I think I've got it, (but could use your help)

my wife & i enjoy hopkins
would suggest at least visiting

Oh I definitely will be going to HOPKINS, one of my top spots! I thought sitee River is close, no?

Yes, the Sittee River and Marina are just a couple miles south of Hopkins.
We chose a site that is in the jungle with several streams on the property, that is 30 miles from Belmopan, 30 miles from the coast at Dangriga (40 miles from Hopkins), 45 miles from the Sittee River Marina, and close enough to ‘civilization' that we can have ‘line' power and ‘city' water if we choose, although we are undecided about those options. We wanted close access to the sea for fishing and recreation on the water, close access to a major city in order to get materials, permits, etc., and also seclusion/privacy on our property. There are many areas that fit these criteria, and where you decide to land may just be personal preference. Take your time deciding, there are a lot of possibilities.

That sounds perfect. Exactly what I'm thinking.  And we do want to rent before we buy.  I just get impulsive because I feel that the real estate prices are going to jump which makes me feel a sense of urgency.  But that's a flaw of mine.

The one thing you are unlikely to have to worry about is huge price hikes and rushing to buy too quickly for property in Belize. Most prices on the internet sites are the dream price set by the realtor real life prices are rarely anything like those. The property we were looking at  we were being encouraged to jump in quickly at list as there was another person looking at it too, well we took our time to ensure it was exactly what we wanted and a couple of months later put in an offer 30% less than asking and closed in 2 weeks. So finding your ideal place is not as urgent as you may be led to believe by either seller or realtor.

Thanks for your insight terrific!

Hi!  Informative posts!  How easy/hard is it to get a mortgage in Belize.  Does it compare to North America?
Thanks!  Monica

Terrific. Do you worry about being too isolated or unsafe?

Not really we have built a very simple house which fits into its environment not a McMansion that says hey rich people live here. Also my son lives there permenantly and has a couple of dogs. We did have an incident about s year ago when a group of guys came on part of the property opposite end to where house is and took a tree my son confronted them and they have him a story about being given permission by a man who said it was his land. My son calmly told them they were on our land pretended he believed the tale told them they could take it( well it was down by then) but clean up after which they did. And next day put up fencing and private property sign and no problem since.  Might help that my son is 6 feet 5 and a big man. I am in Belize every fewonths a couple of weeks at a time. Have known Belize since the 90's when we lived there for 2 years and going back ever since. I honestly have never felt unsafe in all that time.

I read that story somewhere else on here. That is freaky! But at least they haven't been back. And they were polite thieves by cleaning up after themselves. Haha! I'm not a paranoid person anyway. But when I was in Belize in 2004 we were approached by what looked like Guatemalan thugs and luckily the big Rottweiler we were with chased them. And he would have attached them badly. Good thing thugs are afraid of dogs. This was near punta gorda. Anyhow we will always have dogs!!

We will have a sime house and a fence too! 😉 plus my husband is a little scary looking but not at heart!

From what I understand it is really hard and the rates are high heard between 6 & 12%, it is mostly a cash market.

I replied to the mortgage question but it never showed so once again in the scotia bank last week they were advertising 6.75 interest rates but presumably for residents and citizens have been told expats are expected to put down very large deposits like 50% but. That's hearsay. I do know no North American bank will give you a loan on belize property. Also if you are purchasing from an expat they may do a private mortgage but I'd be sure to get a lawyer to check titles are real and all is legal.  Always check any property has full title there is a lot of lease land around which may have a home on it but you only own the land it stands on if you have the full title.  Hope this helps and goes through this time.

I probably posted about our tree tiers when it happened😃

Gwenniem147 - In regards to your question about hurricanes/floods.
Be absolutely sure to see your potential home/building site during rainy season. We looked at property in Cayo just before the 2008 flood. We were told “no problem – you'll never have any flooding, land is way too high”. We went and checked after the flood, and are sure glad we didn't buy :-)

Check out (http://belizenews.com) or (http://www.breakingbelizenews.com) for the current weather/flooding situation. Also the Belize National Meteorological Service site http://www.hydromet.gov.bz

We've seen flooding in each District. And inland is not immune to hurricane damage. Iris, a cat 4, besides devastating the Placencia Peninsula, did considerable damage to the Toledo mountain villages. We were lucky, our house, north of Placencia, sustained minimal damage. We've moved inland a few years ago, and Richard brought down a couple of trees and the palapa thatch of the property we ended up buying.

Enjoy wherever you'll end up! Just always be aware of weather, and be prepared.

Wow! Thank you! I will take this advice seriously!

At the moment Belize has an emergency warning in place over the weekend a tropical depression dumped more than 10 inches of rain in about 4 hours old Belize city is badly affected check out Belize News sites for some interesting photos. The new road they are putting from Mile 3 western highway cross to the Northern Highway near Bella vista which I drove down going to the airport on Saturday after noon was clear and easy to pass first time Ive used it i ws delighted with it. Sunday morning the same road was under 2 feet of water. The bus station today still has about 8" of water inside. Lots of schools closed all over Belize but worse in the northern areas Belize city, Orange Walk and Corazol  districts are affected badly in Some areas. Over in the western areas the flooding is not so severe but in Bullet tree some roads are washed out and others impassable.  Just over the Guatamallen border from Benque the major concrete Bridge that crosses the river on the main road into Melchor and onto Flores and Tikal has totally collapsed taking a large truck into the water with it. the bridge was 35 years old and older people often referred to it as the new bridge. I left Saturday afternoon and my son has been keeping me up to date. Warnings are out for areas along rivers and hurricane shelters are open in some areas where people have been evacuated.

Wow sounds grim. Hoping for the best for your son and the belizeans caught in that weather!

Just had call there is sunshine blue sky and fluffy clouds in Belmopan. But dark grey heavy clouds to the west. Probably more rain later but at least some let up from solid grey clouds and rain since Thursday

Thank goodness!  I checked the news. It didn't look great.

Hi There, when you go to Cayo where are you staying. I can point you in the direction of an eco village up in the mountains if your interested? Contact me by direct email.

regards

Not much in the way of jungle and animals around Sittee River but don't forget your bug repellent.

If you are looking for jungle and animals, stay in Cayo.

Nowhere in Belize is that far from the coast.

Hello! So you are saying we will be inundated with no seeums and such with this location?  What about the same scenario up north, like in Corozal? On the river? I do love Cayo.  Thanks!

Not that Corozal is in Cayo, that was just an afterthought.

Mosquitoes, are crazy bad. I am in the jungle with limited air currents. Down by lagoon, a different story. Remember this was called the mosquito coast. I am going to have Mennonite's build some bat houses.