Buying property abroad

[CPO]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

My wife watches those real estate shows on people buying a house in other countries. I'm amazed at how expensive much of it is. Boy am I out of the loop. Half a million might get you a run down place a long way from the water.

International House Hunters did a segment on San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua a few years ago. The "buyers" were friends who lived there (a real estate agent and his wife). The houses show cased weren't really for sale either. The entire show was faked, only the houses shown were real. The prices were wildly inflated.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Another consideration is that there is nothing like a purchase by a foreign owner to bring those with a grievance or claim, bogus or valid, out of the wood work. Have seen that happen many times and even had it happen to me once.

OMG yes. I cannot believe that BS...

Even if they have no real claim, they just want to cause you trouble because they don't want you there. Sometimes they are just insane. Other times, they have a "cousin" that has been trying to buy the land but can't afford it, so they make it difficult for anyone to buy it.

While that also happens in the US at least you can expect a court outcome in a reasonable time frame but overseas you may never even see your court date set.