RetireRoatan

A Trip to the Beach: Living on Island Time in the Caribbean

This is the true story of a trip to the beach that never ends. It's about a husband and wife who escape civilization to build a small restaurant on an island paradise -- and discover that even paradise has its pitfalls. It's a story filled with calamities and comedy, culinary disasters and triumphs, and indelible portraits of people who live and work on a sliver of beauty set in the Caribbean Sea. It's about the maddening, exhausting, outlandish complications of trying to live the simple life -- and the joy that comes when you somehow pull it off.

Roatan On MSN's Top 10 Easy Weekends

Sure you could head to the local ski resort or down to Florida with everyone else in your neighborhood, but why not spend the weekend abroad? Whether soaking up the sun or schussing down the slopes makes for your ideal vacation, we've rounded up 10 international destinations just a quick flight from many U.S. cities and included information on how to get there to make these winter weekends abroad as easy for you as possible. (from MSN) . . .

Going into Business in Roatan

You must establish a Honduran legal entity to go into business in Honduras. There are several types of businesses used in the country, but the most common are Comerciante Individual (Individual Merchant) and Sociedad Anonima (Limited Liability Corporation). Foreigners are allowed to form companies, but if you want to work or name yourself General Manager, you must have residency to do so legally. If you don'€™t currently have residency, then you can name a manager that is a resident or citizen. It is possible to use the same corporation you used to buy property to go into business, but most lawyers recommend setting up a separate one for the business to avoid risks to either. Tax incentives and€“ The new Bay Island'€™s Free Tourist Zone law will provide an array of incentives to tourism related businesses such as hotels, restaurants, vehicle rentals, and souvenir stores. Read more in the Roatan Relocation Guide

Rent or Buy . . .

That is the question you have to ask yourself when deciding to retire here. The easiest one is to rent a condo or home, work out a great deal with a landlord or split costs with a roommate and enjoy every day of paradise here in Roatan, until you are ready to buy. You will of course have to become a resident of Honduras and if you want to drive you are required to retake your drivers license tests in all cases.

There are many available condos and homes for purchase on the market, click here to browse 

Search for a Piece of Paradise

Roatan Multiple Listing service is an organization of Real Estate offices on Roatan who have joined together to be able to provide professional real estate services.  The MLS is a database which allows real estate brokers to share information about listed properties on the market.  The MLS combines the listings of all available properties that are represented by brokers who are both members of that MLS system and of NAR (the National Association of Realtors) in the US.

The system is also a public access site so clients can utilize it to get an overview of property values and actually shop for properties. The MLS website can be browsed here. This should save you time from scouring the Internet for Roatan property . . it's all here . . . have fun shopping . . if you have questions email "The Lynch Team"

Partners in Education on Roatan (PIER)

Continuing our series on Roatan growth. Today we discuss education on the island.

Founded in 2006, PIER'€™s main purpose is to develop an excellent public school system in order to

•   promote the economic development, and
•   enhance the quality of life of the Islands€™ citizens'

PIER advocates for excellence in education by encouraging business and community members to work with the parents, students, teachers, administrators and community to Adopt-A-School; to develop volunteer opportunities in local schools such as classroom assistant, tutors, mentors, motivators, ESL tutors and public speakers; and to raise funds for education excellence.

13 Retirement Myths as reported by Money magazine

1. You need a big income to have a big nest egg
2. You can't get rich with a 401(k)
3. Everyone has debt
4. A million dollars will cover you
5. Boomers will crash the market
6. Without a pension, you're doomed
7. Social Security won't be there
8. Your house can finance retirement
9. You're too old to start saving
10. Short-term market swings don't matter
11. Top priority is the kids' college
12. Decent savings plan = early retirement
13. You're bound to mess up your 401(k)

Each of the points above are explained much further in the CNN Money article. We will cover a few exerpts from each myth which you can than read further by clicking the links in this blog post.

Roatan Changed Their Lives - Great Video!

In the spring of 2005, four friends were hired to produce a travel documentary of small island in the Caribbean off the coast of Honduras named Roatan Island. They won a Silver Telly Award for their production of Roatan, Your Caribbean Paradise.

Click the image below to view the video.

This documentary is FANTASTIC and the best we have seen! It covers all aspects of the island. From it's culture to activities to resorts to real estate to entertainment to dining. WOW!!

During production, the group found that they shared a love of the outdoors and knew they had the ability to transcend that love to film, later that year, the group formed Nighthawk Entertainment, LLC.  

Roatan Growth - Cruises and Port Developments (Pt2)

CRUISE LINES

Year	Cruise Tourists
1999	57,225
2000	114,101
2001	53,833
2002	124,454
2003	161,580
2004	266,725
2005	277,060
2006	204,772
2007	Cruise Iteneraries / Cruise Calendar 2007 / 2008

NOW -- Oct 2007
Cruise lines are booming in Roatan, over 18,000 passengers a month, as a matter of fact Coxen Hole destination for Roatan ships is now in negotiations for a second port. The current port is being built into a full fledged retail shopping center with entertainment. Preliminary illustration below

THEN -- Published in 1999
Interesting maritime tourism news! Did you know that cruise lines expect to haul some 6 million passengers in 1999? Roatan is currently taking baby steps at attracting cruise ships to its shores. Islanders see great potential for future growth using Roatan as a new/virgin stopover. -- original article