Let me introduce myself

Cheers Bill
We are coming over in January for a look around Corozal and San Pedro. If I have any questions after would it be ok to send you a message?
Speak soon and all the best
Glenn

Thank you for the message Glenn, it's nice to meet you.

Absolutely Glenn, talking about Belize is what I Love to do now. Don't feel you have to wait to ask questions if they come up. San Pedro and Corozol are two great places to start sandals in the sand research.

There are often questions we don't realize to ask as a result of things we take for granted living in other parts of the world. If I don't here from you, enjoy you time in Belize.

Where will you be visiting from?

Regards Bill.
billdoesbelize.com

The UK, I was posted to Belize whilst in the Army in the 80's and loved every second

Ah.......during or around the time of Independence. There have been a few changes but I understand the feel is still the same as it was back then.

Hello Bill,

Thank you for the offer!  My husband and I are hoping to move to Belize also!  We are coming out for 3 weeks to Plancencia in April and hope to come back to Alberta, sell everything, and move.  Any chance we could get together and pick your brain while we are there??  We hope to rent a car and visit different locations.

Cheers!

Monica

Hi Monica;
I love meeting fellow Canadians here in Belize and it would be great to meet you both in person. If you  have any questions feel free to contact me and we can set up a private video chat prior to your visit. Sometimes it is helpful to know some of the questions that we don't think to ask about the things that we take for granted living in Canada.

About 6 years after independence but it was great back in the day. I know San Pedro has changed considerably as has Belize city, we will be in San Pedro around the 20th Jan, I'll let you buy me a beer😁

I'll look forward to it. Beliken, the beer of Belize, 3 for BZ$10.00 at most places. lol

Ahhhhh, Belikan,, I'm sure they brewed that in Ladyville, although I may be mistaken. I do know I drank Schlitz as, at the time, Belikan tasted awful. I have no doubt that it has changed and I intend to try it lots to prove that🍻

Thanks Bill!
So a quick question.  What would you say a typical month of expenses would be (in Canadian dollars).  Rent, food, internet and electricity.  We are thinking of living in San Ignacio (which seems to be less expensive than San Pedro).  I heard $500 US a month for rent is possible.  We`d like a 2 bedroom, 2 bath but would take a 1 and 1 house too.  Your thoughts?  Thanks!

Good Morning Monica & Claude;
A quick question with no quick answer. Everyone's reality is different but I will share our reality with you.

We have converted to BZ$ in our minds. BZ$2.00 is fixed at US$1.00 and I will let you convert that to CAN$ as that is an ever moving target.

We live in San Pedro which is the most expensive place in Belize to live. We are the first occupants in a brand new 2 bedroom 1 bath and rent it for BZ$2000.00/Mo. which is fully furnished and includes internet and CATV (CATV around $BZ$44.00/Mo. and internet starts at BZ$80.00/Mo. and goes up from there depending on required speeds). The Electricity is on average around BZ$140.00/Mo. Some months less and can be up to BZ$180.00/Mo. during the 2-3 months we use Air Conditioning a lot. We spend BZ$250.00/week for all groceries and household items. We put BZ$1000.00/week into our Belize chequing account and at the end of each month after paying our rent, groceries, utilities and BZ$200.00 to renew our visitor visa we transfer BZ$800.00 - $1000.00 into our savings account.

We don't do the bar/restaurant scene which will drive that cost up and live very simple here. Our motto is to live on what we need and not what we want. The vehicles here on the island are typically rental golf carts that rent from $US 500.00 -$US750.00/Mo. We live a 30 minute walk from downtown and gave up our cart shortly after we arrived. The only thing that the golf cart was really handy for was to get groceries and we found a grocery store that delivers, so now we walk along the beach to town once a week to do our banking, buy our meat at the Meat shop, our vegetables at the vegetable stands, then go to the grocery store for our household items and packaged goods and get delivered home with the lot.

We were just in San Ignacio a few weeks ago and intend to move there early in the new year. I believe we can cut our budget by at least half. US$500.00/Mo. for rent is very doable, as a matter of fact we saw some nice 2 Bedroom homes for between BZ$500- 750.00/Mo. You will find your budget can go down as you get to know and build relationships the locals you deal with, the reality is that there are two prices here, one for locals and one for visitors so it is always good to casually let them know that you are a resident and not a visitor.

Creature comforts are expensive here, things like Canadian chocolate, Brand name cereals and that sort of thing. Some other things are expensive as well like milk for example is BZ$10.95 for a half gallon, electronics, bedding and linens are expensive and in general the quality of most things is not what we are used to in Canada. That been said the staples like groceries are very reasonable if you shop at the markets and local vendors. San Ignacio has a huge Market that sells just about everything reasonably. Also you can find great street vendors with very reasonable local foods, for example we purchased three huge burritos in San Ignacio and paid BZ$7.50 (cheaper then cooking at home).

Again I believe that we can easily get our budget down to under CAN$2000.00/Mo. once we move to San Ignacio. As a newcomer you should expect to pay a bit more maybe. Belize is a land of opportunity, You just need to find a place you are happy to land in and be prepared to rent long term (6 months), then be open with people about what you would like to find and then as you meet people and as time goes by you will find better and better situations to meet your needs.

A bit of a long winded answer I know but there is no short reply to any question in Belize. It is also good to have someone help you out when you first come to answer questions that we often don't think to ask because of the things we take for granted in Canada. Things like does the house have Electricity, is there hot water? Is it at all the sinks or just the shower? We have looked at many houses since arriving and only ever saw one with a bathtub and even a few with the shower outdoors. Is the water supplied by the town system or is a cistern used which relies on rain to keep you in water. These are just a few things we take for granted and may not think to ask.

I hope this helps and answers your question. If you have any more feel free to ask. Helping others to make an informed decision is my way of paying forward the lifestyle benefits that we have experienced from our move to Belize.

Regards Bill

Thank you so much Bill!  Such an informative answer!  I am sure to have more questions for you!! But for now, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours!!   

Happy New Year to you guys as well. We'll talk soon.

sounds like you may have some heart issues.  I had triple bypass 3 years ago and wonder how you deal with that.

Hello Bill, me again!  Did you bring stuff from Canada??  If so, how did you?  Container, or did you drive yourself?  We plan to sell most everything and rent something furnished.  Eventually we would like to bring the stuff we would like to keep over.  It won`t be much but we can`t fly it for sure.  Thanks in advance!

Hello
I am happy to see your post, my husband and I dream of retiring  to Belize . We are Canadians as well my problem is we have no idea how to start the process, absolutely any information will be helpful.

Regards
Donna Daley

Hi Bill, and welcome.

thank you very much for your post.

My wife and I purchased property in Toledo district and hope to move there within 2 years. We first travelled to Belize in 2014 and fell in love with the country and decided to purchase property. My wife and I live in the US, but as we look towards our future, we concluded that retiring in florida, would be too expensive for us.  We love living in Florida, but as our income becomes more "fixed", we concluded that we needed another option, and Belize turned out to be that option. We've now visited belize 4 times in 18 months for a total of 3 months days and each time we go it just re-confirms the decision we made.

dqtester,

Thank you for your warm welcome to the community.

It's sounds like we have some of the same reasons for choosing Belize. We moved just over a year ago and have no regrets. Sure Belize is a country where things (usually procedural) are more likely to go wrong than right, actually not wrong or right but rather, not as we might have planned. And while some things make me shake my head from time to time, I have learned to say "it is what it is", as a part of accepting and embracing our new home and it's culture.

The few minor procedural inconveniences (part of the learning curve) are certainly out weighed by the quality of health, happiness, and cost of living, that contribute to the overall quality of life we now enjoy. Lorilee and I both agree that it was the right decision for us as well.

Hi, Bill, very informative thread.  My husband and I are in the process of buying a lot near Placencia, BZ. We have friends there,  have visited,  feel so at home there,  and we're jumping in with both feet. Retirement is about 5 years away,  so we hope to erect a small home in the next couple of years. Our next visit will likely be in November 2016 to survey, semi-clear and fill the lot to our specs. Scary but exciting. The idea of not suffering any more Alberta winters is too good to imagine!

You mentioned renting . . .do you ever plan to buy or build? Why or why not?

Have a super day,
Veronica