How President Elect Obama Is Creating The Best Caribbean Beachfront Buy Of The Decade
“I have never thought of a reason not to buy real estate in Venezuela,” writes Correspondent from that country Don Ellers, “despite the anti-American rhetoric of the Chavista government and the anti-Venezuela rhetoric of the Bush regime. Politics aside, the Venezuelan people have remained warm, friendly, and accommodating to foreign visitors, especially property owners, just as they had been before Chavez took the office of president.
“Plus, of course, Chavez is in his last term, having lost the national referendum to change the constitution of his country to abolish term limits.
“I made over a dozen trips to the country in the two years’ time before and after my Caribbean property purchase. Chavez was the president the entire time, and I never had any trouble clearing customs, going through police or National Guard highway checkpoints, or even when I was pulled over by the police while driving. A U.S. passport is next to gold in Venezuela, as it is in much of Central America, and that’s no exaggeration. If your papers and license are in order, you have nothing to worry about.
“I’d say the Venezuelans seem to live beyond politics. Their behavior remains constant, no matter their political affiliation or yours.
“Chavez, of course, likes to get on his soapbox and spout rhetoric. And sometimes that’s the kindest way to describe what Chavez gets up to, especially when it comes to the United States and President Bush. Chavez’s antics scare many people away and keep them even from considering the country as a vacation or retirement destination.
“I’m here to tell you that that is a mistake. I’ve been traveling to and reporting on Venezuela since before the recent war of words between Chavez and the U.S. My conclusion? This country is the last emerging market and earliest-in opportunity in the Caribbean.
“One of the main reasons the country has remained as under-valued and undeveloped as it has, frankly, has been George W. Bush.
“Now that’s all changed.
“Already, President Chavez is making early peace gestures aimed at President Elect Obama. Wednesday this week, Chavez issued a statement to say, ‘the time has come for Venezuela and the United States to establish new relations.’
“And Chavez went on Venezuela television to say he would meet with Obama only ‘on equal and respectful terms.’
“If you’ve considered Venezuela as a vacation, retirement, or investment destination but had put the country on your back burner while you waited for Chavez’s presidential term to end…pay attention right now, because you don’t need to wait that long. And, if you do, you risk missing out on the truly extraordinary property buys you can make in this country today. By the time Chavez is out of office in two-plus years, I predict that the world will be far more comfortable about buying and investing in Venezuela. Which means today’s early-in opportunities will be done.
“Note that, in the past year or so, Chavez has passed national legislation that guarantees foreign property owners the same rights as Venezuelan property owners. Same for businesses.
“If you’ve been looking into Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Bay Islands of Honduras, or any other tropical havens but have been put off by how much property prices have exploded in these places over the past 5 to 10 years, listen up:
“Take a look at Venezuela, where you still have a monster opportunity to invest in the white-sand, turquoise-water escape of your fondest daydreams…at bargain-basement prices. If you’re kicking yourself because you didn’t buy five or six years ago in Panama…imagine if you’d bought in that country more than a dozen years ago.
“That’s what it’s like buying in Venezuela today.”
How do you get started, dear reader, understanding at a more nuts-and-bolts level what Venezuela has to offer? Get in touch with Don, who offers something typically unheard of in this part of the world: a buyer’s brokerage service called Dream Caribbean Real Estate.
Kathleen Peddicord
