TJ's BuyRoatan.com Blog

Just before the tourist season

Real estate deals are all over the place in Roatan, that is if you have an experienced eye for island real estate. There is a fantastic little known area called Flower's Bay that is a jewel to be had. Flower's Bay is a quaint place where local island people and foreigners live together. The west side of Flower's Bay (the area with huge potential) settles right next to the newly named Pirate's Cove (more on this in a second, it is significant). Flower's Bay is on the south side of the island and is about a 3 to 4 minutes drive from both the West End and West Bay (where you find most of the island's night life). The south shore of the island is the windward side of the island. There is a constant breeze on this side of the island. In addition, you will not find sandy beaches but iron shore. Iron shore is really molten lava from ages ago that has hardened. Flower's Bay has one small inlet where you will find divers entering when the south side of the island is calm. The island does have bugs, like most places, and the combination of iron shore and the windward side of the island keeps the bugs away.

A river runs through it

Once again we are here in the middle of a very rainy, rainy season.... and the rivers are flowing like chocolate milk... more so than any other year yet....

Over the past few weeks (seems like months) we've had what could be more than 70 inches of rainfall on the Bay Islands... good for our underground lakes, wells and water cisterns... and bad for our beaches and our precious reefs.... it seems that a lot of people were caught off guard by the early rains this year and scraping ground cover, building roads, constructing projects --have all caused some major run off of clay, soil and other elements that can be harmful and damaging to our ecosystem here.

Many developers have quickly put up netting and "silt traps" to prevent further errosion of hillsides and roadways.... others are paving, concreting and doing a fine job keeping up with Mother Nature this year. This photo, taken yesterday in Sandy Bay, is an example of what digging in the rainy season produces. Rains, seasonal storms and tropical waves are common this time of year and we encourage all to be responsible for their own lands and management of the environment.

As for me, I'll just remain in my new home with buckets collecting drips until the rainy season passes by.... with the help of my lovely wife, Shelley, and our children... Got to admit though... the fishing is awesome!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I'm sure we all have a lot to be thankful for.

House Hunters 2nd episode

This week proved to be both challenging and fun here on Roatan with HGTV's Pietown Productions back for more filming..... House Hunters, the television show was here to shoot yet another episode with me and one of my clients "buying a 2nd home" in the Caribbean. "Roatan is a great location to shoot," says Producer Katie Hall, "I wish you were our Realtor every shoot".

Roatan is convenient and always fun for film crews. The people, the climate and the positive "feel" is what keeps them coming back for more. My second go-around with HGTV turned out to be a lot of laughs... and luckily not a lot of 2nd or 3rd takes... The show is about a guy from Arizona who contacts me to buy a home on Roatan and then comes down to view 3 different properties before selecting one of them to buy. His choice? A 4 bedroom Pod home on Roatan's show shore in Flowers Bay.... Price tag? $500k. Reason for buying? Location, style, price and future appreciation.

With an estimated 13,000 baby boomers retiring every day in North America, Roatan and other tropical islands are being sought out as retirement choices for many of them. Sales continue to increase and values as well have seen significant upturns. We also wrote offers on 3 condos this week on Roatan's best beach... West Bay, which continues to be the hottest investment spot in the Caribbean!