Living in Belize

Hi Carolyn1 - shouting out from San Pedro. Hope you are having a good day. Is very quiet here due to the rain.

What area are you in?

We have been living in Krasnodar, Russia.  but my husband just found out that his work visa will not be renewed.  We are currently considering a move to Belmopan, Belize.

I hope to move to San Pedro within the next 18 months.  We are going there for a vacation this December, but we are SO READY to move there now!  Hopefully the time will go by fast.  I look forward to chatting with you all!   

How is san pedro for crime.  I want to retire their We went their a lot of time but on the belize news I hear that crime in san pedro have going up and the local north an south are doing meeting in order to try to keep san pedro clean.
But on the newspaper I read that Belize over all seem to have a problem.  Could you help me to see the truth.

Could you tell me if San Pedro have more expat than last year and how is the economy.
thanks

Hi there to all,

I am pretty new here and I already wrote to 2 ladies realtors here 3 days ago but no answers so I decided to try the whole community of American expats living in Belize where I'll be moving for sure sometime next fall.
I am an American gringo because now I am living in Merida,Yucatan so not far from Belize.I can come by bus there:)

Well,I love Merida and these parts of Mexico too but I got this idea to move to Belize...to tell you the truth who knows what it will be in a year from now??? Maybe I'll remain in Merida.I don't know for sure...but lets say that at this particular moment in time I consider Belize but still love living here.

One thing you should know: I am a professional artist illustrator and work in the advertising business doing storyboards for TV commercials in USA and UK.I make a good living as an artist and worked only from home via Internet so to me,living in Mexico or Belize is the same thing,or in Europe where I did live for a while in France,Italy and Germany.But I decided to move to Mexico and not living in USA anymore.

What I'd like to know is related to the visa in Belize.How to obtain it and what kind is? For ex. here I have a visa that allows me to live forever,every year I just have to renew it.I have American citizenship so I'd like to know if there's a Consulate or Embassy in Belize?Also how to rent a place and the prices and where to look for such a place.I am not married and have no kids.I was married 3 times and I discover that it's enough for me:)
So how a lone wolf like me would live in Belize only by renting for a while?
What cand you rent lets say for USD 500-600 a month???
I am not looking for a hacienda or a big place but something like a 1 Br. Apt or a little cabin or bungallow would do it for me.I also want to know if it's absolutelly necessary to have a car??So far here in Merida I don't need.I do have a California drivers licence though valid til Oct. 2014.

I don't know what other questions I might have but it's not a big rush since I plan to move by the end of next year.

I will appreciate any help from anybody that has already the experience of living in Belize.I read that many ask about the crime rate...well,anywhere in the world there's crime.I doubt that it's worse than in Brooklyn or Queens or L.A.:)If you always think about crime..then better move to the North Pole and build an igloo and live there with the polar bears...well,they might be the only organized crime there but who knows??? They might prefer to eat only seals..gotta take that chance...

Thank you  and have a great time,saludos y suerte

Best,
Ovi