Here is a checklist if you’re buying into a private development
Lesson Progress
0% Complete
- How will security be provided?
- Is there a timed building requirement—do you have a deadline to construct if you’re buying a lot within a development? What is it? Does it fit with your retirement time frame, plan, and budget?
- What construction and design standards are in place? Zoning is almost non-existent in Latin America. If you’re buying into a private development, you want building covenants.
- What is the current, existing infrastructure? Understand what’s planned but understand as well that you’re buying only what you see. Promised infrastructure doesn’t always materialize. Ask specifically about waste management, phone service, and Internet.
- Likewise, understand what amenities exist and what is promised but recognize that you’re buying (and be sure that you’re paying for) only what exists. If there’s no marina when you buy, there may never be a marina, no matter what the developer’s nice brochures and pretty drawings indicate.
- What are the plans for a homeowners’ association? What will the monthly fees be? Are these enough to cover the developer’s responsibilities? You don’t want to pay high HOA fees, of course, but neither do you want to invest in a development where the developer has so underestimated his costs that the HOA fees don’t cover them. The result can be that essential maintenance and services (for example, security) are reduced.
- Is the development company financially sound? Does it have a track record? What else has it built?
- What kind of title guarantee can be provided?