RetireRoatan

Great Wine and Cheese on Roatan

Retiring in Roatan won't cause you to miss out on much. Just a little more patient for items to arrive to Roatan and with the free tourist zone law now in place, the arrival of goods is ever increasing.

So you have had a long day of snorkeling, diving, relaxing on the beach and need a place to unwind or sample great wine and cheese. Don't miss Roatan De La Vina Wine Bar and Jug Shop. Convenient location, in West Bay at the mall, quiet and relaxing atmosphere, excellent selection of South American wines, immaculate  shop!   Bread, oil, cheese and fruit are available.  Get a bottle of wine "to go" and watch the sunset!

The owners are very knowledgeable about wine and Roatan.  If you enjoy wine, give this shop a try while staying or retiring in Roatan.

 

What is the West End Like for a Retired Person?

First, the West End is two strips of sandy beach that make up two bays (West End Bay and Half Moon Bay). In between the two bays lies a narrow rocky peninsula with several high end villas facing Half Moon Bay. The
West End is a unique and very quaint area of Roatan. It is full of cruise boat tourists, dive vacationers, island vacationers and back-packers who wind up staying for a months. It is easy to recognize the back-packer because they usually tend bar or wait tables for a few months and they all congregate at the same little bars on the beach. The various cultures of the transient back-packers, local island people, and mainland Hondurans really make this place a unique island location that everyone MUST visit (not to mention the INCREDIBLE beaches).

Purchasing Property in Roatan

When you decide to buy property on Roatan, carefully examine your options and your reasons for buying. If you’re buying property for your new home, evaluate location and proximity to the things you want or need. Is there easy access to the property or are you going to have to build a road to it? Check on the availability of water, electricity, cable TV, and Internet. These are all considerations that could ultimately affect your building costs and monthly living expenses.

Steps to purchasing property in Honduras -- (full details from Investment & Relocation Guide, click here)

1. Real Estate agent creates a simple sales agreement, and after review you sign and initial it.

2. You have seven to ten working days to get a 10% earnest money deposit wired to your real estate agent’s escrow account. If purchasing title insurance, wire the title insurance application to title company.

3. Receive survey and title usually within the first 10 days after you sign the sales agreement. At this time attorney submits documents and if buying as a Corporation submits names of adminstrators.

Ready to Fly Here: Check out Kayak.com

Wow, this site searches many of the airlines for the best flight to and from Roatan. Also combines airline itineraries for the cheapest fairs. A great feature is graphs showing the best days to travel, what the rise and fall of costs have been over the past 90 days. Kayak.com features pricing on hotels, cruses, car rentals, travel agency deals and more. Sure there is priceline.com, expedia.com and travelocity.com (to name a few) and this site actually searches those too for you. Play around with kayak.com from your city and get a great persepective of the best flights/costs for you.

It should be noted too that cheapflights.com allows you to put in flight parameters and than as a second step select one of the MANY online ticket websites mentioned above and search those real time all from one website. Pretty cool!!!

Roatan Exposed -- 2nd Home Haven

After a three-year run on real estate that has driven prices up by at least 20% annually in parts of Florida, Las Vegas and other retirement havens, buying the ideal retirement home seems like a pipe dream for many folks.

But then you hear stories from people like Jack Molan, 50, of Cannon Beach, Ore., who picked up an 1,800-square-foot three-bedroom home overlooking a pristine beach for $260,000. Or Ernie and Marti Williams of Riverside, Calif., who bought a half-acre hillside lot overlooking miles of ocean for just $35,000.

Their secret: They bought real estate overseas. Not in places that have been drawing retirees for years, such as Spain, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica and the like, where you need $1 million or $2 million for a piece of paradise. The Williams' lot is on one of Honduras' Bay Islands, Roatan.

These are some of the newest, off-the-beaten-path retirement destinations that recently have been attracting Americans who dream of warmer climates and affordable living.

In these places, beach-front and other prime properties can be had at a fraction of the cost in the U.S. What's more, Americans often find they can afford a much higher standard of living than they could dream of at home. "For maybe $1,200 or $1,400 a month, you can live in a foreign country, have a really nice place, have a domestic servant and eat well," says Tony Macaluso, owner of Portside Properties, a real-estate firm in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Great Update on Tourism in Roatan

From TJ's Blog . .

Since the great article in the Wall Street Journal last month, Roatan is getting more attention than a pork roast on an ant hill... and not only Roatan! Utila and Guanaja each got rave reviews as well as part of the Bay Islands... the last natural and unspoiled paradise in the Caribbean!

Our season is kicking back up quickly, read TJ's article . . .
http://www.buyroatan.com

Pick your paradise in the Bay Islands - Feature on MSNBC

Ready to learn about the Bay Islands - Roatan, Guanaja, Utila? Here is a complete article just posted on MSNBC website. Roatan is gaining so much focus in the real estate, investment and travel world.

So close to the Honduran mainland that you can see the mountains from the island’s southern tip — and imagine ancient Maya priests staring back at you from those mountaintops — Roatan is the most developed of the Bay Islands.

Partly that’s because, when it comes to the Bay Islands, “developed” is very much a relative term. Here it means not neon signs and mega-hotels, but the fact that the island has several communities connected by paved roads, and that, for several years now, electrical power has been available from a single, central provider. The vibe is still very much tropical and tranquil, but all of the essentials — from a choice of dining and accommodations to a plethora of stunning dive sites — are here in abundance.

Read the full article.

The Pros and Cons of Offshore Investing

Offshore investing is often demonized in the media, which paints a picture of investors stashing their money with some illegal company located on an obscure Caribbean island where the tax rate is next to nothing. While it’s true that there will always be instances of shady offshore deals, the vast majority of offshore investing is perfectly legal. In fact, depending on your situation, offshore investing may offer you many advantages.

Roatan Makes Travel Section of MSNBC.com

Get in touch with your inner Tarzan -- Take a walk on the wild side with these 5 unique and adventurous trips

Trip #2: Swimming with dolphins in Honduras
Thirty-five miles off the coast of mainland Honduras on the Bay Island of Roatan, Anthony's Key Resort (www.anthonyskey.com) operates a unique, natural dolphin lagoon complete with a living coral reef ecosystem on the world's second largest barrier reef. Guests have their choice of diving, swimming, or snorkeling with the dolphins, and physical contact is allowed. Part of the bay is sectioned off, giving guests the rare opportunity to swim with the dolphins in the ocean, as opposed to an artificial pool or tank.

All inclusive, 7 night packages start at $1160 per person in season (Jan to Aug), and individual dolphin excursions are extra, ranging from $84 for dives, to $73 for swimming/snorkeling. Children between the ages of 5-9 are an additional $899 each.

READ THE WHOLE MSNBC.com ARTICLE

Roatan Talk Radio . . Yep We Have One

The show is the first English speaking (non-religious) talk radio programming on the Bay Islands. It is the main source of important, timely interviews and information for English speaking residents and visitors on the Bay Islands and Northern Honduras.

In addition to playing many of the most popular and upbeat Soul and R& B music from the 70's and 80's, Roatan Bruce hosts top business, community, political and real estate leaders who share important information about the islands and greater Honduras. Roatan Bruce has already interviewed more than 250 people.

One of the most unique factors about the show is that for the first time, businesses can now promote their products or services to the thousands of English speaking people and tourists on the Bay Islands and northern mainland Honduras on both radio and television.

The Roatan Bruce Show is heard on 106.5 FM from 10 am to 1 pm.