Put a deal down on a condo in cayman brac

[EastEndDiver]

divezonescuba Cayman banks are NOT very efficient when it comes to speed I have been dealing with them for over 10 years unfortunately.

First Caribbean seems to be the better of the bunch I also use Butterfield which is more "personal" in their manner.

 

[KathyV]

Deal may fall thru.

The contract specifies securing funding in 3 weeks. Realtor says the bank on Cayman Brac often takes 3 months. We are going to change the contract and see if the seller will sign off on it.

divezonescuba Cayman banks are NOT very efficient when it comes to speed I have been dealing with them for over 10 years unfortunately.

First Caribbean seems to be the better of the bunch I also use Butterfield which is more "personal" in their manner.

That is so surprising to me, because Cayman is a world financial center so I would have thought that the banks would be fast and efficient, like Switzerland - but I guess not! Hang in there @divezonescuba, I hope it works out.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Just last year the banks started using electronic transfer for bank to bank dealings before that they had foot messengers delivering whatever was done......shows how up to date they are.

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

They will also make you have a life insurance policy for the loan value where the lender is the beneficiary, not to mention Hurricane and flood insurance. When I looked into property on Grand Cayman, the property was very affordable but the Hurricane and flood insurance put it out of my reach. Im sure the life insurance policy is affordable though.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Actually Insurance on Island is relatively inexpensive now our rates have decreased over the last 7-8 years on a steady basis.

 

[mi000ke]

That is so surprising to me, because Cayman is a world financial center so I would have thought that the banks would be fast and efficient, like Switzerland - but I guess not! Hang in there @divezonescuba, I hope it works out.

While the investment firms on the island are fairly sophisticated, the local banks are far less so. We got so frustrated and discouraged just trying to set up a personal bank account, that we gave up and just have our condo management group pay our local major expenses on our behalf from our condo account. Everything else goes on a credit card.

They will also make you have a life insurance policy for the loan value where the lender is the beneficiary, not to mention Hurricane and flood insurance. When I looked into property on Grand Cayman, the property was very affordable but the Hurricane and flood insurance put it out of my reach. Im sure the life insurance policy is affordable though.

As the OP is looking to buy a condo, the insurance for hurricane and flood should be contracted by and paid by the condo (strata) association and included in the monthly strata fee. Our strata association buys insurance for the entire building, so the cost per condo unit is not too bad. And our personal insurance for our condo content and interior structure (and liability coverage, as we rent our condo when we are not there) is pretty reasonable as well, again, probably because the insurance company has 30 or so customers from our building.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Our Condo Strata does the same it costs less than . $2,000. per condo per year we have it through Island heritage and LLyods

Our personal content/business interruption costs about $800. a year coverage is $30,000. content and 6 months loss of rental coverage

 

[FindingMenno]

That is so surprising to me, because Cayman is a world financial center so I would have thought that the banks would be fast and efficient, like Switzerland - but I guess not!

Nope... the retail banking here is a completely different (outdated) world compared to the high-finance/corporate/investment banking that people know the island for...

We're still struggling to set-up online bookings, with a Cayman account it's just not possible as the banks here do not work with the usual payment gateways.

 

[caydiver]

Yes retail banking has really nothing to do with global financial markets. The part I find surprising is that most of the banks are international and use the US banks as clearing houses. However my daughter just applied for her mortgage and was approved within a week. She lives and works here so is a resident. The problem may be that unless you have a bank account here for at least 5 years you have no local standing so your approval will take longer than for a local. Probably the same as for a foreigner buying in the States or elsewhere with no local credit history. Ironically to open a bank account here you need a reason such as a home (rented or owned that you need to pay bills for), a local business or employment. Banks are so much fun nowadays!!!

 

[Alucard]

I have found that the retail banks on Cayman are far more conservative than in the USA or Canada. You can't just arrive on the island with a wad of cash and open an account, in spite of what the fiction on TV shows. Getting loans through them without a history on island is all but impossible. They don't use the same credit worthiness factors that US banks use. I'm not going into the details here because it's probably not relevant, but we ended up having to get financing elsewhere.