zboss:
Hi Folks, Can an ex-pat in Roatan please fill me in on the politico and living situation? I am looking into buying some property on the Roatan and building a vacation house but want to hear the 411 from ex-pats. Thanks!
I have owned land in the Bay Islands, at this time I do not.
Poltico? You will always be seen as a wealthy outsider. If you stay there for 20+ years, they will know that you are no longer wealthy, but you'll still be an outsider.
Politico? Do you mean, is it stable? No, not as stable as Ohio, but probably more so than California. Are you worried about the government taking your property? I wouldn't lie awake at night fretting about that, but I would treat it as any commodity- don't risk more than you care to lose. Why do Norteamericanos own beachfront property? Because Bay Islanders have seen what storms can do. That's why they are selling all of the North side ocean property that they can to us. If this is a concern, stay in Iowa.
Politico? As in what about the war in Honduras? Most people don't understand that the war was 300 miles South over a mountain range and was about another country called Nicaragua. The real concern in Central America (
of NO concern to the vacation traveller to a Bay Islands resort ) is the high levels of property crime. (This is a future predictor in microcosm of where we in the US are headed. Wide class division and increasingly so every day) If you're going to live there, one way or the other you're going to get ripped off. If it isn't some clown burglarizing your bodega, it's the Transito cops busting your stones for yet another licensing infraction on your car.
These people live for paperwork. No matter how much you have you'll need more.
Do not seriously consider owning a business there. It is insanity in the purest form. IE: "The 13th Month", and how an employee, even one that kills, barbecues and eats your chickens can not be fired unless you jump through all the hoops- and then you have to pay him severance.
Medical care? Write your will.
Paying your $30 per year in property tax? Plan on spending the day, maybe two. Same for licensing your vehicle, or maybe need a trip by air to Tegucigalpa to fill out the papaerwork. You can think you're all perfectly legal, the next thing you know they're trying to confiscate your Cessna.
Many people come to Roatan to build that vacation house you are thinking about- and with good reason. Comparatively it is inexpensive... not cheap, inexpensive. But then, you are better off paying to transport all of your own materials rather than buying them locally. Flash: The nearest Home Depot is about 6 weeks away by ship.
Bringing a car down? Paperwork. Then know that the Ford that you buy in the States may be radically different under the hood from the one that you shoulda bought in Tegus... they know how to fix the local versions!]
Buy yourself a copy of the book, "Don't Stop the Carnival". Read it and believe it.
So if it's all that- why would anyone ever want to live in the Bay Islands?
Because you want to be 2.5 hrs jet flight from Houston's Walmart & McDonalds.
Because the smell of a rain forest beats Nebraska any day of the week.
Because the sunsets and sunrises are seperated by dark black skies with so many stars.
Because you really don't care what the weather report is, as if it really was accurate, anyway.
Because so many people say they want to do it, but you... you will!
Live your dream.