Real Estate Pitfalls

I own a beautiful home in corozal,with an separate apt .
House built by an American, walking distance from town.
It’s listed with century 21 , three bedrooms ,two full bathrooms,
Gated,camers etc.
I’m there till April you should take a look . It’s red and cream . I’m
Don’t like being there on my own ,but love love corozal
So close the Chetumal......have a Nissan car in excellent condition ..

Where is the house?  We will be back on 7 April. 

What is the price?

We worked with the century 21 gal to look at a couple places in the Santa Rita area.

Barth

Hello,
Most real estate transactions are cash only. You will not be able to get a mortgage via a Belizean bank, and unlikely any American or Canadian bank will finance a purchase in Belize. There are some owner-financed properties, but not many. I would definitely recommend using a licensed Belize attorney for any real estate deal/closing for your safety.

When I looked at financing three years ago, Atlantic Bank International was financing for non residents. However the rates were between 9 to 12.5% with 40% down for 9 years Max, with a large balloon as last payment.  Look at their website for current loan info.

No us bank will loan for residential property in Belize.

Even though the Realtors will say it's not needed, use a Belize attorney specializing in real estate to do the title search (or whole transaction). Often land is jointly owned by several familiy members, and one will sell, only to have another family member claim ownership some years latter.

My only concern about financing through Atlantic Bank Intl., is that they have been implicated in the scandal related to "Sanctuary Belize" or "Buy Belize". I feel sure they are probably complicit in this scandal which has been going on for some time now.There are some threads on this forum, as well as other Belize forums, that address this issue. Use a licensed Belize attorney for any real estate transaction.

karenjoe wrote:

My only concern about financing through Atlantic Bank Intl., is that they have been implicated in the scandal related to "Sanctuary Belize" or "Buy Belize". I feel sure they are probably complicit in this scandal which has been going on for some time now.There are some threads on this forum, as well as other Belize forums, that address this issue.

Question:
Is your FEELINGs that Atlantic bank International might go out of business leaving other loans up in the air, because of this scandal, or that because they loaned money to the folks running the Sanctuary operation, they are guilty of something as well,  or that they loaned money to buyers of property in Sanctuary?

I am not defending "Sanctuary Belize" or "Buy Belize" as I am sure that the early versions/of this development were dubious at best and early schedules fell years behind.

I fly over the area several times a year between BZE and Placencia and on several occasions I  spent hours driving around the area. Several times I watched lots of trucks and heavy equipment hauling tons of supplies and equipment into the area, building miles of roadways. I was impressed with the changes in the  development between observations especially in the marina area.  But I was always skeptical of the  business from a cash flow perspective, it just never seemed financially viable due to the low number of people they were bring down by selling $1,500 vacation tours of the area to. These tour groups seem to be the primary way they show the properties.

No matter how this plays out, there is now a huge amount of development and building of a basic infrastructure in place for someone to  build upon.

I guess my concern related to doing business with Atlantic is this: "the FTC charges Belize’s Atlantic International Bank with assisting and facilitating the Sanctuary Belize scam", which makes me wonder what other type of 'shady' dealings they are, or have been, involved in, as well as their solvency. This is the exact wording taken from the US FTC federal filing: "Provided further, for Atlantic International Bank, Ltd., the Assets subject to this section are limited to $144,000,000.00, the estimated consumer loss for which Atlantic International Bank, Ltd., would be liable as an assistor and facilitator." I have no idea what their net worth is, or what kind of cash flow they have, but doing business with a bank being sued by the US FTC for $144 million would concern me.
I was never interested in the development, as we aren't interested in that particular 'lifestyle', but  I was always skeptical of the project - kind of just a gut feeling. I am glad something may happen with the development, as I feel it could be beneficial to Belize. I don't know what the outcome will be.

Thanks for the info. 

These storys are from Belize outlets
http://lovefm.com/atlantic-internationa … ing-wrong/http://www.7newsbelize.com/printstory.p … ;nid=46852

What makes it  even more intriguing as to what the real intent of the FTC filing against ABIL is, this is a civil suit not criminal.

Here is the FTC link to the press conference with Videos.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-r … eal-estate

In one video they mention November 19 as another key date in this case. I haven't been able to find anything on it yet, perhaps due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

I will be heading back down to Placencia for the winter in a couple of weeks, so will be stopping by that branch of ABIL to inquire. I do have a small amount in an account there. 

Yea, I don't know if it is anything to be concerned about, or what the culpability of Atlantic truly is. I would be concerned if I had financed anything through them, but otherwise probably not an issue.

Now back in Placencia, stopped by and chatted with the branch manager yesterday.

I first met him right after he was promoted to that position about three years ago, and we talk several times a year. I have always found him a nice/helpful young man with a good sense of humor. Of course he minimized the banks involvement, saying they had granted loans to several individuates buying property in that development. He went on to say they had never closed, and no bank functions were affected.

I tend to believe him, knowing how badly most media outlets willfully exaggerate/embellish/make up/or otherwise make a story sensational because news of normal operations does not attract nearly as many readers (thus advertising revenue) as  bad news. 

Further as to the current state of "Sanctuary Belize" or "Buy Belize" or "The Persevere":

Mid afternoon  Tuesday 11 December, I rode the right front seat on a Tropic Air flight  from BZE into PLJ (Placencia) giving me an great view. We flew just off the beach at 1,100 feet, as we passed by the development. I did not see any of the construction equipment around the area that has been there on previous fly-bys.

I suspect the nice marina is still operating, as I counted seven larger (30-70 feet estimated) yachts and 6 smaller boats in slips and dock side.

Also, for about the last year and a half I have been receiving 1-2 emails a month from them detailing what has been done, including pictures.  Not surprising, no emails for the last 6 weeks.

I hope for the economy and development of the country it will continue to be completed. I feel sure they are quite selective in who they finance for, so I doubt their solvency is an issue, and the outcome of the suit may be years away.

Wow....I own a lot at Sanc Blz (now The Reserve) and have just discovered all their assets are frozen by US gov't and state of Calif, something about not paying Blz taxes and other management problems. Do you know anything else about Sanc Blz?
Mike and Nancy McLellan

I would check-out the ftc link in Will's post. I believe you can link to the actual FTC filing from that site, or you can go to the actual filing here - https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/docume … plaint.pdf
and you might find this interesting as well -
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-k … ary-belize
We are not part of the development, having chosen a different retirement 'lifestyle'. You can also read previous threads on this forum related to this development over the last several years.
Hope things turn out well for you.