As the only English speaking country in Central America, Belize has a lot to offer foreigners interested in stunning daily views, an outstanding standard of living, wonderful weather, and a laidback lifestyle.
And if you have identified San Pedro as your destination of choice, here is a quick cheat sheet that may help you buy the house of your dreams.
Title Search Is Important
When you identify a piece of property that you love in San Pedro, the first thing you have to do is to make that a lawyer or private land researcher conducts a manual search or computer search to make sure that the title on the property is accurate.
A title search will also provide you with the name of the person who owns the property, and whether there are any existing liens on the property.
This is significant, because if there are liens, or if the property is subject to a lawsuit, any purchase agreement you make will not be valid.
One other thing you should do is to make your final purchase agreement contingent on a professional survey of the property to ensure that the listed dimensions are the same as what is listed in the purchase documents.
A licensed surveyor should conduct a professional survey of your prospective property.
Understand Closing Costs and Capital Gains Tax
After you buy a home in San Pedro, the government will assess what is know as a stamp tax of five percent of the amount that you paid for the property.
However, the first $10,000 of the purchase price is excluded from the stamp tax, so that means that if you bought your house for $90,000, you will have to pay $4,000, which is five percent of $80,000.
You are responsible for all other closing costs related to your new home, but there are no capital gains taxes in Belize, so you will save money in the long run.
Make Sure You Are Seeing All Available Properties
Some real estate agents will only show you houses that are part of their company’s listings of available properties.
This means that you could be missing some of the better houses for sale in San Pedro because your real estate agent is more loyal to his or her listings than to providing the best possible service.
If you don’t feel as if you are getting the opportunity to see all the houses that could match your criteria, you should talk to another real estate agent who specializes in San Pedro properties.
Seize the Day and Buy Your House in San Pedro
When you have made the decision to buy property in San Pedro or some other area in Belize, you will need the expertise and knowledge of ReMax: Robert D Colon. We have access to the most extensive San Pedro multiple listing services (MLS), and we have helped thousands of foreign buyers find th