With the strength of the Canadian Dollar vs. the US Dollar over the last few months, now is a better time than ever to buy property in Roatan.
For example, if you had been looking to buy a property in Roatan priced at $200,000 at the beginning of January 2007 (when the USD/CAD exchange rate was 1.1852) it would have cost you $237,040 CAD. However, if you looked at that same property in June it would have cost you only $211,420 CAD (based on a rate of 1.0571). In other words, the same property would be $25,620 CAD cheaper than it was at the beginning of the year!
If you are a Canadian looking to buy property in Roatan, you will inevitably need to transfer currency to buy the property in US Dollars. It is very important to pay attention to the exchange rate for your payments, or it could end up costing you a lot of money!
The fact is that many individuals will simply use the exchange rate offered by their personal bank. The bank's 'retail' rate of exchange is usually a few percent worse than the market rate. The bank may also charge wire transfer fees, commissions, and bank receiving fees. Since the bank takes a large profit that is built into the exchange rate, many individuals don't realize they are other options available to them. There is an alternative to using your bank that could save you significant sums of money.
Working with a 'specialist currency broker' like HiFX can not only save you time and hassle, it can also save you money. Their focus is to educate clients on the currency market, secure a better exchange rate than the banks, and transfer funds free of charge. Because the exchange rate that HiFX can offer is much better than the bank's rate, you will save substantially (on average 1%-4% of the amount) which on larger transfers can turn into thousands of dollars.
HiFX can help you take advantage of recent currency movements and protect against future fluctuations by locking in a rate of exchange, which can be useful if you have future property payments.
HiFX services are free of any fees and there is no obligation to use their services, even as a registered client.
For more information and to speak with our dedicated account representative at HiFX, please contact Tom Wight (415) 678-2770 [email protected] or visit www.hifx.com.
