[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Hi Linda,

Most of the info you are seeking is on the Belize Insider website. There are several suggested itineraries in the itinerary section. And if you peruse some of the sections you will find that I’ve put together a list of suggested hotels for each region, with price ranges. So you should be able to find a few hotels that will work for you. November is still low season, so hotel prices are lower. Hotel prices go up as of mid-December, so lock in your prices soon, before high season.

Once you read through the suggestions on this website, feel free to ask me about specific places that are listed. Also, Trip Advisor is a decent place to start looking for hotels, since there are many reviews for each hotel. Here, on Ambergris Caye, there is a broad array of hotels and resorts where you can stay. Since you are a first timer, I’d suggest that you stay fairly close to town. If you do that you can get around on foot most of the time and then just rent a golf cart for a day or two, to explore the island.

I haven’t been diving for a few years now, so don’t know which companies are now considered the best. But some dive publications do give rankings of dive operators. Also, there are many reviews on Trip Advisor, specific to the towns in Belize.

In the future, if you stay for over a month in one location, you will be able to pay less for a monthly rental. And a six month rental is even less.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Susan,

The general e-mail address to reach me at is belize@internationalliving.com. I just received several questions at that e-mail address, so it is working. That being said, if you have a question that relates to most Belize Insider readers please post it on this forum, so that all insiders can benefit. If you have a “private” or “sensitive” question that will not benefit other insiders, then I will do my best to answer you directly. We started these forums because our readers ask the same questions repeatedly.

Now that you’ve paid for the Belize Insider, do read through the fairly comprehensive materials, as well as the Forum posts. If you don’t find the answer to your question on the website, or in the posts, then post a question on this forum. But if you can’t find the info you are seeking in any of these resources then you can contact me directly. Note that readers tend to ask the same questions repeatedly that have been answered several times on the Community Forum and the Insider Forums. It really is worth going through the historic forum posts, and the on line materials, to get familiar with the requirements in Belize, and what it is like to live here.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Barry,

The easiest way to reach me is at the belize@internationalliving.com e-mail address. Actually, I plan to head to Corozal within the next few months to do research. But that will most likely be before the end of the year. I will be talking to a variety of expats who have lived in Corozal for a while, to gather info. If you are living there before year end, do let me know.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

James,

I am neither for nor against Sanctuary. My job as a correspondent is to make readers aware of issues that may impact the quality of their life living in various regions of Belize. For instance, it may not be a big deal to drive on a paved road 20-30 miles in the USA. But in the rain the dirt roads in Belize wash out and driving becomes a major challenge during the rainy season if you have to travel miles to get groceries. The roads do major damage to vehicles, as well, and the cost of gasoline is much more expensive here. These are important factors to consider before deciding to buy a place or live in a remote area.

How far a person chooses to be from a hospital is also a very important factor to be considered for retirees over 60. A number of expats in Belize have died on their way to a hospital in Belize City… To get from Sanctuary or the Placencia Peninsula to Belize City in an emergency is time consuming, due to the distance. During the day you can fly from the Placencia Peninsula. At least on Ambergris Caye we can fly to Belize City anytime of day or night. Again, it is a personal choice, but one that the expat needs to consider before deciding where to settle.

When I accepted a position with International Living as a correspondent it was made very clear to me that I could not ever appear to “promote” a development in Belize. If you review my articles you will see that I have never written about specific developments unless they are included as part of a real estate article that covers a variety of properties. I have met a number of people who own property at Sanctuary, but bought for the investment value and do not live there fulltime. I’d be happy to listen to any satisfied Sanctuary owner who lives there fulltime and would like to contact me to describe their lifestyle at Sanctuary. And anyone who lives there fulltime and loves it can submit an article to International Living to tell their story. I do not review those articles. They are reviewed and selected by the editors in Ireland. Quite a few fulltime expats living in other regions of Belize have already submitted such stories that have been published in 2015. I encourage other expats who are able to write their own story of their lifestyle in Belize to do so.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

David,

I’ll probably be going to Corozal to do research for a future International Living article, before year end. If you and your wife are living in Consejo by November, do let me know. I plan to spend some time at Consejo Shores to meet some of the expats who live there.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Great, David. Thanks for getting back on that issue, as it is a very important one. How long did your transfer take to go through. In the past mine went through within a day, two days at the longest. I have both BZ and US dollar accounts at Atlantic Bank. I’ve always been happy with their service. So I’m relieved they got this worked out. I think the wires will now go through a Puerto Rico Bank first, right?

I heard recently that BofA pulled their correspondent bank status from Heritage Bank. So, clearly, they are getting out of doing business related to Belize, other than for transfers that go from US dollars into BZ dollars. So all Belizean banks will need to find other correspondent banks going if the BofA was the one they worked with exclusively.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Kristen,

Yes, you will find opinionated expats all over Belize. But the opinions will vary from one expat to another, and differ significantly. So it’s good to talk to many. It’s pretty easy to meet expats in Belize.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Good points, David. All realtors list property in Belize in US dollars. But, as you note, pretty much any associated services provided in Belize are priced in BZ dollars. And when you get to Belize you find that some restaurants show prices in US dollars. If they do, that should be noted on the menu.

At International Living, we consistently use US dollars when showing prices, as we need to price things in one currency across all countries and the majority of our readers are American. Any price we show is in US dollars unless a different currency symbol is shown. Once in a while I’ll see a price in Euros, for instance, since that is the major currency in Europe and we write many articles about European countries.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Yes, I forgot about Delta. They have had some great deals to Belize lately. It’s obvious to those of us who track flight prices that the Southwest effect is starting to take place in Belize. A friend who lives here bought a ticket for her daughter to visit, from California, for under $300 RT, on Southwest. I’ve never seen RT prices that low before.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Yes, the international wiring instructions are now up on their website.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Kirsten,

I will send you an e-mail shortly. Usually I suggest that IL members meet me at Wine de Vine on Friday nights, as we always go there and many IL members drop in to seek me out. But let’s discuss your suggestion. I do live on Ambergris Caye fulltime. And I will most likely be here most of October, at least through mid-October.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

Lloyd,

Two weeks is a short term rental, so you will need to get a vacation rental. Check the Rolodex on this website, and the individual pages for each travel spot for suggested hotels and resorts. January is the high season so all rentals will be higher than in the summer and resorts fill up quickly.

The June Monthly Belize Insider newsletter lists property management firms in each expat area. So when you plan for a real long-term rental, of more than one month, this is where you will find suggestions of who to contact in each expat region.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

American, United, US Air, TACA. By January Southwest will also be flying to Belize.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

James,

You are talking about Pathfinders, not International Living. They are a separate company with Agora that is focused on real estate investments. Pathfinders is complementary to IL, though. And, yes, they do recommend developments because they have done extensive due diligence to check out each developer or realtor before letting them advertise through Pathfinders, and come to the IL conferences. But Pathfinder’s focus is more geared towards investors.

You are right in that a smaller proportion of IL’s members are fortunate to be wealthy enough to be able to afford to invest overseas. But most of our members are on a tight cost of living budget. Many are trying to survive on Social Security. I can count on one hand how many questions I have received about buying for an investment in Belize. We correspondents typically pass those questions to the Pathfinders editors, Margaret Summerfield and Ronan McMahon. That is their area if expertise. We correspondents are not financial advisors.

In Belize, the only realtor/developer that’s approved by Pathfinders at this time is Boris Mannsfeld. He sells real estate in Placencia. As far as I know, Pathfinders has not given their stamp of approval to any other development in Belize. At one time a few other developers were on their approved list, but they are no longer on the approved list.

Please note that in my last response I mentioned that most of the IL members who contact me with questions are looking for a place to live, not to invest. So a new development community doesn’t work well for them. Just recently I was contacted by one member who bought at Orchid Bay during the last year and is regretting it. She did not understand how far it is to get to a basic grocery store. Orchid Bay, like Sanctuary, is in a lovely area. But in terms of living there full-time, it is pretty far removed from Corozal where she can find what she needs on a day to day basis.

And IL does conduct surveys of their members’ needs. We get feedback from member surveys before we prepare our presentations for upcoming conferences.

[COUNTRY EXPERT ANN KUFFNER]

James,

I have never put in a “plug” for a development on this forum and I am not going to in the future. My position as a correspondent requires that I NOT “recommend” developments, but rather give prospective expats the info they need to make an informed decision and to avoid the situation that the unhappy Sanctuary buyers found themselves in.

A primary goal of IL correspondents is to encourage readers to rent in the region they are considering buying in for 6 months before they buy, so that they know what they are getting into. The types of Weekend retreats put on by Sanctuary and many other developers put quite a bit of pressure on the people attending to buy right away, rather than to rent first. And several regional realtors told me that they have been unable to resell Sanctuary lots because they are overpriced compared to similar lots in Placencia… I spent a day with each realtor and we were not drinking at any point. They would be happy to sell Sanctuary lots if they made a commission. But they said the lots they listed just sat there and that Sanctuary was not at all happy about having for sale signs up on lots, so took them down, making it near impossible for these folks to sell and get out, and move on…

I did not meet the people who complained about Sanctuary in a bar. I met them at the local Rotary Club meeting where they were all planning their next event to give back to the Belizean community where they now happily live, in Placencia. They are all active in the community of Placencia, where they have a network of friends and have found many things to do locally in the established community.

Do you work for Sanctuary? Do you live there full-time? How many retirees actually live there full-time, vs. just come for vacations? How far away is a decent sized, well stocked full grocery store? If you had a serious illness, what medical clinic would you go to and how long would it take you to get there? These are just a few of the important questions that IL readers ask me about each expat region they are considering in Belize.

[Author]

Posts