hello all. My wife and I have visited San Pedro a few times and have plans to retire there one day. Unfortunately that day will not be for several years. We have to get our youngest through college and then we will begin looking in earnest.
In the times we have visited, we have stayed in Victoria house and not scouted out the island too heavily. My question is about rental/purchase property. Is there available housing for middle income type folks? We are from very modest incomes (teacher and minister) and dont need or could we afford a luxurious beachfront home. Does San Pedro have modest living avaliable or is it mostly for the very wealthy retiree?

Thanks for any help.

Tried Caye Caulker? The rule of thumb we use is -on the average- many things cost half as much as Ambergris
We built our house for USD$40K. and live in it for about US$1000/month, partly because there is nothing to buy here but food. No car and insurance, no heat, wear T shirt, low taxes.....

Dane, Did you build it yourself, meaning you swung the hammers and poured the concrete or you had a contractor do it for you or ??
I would like to see what $40K in construction costs gets you in belize. Can you post a pic ???????

Swung the hammer.
Didn't use concrete.
Heres a link www.cayecaulker.net

My neighbor just arranged to have the Mennonites put up a 2 bdrm shell for him that is 20x30ft
Bid is US$20K

Marty, how do you post a pic?

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE A $40,000 US HOUSE IN BELIZE ON A ISLAND WHERE IS THE PHOTO PLEASE ? GLAD YOUR HANDY BUT STILL ?

Great post. My husband and I are looking to either build on the North end OR in town. We are also considering buying something alreadt built in town. Everything we are seeing says $75-100 per sq. ft. $100 being high grade finishes. Is this not a good guideline?

No, it's too low. There is a huge range though depending on materials and how reputable your contractor is. For concrete, with plenty of re-bar and high grade finish (meaning mahogany trim, panel or louver interior doors, custom cabinets, hurricane resistant windows) and not including upgraded kitchen counters and appliances, figure $125 to $150 pers square foot. Surely, someone will post next oh I can do it for less, but this is what it ends up being. Someone will always say they will do it for less, but you get what you pay for! Really!

Is that 125 - 150 USD or Belize dollar ?

US FUNDS

US funds at 125 - 150 a s.f. sounds steep cause you can get a house built in the USA for that.I have seen the construction there and it is not worth 125 a s.f.
Someone is ripping the islanders off here.

I am not saying I can it for less but in a country where the average wage is about what 3.50 an hour ? That is a lot of clear blue profit for the boss there.

This topic has been discussed ever since I've been on reading it. Most people are giving you there own experience. I know Dane's house and it is very nice I also know how much was done by Dane. I built a house on the North island of Caye Caulker and my house cost considerably more.Of course I also have a wind turbine, solar panels and batteries. Adds to my cost. People living up in San Pedro have different costs Some much higher than even the $125 per square foot. You can buy a Mennonite house for $10,000 or spend $4 million big range. Everyone sets their own comfort level of how they want to live. You should come down and talk to builders here and then show everyone what a great house you can build. San Pedro and Caye Caulker have a wide range of housing you have to decide how much you can afford. Good luck in your quest.

The reason I know it higher end building can be the price I gave, is I started building my house five and a half years ago, right after the GST went up. We managed $100 a square foot, and ours wasn't the most high end. Even though it's nice...it's a middle priced house. It has some high end finishing, and some high end structural quality, but it is definitely not high end.
You couldn't build our house for that price today...probably $120 a square foot.
The labor isn't here any more, Tie One On, at the price you quoted. After the mini housing boom that ended when the economy sunk, all the cheap labor went home. They didn't come fro me Belize, probably El Salvadore and Honduras. It costs a lot to do anything in San Pedro, with the high cost of fuel, steel, and Belizean labor.
Ambergris Caye isn't cheap anymore, even if it ever was.

We have looked at buying on Ambergris for years, visit at least twice a year and are also of moderate means. We found that we could afford a condo or even a house comfortably, but we could not afford the monthly costs of water, electric, cable, phone and internet! They add up quickly.
We have since found that long-term rentals are the way to go if you can find one that has all those costs included. Just a thought. Good luck!

We have been homeowners on Caye Caulker for about 7 yrs and find utilities, cable etc very cheap compared to U.S. Our small two story house with two units cost us about $40 U.S a month in electric. Cable with over 60 channels cost about $16 US a month. Our property taxes for the house and larger size lot is $150 US a year. We pay nothing for water as we are happy with our well and buying drinking water for $2.00 for 5 gallons. The highest expense is internet..high speed is $50US a month. The big money saver is no car, no gas. No summer to winter transitions..clothes etc. Maintenance as in yard service, house up keep like painting etc is cheap, qualified workers charge about $5,00 an hour. or $40 for a 10 hr day. We have our favorite 4 to 5 eating spots we often order take out for dinner for $5.00 or less. The major upset is the cost of wine but we have adjusted and accepted the loss.

I have built seven buildings here on Caye Caulker, including the high school.It is cheaper to build here. Some transplanted Pedranos have built over here with Pedro workers and we laughed at the way their construction costs ran double!
Our living costs are the same as Coopers Her post tells it all.

Here is link to Tobar
http://www.belize-construction.com/buildings.html
Click on the link on the upper right for his affordable speciality "wooden house with road"
and a price list from Plett in BZ dollars- not always current

http://www.mauricefield.net/belize/plett.shtml

Would someone mind sharing the differences in insurance costs? Does it depend on the area... crime rates, distance from fire dept. etc like in the States; or is it mostly based on wood vs. concrete?

Dane -

Thanks for sharing those links. Those houses are plenty for 'Motel 6' type people like us. The luxury comes from the island not the house. We just love life. And even more after my wife being diagnosed with cancer last year (she's kicking its butt) Im sure with our modest means, we would fit in with locals moreso than other ex pats.

Our house is in Maya Beach, just north of Placencia, and we ended up paying around $85.00 USD per sq. ft for a concrete house and we did not skimp on any part of the building.
Our insurance comes to about $1500.00 USD/year and the insured value of the house is around $250,000 USD. RF&G Insurance is who we use. We have total coverage (hurricane, fire, flooding, earthquake, liability, etc.)

The insurance rate has to do with wood vs concrete, type of roof, etc. It's about fire retardancy and hurricane withstanding qualities...not so much distance to the fire company or crime, or if you have a hydrant. It might also have to do with history of insurance for older homes, and whether it has survived a hurricane.
God Bless anybody that has built a house in the last ten years, but you dont know nuttin unless your house has been through 75 mile an hour winds or a 4 foot storm surge!

Insurance rates are mostly based on the valuation you use.They are charged per thousand dollars of value, often set by you.

We didn't do storm numbers on hotels, only private homes.
Last hurricane there were 12 concrete -two damaged from foundation trouble.
They were over three hundred hardwood houses, mostly older. About ten percent were badly damaged.There were at least twenty plywood -treated pine houses mostly new. More than half were completely destroyed.
This is a village of mostly older wooden homes,many have been through 2-3 major hurricanes.2000, 1961, 1922?

Dane, please, this is the Ambergris Caye section of the message board. Stop trolling here, you are confusing people interested in Ambergris Caye. That's why we have different sites.
And you are wrong about the insurance valuation. Many people can't get reasonable insurance on wood homes on Ambergris Caye.
You are not helping.

Thanks Dane that's good information. I really didn't realize the financial contrast between the two islands. Is there a big difference price per acre.

Whoa. Easy there Gwen.

What was presented on this thread has confused people! There are different costs of some things between the two Islands. But some things cost the same but posters from Caye Caulker have confused the issue.
For instance insurance! Your house has to be appraised by a certified appraiser. It then is determined what the insurance rate is...you can't determine that yourself! You can't insure a shack at the level of a concrete house.
You have been given incomplete and skewed information.

There, now thats all straightened out, move on. Be nice everyone, its a nice day.

There are far fewer buildings on Caye Caulker,and far fewer concrete buildings in the ratio between wood and concrete!
Obviously cost of building is cheaper on Caye Caulker.....people aren't building as many concrete buildings.
You know it is so easy to give skewed pictures to people looking for information, by only giving them half truths and leaving out important facts.
Asking the kind of questions about cost of building,cost of insurance, whether their house has been in a hurricane, cost of living, standard of living on a message board,will give you what you deserve if you believe it.
You have to come here, spend time here, compare apples to apples, and oranges to oranges to learn how things really are in REAL TIME today.
Otherwise, you get what you deserve.

Here we were all having a good time when those Caye Caulker posters had to come over to our board make Gwen mad and ruin the good time for everyone.

Childish, Deep-doodoo, it still is a perfectly good thread with good times for all!

Ok heres one I'll throw in here . Does anyone have any estimates per foot how much a concrete fence 4ft high costs to build on AC with the bedrock being between 1 and 2 ft. down.

$8000US per 100 ft for a 2 ft wall with six ft pillars every ten feet and a wood fence built between the pillars. (with the footing you describe) so it would be more for the wall to be four feet high.

Thanks GwenA that help me get an idea.

Sure, and Eldo Vasquez built that wall, and the footing is important, because someone else who didnt do it right and got fired built another portion of the wall. I worry about the part that wasn't built right, but not the one Eldo built.

Gwen? What is Dane not helping with? This post was about a couple wanting to move to Belize on a budget. The poster seems to have no confusion on apples and oranges. There was also a helpful post from Placencia. When the word BUDGET is mentioned it pretty much rules out San Pedro so offering other options seems only helpful. I believe the poster thanked Dane for his info so why interject the negativity?
Considering other areas, Caye Caulker, Placencia, Hopkins,Sartinejo (SP?) etc. could be helpful to folks that are inquiring about the country.
Regarding house insurance on Caye Caulker, Dane has been here much longer than I have and Gwen, I have been here much longer than you have, When I had my house insured I had two company's come over and inspected as I would not call it appraised. They basically took my word for what the House was worth, wrote up the contract as I wanted it, with values as I stated on building and contents. I am sure if I was outrageously out of line it may have become an issue, but the two questions asked were,,what do you want your structures insured for and what do you want your personal items insured for and it was done. Yes rates vary on cement to wood etc, but think we are talking value here. I am sure things may be much different now, but the assessor has been around a few times and nothing has changed.

Thank you, Debbie. I, too followed all the posts and was not confused about Caye Caulker being discussed versus SP and Placencia. Dane was very specific and very helpful and not misleading in any way. Gwen has been a bit caustic on several threads in the recent past. Thanks to all those being helpful to those of us getting a feel for the economy of Belize.

Wizardofaahs
Noticed you are from Nevada..we will be up in Nevada for the month of May....can you p,m, me mabe we can have lunch.

Cooper - PM'd

The issue of how long someone has lived in whatever part of Belize, doesn't help someone who wants to know about how things are now about building and insuring houses.
If someone built their house way back when and it cost $40,000, how does that help someone now.
I've heard all these great stories about people getting residency after a few months, paying $100, and having it granted in a month. That was 20 years ago. If someone provides that kind of info to someone who asks what does it take to get residency, what good is it.
Things change, so if half of the plywood houses were destroyed in a hurricane, and 10 percent of more sturdy houses were destroyed, on whichever Island; what kind of house do you want to build?
Then because of that kind of information, you decide to build a concrete house, do you want costs from twenty, ten or five years ago?
That isn't caustic, it's realistic. And what I said about insurance is how it's done now.

Gwen,
I didn't know you sold insurance in Belize?! And also owned a construction company? I know that you are trying to be helpful in getting the most recent costs and information to those that are asking, but your tone has been pretty caustic IMO. While I know nothing of building, insurance nor the cost of living in Belize, I feel that if you were to tone the rhetoric down some and appear to be more helpful that might be a little more receptive by those that are asking.

Gwen - you are sounding like me when I am off of my meds (which is right now) or some of my younger women friends when they are PMSing. LOL
Hey - I'm laughing I hope you can too.

I concur QwinA, our self appointed message board sheriff, should tone it down a few notches. I have seen numerous first time posters asking innocent questions sent scrambling for cover under one of her viscous verbal assaults never to return again. I dont think this is the appearance we want our friendly Island to portray. No question is stupid. Its all about people seeking information.

For all those who are stressing I believe it's "Free Valium Friday" at the Polyclinic...

Yes Simon, but it appears some of us can't wait until Friday!!

Popcorn anyone?

Double butter

gimme a beer

God, I know something is really wrong now!!!!
Ernie forgot he doesn't drink beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Deepsea is right. I come here looking for information so that I may possibly join the fine folks of Belize and live the good life someday soon. Information seekers have to wade through posts of bickering to get even a minor question answered. Do you people know each other outside of this forum? Is this life on a small island?

That said...I appreciate EVERYONE'S input on the questions, I can sort out what applies to my situation and leave the rest.

Ernie may have gold fever and not thinking clearly....

Gold and silver, a time to buy and a time to sell. Gold may have another $50 left in this upward spike, silver maybe $5. One should consider selling off a little of both. "Pigs get fat, hogs get butchered "

Geez....in reviewing all this I now realize that I have failed to live up to the proper gringo standards...a wood house with a zinc roof....wire fence to keep the bad guys out and my nasty dog in.....I'm gonna hafta change my ways I guess......

Too late, you old fart.

But Gwen won't approve....

cant do anything about that

I'll need to start a new house and follow her brilliant guidelines....

Lemme know how that works out for ya

Are you partners with her?

Im a loner

Ernie..I myself have been ashamed of myself on the messageboard, but dont resort to beer drinking.usually when I get wrong on the board its because of rum..not that you did anything at all wrong and if you are lonely I have a few gal friends on Caye Caulker that you could spend your money on!!!! but San Pedro offers the same.
But if anyone feels the need for help Gwen is a retired Psychologist...

Wizardofahs,,I PM'D you as well

MESSAGE AT YOUR OWN RISK. She is all ways there, unseen but ever present, lurking in the cyberspace waiting to verbally ambush her next victim. Its Gwen A the cybershark. (Music from jaws playing in the background)

Ahh..that was creative genius..Thinking perhaps this thread is dead..a bit of poetry..time to move on...