Great Article on Utila Today in the Washington Post

[itsjustme0770]

washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020602081.html)

Congrats to the Utopia Ladies.

[rd2dive]

Great article. . .oh how I miss Utila!!!

[stevenhmiller]

Utopia Dive Village on Utila is now for sale @ $4,499,000.00. I don't know why it's for sale after only being in business since 2007. Either they don't get the capacity they need to be profitable or they just want to move on. It's a beautiful place, though! I wish I had the mone, I'd love to buy it.

[leadweight]

It seems like a lot of property is for sale in the Bay Islands. Last month I took a long walk on the road between West End and West Bay. Nearly every house was for sale.

[stevenhmiller]

I notice the same thing when doing searches for beachfront property in Honduras. We're going to La Ceiba, Roatan and Utila 3/10 - 3/16 to look at property and do a little diving. Truthfully, I'm not sure why so much is for sale.

[Hawk]

A lot of the places for sale were probably investment properties. The increase in value over the past few years has been incredible. Money to be made. If someone was having it a bit bad back at home and owned property there it would be an easy way to make money.

I own a lot behind CoCoView, on Roatan, and someday hope to retire there. If things ever got to the point I really needed the money I could sell it for quite a nice profit. Hopefully I never need to do that though.

[itsjustme0770]

I think the biggest reason that alot of property is for sale is that, relatively speaking, Utila and Roatan are undiscovered (as compared to say, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, etc.). There is also still a perception that Honduras is the Honduras of the 1980s. That said, property on either of these islands is incredibly inexpensive when compared to the same types of property on other Caribbean islands. You can get 75' of beachfront with an outstanding reef literally 40 yards offshore for @ $100,000. Try finding that on Cayman, coz, the BVI, etc. You can also get title insurance from a number of US Title companies, including First American.

What's the downside you ask? The Bay Islands are still trying to figure out how to deal with their new found success. Infrastructure, while generally reliable, is subject to outages and they grids are really being stretched with the influx of new residents/owners. That said, we love the Bay Islands and Utila in particular.

Disclaimer: I am not a real estate agent, just a happy property owner on Utila (Our property is just about a mile east of Utopia). I am happy to answer additional questions offline if anyone has any questions. You can see information on my property at the below links to give you an idea of the type of property available.

[leadweight]

My personal opinion is there is a lot of property for sale because Roatan is just like the rest of the world. The property boom has peaked and everyone wants to take profits and get out before things go down. Certainly, problems at home are a factor. I think long term Roatan is a good place to own a home, but short term, there might not be a good place anywhere.