matters in perspective.

Overnight visitors to Belize overall, were up 9% for the first half of 2012. Those visitors arriving through Goldson (Belize) International Airport were up 13.8% for the first 6 months of 2012, year-over-year. 2012 tourism numbers are the highest on record,…in excess of the previous highs of 2006 and 2007.

Belize has hired New York-based law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP to advise the government on the restructuring of the bond. Cleary Gottlieb is the same firm that was hired by Argentina in its debt structuring following the country’s default on $95 billion of bonds in 2001.

Sources in the administration of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, have said this week that the missed interest payment on the bond was a deliberate negotiating tactic under advisement of their counsel. Belize has offered three different debt renegotiation scenarios, published by the Central bank on August 8, 2012. Those various scenarios would result in a lowering of the current bond value from 34.83 cents to 20-22 cents. The answer likely lies somewhere in between the current value and what has been proposed.

The debt restructuring in Greece earlier this year resulted in a price of 29 cents on the dollar, by comparison.

It should be noted that Prime Minister Barrow was the most successful, and arguably best negotiator and most accomplished attorney in Belize, before becoming Prime Minister. He has hired the top law firm in the world for negotiating sovereign debt matters, to advise the government on the restructuring.

At the end of the day, there are very few countries in the world that realistically can sell a few of their several hundred islands, or a few hundreds of thousands of acres of native jungle, in exchange for wiping out the total sovereign debt.

That too, should help put matters in perspective.

(This article written by By John D Turley August 29, 2012)

The Coast of Ambergris Caye from Basil Jones North all the way to the Southern Tip.

Next time I think I'll have the window open.