Here we go .....

Eat in a few local resterants  Take a couple of tours and enjoy your visit. It is a very friendly place, just talk to people both Belize and Expats and ask  any questions you have you will find lots of answers.
If you are  a church goer find the local church for your denomination, if staying in a local hotel they have lists  and directions to all local churches.

Great advice. Belize has a very friendly, welcoming population, and SI has a large expat community. You will find it has a very pleasant, relaxed atmosphere, plus the food is great!

Well we have moved on to Dangriga. .. San Ignacio was great. From the accomodations at San Popo Cottages to the Ruins it was great. So many good restaurants: Ko Ox Han Nah ... Ervas ... La Cenaida ... Evas ... Serndip ... Authentic Flavours ...Pops .... Crave ... Guava Limb.

Come and gone now. Home tomorrow and then .....???

Buy and renovate?
Buy and build?
Lease a time share?

Need to secure the best option for two months use each year that will generate revenue the other 10 for the next  4 to 5 years. Then 6 months a year ... until we are too old to enjoy it.

Thoughts?

It all sounds very exciting. Keep us updated.

If you zoom onto the little figure/photo to the left of any post that persons profile will come up, and  from there you can see all that persons posts from latest to oldest. So you can see where that person may have  updated information on a different thread or two, or never posted again. There are a lot of posters who ask questions and get advice who never return with an idea of how things turned out. Luckily BCl is Not such a poster, still informative on the forum.

We are going to take a ride over to Plett's Builders when we are in Benque in Jan. We were thinking of putting up one of the Mennonite homes on the lot that my partner's mom gave him.  Still in the early stages...but we thought we would put up a vacation/ rental near extended family, and his uncle would maintain it.  This would give us potential income (still need to research what the would be).  Eventually, we want to build our main retirement home on the land we have on Ambergris Caye.

Ridgebackmix wrote:

We are going to take a ride over to Plett's Builders when we are in Benque in Jan. .

While Plett's is the best know, there are at least two other builders located in that same area. Linda Vista Lumber Yard, and Premier Homes Construction. You might want to also check them out while you are there.

I have not had any experience with any of them, just saw them while driving around during several trips to Spanish Lookout. Also there are at least three window manufacturers located in that area, so you do have choices other than whatever comes standard from Plett's.

A general tip when searching for businesses and organizations in Belize. Many have been slow to put up a good website, However far more do have a Facebook page they try to use as a website.

Frank Plett is probably the best known of the Mennonite house builders. His son-in-law, Scott Varro, runs Linda Vista which is the upscale version of Pletts. Our home was built by Linda Vista and overall we're very happy with it. BUT even though we were here almost the whole time it was being done, there were still numerous issues that needed to be changed/fixed/ironed out. Be aware that your architectural plans are only "suggestions" here;-)

That being said, I will reiterate what every expat I know will tell you: RENT FIRST! And rent for at least a year so you go thru all the seasons and know for sure that Belize is right for you! Tragically it's not right for many and then they can't sell their home and go elsewhere... It can - and often does - take years to sell a home here. So don't get locked in to a house before you've given yourself lots of time in country to make sure you still want to be here:-) And don't believe the hype that living in Belize is cheap. IT'S NOT! Only 3 things are cheap here: property taxes, labor, and rents. Everything else is at par with the US or 2, 3, or 4 times more expensive! Gas for your car is $5.15/gal. right now. Electricity and water are pricey. A/C can cause your utility bill to skyrocket and during the summer, it's hard to sleep without it when temps can be in the 90s. Relatively high speed internet can cost US $85/mo or more depending on where you live.

So do your homework and don't believe they hype and myths about Belize. It's a wonderful place to live if you're comfortable with it's eccentricities.