Expat Exchange
Free MembershipSign In

Saint Lucia Expat Forum

Island Comparisons

New Topic Newest First
Olorin
  2/12/2015 20:05 EST

Since folks on this thread are somewhat comparing islands, I thought I would weigh in here also (and also seek opinions). Recently went to Belize (to do due diligence there), and below are my thoughts on what we saw. We also went to USVI over new years for a week also to conduct due diligence (and have fun also), so I thought I'd share a bit of my first impressions there (and ask others to weigh in on anyone with experience). I know I need to give St Lucia a shot next on due diligence from all the recommendations for there. But here are just my shot at USVI for what it is worth (just St Thomas):

1) Was impressed with the price of real estate there (how relatively low it was, based on my expectations), in particular on the ocean homes. I didn't really have a sense of real estate values, but it seemed plenty of homes say of 5000sf, on the water (cliff or beach), nicely finished out, in the $1M to $1.3M range. Not that everyone is looking for that, but I just figured that for those type houses and those views, was expecting in the several million range, so was surprised it wasn't higher, given that it is in the US
2) Homes seemed good construction, lots of solid masonry, relatively recent construction.
3) At least being a US person, not having to hassle with the language barrier and immigration and taxation was a nice advantage
4) Real estate taxes seemed pretty low (again just compared to the US)
5) No state income tax (just the same federal tax you would pay anywhere in US)
6) Seemed a nice blend of beach/island feel (lots of beautiful beaches), without feeling crowded at all (and we were there over New Year and relatively close to where the cruise ships come in), but also lots of regular stores, Home Depot, etc for when you need that kind of stuff
7) Lots of restaurant choices, that didn't seem too high priced (and we pretty much hit the tourist ones without looking very hard for "bargain local places" which I suspect we could have found)

So overall was pretty impressed, but again this was just based on one week of due diligence, so anyone with other thoughts (plus or minus) of USVI (and comparison to STL since this is the forum) would be great

My thoughts on another recent trip (to Placencia Belize, which technically not an island, but pretty much could be compared)


1) Road to Placencia--not bad, and have seen worse in the US. Definately a plus to be able to drive directly down into Placencia (vs. being on AC where a boat trip would be necessary)
2) Access to stores--went to various grocery stores and found in Placencia not bad choices or prices. Stopped in some also in Belize City and Belmopan, and also not bad. Nothing like the US for sure, but not bad choices and availability. Some things cheaper than US (like local foods), but generally packaged stuff would be cheaper in the US (but not terribly higher priced)
3) Restaurants--absolutely wonderful restaurants there. Both "local ones" where you could buy food/drinks relatively cheap, to very nice restaurants with great food. Very impressed with quality, choices and prices of restaurants there.
4) Beach--was a very nice beach all up and down the penisula (much better than beaches in AC). Most properties nicely set back from beaches (not built on top of them) and generally very good conditions on all beaches (did a lot of walking up and down lots of beaches). Plus in Placencia you also have the lagoon on the backside which somewhat doubles the "water frontage" area you have access to.
5) Views--I found the views of the ocean and beaches great. As nice as many places I've been to. And because you have a main good road running right through the penisula, you don't have all the boat and foot traffic in front of you all day long on the beachfront and water front (basically very peaceful and great views if you sit on the beach, with not a lot of back and forth 'traffic". The views out the back of the lagoon and Maya Mountains also were great. Was very impressed with this part
6) Facilities like banks, scuba shops, specialty shops like coffee, bakery, fishing, ice cream, etc. Seemed to be lots of choices, mainly in the village. Village itself is pretty crowded (but not terrible), but it seems nicer the more north you go (like Maya Beach). So live north, and go to village for anything when you need it
7) Real estate--very nice homes going up everywhere. So depending on what you are looking for, lots of extremely nice homes going up (which should keep up real estate values since a vested interest in not letting things get run down). If you are looking for "cheap" real estate/homes, probably will get hard to find. But if you were thinking of having a home, should be good to have lots of other nice homes around already to support the market. Clearly there seems to be a wave of improvements and homes and overall real estate investments going on, that I would assume momentum would cause to continue.
8) Hotels--lots of nice choices, from small boutique, to "cheaper" type hotels, to really nice ones. No big resorts really (other than The Placencia which seems an odd ghost town somewhat).
9) Marinas--several very nice large ones. Lots of nice boats and sailboats docked, so was surprised at how many nice boats there were overall (which I take to be another good sign for investment coming in to support this)

Just some overall thoughts I would share. Was very impressed with the area, and will keep doing homework, but anyone with thoughts (concurring or shooting down) my initial on the ground experience would be appreciated.

bobbyveee
  2/13/2015 07:24 EST

Hi Olorin. Thx for setting your Due diligences this way.
Placencia is obviously up and coming , sounds good, the real problem lies with Belize itself. Expensive flights, no good medical facilities, poor comms. especially internet. No deep sea port. Belize City in top 5 in the world for murder. and crooked politicians and police . High levels of bribery and corruption. I know this goes on in most Caribbean countries , but Belize is particularly bad.
I think the other consideration is if you plan to live in the Caribbean full time or just to winter. or if you intend to buy or rent. We let one of our properties, beach bungalow in AC and use income to rent here in St L.
My wife spent time in USVI diving and found St John , not as friendly as other islands . Ive seen House hunters International do programmes on St J , properties were good, well built etc. but probably more expensive than here in St L . This island is very English , no Spanish, the friendliest locals weve meet anywhere. e love the Topography , having rainforests, mountains the Atlantic on the East coast and Caribbean on the west. Also having wonderful marinas, a deep water port 68ft deep , two airports a brand new hospital, great comms. 5 proper supermarkets. superb food . OK its about 15% more than USA but cut back on imported brands and the gap closes. Im working with the Director of Tourism to work out a simple long term tourism 'visa' instead of 'renewing' ones passport after 42 days. Flights into St L from USA and Europe are plentiful and reasonable . Had 10+ 100million $ superyachts moored in Rodney bay over the last few months !!! To us , this is the perfect place to winter

Allianz CareAllianz Care
Get Quote

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.
Get Quote

bobbyveee
  2/13/2015 07:47 EST

One thing I forgot to mention, Banking. In Belize you can open an account in local currency and at Atlantic bank International a US$ account , probably very similar in USVI as USA only allows $ accounts. Here we have in Scotia Bank a local ec $ a US $ and a pound sterling account, could also have a Euro account . Makes a big difference for us . Quite legit . we pay no taxes in US or UK or anywhere

Olorin
  2/22/2015 14:06 EST

All good thoughts. Some thoughts on those:

1) As to flights, seems like in general there are pretty good flight choices from the US to Belize (many direct flights from various US cities). And Southwst Airlines is about to start flying there direct from Houston, so perhaps that lowers prices further (or at least gives options to get there with another carrier). Compared to flying other places, I haven't found flights to Belize City from the US any more expensive than other places in Central America or Carribbean.
2) Would agree on medical facilities. If you are relatively healthy and expect to be for some time, may not be an issue. If you expected to be in need of health care, that would be a problem in Belize it seems, and that stuff tends to take a long time to change.
3) On communications (cell and internet) when I have been in AC and Placencia, I found no problems at all there. That being said, I haven't lived there and had to pay for them (just using what hotels and other places provided, but that service was good). So I would have to assume that other than it perhaps costing more than you might expect in the US, the service itself seemed very good and fast.

In comparing these to St Lucia (where I have never been by the way but from your posts I think I would like to investigate it more)
a) The idea of having direct flights from both US and Europe would be nice. We plan to travel, and problem with both Belize and USVI is you don't get any flights to Europe on either, so you would have to go to US and then back again
b) From your description of St. Lucia, doesn't seem like you have found it has the level of "third worldness" that you find in both Belize and USVI (that is bad government, bad infrastructure, lack of good hospitals, etc)?
c) On cost of living, based on my limited experience and due diligence, I found both Placencia, AC, and USVI more expensive than the US for just normal stuff. Not really unexpected for me (figured if you want stuff cheap, US pretty much has a lock on that through just level of competition). So I'm not really looking to go to a place necessarily because cost of living is "cheap", just want it to not be too out of line with what the US is.
d) How about cost of real estate and real estate taxes in St Lucia? How do you think those compare to other places?

bobbyveee
  2/22/2015 14:30 EST

We have found that we can buy most food stuffs we require here and meats are a much better quality than Belize and hormone free !!
We have real supermarkets , Belize doesn't . Internet in Belize is slowest and most expensive in Caribbean , max 4mbps I think . We can get upto 50 mbps here and cell phones upto 4g .
Two airports and huge deepwater harbour 68ft deep !!
Property far superior to anything in Belize , many because the ground is flat and uninteresting. We think living here is between 10 to 15% more than say Georgia USA. Very big range of property in type and style. check out wwwbluereefrealestate.com ,look for Castries north and fill in the criteria and see what comes up. Very good medical , best dentists in the Caribbean so if told . The main draw for us is the integration of the expats into locals , no chips on shoulders no them and us. Many highly educated and more Nobel prize winners per capita than any country in the world. As you say, easy to fly to many destinations direct USA , Canada , UK , Europe , plus inter island from the smaller airport in Castries. Rodney Bay Marina is the hub of Atlantic and Caribbean sailing . If your here for any length of time, buying a small used car makes a lot of sense, sell it when you leave. without transport you restrict yourself to were you an live.

Olorin
  2/22/2015 19:38 EST

Great thoughts. Some questions for you:

1) From some websites, it seems like it is hard to buy real estate (having to get "approved" by the government and granted some license that you have to wait to get?). Don't know if I'm finding out all the right info, so what is the basic process/costs to buy?
2) Is it hard to become a permanent resident (and is it even necessary, and is there an advantage to it, like getting to be part of their health care system?)
3) If someone wanted to buy along the coast/beach, and didn't mind being a bit more remote (ie, less developed area, but access to things without too long a drive), what are some of the "nicest" areas to look at for houses?
4) What is the real estate tax situation there, pretty reasonable?

Thanks.

Allianz CareAllianz Care
Get Quote

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.
Get Quote

bobbyveee
  2/23/2015 06:47 EST

Hi. Check out FAQ on Bluereef site , all buying ????'s answered. Legal fees are more like 2 to 3% , takes about 5 to 6 months , but actually , straight forward.
Once your a home owner, after a yr you can apply to be a resident if you want to. I don't know what the annual property tax is and no taxation on selling.
Check out Coubaril , Cap Estate and the Atlantic side , plus some great good value homes inland with long range views of Atlantic and Caribbean. You just need to buy a used car , $10k usd gets you decent wheels.
Further away, Marigot or further still Souffriere are very pretty high end places

Olorin
  2/23/2015 19:15 EST

I did read their website which is where my general questions came from and where I got confused. So if you buy a property, you do what--put in an offer and then the seller has to wait 5-6 months before you get "approval" to get a license from the government to let you be an owner, and then you can close and buy it? Or the process different/quicker than this?

bobbyveee
  2/24/2015 05:58 EST

Its a formality really, your not going to get refused , nearly all the properties at the higher end are bought by expats , so the procedure is the norm , it does stop undesirables and money laundering and you end up 100% owner. 1000's have gone thro this process, so really not a problem .

Olorin
  2/24/2015 21:30 EST

OK--that is good to know. So sellers don't really get worried that their sale can't officially close and go through until that license is granted?

Also how are the costs of flights (to UK or Spain it looks like there are direct flights)? Pretty reasonable?

bobbyveee
  2/25/2015 06:21 EST

Its more like 3 to 4 months and all non citizens have to go this way, so not a prob.
Take a look at Trouya Villa on tropical properties web site, its just below and to the right of us , its a beautiful villa in a wonderful setting and could be got for a lot less than the asking price.
Two flights a day into Gatwick, Virgin and BA Condor fly via Barbados to Frankfort. Prices vary a great deal depending on the season, time of yr etc. its an 8 hr flight to London, much like flying from Charlotte NC. You need to miss the summer holidays in Europe to get best prices , but pretty good, no such thing as cheap these days lol

Allianz CareAllianz Care
Get Quote

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.
Get Quote

bobbyveee
  2/25/2015 06:56 EST

Another perspective for you to think about. We were going to buy or build on the island , but have decided not to for a couple of reasons . I can long term rent a million dollar home for around $1800usd , now one mil. invested brings in more than enough to rent and live really well. plus we are both about to hit 70 and although fit and well, we enjoy change and travel , knowing that in 10 yrs we are going to have to slow down a bit !!! So we can move location on the island or decided to winter in the Med. or go visit friends and relatives in Australia. But we intend wintering here for the forseeable future .

Olorin
  2/25/2015 20:43 EST

Makes a lot of sense. With websites like VRBO and others like it, kind of makes you wonder why to ever own, if you can just rent long term and have the flexibility.

Some questions for you:
1) So if you don't own property there, and you don't get residency by owning property, you are just a permanent tourist? What does that mean on medical care (you just pay as you go)?
2) What do you think about the risks of hurricanes there? Pretty much the same as anywhere in the carribean and central america (just up to mother nature)?

bobbyveee
  2/25/2015 21:16 EST

Yep, long term tourists .
We have DAN insurance for evacuation, but simple stuff , just pay as you go, Id just jump on a plane to UK for medical if serious,
Hurricanes aren't a real problem, land slides are after tropical storms like dec . 2013. Houses are built to withstand hurricanes. Homes are insured against damage. You have more problems in USA with hurricanes and tornados and earthquakes down the west coast. They pile down to bedrock here to build houses, By the way, you don't get med. care if your a resident anyway. Good hospitals here.

maryhir
  9/22/2017 13:37 EST

I've been looking into Costa Rica. I visited 3 years ago with my family and my mother who is native CR ("Tico"). My husband favored there but I found the costs of houses much higher than St Lucia. I could get 1000 more sq footage in St Lucia for same price. Also to consider with CR was if on coast vs. valley outside capital San Jose (which is very busy and has high crime), cost to air condition on coasts could be US $500-800. Valley cheaper because temp is constant 70 deg F. If you are on a coast then you are 3 or more hours from the good medical they have in San Jose because the roads are so bad (worse than Mexico more remote non-touristy places I visited). Also blogs on CR complained that the Expats in CR are driving up costs since tourism is minor compared to Expat population economic support. For that reason I favor St Lucia since tourism is major and resorts will likely try to keep costs down so that their profits are higher.

maryhir
  9/22/2017 13:40 EST

St Lucia real estate is 0.5% of home price to my understanding.

bobbyveee
  9/22/2017 13:48 EST

Hi You need to look at the north based around Rodney bay. Theres plenty to buy often ridiculously high, But you have everything you need very close by and with great comms and decent roads. Check out www.bluereefreaslestate.com for house prices and long term lets. We loved our time on the island , have so many good friends still there. Robert

maryhir
  9/22/2017 13:53 EST

Do you know the costs in SL of home owner insurance and the DAN insurance for evacuation? I plan to buy because we will winter in SL and summer in Ohio so I can see my grandson who is only 6 mo. old currently. Most leases I found are for a yr & 6 months rentals rare, 3 months rental is at vacation rental cost so that is not an option for us. We are looking at the Grand Riviere area or Balata currently. We don't feel we need to pay coastal prices since the beaches are near being the island is small. What do you think of either of these areas? Crime I heard could be a problem so I'm a bit worried about security while we are not on site. Any info appreciated!

Allianz Care
Allianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Living in Saint Lucia GuideLiving in Saint Lucia Guide

Expats in Saint Lucia enjoy an exotic Caribbean setting, friendly locals, and all kinds of activities. Get acquainted with what it means to live in Saint Lucia, and how you can make it happen.

Saint Lucia Forum Saint Lucia Forum
Join our Saint Lucia forum to meet other expats and talk about living in Saint Lucia.

Contribute to Saint Lucia Network Contribute
Help other expats and newcomers by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in Saint Lucia.

Best Places to Live in Saint Lucia Best Places to Live in Saint Lucia

Plan a day trip or weekend getaway to get some holiday cheer. This article highlights the best places to visit in Saint Lucia for Christmas cheer.

Expat Healthcare Advice in Saint Lucia22 Expats Talk about Healthcare & Health Insurance in Saint Lucia

Expats living in Saint Lucia talk about their own experiences with healthcare, hospital visits, emergencies, finding a doctor, buying health insurance in Saint Lucia and more.

Cost of Living in Saint LuciaCost of Living in Saint Lucia

Expats offer insight into the cost of living in Saint Lucia.

Moving to Saint LuciaMoving to Saint Lucia Guide

Our guide to moving to Saint Lucia with lots of advice from expats on the ground.

Real Estate in Saint LuciaReal Estate in Saint Lucia

Real estate listings in popular cities and towns in Saint Lucia.

Pros Cons of Living in Saint LuciaPros & Cons of Living in Saint Lucia

Take off your rose-colored glasses and learn what expats have to say about the biggest challenges and the greatest rewards of living in Saint Lucia.

Retiring in Saint LuciaRetiring in Saint Lucia

Advice for people retiring in Saint Lucia.

Allianz Care
Allianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Contribute to Saint Lucia Network Contribute
Help others in Saint Lucia by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in Saint Lucia.

AGS Worldwide Movers
AGS Worldwide Movers

Copyright 1997-2024 Burlingame Interactive, Inc.

Privacy Policy Legal