{"id":60,"date":"2007-10-21T19:20:52","date_gmt":"2007-10-22T02:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/how-to\/how-to-buy-real-estate-in-belize\/"},"modified":"2012-11-17T07:45:54","modified_gmt":"2012-11-17T13:45:54","slug":"how-to-buy-real-estate-in-belize","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/how-to\/how-to-buy-real-estate-in-belize\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Buy Real Estate in Belize"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/jabiru.jpg\" alt=\"The Majestic Jabiru Stork, Belize\u2019s National Bird, at Sapodilla Lagoon in July 07\" \/><br \/>\nBy David Gobeil<br \/>\nThis article assumes you have already found the perfect property in Belize and are ready to fork over your hard earned cash and collect the land-title or deed.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like some pointers on how to FIND your perfect slice of paradise in Belize, then please read <a href=\"index.php?page_id=63\">THIS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Okay so you&#8217;ve searched high and low, driven miles over back breaking, pot-hole filled gravel roads and now you&#8217;ve decided to buy a piece of property in Belize.<\/p>\n<p>Great! Now what?<\/p>\n<p>Actually, the process of buying property in Belize is not that much different from buying in Canada or the United States. (sorry for you readers from OTHER countries&#8230;. I can only comment on where I have experience!)<\/p>\n<p>First, you need to present the seller with a formal OFFER TO PURCHASE.<\/p>\n<p>This important document should be provided by your real estate agent and should include the<br \/>\nfollowing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Purchaser&#8217;s name and address<\/li>\n<li>Vendor&#8217;s name and address<\/li>\n<li>The LEGAL DESCRIPTION of the Property, eg. Lot # 56 blah blah blah.<\/li>\n<li>The purchase price offered.<\/li>\n<li>Any other terms of the offer. All terms of the sale will have been written into the<br \/>\noffer by the real estate agent, such as time frames for closing, etc.<\/li>\n<li>The purchaser must sign the Offer to Purchase and provide a deposit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Then, the real estate agent will present the formal Offer to Purchase to the seller. The seller may accept the offer or respond with a counter-offer. If the seller accepts then he will sign and execute the offer.<\/p>\n<p>At this point you should usually retain the services of a Belizean Attorney to supervise consummation of the deal.<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer&#8217;s job is primarily to ensure the property title is &#8220;good and marketable&#8221;. He should do any neccessary Title or Deed searches to uncover any hidden encumberances which may be present on the Title or Deed. Also, he should check the &#8220;plan of survey&#8221; to verify the location and dimensions of the property.<\/p>\n<p>There are three types of land property title registrations currently used in Belize.<\/p>\n<p>There is the Conveyance system, the Certificate of Title (otherwise known as the Torrens system) and the Registered Land Act system.<\/p>\n<p>Different parts of the country use different systems, but the Government of Belize has been converting all propeties in the country to the Registered Land Act system, area by area.<\/p>\n<p>All three systems provide the owner with proof of ownership, with the Conveyence system providing a Deed and the Registered Land Act system and Certificate of Title (Torrens) systems providing Certificates of Title.<\/p>\n<p>Although it is an excellent idea to convert all properties in Belize to the Registered Lands Act system, this may result in a slight delay in processing your new Certificate of Title.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s because there&#8217;s currently a backlog at the lands office in Belmopan.<\/p>\n<p>But keep in mind that the new system guarantees the land exists and the title is YOURS, so it&#8217;s worth the wait!<\/p>\n<p>Now all you have to do is pay the stamp duty, also known as a 5% land transfer tax. This is payable on any land transactions valued at over $20,000 Belize dollars. Usually this is paid by the buyer, but in any case it will be stipulated in the Offer to Purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyer&#8217;s fees for real estate transactions in Belize generally range between one per cent and three per cent.<\/p>\n<p>And that&#8217;s it!<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2007 By David Gobeil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By David Gobeil This article assumes you have already found the perfect property in Belize and are ready to fork over your hard earned cash and collect the land-title or deed. If you would like some pointers on how to FIND your perfect slice of paradise in Belize, then please read THIS. Okay so you&#8217;ve&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/how-to\/how-to-buy-real-estate-in-belize\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":58,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3189,"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/3189"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.belizepropertyagent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}