RetireRoatan

Many Americans Tap Retirement Funds Early

A poll from Harris Interactive found that nearly a fourth of Americans actively planning their retirement prematurely withdraw money from their accounts.  Explore the low cost of living on the Caribbean island of Roatan.  Don't dip into your retirement early.  Low Taxes.  Low Costs.  Increasing Land Appreciation.  The island is less than 10% developed, so there is room for everyone...  To learn more about retirement and property ownership email TJ ([email protected]) or Bill ([email protected]).

Roatan: An Economic Safe Haven

Roatan is an island of it’s own. While property values decrease in the United States, Roatan stays more than resilient and prospers thanks to the Canadian Dollar and the Euro!

“Overall housing prices peaked in 2006 and have declined almost 7 percent since, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Foreclosures were at an all-time high last year, rising to nearly 2 million from 1.2 million in 2006, the marketplace RealtyTrac reports.

How bad could things get? A big wave of adjustable-rate mortgage resets hits in the first half of 2008. Robert Shiller, the Yale economics professor behind the Case-Shiller indices, says it’s possible housing prices will decline 30 percent from their peak. That’s as much as they fell from 1925 to 1933, the low point of the Great Depression. Others predict a 15 percent drop."

                                                                                          --AARP Magazine

Stay diversified. It’s the best move in any market. A popular strategy is to move money into fixed-income vehicles such as money market accounts.

NAR Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey

This article is being reprinted from the National Association of Realtors Newsletter, April 17th, 2008...

In spite of a decline in the total vacation and investment home sales, second-home sales accounted for 33% of transactions in 2007. Sales of vacation properties fell 30.6% to 740,000 in 2007 compared to the prior year which boasted a record 1.07 million, while investment-home sales fell 18.1% to 1.35 million (down from 1.65 million in 2006), according to NAR's new Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey report. During this same time, primary residence sales declined 10% to 4.34 million in 2007 from 4.82 million in 2006. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun cited the disappearance of speculators from the market as the reason for the decline, leaving the market to serious buyers. The disruption in the mortgage market and tightening of credit during the second half of 2007 also impacted this market sector, but lifestyle factors and strong demographics (including a peak of population in their prime years for buying recreational property), point to a positive outlook for the vacation home market. While U.S. buyers may be taking a wait and see attitude, foreign buyers are taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar and are propping up second-home sales. Conversely, Inman News reports that U.S. buyers are looking abroad for their second home investment in such markets as Costa Rica, Belize or Mexico, taking advantage of newer resort markets where prices are still relatively low and the U.S. dollar can buy more than at home.