Mennonite homes

Hello all,

Very useful info.  I am planning to build a Mennonite house in the Corozal area ( off consejo road) next year, on concrete pillars.  anyone who can provide good concrete builders in that area would be of help.  It i best if you send me info via my email, *** as i check that more regularly.  Thank you.

Conrad

Hello:

I am currently looking at buying a lot/lots in Mayan Seaside and having a couple of Mennonite shells installed vs buying a local house for sale and adding a Menn. shell. I am a builder so  would probably finish them myself.

Would you be able to provide estimates of costs for  permits, septic and cistern ?

Are building materials, kitchen/bath fixtures readily available?

Did you have to remain on site while your home was being constructed/assembled?

Any unexpected expenses?

Any disappointments with your chosen  plan?

Many thanks.

Hello:

I am currently looking at buying a lot/lots in Mayan Seaside and having a couple of Mennonite shells installed vs buying a local house for sale and adding a Menn. shell. I am a builder so  would probably finish them myself.

Would you be able to provide estimates of costs for  permits, septic and cistern ?

Are building materials, kitchen/bath fixtures readily available?

Did you have to remain on site while your home was being constructed/assembled?

Any unexpected expenses?

Any disappointments with your chosen  plan?



Many thanks.

bob j

Bob:

Mayan Seaside - not sure where this is. Building materials, kitchen/bath fixtures are readily available in various hardware stores on the mainland. Of course, the variety is much less than in the USA or Canada. Although supply is getting much better than say 6 years ago, if you know you need it, and the store has it buy it. If you wait until you need it, the item may not be there.

The other thing is that with the very humid weather some items do not store well. For example bags of cement will get too much moisture and after some time will become useless to use.

Theft is a very big problem in Central America. Construction sites are a prime target if they are not watched over 24x7x365. The theft may come from within the workers you hire, or from locals. For this reason we did not start building on site, until we arrived in country. I was on site twice a day, and often did surprise visits at night. We had planned on having the chain link fence up before construction started, but that company did not put it as a priority. They didn't want to work in the rain.

Permits were not required were we built, until the year we came. As with much of this type of fee there is no written schedule of fees. Thus lending the fees charged to be fattened up. Always get receipts for everything.

Like everything the costs estimates vary with the location, size, and specifications. You can purchase precast septic tanks that can then be delivered. We built our own as we are on a farm. When we came down for 'vacation' we spent a lot of time going to different hardware stores, grocery stores, etc to see the price of things, and what was available.

Thus far we have decided to build with materials and equipment readily available here. This means you can get workers that have done the task with those materials before. I have educated our workers on the way I want things done. I built up our farm slowly. That way I could monitor the functionality, and durability of what we built. With each new structure I have altered things a bit.

When we build our long term home, I know we will build out of poured concrete, import good windows, and insulate walls and roof well. This will reduce the cost of cooling and dehydrating the home. Coming from the prairies in Canada with a 10% humidity to a 90%+ humidity it is surprising the toll that humidity takes on structures, equipment, and animals. A home built as we now plan it will make life here less expensive, and more comfortable.

From our research around Central America, we expected and planned for an 8 foot fence around our 'house and workshop area'. What we did not plan for was more than a barb wire fence around our farm. We quickly learned that fences like that are not respected. Cutting them to get in and blaming someone else was always the trespassers first response. Many just passed through the fence and stole fruit, chickens etc at will. Therefore we ended up building a chain link fence around most of our property or barb wire with field fence.

We put signs on the fence which were all stolen within a couple of weeks. Animals like chickens, sheep, goats are considered take away food. What this means is that they can come onto the farm and easily take away these animals to barbecue. I spoke to more than a few local people that gave up on sheep because of this problem.

We therefore opted to get Kangal (Anatolian Shepherd Dogs) to assist with the discouraging the take away food business. That has worked well for a couple of years, though recently 3 of our pups were poisoned, and an adult was shot twice. Two of the pups died. One needs to have people on the property for most of the time.

Home invasions have become more prevalent in Belize (across the whole country). Therefore plan your security against this. There of course is no guaranteed way to protect yourself, but you can do things to make you and your property a harder target so they go elsewhere.

Thank you for the detailed reply.



Having lived/worked in rural Costal Rica seasonally for a number of years, I am quite familiar with the theft issues you've experienced.

I think my experiences are what attracted me to Consejo, which is a small  coastal village near Corozal with a few expat developments where there are many eyes to keep watch, both residents and FT employees who have a personal stake.

Has the experience made you reconsider your decision to have a family farm and/or build a permanent home there?

I will certainly heed your advice and plan to have prebuilt shells delivered/installed  while I am on site.

re: Has the experience made you reconsider your decision to have a family farm and/or build a permanent home there?

We still like it here. Our hope is that now that Christmas has passed they will be less aggressive to get our carry-out-food. We like the climate, our farm, and friends we have met here. We are just fine with the limited choice on restaurants, the stores, etc. We like the simpler life.

Going back to Canada - specifically Alberta where government has destroyed the economy, and think it is their right to take businesses away - no, do not want to go back there any time soon.

I haven't decided exactly where in Belize I want to end up so this inquiry is not targeted to a specific district at the current time.

What is the availability of "fixer-uppers" in various areas in Belize. I would be interested in finding a home that may need some serious work but has a sound structure and already has the basics (water, septic, electric, etc) in place.  I can do most of the work but want to be sure that any materials and work put into fixing up the structure would increase the value above what is put into it.

There's an excellent candidate for a fixer in Copper Bank owned by an American couple. It's waterfront and all concrete is in place. Has a concrete wall surrounding the property. I think they'd be willing to sell for a low price to a serious buyer.

Hello,
Could you give me any more info about the place around Copper Bank area?
Barbara

Greetings Barbara.  I did not see the property listed where I saw it listed last June. Here is the owners email address in case you want to contact him. He might have sold it because it was a great deal for someone who wanted to finish the house: ***

Lazyhazel
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.
Barbara

You're welcome. We were going to look at it when we were looking at properties last August. We ended up buying property near Sarteneja. Also, check out www.lindavistabelize.com for another home option. It's where we'll get our house from when it's time. Prices are in BZD. Good luck with your search.

Mennonite hardwood homes are easily the best investment if you have some construction knowledge.the structure is sited in one day, on hardwood posts..which can be replaced one at a time if you plan ground floor development
It is possible to buy the bare shell,which can be divided to suit your needs.   Technically you can not work on the project. Register as an employer, which permits you to show how work must be done.  My knowledge is limited to the HOPKINS AREA ,where a plot can be bought around one third acre,and a 24ft by 40ft, plus veranda house coming in  at under USD 100,000.total.
much less for a 20ft  by  36ft.    All material to finish to any standard is available. Though, as anywhere in the world luxury is expensive.

RE: (where a plot can be bought around one third acre,and a 24ft by 40ft, plus veranda house coming in  at under USD 100,000.total.)

Just wondering were you've seen a plot for sale for USD 100,000 as you describe?

I am very up to date on my little corner of Belize having spent several months in your shoes up here near Mexico.
Several used mennonite houses on lots area available in beautiful Consejo development (Mayan Seaside, Corozal District) in very well planned expat community with large (multi acres) common waterfront areas for under 100K US.
Know of 2 which could be had for less then 90K (mild fixer uppers) and 1 nearly new for $95K. All 1/4 acre lots.
Another option is to build your own. In the Consejo  area I priced a lot for $20 K
and researched all of the mennonite builders and viewed their work onsite in Spanish
Lookout.  The cheapest option is to buy a hardwood shell made of "2nds" ( cosmetic pinholes) from Pletts. 20 x 40 ft shell delivered and installed 3 ft up plus stairs for less then $20K. Completely finished perhaps double that.
I really liked the Premiun Home Construction builds. For less then $30K, you can get a delivered shell and for the same price , you can pick  and choose between  hardwood, press txed pine and metal. So for termite concerns one could have pressure txed pine frame, hardwoodfloors/ceiling and choice of any of the 3 materials for the siding.
All of the Menn builders have informative websites with prices listed and phot galleries.  Need to make sure you check  whether delivery price is included in the small print.
A final local option is a partially built concrete house recently started where owner lost financing. In Consejo Shores development. Also waterfront development. Asking ? 95K but could be had much cheaper given the circimstances.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need any more info.

bob

There is several development areas on the HOPKINS road between the highway and the village.including TWO FILLING STATIONS. Search hopkinsbelizeproperty for good info on the area. Beware lots without planning approval..

Further to earlier correspondence HOPKINS AREA has been greatly improved over the last five years.  With a new road to the village. and in the village.  A new water supply pipe,and two new general stores, probably giving Hopkins the best choice in the country.the road to sittee point ,sometimes called Hopkins South,is usually bad, grading improvement is usually short-lived.

Hi Barbara, Here's a link to that house in Copper bank https://www.belizeproperty.com/copper-b … rozal.html There are actually a lot of existing homes for sale in Belize, finding the listings can be tricky though.

That one is under contact and not the same house that I saw listed last year. Either it sold or the owner got tired of listing it. I found that looking online for properties is a crap shoot. Your best bet is to narrow your search down to one or two areas, then spend two weeks on the ground with a good agent who knows what's actually available. Nine out of ten properties we saw listed online had sold long before we were in country looking and a lot of the ads were click bait to get you to contact the agent. Personally, I don't trust agents that do business that way. Seems a little dishonest. Also, things move very slow in Belize. We paid for our land almost six months ago and it still isn't 100% approved by the government. They "reevaluated" the land, determined that the price was too low and now we owe another $1K. Very frustrating. We feel taken advantage of, but that's what you have to go through to get land in Belize. Anyone else run into this? Your thoughts...

How can I contact someone thru the private email system if I don have their email?

A very valid question and one of the main reasons I do not use this forum more often.

For a private message:
click their names.
Then click the button:
Send a private message,
Simple. Good luck!