How To Make The World’s #1 Island Your Home (And Earn Cash Flow At The Same Time)
Finally, we’re all ready to bug out of Belize City. Belize is a beautiful, welcoming, quirky place full of friendly, interesting people and fun things to do. Being in Belize City, on the other hand, is like doing time.
That said, the past three days in Belize City have been chock-full of information, recommendations, discussion, and discovery. Lief Simon and his team on the ground here have worked hard to arm everyone in the room with us this week with everything they need to know to make their Belize dreams come true.
Lief and his crew have been teasing us with tales and photographs of all that Belize has to offer, from the sandy shores of Ambergris Caye to the rain forest of Cayo. Now the torment is over. Now we all get to take off to go see this country’s natural wonders for ourselves.
Today our group scatters, some to the islands, some to the country’s northern or southern mainland coast, and some to discover the rivers, Mayan ruins, small towns, and wide-open spaces inland. Lief and I will be tagging along with that last group. We’re spending our weekend in San Ignacio, Cayo, participating in our first-ever Self-Sufficiency Seminar. Belize’s Cayo District is one of the best places in the world to embrace an off-grid lifestyle. Lief and I are looking forward to learning how to go about doing that. Read my Sunday dispatch this weekend for more from the scene.
Meantime, dozens among our group are headed for Ambergris Caye. This island accounts for the lion’s share of Belize’s significant tourism income. Located squarely within the barrier reef system, Ambergris Caye is where most divers and beachgoers headquarter themselves in this country.Trip Advisor‘s Travelers’ Choice Award named Ambergris as the #1 island in the world for two consecutive years, 2013 and 2014.
The main population center on Ambergris Caye is San Pedro, a small, typical Caribbean town that’s loaded with character. One of the presenters at the conference this week introduced the group to a new oceanfront project being launched in San Pedro. In a prime location, in the heart of everything and directly on the sand, this new development will be unlike anything built on Ambergris or anywhere else in Belize to date. The plan is for a luxury-level resort, condo-hotel, and conference center all in the British-colonial style.
This big-deal undertaking will set a new standard on the island. Frankly, this is one of the best ocean rental investment properties coming online anywhere in the world. It’s also going to be a great place to escape to the Caribbean.
In other words, this is both an investment and a lifestyle opportunity. Of the 144 units being built, 54 are available for purchase. The developer is retaining the rest of the inventory. That’s how confident he is of the rental potential. Up to 15 of the condos will be set aside for purchase as private personal residences. If you buy a condo and release it to the hotel to rent out to hotel guests, you split the income… and you also get four week’s use yourself each year.
This resort hotel will be loaded with the amenities that you’d expect in a high-end property. However, in my view, the unique and therefore most valuable asset of this property will be its conference center. Along with the British-colonial design, this is one thing that really sets this property apart from the competition.
Right now, the only venues in this country with sizeable conference centers are in Belize City. That’s why we’ve spent the past week here. Belize me, if we had the option to hold our annual Belize conferences anywhere else, we’d take it. The conference center to be built as part of this new property on Ambergris will be big enough to accommodate groups of the size we bring to the country each year. It’ll also be in one of the country’s best locations. And it will be luxury standard. We can’t wait.
Condo prices start at US$234,900. From there, prices go up—according to size, floor, and view—to more than US$800,000 for a two-bedroom, oceanfront “end” unit with a premium two-way view.
For the ultra-premium experience, there are six oceanfront units available, with three bedrooms and more than 2,400 square feet of living space. These will run more than US$1.4 million.
Financing is available.
This new Ambergris property is a luxury resort that’s in the right place at the right time. It will be a premium property in a premium location, a good formula for sustaining performance in all kinds of economic times.
As I mentioned, many among our group in Belize are making the trip over to Ambergris this afternoon to see the location for themselves, and at least 20 of the 54 available units have already been reserved.
Kathleen Peddicord
