When you decide it is time to have your own vacation villa in the Caribbean, there are some big questions you need to ask yourself. First and foremost is obviously the location, however if you have come to a point where you think you need one, you likely have your favorite location picked out. The second question is you want to buy someone else’s dream home (which ticks all your boxes), or do you want to build your exact dream home. There is a lot of little factors to weigh, some of them you may not have thought of yet.
The Obvious Reasons why Buying Existing Makes Sense
Chances are you will be buying in a foreign country, there will be plenty of unknowns and fears (some rational, some not) about investing your money. This makes buying a home you can see, touch and feel a lot more comforting. You can verify the quality of construction, see the view, determine if future potential development may affect this view etc. It makes you feel more secure in your purchase.
Secondly, you get to use your property right away. Whether for your own personal use or earning rental income on your investment, you can see where your money is going immediately. Remember builds can last upwards of 12 to 18 month in many cases, so all dollars you put into your villa will not be earning you a return for some time.
Lastly, if you need to finance any of your purchase, you will find borrowing money for an existing property is much easier than it is for construction financing. This may seem like an overly generalized statement however it applies across the board throughout the Caribbean.
So Why Build?
Just as there are obvious reasons for buying an existing property, there are very good reasons for building your luxury vacation villa. First and likely most importantly, you get exactly what you want, in the location you want. When you are spending millions of dollars (potentially) on your dream home in the sun, you want what you want, and you shouldn’t have to settle.
Secondly, for many buyers, this is more than a vacation property, it is an investment. Most vacation home buyers do not want to wait a year or more for their new home, they want something now (see reasons above). For this reason, there is a premium on existing properties on the market, making construction a good way to build equity in your new property. This is not always the case, but it certainly can be and the savings can be fairly significant in a hot market.
Buying or Building, do Your Homework!
In the Caribbean, most markets are not as established as they are in North America. Comparable properties for pricing homes will not be as prevalent, and many listings will be priced significantly higher than their actual value. Same goes for building, using a quantity surveyor can save you a lot of money and legwork in determining the right price for your new villa. Talking to local experts on the island is key to finding out the best realtors and builders to ensure you pay the right price for your high end villa.
Talk to us today for about advice on buying or building a property in the Caribbean and how we can assist you with financing your new home!
